He stands in front of the classroom, and finally, everything makes sense.
"Kanemoto Yoshinori, nice to meet you."
It's him. Ten years may have gone by, and now he's twelve inches taller and ten times more handsome, but it's him. My best friend.
But at the same time, I can't help but wonder, is it him the Kanemoto Yoshinori whom I spent my elementary school days? He looks so different. The shy and kind boy whom I did slumber parties with, and ate ice cream together seems so far away, and now I can only see a man that's so self-confident, so independent, so imposing.
The desk at my right is empty, and that's where the teacher has told him to sit down. As I watch him as he walks in between the rows of desks, I can tell even his walk is different. That's when he looks at me. He looks as surprised and shocked as me. Nervous as I am, I hurry to turn around and pretend I don't know him.
"Teume?"
But of course I know him. And it seems he also remembers me.
"Hi, Yoshi..." I said, slightly nervous. After ten years, am I still allowed to call him Yoshi once again?
I can't focus on today's lessons. Knowing Yoshinori is sitting right beside me, just two feet away from me, it's more than I can bear. Tons of questions run free across my mind, clashing against each other. Are we still friends? How much have we changed during these past ten years? The only thing I'm certain about is I missed him. Every day of every month of every year. And I'm scared me he hasn't missed me the same way I did miss him, since that would mean he...
"Do you want to grab lunch together?"
Yoshi offers me his hand. I quietly grab it, and let his soft but firm grip take me away from my desk, the classroom, the rest of the school bustle, and I let him guide me to a quiet place, where we end up sitting on the warm grass, side by side.
Unable to believe what's happening, I do my best not to pinch myself, and just stare at him. As if focusing on each and every detail of his face and body would give me an explanation of who is Kanemoto Yoshinori today.
As if he just read my mind, Yoshi says:
"You've changed."
"You think so?" I reply with a question of my own. I feel the same as always. Maybe my friends and family would think the same. I'm pretty sure I'm the same Kim Teume I've always been. "I would say the one that has changed the most is you."
Once again, I come to the conclusion that everything is still there, but is just not the same. His hair is still chestnut, just as his eyes, his mole is still in the same spot, he still has alabaster skin, and his lips are still that deep pink, but now his hair falls down differently, allowing me to see his forehead, his eyes are much deeper and his gaze is more intense, his mole is now a beauty mark that makes him much more handsome, and his lips, just as his skin, encourage me to do the dangerous action of throwing myself into his arms, and kiss him, wherever he allows me to touch him.
"I hope you think change is good." He says, taking me out of my thoughts. "This change is for you, Teume."
I don't understand what he means with that. Is this part of what has changed in this past ten years, and thus that's why I'm having doubts that this Kanemoto is in fact my Yoshi?
But the way he pronounces every word, the way he says my name, it tells me yes, this is my Yoshi, and no matter how many years go by, he will always be the boy I fell in love as soon as I met him.
"I don't understand." I finally say, as I reach out my hand, and proceed to caress his cheek. His skin it's still so soft, and I'm pretty sure that if I run my fingers through his hair, the rose water scent will still be there.
"Tell me I'm enough for you, Teume." Yoshi whispers, as he lets me caress him, as if he was nothing but a mere stray kitty, although by the way he looks at me, that intensity I had never seen in him before, for a minute I feel that he's actually a tiger that's waiting for the right time to jump over me... and tear me apart.
"What are you talking about?" I reply in a whisper, looking away from his deep gaze, and now looking at his thin lips. "You've been always enough for me. You're my Yoshi, you know it, right?"
But he slowly shakes his head, clearly saying no.
"I was just a kid." He says, as he inclines over me, and I, afraid of what's about to happen, can't help but flinch. As if I was trying to make some distance between us, although the thing I want the most right now is for this distance to disappear. "A kid that was too shy, too weak, too invisible. And you deserve so much more. A man, that can protect you, that knows how to love you, that makes you happy..."
Ignoring the way my body's betraying me, Yoshi once again gets close to my face. I don't know how, but now I'm lying on the grass. He's right next to me, but also slightly over me. Now it's his hand the one that's caressing my cheek, pushing my hair away, as if he wants to admire me with any interruptions.
"Yoshi..." I say in that yearning whisper, and now that I got nowhere else to run away, the distance between our lips starts to shorten. "My Yoshi... You have always made me happy..."
Kanemoto doesn't need to hear anything else. The tiger that lives inside my kitty finally jumps free, and his lips press against mines, soft but firmly. He needs me, as much as I need him. A clear statement he has missed me as much as I had missed him, during all these years.
Kanemoto Yoshinori has changed. Not only on the outside, being now taller, more handsome, even skinnier but toned; but he has also changed on the inside, being now more self-confident, braver, and manly.
But at the same time, he's still the same Yoshi as before. That pure and sincere hear that only wants to be loved, as much as it wants to love me. He's still Yoshi. My Yoshi.
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Fun fact of the day (once again provided by yours truly, despite nobody asking): Yoshi's my ultimate bias, but I couldn't come up with any good trope for him, so I had to ask my beta LMAO.
