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Shorter cannot forget the day he met Lee Yut-Lung.
It was on the very same playground he and the six-year-old love to play on. The sun was about to set. Shorter was about to step out of the area.
“..?”
He heard something from behind the bushes. He went to investigate them. After straining his ears, he deduced that it was a kid making the noise. A kid who was crying.
“Hey.” He called out to the source of the whimpers. “Are you okay?”
His eyes widened to the sight of a frail-looking child burying their eyes on their little arms. The child’s long, raven hair fooled Shorter into thinking this child was a girl, at first. As soon as the kid lifted their face, Shorter could tell that the child was a boy like him.
They lock eyes for a second before tears continued to flow down the other boy’s face.
“Oh no. Oh no.” Shorter was on the verge of panicking. He didn’t know what to do. That was when he reached for his pockets and found something that could help the crying child out.
“Here. Use this.” Shorter said as he held a white handkerchief.
The child continued to cry for a bit until he spotted the outstretched hand holding out the clean piece of cloth. That’s when the boy paused and stared at the handkerchief. He then stared at the other kid before him. He didn’t look too old. He didn’t look too young either. All the child could tell is that the boy’s sunglasses looked too big for him.
The crying child took another look at the handkerchief before facing the boy before him. He then stammered.
“Are….Are you sure?” The boy furrowed his eyebrows to Shorter. “I can…use this?”
Shorter stretched out his arm some more. “You need this more than I do. Here. Let me.”
Shorter unfurled the handkerchief and began to wipe the moisture off the other boy’s face. The boy whimpered but soon, his crying stopped completely. Later on, Shorter offered his hand to the boy. The boy took it and the next thing he knew was that he was led to a bench outside the playground.
The two sat on that bench for a long time. Long after the sunset and what replaced the lingering light were the lampposts illuminating the streets. The city also went alit with all sorts of colors.
All the while, Shorter tried to get the kid to talk.
“Hey, I didn’t get to tell you my name. I’m Shorter!” Shorter exclaimed before he said,” And, what’s your name, kid?”
The kid lifted his head. But, he didn’t look at Shorter. “…Yut-Lung.”
“Okay, Yut-Lung. What brought you to hide in the bushes?” Shorter asked again.
Yut-Lung replied, “My brothers.”
“Eh?” Shorter exclaimed. “What did your brothers do?”
Silence. Yut-Lung fisted his hands over his knees. “I don’t want to talk about it...” Yut-Lung couldn’t bear to verbalize what his brothers did to him. He felt awful. He felt scummy. He felt like crying until his eyes dried up. He wanted to tell Shorter what happened. But, he couldn’t.
“Okay. I get it. You don’t have to tell me.” Shorter swung his legs after that. He stayed silent until he had an idea popped out of his head. And so, he told the boy about it.
“Hey, kid!”
“I told you…my name is Yut-Lung.”
“Oh yeah. Hey, Yut-Lung.”
“What?”
“I think you need a friend.”
Yut-Lung cocked his head to the weird kid. He wanted to say something back but words couldn’t leave his mouth. He felt like crying. He wanted to cry. He was about to cry again. But then…
“!!!”
…he felt a warmth envelope his whole body.
“H-Hey.” Yut-Lung stammered. “What are you doing?”
Shorter was hugging him. He was even patting Yut-Lung’s back.
“There, there. I’m here now.” Shorter cooed out. “Jie jie always hugs me whenever I cry. It always makes me feel better. And even if I don’t, she lets me cry some more.”
Yut-Lung flinched but, he didn’t want to run away. Shorter’s grasp was not like any of his brothers. Shorter’s hug felt welcoming and gentle.
Yut-Lung wrapped his own arms around Shorter’s back. And then, he cried.
“There there. Cry.” Shorter said simply. “Cry until you don’t have to anymore.”
On that day, Yut-Lung cried for a long time. Shorter didn’t stop him. He let the tears flow out of his new friend’s eyes and held him as he did. Yut-Lung cannot forget that day. That was the day he met his best friend, Shorter Wong.