Re-Start

The first time Mingyu saw him was when he was walking home from the last day of school, a day before his winter break, to be precise. It was as if he was looking in the mirror. Stone-cold eyes that looked like he was dead on the inside, a moving shell with no soul attached, an invisible wall around him that closed himself away from other people.

Mingyu knows those eyes for they were akin to his. Perhaps that is why the image of the man never left his mind, even after several seasons have passed. Somewhere, out there, there is a person who is as broken as he is, the thought makes him less lonely.

Yet, the day when the very man comes to look for him again, he appears with a smile, bringing the first hint of spring's warmth with him. One of his hands is stretched, waiting for Mingyu to reach it and engulf it in a foreign sense of tenderness. Mingyu almost failed to recognize him, because the man no longer reminded him of the dreary, cold winter night. He is but a radiant, lukewarm spring. With a voice so gentle, almost wary, he speaks;

"Hello, Mingyu. Would you like to come home with me?"