After Darkness

*17. The sunny day*

It was a sunny day.

Krist opened his eyes and lay in bed for a while, still remembering his date with Gawin the day before. That had been one of his best weekends ever. His mood was so good that not even waking up early for college, which he hated, managed to erase the goofy smile he kept on his face.

His mother was still sleeping, and he had breakfast alone - which had already become a habit. We can't always be fulfilled in all areas of our lives, was Krist's thought at that moment. But he was happy, and he wasn't going to let anything get in the way of that happiness.

His day got even better when someone rang the doorbell. He went to answer it thinking that maybe New had woken up earlier than usual and had come to get him at home. It was Gawin. Krist answered the door in surprise, the smile spreading across his face.

"Good morning, gorgeous! How about we go to uni together?" Gawin said.

"Hey, good morning!" Krist responded. "I just need to get my backpack and I'm good to go."

Krist started to turn away and go get his things, but he was stopped by Gawin, who took his arm gently. "Aren't you forgetting something?", and before waiting for an answer, he brought his lips to Krist's and kissed him tenderly. Krist felt his heart warm at that simple gesture. Being in love really did make him sentimental and silly, he made that mental note.

A few seconds later, the two were walking hand in hand down the street, talking about college. Krist told Gawin that he decided to study medicine because of his father, who was also a doctor. The man had always told him that medicine was more than a profession, it was a vocation, and that a doctor who didn't know how to treat his patient with respect and zeal did not deserve to work in that profession. Gawin seemed to agree with Krist's father's words, which didn't surprise the boy.

"Your father seems to have been a very wise man," Gawin remarked casually.

"He really was. But nobody's perfect, right? He lived for his work, sometimes putting patients before his own family. I remember that caused a lot of argument between him and my mother."

This was the first time Krist had spoken about his mother to Gawin, even indirectly. But venting about her was different from talking about his father, because he was already dead and there was no way to fix past problems, even if Krist didn't remember many fights he had with his father, but the question of his mother was a bit more problematic. It seemed that with each passing day, he was moving further away from her - and the path seemed to have no return.

Gawin and Krist split up when they arrived at college. Gawin said he needed to find Aye and Krist had to talk to New. The two hadn't exchanged a message since the party on Saturday and he knew New would be pissed off.

"Newwiee, I can explain." Krist said as he joined his friend at the table where he was already seated.

"Are you aware that you kissed Gawin in front of everyone?", New ignored what Krist had just said. "I kept waiting for the details later and you didn't tell me anything. Did you sleep together?"

"No... Well, not like that..." Krist replied, understanding that his friend wasn't upset, but curious.

"Like that? What do you mean?"

"He slept over but we didn't have sex or anything. We just kissed a few times, kissed hard I must say, and had a date on Sunday," Krist revealed.

"Kitty, wow, how quickly things moved over the weekend."

"I would like to know what we are now," Krist confessed, knowing he might be getting ahead of himself.

"Take it easy! You were interested in each other, but you hadn't make a move yet. Take this time to get to know Gawin better, understand your feelings better. Not everything has to end in an amazing relationship, which doesn't mean you can't to date in the future. Anyway, what I mean is don't worry about status, let things just happen."