Yamato looked out of the window. He saw the snowy winter day.
"Taichi," Yamato said out loud. "Where are you?"
It had been a long day for both boys. Early in the morning they had to wake up to buy Christmas presents, but they had to go separately. Afterwards Yamato went to band practise; Taichi went sledging with Hikari. They had promised to spend the last hours of Christmas Eve together, but now Taichi was nowhere to be found.
Yamato thought back-had he done anything wrong? A sudden memory entered his mind of the morning.
...
"Yamato," Taichi said. "Look, I have something to tell you. It's about Sora."
"Go on..." Yamato said, wondering what on earth she had to say to him after she dumped him.
"Sora told me yesterday she's sorry for dumping you, and..." Taichi said slowly.
"And what?" Yamato asked.
"Well," Taichi began, "She wants you to go back to dating her."
Yamato let out a small laugh
"And why are you telling me this?" he asked. "I thought after she dumped me, we've already cleared the fact that we are no longer a couple."
"Actually," Taichi said, "We didn't. We only told each other..."
"Oh," Yamato said. "Well can't I just tell her that it's over?"
"But then she'll be wondering who took you and everything," said Taichi. "We need to clear a reason with her, otherwise she'll just be hurt,"
"Then let's just go straight to the point and tell her I'm gay." Yamato said.
"I thought of that too," Taichi said. "But remember that rampage she went on about going against gay people?"
"Oh yeah..." Yamato said. "But even so she wouldn't do anything bad to us-I think she's quite nice she won't expose us or try to break up or whatever."
"But, it would just hurt her, would it?" Taichi replied. "Imagine her thinking the guy she once loved was gay."
"So you're just worried it might hurt her," Yamato said. "That's all..."
Taichi let out a sigh. "Yeah" he said.
Yamato tilted his face down, letting his hair cover his eyes.
"Don't tell me that this means Taichi cares more about Sora than me..." he thought.
"But Sora is our friend, so I do really care about her." Taichi said.
Yamato didn't reply. He just stood there, speechless; he knew that Taichi meant this from a friend's point of view, but he still thought negative. "I have been dumped once maybe I'll be dumped again." Yamato thought.
"Yamato?" Taichi asked. "Are you all right?"
"Taichi," Yamato said, his voice going quieter. "Just...leave me alone."
"Yamato?" Taichi asked again. "What's wrong?"
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Yamato shouted. "Please, I need to think about something."
Taichi let out a sigh. "All right then."
He turned around and was about to leave the room, when he said: "Meet me back here before dawn." With that he left, leaving Yamato to his thoughts.
...
"Please" Yamato thought. "Don't let this be the end, don't let this be-"
His thoughts were interrupted buy the sound of his mobile phone ringing.
"Hello?" he said into the phone.
"Ah, Yamato" a familiar voice said. "This is Hikari speaking. I need to tell you about Taichi."
"What?" Yamato replied quickly. "Tell me!"
"I don't know how to put this," Hikari said. "But we were sledging and I can't remember very well but I saw Taichi's sledge capsize. And the next thing I know the ambulance have come. Now Taichi is unconscious and is in hospital."
Yamato's body froze. If he hadn't been holding on to his phone tightly he would have dropped it.
"Hikari," Yamato said, taking deep breaths. "Where is this hospital? I have to visit him."
"Oh, it's this..."
The hospital wasn't very far from Yamato's house, so he managed to run there in just under 10 minutes. As he looked for Taichi's room he saw many wounded patients. Yamato just hoped Taichi wasn't badly injured. As Taichi's room came into sight, Yamato saw Hikari sitting on the chair in front of the door.
"The doctors say Taichi isn't badly injured." Hikari said.
Yamato let out a sigh of relief.
"But they're not sure how long it will take for him to regain consciousness." Hikari continued. "You can go in there and see him if you like."
Yamato walked into Taichi's room and sat on the chair next to his bed.
"Taichi," Yamato whispered. "I'm sorry for this morning."
He paused, as if he was waiting for a reply.
"I hope you wake up soon."
He paused again.
"And Taichi," Yamato whispered into his ear.
"I love you..."
