Goodbye Summer

Six

The sound of the friction between the twigs, leaves and the unusually cold summer wind created a relaxing yet depressing atmosphere in that lonely meadow that night. The moon, full and yellow, casted long shadows of the trees nearby and somehow made a comfortable sanctuary for the troubled boy. Pocketing his hands, he trudged through the grass around a familiar lone tree in the middle of the meadow, trying to relax as he listened to the nature's musical.

All he wanted was to get away and just forget everything. Still he failed; the same thoughts continued to occupy his mind and he didn't know when it would stop.

He didn't know where else to run to. He didn't want to face Josh or Julian's worried looks nor did he want to hear anything from them.

No words of encouragement or comfort will change the fact that someone else is now holding Kaycee Rice's heart.

He felt he was punched in the gut, air suffocating his chest as the last image he saw played in his mind. He had wanted to cry, the sob raged in his chest like a lion wanting to tear it open, but it never came. Instead, it clawed repeatedly inside his heart, deepening his wounds.

He planted his knuckles on the tree trunk, taking deep calming breaths.

It's too late.

Silently, he looked up the old oak, running his fingers over the familiar carved letters on its trunk, and the same memory resurfaced, doubling the blow.

"What are you doing, Kaycee? We are not going to be married!" he protested at the seven-year-old girl who was carving their names on the trunk, her brows meeting in concentration.

The girl rolled her eyes. "Duh. This doesn't mean that way, Lewser," she said, as she continued to write using a screwdriver, with a small smile on her lips.

"But..." Sean started, his eyes running over the other names on the trunk; he could even see his and her parents' names there.

"This means we are going to be together forever. We don't have to get married for that, Sean," Kaycee continued, giving him a beautiful smile.

At that time he thought it was just a mere beautiful promise. He held the promise protectively inside his little heart, but as time passed and the more he saw her differently, it grew a different meaning inside of him. Unknowingly, he desired to do something for them to be together forever possible.

It all shattered now.

Those thoughts continued to plague his mind, not registering at first that someone took the place beside him. And when he realized, he didn't even look to confirm.

Cheuk Lew is the only one who knew about his sanctuary, and it hurts him to realize why he had come.

The first and the only time his father came looking for him in that meadow was when he was six. It was the first birthday that Ken had spent with them, and it broke his little heart when he saw that his cousin received the latest Hot Wheels that he had been begging his parents for a long time. Upset, he ran away from home down the path towards that meadow. Kaycee's family was out of town then, and he had nowhere to run to. His parents brought him to that place the year before, telling him stories about when they started liking each other up until they got married and had him. It was his place of refuge ever since.

Cheuk found him a couple of hours later, and instead of scolding him with his unexpected behavior, he stooped down to his son's small form, making him look at him – making him understand.

"You have to realize," his father had said. "Ken has no parents now. No one to give hugs and kisses to him like he used to have, no one to give him birthday presents. We are his family now, and I hope you'll see him as your brother."