Oh little prince! Bit by bit I came to understand the secrets of your sad little life...For a long time you had found your only entertainment in the quiet pleasure of looking at the sunset. I learned that new detail on the morning of the fourth day, when you said to me:
" I am very fond of sunsets. Come, let us go look at the sunset now."
"But we must wait," I said.
"Wait ?For what?"
"For the sunset. We must wait till it is time."
At first you seemed surprised. And then you laughed to yourself. You said to me:
" I am always thinking that I am at home!"
"Wilson? What are you doing out here...it's freezing!" House closed the balcony door of Wilson's office, instantly feeling a slap of cold wind against his cheek.
He watched him lean over the edge, shoulders hunched.
"I...needed some fresh air." Wilson replied softly, feeling the other man's gaze burning holes in his back. He was too tired to hide the pain in his voice, he was too tired to worry about what he might be thinking, he was too tired to care anymore...he was too tired, waiting for something that the other would never give him. "I am done... too much work for today. I am just tired" he looked over at his friend, making him conscious of what he meant.
"Yeah..." was all House managed to formulate before he felt his throat close.
Wilson looked away, as a sickening feeling churned in his stomach. "Yeah"...House's voice echoed in his head. He looked straight at his friend wanting, expecting more from him. He managed a laugh at the back of his throat—he laughed at himself, at what it always came to. He shook his head before making his way past his friend, leaving him out there on the balcony.
House looked out into the horizon—Wilson's sun had now finished setting. He felt his friend walk past him, and he breathed him in—his scent to store into his memory.
He knew it, they both did. He felt the weight of his legs under him. He would later use this to justify not going after him.
"One day" you said to me, " I saw the sunset forty-four times!"
And a little later you added:
"You know-one loves the sunset, when one is so sad..."
"Were you sad, then?" I asked, "on the day of the forty-four sunsets?"
But the little prince made no reply.