Fragments

For Him....

The wounded little boy's cheer had returned slightly when Shancai had dug through her pockets vigorously, her triumphant "ah ha!" a balm to his ears as she offered him an unknown object magnanimously. He had blinked once, twice, three times, unable to believe his eyes, and yet, her offer had not been rescinded. She was as crazy as she was cute! "Are you sure?" He recalled asking shakily, his gaze fixed longingly on the treasure she was offering to him without a second thought. It was a Shiny Charizard Pokemon card, something he had sought desperately and yet, never unearthed. The rarest of gems, and coveted by every single child in their class. And yet... Shancai was offering it to him with no qualms whatsoever, her shiny eyes unclouded and honest as she grinned her gap toothed smile his way, making his childish heart beat twice as fast as it ever had before. "Sure!" She had nodded jauntily, "we are friends, aren't we? Just don't cry anymore!" The boy had been stunned as she pressed the card into his own small palm, the short tufts of her twin tails tickling his cheek and making him giggle. He swore from that moment on that he would be her best friend forever, that he would stick with her through thick and thin until she realised she loved him. He wanted to be by her side for the rest of time. Shancai. The first person who had showed him kindness when it seemed like the rest of the world was against him.

Years had passed, and the scrawny boy had filled out into a slightly less scrawny man, one with much better fashion sense and minus the unfortunate bottle bottom glasses that had tainted his childhood. Aside from Shancai, contact lenses were his new best friend! And Shancai... Shancai had only gotten more beautiful the older she had gotten. She was bright, vivacious and he had been taken with her since he was five years old. He was in awe of her tenacity and he admired her ability to always stand up for the underdog. He supposed it was idolatry in a way, but could he be blamed when positivity shone out of her like moonbeams? She had become his wife in the crummy video game they both liked and he had held out hope that one day, she would become his wife in real life. He had held out hope that one day he would evolve past the best friend stage and she would truly see him for him. Alas, it wasn't to be; his hope had died when he had seen how the ever sunny Shancai had cried real tears for the prince of Mingde. Tears he knew must have been torn from her, the product of an utterly broken heart. The girl who never cried had grieved for a love lost, and he knew in that moment that although he loved her, she would never be his.

He would only ever be her best friend. Thankfully, that was enough.

****
For him, it all started with a smile.

It wasn't a particularly big smile either; it was just a brief glimmer that flitted across her tiny face, brightening her features and snagging his interest. He suspected that her smile hadn't been meant for others to see; it disappeared in the blink of an eye, which further cemented the idea that the small woman hadn't meant to reveal so much. She was proud of herself, and she hadn't been able to suppress the glee inside - he found himself wondering if her quickly suppressed pride was something she experienced rarely. He wasn't the type to typically wonder about women either - he could take or leave them. However, something about this girl and her tiny smile fascinated him, and he was hard pressed to keep from stroking her cheeks in an attempt to coax it back into existence.

Admittedly, the stranger didn't look like the type who fed off her own assumed greatness (unlike some he could name) - her flushed cheeks and bashfully lowered eyes were testament enough. It was rather adorable, and it made him look at her, truly look at her, for the first time since she had entered his kitchen. Her smile lasted for less than half a second but he saw it; in a strange way, he felt like he had gotten to know this stranger just a little bit better, as though they had shared a secret only the two of them were privy to. For some reason, he found himself wanting to be the confidante of all this girl's secret; his heart had thumped erratically as he tried to distract himself with an unfinished batch of miso soup. Yet... the darned smile lingered in his memory. He hadn't spared her much attention at all when she first appeared; the sous chef had been more focused on his work, desperately trying to stay afloat and manage his short staffed kitchen simultaneously without inviting disaster. The girl (Dong Shancai as he later learned), had appeared in his hour of need, and the closer he observed her, the more convinced he became that she was angel sent from above to save him.