those years between us

[15] PLAYGROUND

  OUR FAMILIES LIVED in an estate not unusual to Hong Kong, a collection of apartments, and ours was built on top of a mall. On the ground floor of our apartment (or the roof of the mall, to be put more appropriately), was a nice little garden that had a playground in it.

  I used to play there for hours when I was younger.

  And it was where Orion and I stood now, staring at the kids climbing on the pieces with one brow raised. "Why are we here again?" Orion asked with a snort, pushing a hand through his hair.

  "Because our parents told us to get some sunlight."

  "It was a rhetorical question."

  "Well, I decided to take it seriously." I rubbed my eyes. "We could literally just go to the clubhouse and stay in there for the rest of the afternoon. Whenever our parents decide we're allowed to head back in."

  Orion looked at me, incredulous. "You realise my family lives on the fifteenth floor, and our windows face this way?"

  "Shit."

  He nudged his chin at a bench at the end of the playground. "Let's just sit there for a little while, I think. Hell, we used to come here all the time when we were kids."

  "I stopped coming after I turned seven. Primary school got hectic."

  "Primary school?"

  "I attended a lot of tutorial classes."

  "Oh right. You had so many sports back then."

  "And I'm shit at all of them." When I was younger, I'd somehow managed dance, table tennis and badminton lessons at the same time. On top of piano. It was no surprise I was miserably poor at all of them. While Camille had her violin, my only specialty for most of my life was simply, well, my academic grades.

  Which was kind of pathetic. But at the same time, I didn't really care.

  "It's fine. That kind of thing takes talent and genuine interest. I learnt piano for years and you don't see me being that good at it."

  "At least you made it to grade eight. I quit at grade five, you know."

  "I haven't even touched the piano in like four or five years," he admitted, "so it was basically useless at the end."

  We were sat on the bench now, watching the kids play. Their parents and grandparents sat around, keeping an eye on them while chatting to each other.

  We were like that once. And now we were both adults and in university, oceans and continents away from home.

  Jesus Christ. Time passed way too fast.

  Besides me, almost dreamily, he whispered, "I used to love playing on that slide."

  "I was usually more preoccupied with the elderly equipment," I laughed. "Honestly more fun than the kid's part."

  He glared at me. "I'm trying to be nostalgic."

  "What's the point?"

  "Jesus Christ you are cold-blooded."

"No, I'm realistic. What's the point of thinking about the past now? It's all over." I tossed my hair onto one shoulder. "We're adults now, Orion, time to grow up."

  "We can look back once in a while and smile."

  "What's there to smile about?" I asked, tilting my head. "Like, yeah, it was fun growing up. And now I'm eighteen and you're twenty and everything's over and life's here to fuck us up."