broken promises [hrj]

p

10 years earlier

it was the year 2006, you were a HUGE high school musical fan. you loved troy bolton more than you loved your best friend, huang renjun—who happens to be your neighbour too. it may seem little, but you loved renjun a lot, as a friend—obviously.

despite having an older brother, you much more see renjun as one. your older brother claims to be too grown up to play with you guys (though he joins in with you guys anyways for movie nights and such)

"grown ups," you always thought. "always the party pooper."

anyways back to the story, it was a saturday. specifically, the 23rd of march.

renjun's birthday.

also the 3rd anniversary of the both of you being friends, it was as if it was yesterday when you were thrilled to finally have a neighbour—a pal you could play barbie with.

you remember having hopes higher than mount fuji that you'd get a female neighbour. but all hopes were shattered when you saw a three year old—barely could walk—child walking out from the car.

you were devastated.

however over the course of 3 days, your mother decided that it was time to 'showcase' you to the huang family.

turns out, renjun was a pretty cool guy. and the two of you hit right off the bat.

anyways, you were walking to renjun's house to celebrate his birthday. usually, decorations would be up by now. but today, there wasn't the slightest piece of ribbon or streamers set around the house. not even tables laid out at the front yard where the party would usually take place.

"maybe they're busy," you thought.

but that couldn't be, renjun's parents had never missed out on his birthday.

"maybe they went to his grandma's? like a family party?" you thought again.

but that couldn't be, he would've told you if that was the plan.

you shrug the thought off, and continued your way to his porch. the lights were on.

"at this hour?" you thought. it was 12 pm.

you saw boxes everywhere. "garage sale, perhaps?"

little did you know, your innocent thoughts were far from what was actually going on.

you rang the doorbell.

his mother comes out. her hair was tied in a messy bun and it looks like she hasn't showered. which was unsual, his mother was an early bird and a neat person.

"hello, ms huang. is renjun home?"

"oh, meihui; what brings you here?" she suddenly spats out. you were caught off-guard, she never spoke like that to you. she usually knows when you'd be coming around, since renjun would've asked for permission.

"um, renjun told me to come here on his birthday so we could celebrate. like always," you politely reply.

"oh right. i'm sorry. it's just been so hectic these past days. well, he's upstairs packing, but you can come in to his room. tell him i sent you if he gets shocked," she invites you in, pointing upstairs.

"packing? are you guys going on a holiday?"

ms huang looked at you dumbfounded. "he hasn't told you has he?" slowly, she asks.

you shook your head innocently. "no, not yet i guess. why?"

you look at her forcing into a warm smile. "i'll let him explain, now go."