Day 11 – 24 December
"I hope he wasn't too much of a bother, aru," said Yao to Lukas when the latter sent Hong Kong home that day. He slung the small bag that contained Hong Kong's clothes and other necessities over his shoulder.
Lukas managed a smile. It was rare that the Norwegian man smiled, and so he had a bit of a difficulty smiling. "He's an angel," he told Yao. "Emil is also much better behaved when Hong Kong is around," he said. Then he lowered his voice. "I think it's to show Hong Kong that Emil, too, can obey orders."
Yao laughed. "How cheeky," he commented.
"That's my brother for you," Lukas shrugged. "Well, have a merry Christmas, Yao. I'll see you soon."
Yao nodded and waved at Lukas with his free hand. "You too!"
Yao watched as Lukas got into his car and drove away. Then, he turned to Hong Kong, who was fidgeting in his arms. "Come on, let's go inside and out of this cold, aru."
Hong Kong pressed his face into his panda plushie.
"You want to say 'hi' to daddy? He misses you, you know."
Hong Kong shrugged. His face was still buried in his panda plushie. Yao took it as his way of saying, "whatever."
When Yao entered the house, he called out for his companion. "Arthur! Hong Kong's home, aru!"
"I'm upstairs!" yelled a voice that clearly belonged to Arthur. "Come on up!"
Yao put Hong Kong down on the ground and told him to go upstairs first. "I'm just going to lock the door."
After locking the door, Yao brought the bag containing Hong Kong's things to the laundry room. He would sort them out later.
Then, Yao made his way upstairs. He entered the master bedroom, and found Arthur lazily lying on the bed with Hong Kong happily bouncing on his stomach. There was a red heart-shaped helium-filled balloon floating beside Arthur.
"What's that?" Yao asked, pointing at the balloon.
Arthur lifted his head to look at Yao. He was smiling widely. "That's your Christmas present for today. I think Hong Kong will enjoy it as well," he said with a mischievous smile.
Yao sat on the edge of the bed and took the balloon string in his hand. There was a pin and a note attached to the string. The note said, "Pop me."
Yao raised an eyebrow. "Pop the balloon, aru?"
"Yes," said Arthur. "Oh wait, let me put Hong Kong on the ground first so that he can benefit from it too." He lifted Hong Kong from his stomach and sat up, placing Hong Kong on the floor.
That made Yao even more perplexed. He stood up. "Hong Kong can't observe from where he is on the bed?"
"Well, he can… but… but…" How was Arthur supposed to explain what was going to happen without revealing too much of it? "Just pop the balloon and you'll find out," Arthur finally said.
Yao frowned and glanced at Hong Kong. He was tugging on the string of the balloon. "Won't the sound scare him?"
"Oh yeah…" Arthur smacked his head. "I didn't think of that," he admitted. "I'll cover his ears for him."
Yao took the tape around the pin off and held the pin in his hand. He looked unsurely at Arthur, whose hands were already covering a disgruntled Hong Kong's ears.
"Hurry up – he's squirming, and I don't think I can hold him for too long."
Yao pulled the balloon closer to him. He held the balloon and pushed the pin into it. The balloon exploded, and a whole assortment of confetti and glitter escaped the balloon. Along with the confetti and glitter, out fell a small note.
As soon as the confetti and glitter fell to the ground, Hong Kong gave a delighted squeal and toddled over to where the confetti and glitter was on the ground. He dropped himself on the floor and took a handful of confetti in his hand and threw it in the air. He giggled as the confetti fell to the ground once again.
Arthur watched in amusement at his son's delight in seeing the colourful confetti and glitter.
Yao, on the other hand, was still stunned. He was staring at his son as he played with the contents of the balloon in disbelief.
"There's a note," said Arthur. "Read it," he prompted.
Yao bent down and picked up the small piece of paper. What was on it was in Chinese, scrawled in Arthur's handwriting. It looked like it belonged to a child who was just learning to write Chinese but Yao thought it was rather cute.
有缘千里来相会。
我爱你。
((Translation:
We have the destiny to meet across a thousand miles.
I love you.))
Yao was speechless. He wasn't aware that Arthur knew such Chinese phrases. What more, it was apt for their situation, because Arthur's usage of the allusion of distance perfectly captures how a Westerner and an Easterner, separated by thousands of miles and geography, could come to love one another, just as Arthur and Yao had.
Yao cast his gaze upon Arthur, who was blushing. Arthur shifted his feet nervously. "I know my handwriting is horrible…" he began.
Yao moved forward and kissed Arthur full on the lips. "It's perfect," he whispered.
