seven

"Your friend spoke to me," I told Kiyoshi. "The tall one—Fujii Akira."

"I know," he said. "He told me."

We were sitting on a bench in the park near my house that day. We kept our distance—him on one end of the bench and me on the other. It was awkward, neither one of us wanting to talk until I had broken the silence.

"Your friend's an asshole," I said quietly as I fiddled with my fingers. Kiyoshi whipped his head towards me and looked at me with surprise. It was different from his blank, intimidating stares, his sudden puppy-eyes and his eye smile. His eyes were wide, and he looked cute.

I would never tell him that, though.

"What?" I asked.

He shook his head and turned around again, staring back down at his feet. "Nothing," he said. "I've just—I've never heard you curse before."

"Of course you haven't," I said. "We've only known each other for a week."

We were quiet once again, both avoiding looking in each other's directions. I looked straight ahead where a playground sat. There were a few kids running around it—some sliding down the slide, others swinging on the swings. It was a cute sight, and my heart suddenly felt warm.

"I'm sorry." It was his turn to break our silence. "That day in the, uh, classroom." He sighed, "I didn't mean to yell at you."

Suddenly, I felt relieved. I knew I wouldn't be able to forget about that day easily, but when he apologized, I found it much easier to breathe.

I nodded, "It's fine." I finally turned to look at him, "I won't hold it against you." Then, he smiled. It was a genuine smile, different from the ones he would give to his friends or other people. I found it hard for me not to smile back at him.

"Do you, uh—" He rubbed the back of his neck and pointed at the playground, "Do you want to go there? It's just that I, um, I saw you looking at the kids—it's okay if you don't want to, though."

"Okay." It didn't seem like he had expected me to say that considering how surprised he looked. I stood up and said, "Let's go."

We chased each other around the playground all afternoon, with the smiles of happy children when they get a new toy. I had never laughed so much before, and I had never seen him smile so brightly.

I wished I could see him smile like that all the time.