Crossroads | ✓

T H E M

Song attached: Nandemonaiya by Radwimps.

[ e p i l o g u e ]

[ T H E M ]

No one noticed the boy who was briskly striding on the sidewalk though he was a new face. He was wearing a worn out cotton shirt that was too big for him. The collars were cut off and a red and white checkered scarf was tied around his neck. The shirt was tucked inside an equally worn trouser and he had a matching newsboy cap to support it. It was strange how people didn't spare him a look though he looked like a poor English East End boy right out of the Victorian streets.

He corrected his newsboy cap now and then as he rubbed a hand over his seemingly coal stained nose. His eyes darted around, slowly, as he took everything that took place around him.

He was a handsome boy, with unkempt yet rich, flowy hair and a dimple that would make any girl swoon. The freckles on his face just added to the look. Everything about him looked young and pure, though coated with dirt. Everything except for his eyes.

His eyes were a strange blue with specks of gold scattered. They glinted every time they caught the sun. But the mesmerising colour wasn't what was strange about the boy's eyes. It was the intensity of his gaze. They looked thousands of years old.

His eyes halted on a man who was standing in front of a house. The man had curly hair which made him look adorable, even though he was past the age of adorableness. His hands were clutching a bouquet of sunflowers behind his back, a look of utter nervousness on his face.

He rang the door bell and it opened a second later to reveal a small, petite woman. The physique of the young woman reminded the boy of a pixie. The man looked mortified as the woman gauged him with cool eyes. It was evident that the man was petrified, the flowers hidden behind his back weighing tons and the velvet box inside his pant pocket drawing him to the ground stronger than gravity.

The boy smiled.

Suddenly the man stumbled forward, as if he had been pushed by someone. He regained his composure and with an air of finality, pushed the flowers in the direction of the woman. Then he got down on one knee and opened the velvet box inside which a diamond ring was sitting snugly.

The woman hid her mouth behind her palm, tears of joy and shock springing out as she nodded when the man managed to tell the words she had been yearning to hear ever since they were children. Even when he had a crush on her best friend. Even when she tried to get close to him by being mean. Even when she acted like she hated him.

"Yuvan, you idiot," she whispered, taking a step closer.

The boy was pleased with the outcome. He looked up to see that the flowers of the tree by the house were in full blossom. He blinked and the tree rained a shower of petals on the couple standing under it.

Matching platinum rings smiled from their fingers.

When the boy stopped near the town's park, he was expecting to find them there.

The laughter of an older woman was all he heard against the buzz of children's squeals and parents' warnings. He had always loved the warmth of this woman's eyes, the brown in them reminding him of summer and the taste of lemonade after a long run.

He had been there when she was born. He had been there as she grew and she fell in love with her husband. He was the one who pushed her to talk with the small lonely kid with the strange heterochromic eyes. But even with his calculated contact, an error occurred. An aberration. He watched as the result of one of his accomplishments spiral down, falling into the deepest of pits.