Yao sat up in bed and rubbed his temple. He'd been getting a lot of headaches recently, as well as strange dreams that he could never remember by the morning. This particular dream he remembered clearly, however. He'd also felt very cold which, although perfectly normal for mid-winter nights, had just seemed quite… unnatural. Perhaps ghostly, even. He shrugged off the memories of the dream, and the cold feeling as just exhaustion.
Yao slipped out of bed and yanked on a change of clothes. Just before leaving the room, he glanced over at the sunflower on the bedside table. It drooped a little, sadly, in its vase. The sunflower was obviously enjoying the new flat just as much as Yao was.
He was supposed to be meeting his sister for coffee today. Yao did not want to attend. Whenever Mei wants to 'have a casual chat' there is always the chance that she might bring her boyfriend. It wasn't that Yao didn't like him. Kiku was an OK guy. He could just be a little… blunt. And frankly Yao didn't want him getting too involved in his affairs. He flopped onto the sofa. It wasn't like Yao could talk to the rest of his family either, Leon was studying abroad in England, and Yong Soo… Well, Yong Soo wasn't the most sensitive of people.
Yao sighed and sat up. He desperately wanted to talk to Ivan again; he wanted to tell him all the things that had happened over the past two months. It broke Yao's heart thinking about Ivan again. God. Ivan looked so pale in his last few days. He would always smile, though, and tell Yao his illness wasn't that bad. But Ivan was always quite an unstable person. And a terrible liar. Any fool could see that it hurt him. Then, one evening, he just… collapsed. He was rushed to the hospital quickly but passed during the early hours of that morning. Yao didn't even get to say 'good bye'.
Glaring at the clock, Yao stood up. Pushing his thoughts aside, Yao quickly tied his hair into a low ponytail, pulled on a coat and dragged himself out of the flat.
The air was much cleaner outside and helped Yao clear his head. He pulled the hood of his coat up to shield his cheeks from the biting winter breeze. It had not snowed yet this year, despite the whole Christmas and New Year season being over, so the air carried a slight gloomy quality. In fact, Yao was quite glad the hustle and bustle had calmed. But, of course, he did still have to face his family's traditional New Year later in February. Having quite a large family, things could get a little rowdy… Yao just wanted some quiet for a while. Perhaps he would feel a bit better in February.
He spotted Mei standing under a chestnut tree, waiting for him. (No Kiku, thank goodness.) She noticed him and gave a little wave. Yao smiled back.
Yeah. He thought. Maybe things will be better by February.