Red and gray

Huobai was looking out of the window at the gray skies. It was pouring outside and the grayness of the world was really similar to his heart. Depressing.

Usually, Huobai loved the rain. Especially storms, when the stuffy air would clean up and leave a pleasant breeze after that. But today. It wasn't like it.

It started raining ever since he got admitted to the hospital and hadn't stopped since then. And what was worse... he was fearing the outcome of this operation. 

He and his family were told that they wouldn't take out the whole bone protuberance, but only a biopsy to see if it was cancerous or not. Because Huobai was still growing, they would only observe it if it wasn't malign. 

His mother took his hand and squeezed it to comfort him. He turned to her to see her worried expression. 

"Don't worry. It will be okay and nothing serious. And they are already prepared in the lab, knowing about you so you will know the results as soon as possible." Huobai chuckled. Now they cared. When he came home a few days ago. Nobody cared. Everyone was working. Not caring about their son at all. 

"Did you tell your friends to visit you after the surgery?" she asked, and Huobai frowned.

"I don't have friends," he said and looked back outside. 

Yeah, he had no friends since the accident. Not an accident. Since the thing that never happened. The thing that never happened but didn't leave Huobai alone, as he was always dreaming about it.

His mother kept quiet until the nurse came in and started all the preparations. Then he was off to the surgery. With feeling sadness and nervousness at the same time. 

They laid him down, seeing people all around him being busy, but he was just laying there. Thinking about Yitian, Chao, and the person he was trying not to think of, but wasn't successful. Because even as he was being put to sleep, his thoughts were circling around Yixing.

***

"They are playing nicely, aren't they?" Li Yechao smiled and clinked his glass at the person in front of him. Yixing knew it was someone important. Otherwise, his father wouldn't smile like that. 

His father never smiled. Not at him or his mother. 

The thought of his mother made him sad again. He didn't want to play with the kid anymore as he walked away to the garden, through the big glass door that was open.

The house was bigger than theirs, and even the garden was more beautiful. His mother loved her garden, but she was always too busy acting or taking care of Yixing, so she couldn't take care of it much.

Yixing found a remote corner that no one should find him in, but he was really surprised that there was already a house there. A house, just big enough for an 8th-year-old him.

But someone was already there. Crying.

"Can I hide with you here?" he asked in a quiet voice, trying to not startle the boy his age that was sitting inside. But he still jerked himself, and with a defiant gaze, he wiped away his tears.

"Did my father send you? Tell him I don't want to talk to anyone!" The boy exclaimed, and Yixing took a step back. 

"I don't know who your father is. I just want to hide and cry like you." Yixing walked in while the boy was stunned and sat on the bench opposite of him. 

"Why would you hide and cry?" the boy asked, now totally free of any sadness.

"Why did YOU hide and cry?" Yixing snapped back, but then he lowered his head and swiftly apologized. 

"I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that," he said, and kept his gaze fixated on the ground. He pretty soon found out that it was the right way to keep his father calm. 

But the kid opposite to him patted his head instead. Yixing, fascinated, raised his head and locked gazes with him. 

"I lost my mother. That's why I'm crying here. What about you?" he asked, his face free of any anger. 

"I got sad when I remembered my mother…" Yixing faintly smiled and rubbed his hands nervously. Even though the house blocked most of their surroundings. He could see the wisteria that was fully blooming around them.

"What happened to your mom?" the boy asked curiously, and Yixing turned back to look at him. It wasn't exactly pleasant to talk about something like this, but they were the same. Motherless.

"She died. In hospital. She was ill because of an accident. But it was a long time ago," he added. It was already something over four years when Yixing's mother Xu Pei died. 

It was a tragic accident on a movie set when a lamp landed on her and she died of a brain hemorrhage a day later. Just because he had to finish the scene just after the accident. The entire nation cried for her. Every person who knew her, except her husband. 

"Will it become better? Will I stop being sad?" the boy asked, hope in his eyes. Yixing had to blink many times to dispel his tears, but in the end, they managed to escape and started falling down his cheeks.

"There will always be something that will remind you of her. You will be sad when you see it. But do you want to know a secret?" Yixing smiled over his tears. And smiled, even more, when the boy hurriedly nodded. 

"She is always with you. My nanny told me that my mom loves me and she will always guard me. And when I look up at the sky at night, I can see her looking down at me as a star. I think your mom is doing the same." The boy sobbed and started crying again once more. 

Even for Yixing what he just said was so sorrowful that he started crying too. And that was how the adults found them. Bothe sitting in a children's house, crying, almost screaming.

"Chao, are you okay? Did something happen to you?" His father came running to him and hurriedly picked him up into his hug. Even though the boy was big already, he still scooped him up and walked away.

On the other hand, Yixing trembled when he saw his father's gaze burning a hole through him. It was so frightening, Yixing immediately stopped crying.

"We will talk once we get home. And just for you to know, he was the son of the Jin family. The person I wanted to make a deal with today," he said and walked away, leaving his son trudging behind him. 

Yixing was stopped by a different kid. This one had beautiful black hair, reminding Yixing of his one memory. The kid caught his hand and placed something inside.

"It will guard you. Cheer up..." he said and ran to his parents. Yixing looked down and saw a little plush. A little plush dragon with wings. Yixing smiled, squeezed it hard, and followed his father.

***

Yixing woke up from the dream. His mind was hazy, but he still remembered it. And he knew it was a memory and not just a dream. 

He slowly raised his upper body from his bed and before he fell back on it. He took something from inside of his night table. It was the push toy he got as a child. 

Yixing never got to know who that kid was, but the toy had always been with him when his father yelled at him. So, Yixing decided that if he ever met that person. He would do anything for him. 

Even if he would have to give up everything.