Homeless Vain

22

He had that power.

The power to make me forget how to breathe when he appeared in my view, when he smiled ever so endearing. The power that had turned me into a stony statue as he dragged his feet towards me.

Oh my god.

I mentally prepared all the scripts inside my head. Should I go with 'hi' or 'have you been waiting?'

And should I smile or remain cold like how I conversed with him through the call?

He was nearing and I was shivering. I needed more time because obviously 10 minutes of walking from my house to the playground we met the day before he moved out from the town wasn't enough to have everything scripted.

1.5 meter more..

1 meter..

And he stopped.

What?

He must have noticed the questioning expression on my face. Because my weakness was to hide all the feelings I felt from being seen too clear on my face.

And right now, he was seeing my furrowed brows with my eyelids that wasn't hooding my eyes - seen a bit like glaring, jaw slightly dropped.

Kevin hesitantly stepped forward, forcing the smile to cross his face as he came closer to me. And I somehow relaxed, again automatically smiling as he did the same.

"Hi", I raised a palm in the air. My breath hitched in my throat as he didn't show any sign to stop, already half a meter from me. "Have you b-"

"It's for me right?" his tall body slightly bent forward, the small paper bag hanging across my slender fingers was then detached, transferring into his grasp.

"Oh", I blinked, recovering myself from the fact that he was too close to me but not anymore as he stepped backward. "Yes.. it's for you".

I literally forgot about its existence. It was the bag which I'd put my book to be given to him.

Now, how he knew it was his from the start?

It was no more a question as he beckoned me to sit on the bench on the left side of the playground.

It was 5 p.m and kids were flooding the area, giggling happily as they slid down the slide. Some were swinging themselves on the swings while a small group of them was sitting in the sandbox, building a sand castle.

I was kids lover though I practically grew up alone. Not to brag about myself but I did think that toddlers clicked with me really really well.

There was this one kid, who was running and tripping as he made a leap near me. Lucky my reflex was quite good, I caught him before he could've fallen flat onto the rubber flooring.

"You okay?" I ducked down as he steadily stood, he nodded with a smile. "Be careful".

As I let him go, I found myself attentively watching him rejoining his group of friends, too immersed by the cuteness of these kids.

"Sometimes I was thinking", Kevin's voice from the bench behind me broke my trance. He must have watched me on since earlier. "Our childhood days were exciting".

Airy chuckle escaping his system as he looked nowhere. The corner of his lips tugged upwards in the very subtle move, as if he was reminiscing.

At the very moment, I was curious about his childhood. He appeared in my life during my teen years, I saw him in his figure which playing was no more his priority.

And somehow I wished there was a time tunnel where I could go through to those years we didn't know that we were existed. I wanted to see how playful he was, how did he look, and maybe to find out whether he had a time to think about girls.