𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐞 ||| 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐯 (𝟏)

[ 𝟏𝟎 ]

Halfway through I noticed kids our age playing in front of a familiar house. Even if Yangyang and I were across the street, we could still hear them clearly.

"Hey, why did the chicken cross the road?" A girl with a long black braid laughed.

"Why?" The one opposite from her had brown curly hair with purple highlights.

"Because he wanted to meet the snowman!" The girls laughed so hard that one of them slipped and fell on the snow.

My eyes wandered to the snowman that they were building. It was larger and looked sturdier than our snowman.

Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, a blonde haired girl happily strolled outside of the house.

"Girls, my mother is calling us inside. We're going to eat lunch now," she announced with a huge smile on her face.

The other girls cheered as they threw snow in the air and rushed into the house. Lijuan's lips curled upwards at the sight of the huge snowman. Then, she gazed across the street and directly looked into my eyes with a blank expression. It felt as if time had stopped. My heart felt like a heavy rock inside my chest. Lijuan twirled once in her dress and went back inside.

"Hey, are you okay?" Yangyang snapped me out of my racing thoughts. I let go of a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Y-Yea," I stuttered. Yangyang looked at me for a minute and then started walking again.

"I thought you said your ex-friend didn't like building a snowman."

"I thought so too. I guess I was wrong," I whispered quietly. "Or like you said, she could've changed."

After all, she is my ex-friend now.

It didn't take too long for a layer of hot bubbles to form at the bottom of my eyes. Drop by drop, they spilled on the pavement as I sniffled. Yangyang turned around and looked at me. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in for a comfortable embrace. Words were not spoken yet warmth was still felt. Warmth needed in this long and cold winter.

"I just...I just don't know what I did wrong..." Tears rolled down my cheeks like a waterfall.

"I don't think you did anything wrong."

"Then why?"

"I guess it's just life." Yangyang spoke softly.

"Well then, life is stupid." We seperated from the hug and started walking back after I wiped my tears away.

"Can I tell you something?" Yangyang asked.

"Go ahead."

"You know, what you told me the other day, reminded me of something similar that happened."

"Really?" Yangyang nodded in response.

"Two days right before winter break started, I saw a bunch of my old friends that I used to play basketball with. I ran over to say hi and catch up but they talked back really rudely. I found out that they go to the same school as us so I thought about asking them if they wanted to make a basketball team together," Yangyang kicked a rock. "But they said they didn't want me in their team. They said that they had already found someone better to replace me with. Some Canadian dude named Mark Bee or Marker or something."

"Oh, that's really mean of them."

"Look, I don't think I can change my mind or get on their team somehow now. They're pretty fixed on having the new boy as a teammate and a friend," Yangyang gazed at the sky. "But I think what matters the most is the friends I have right now. Personally, I think people come and go as easily as the seasons. Why put it so much time and effort into changing their mind when you can make new friends? And besides, just because they have their own team set doesn't mean I can't play basketball. If I can't join the school team, I'll just join some team out of school."

"Yeah, I believe you can do it!" I gave him a thumbs up and we high fived.

"Thanks," Yangyang smiled. "I knew you would understand. But if there is something I realized is that I should treasure the friends I have right now. Like you and Hendery."

Yangyang hugged me once again which took me by surprise. A warm feeling filled my heart and my cheeks heated up. I hugged him back.

He's so warm and comfortable that I could hug him all day long.