PETER PAN(ExO:TaO)

Final <3

Tao waited by the swings at the park right below his apartment building. A small girl with two pigtails on the sides of her head came running towards him a couple minutes later.

“Huang Zitao!” she yelled as she wrapped her chubby arms around his neck.

“Li Jiabi!” he yelled back as he wrapped his chubby arms around her. She quickly released her arms and sat on the swings, waiting for Tao to push her up to the sky. Their laughs grew louder and louder as she can feel the wind blowing her up to reach the clouds. They kept playing in the park until their parents came to pick them up.

 “Xiao Bi, Tao Tao!” their parents yelled out their nicknames when they refused to go back home. They wrapped their arms around the colored poles, making it difficult for their parents.

“Alright children, how about if I read Peter Pan to you guys? Will you listen to your parents and go back home?” Jiabi’s mother asked, taking the book out from her large purse. The two slowly unwrapped their arms and sat by the swings, waiting for her to start the story. They loved it when her mother uses her hands to express the flying motions Peter Pan and the Darlings performed when Tinkerbell sprinkled the fairy dust on them. After finishing the story, the two children reluctantly left the swings, the tool that they used to bring their imagination to life of being able to fly like Peter Pan.

It was summer vacation when Tao’s parents told Tao they will be moving to another city after his dad got relocated from his company. He held a tantrum for days, yelling at his parents whenever they coaxed him with his favorite candies and toys.

“No, I don’t want to move away! I want to stay here and play with Jiabi!”

“Tao Tao…” his mom coaxed softly, reaching out for him when he’s squirming away from her. He jumped off from his bed and ran to the apartment next door. Jiabi’s mom opened the door after hearing Tao shouting for Jiabi and let him in after his mom told her why he’s acting like this. Jiabi is in the living room watching TV when she saw Tao crying.

“Zitao, why are you crying?” she patted his arm, motioning him to stop.

“I’m, I’m- I’m moving away!” he cried out, tightening his fists together.

“What?!” Jiabi quickly ran to her mom to asked about Tao’s family and came back tugging her mom behind her.

“Mommy, tell him!” Jiabi’s mom knelt down and wiped Tao’s tears away with a tissue.

“Zitao, remember the Peter Pan story?” Tao nodded, sniffling back his tears. She sat down on the floor and have both children to sit on her lap.

“Even though Peter Pan and Wendy lives in two different places, they still stayed as friends. Zitao, you can still visit me and Jiabi, but you need to return home to your mommy and daddy. I know you’re sad you won’t get to play with Jiabi anymore, but that doesn’t mean you two can’t stay as friends.” The two children absorbed her words as if she was telling them another story. She waited until Tao calms back down before leaving the room.

“Promise me we’ll stay as friends?” he stuck out his pinky finger to her. She wrapped her pinky around his.

“I promise.”

Seventeen years later

Zitao didn’t realized how much has changed after he moved, he looked around the surroundings with amazement as the city looked more modern than it was when he was still living there. He moved his last few boxes into his apartment and slammed the door shut as he leaned his sweaty back against it. His parents didn’t sold their apartment after they moved away and he requested to move back as soon as he received his college degree. I wonder…He hesitantly opened his door and walked to the apartment next door. He knocked twice against the hard surface, thinking if it’s a good decision to do this.