To the Start of a New World

1.3

"Found you!"

Small and chubby hands pulled apart the branches of a bush. Grinning, Lu Hao peeked his head over the hole that he'd made. Hiding behind the leaves in front of him was a small boy crouched between the roots of a tree, his skinny arms curled around his knees.

"Hong Sheng, you really pick the hardest hiding spots." Lu Hao tackled his way through the bush and reached a hand out to tap Hong Sheng's shoulder. "There! I found you. Come on, let's go."

The moment Lu Hao's hand touched him, a small smile lit up Hong Sheng's face. He nodded and obediently stood, following Lu Hao out of the bushes and back onto the road.

The sun had nestled into the horizon, dying the entire sky orange and yellow. Lu Hao brushed his hands over himself, swiping off all the branches and leaves that had caught on his clothes. Hong Sheng watched him quietly, but when Lu Hao turned around to look at him, he shyly lowered his eyes.

"You're really good at this game, you know." Lu Hao grabbed Hong Sheng's hand and dragged him away while chatting happily. "You lasted longer than anyone! Even Bai Ze lost after thirty minutes. But the first one to lose was Ming Li. I found her in like, ten seconds. Girls aren't good at hiding. They always stand out. But you're the best at hiding. I'm the only one who can find you, because I'm the best at seeking! Right?"

He looked over at Hong Sheng who nodded, a faint red tint to his downturned face.

Lu Hao grinned and turned back to the road. They walked along a street at the edge of the park, and it would take about six minutes to get back to Hong Sheng's apartment at the other side of the park.

Lu Hao liked to play games with his friends. His favorites were team games like soccer, but he liked simple games like catching the dragon's tail, too, where everyone formed a line and the person in front tried to catch the person in the back. Chasing games were also fun because Lu Hao was always the fastest at catching people.

But whenever he played those games with his friends, Hong Sheng never joined. Hong Sheng just sat at the side and watched them. When he did that, the girls thought he was creepy. Lu Hao didn't like when his friends didn't get along together — all of them belonged to him, so they should all be one big family with Lu Hao on top. That's why Lu Hao decided that they needed to find a game that Hong Sheng would play, too.

After a lot of trying new things, he finally found one: Hide and Seek. In this game, everyone except the seeker had to hide, and then seeker would go and find everyone. The people who got found also had to help find whoever was still hiding. All of Lu Hao's friends thought this was fun, even Hong Sheng. Hong Sheng was the best hider. Even at the end of the game when everyone else had been found, Hong Sheng was always the last one left. All of Lu Hao's other friends knew that it would take a long time to find Hong Sheng, so they always went home early. Lu Hao was the only one who ever could find him anyway, so it didn't matter whether they stayed or not.

If Lu Hao ever forgot, though, then Hong Sheng would probably be hiding for a very long time.

"Okay, we're at your home now. Today was fun, right?"

Hong Sheng looked up at Lu Hao. He looked sad, like he didn't want Lu Hao to leave so soon. Eventually he nodded and gently disentangled his hand. "Bye, Lu Hao," he whispered, his dark eyes turned toward the floor.

Lu Hao frowned. He put his hand under Hong Sheng's chin and raised the other boy's face, making Hong Sheng's gaze snap toward him. Lu Hao's mouth curled into a bright smile. "I like seeing your face when you talk to me, okay?"