In Country Z, during the first week of the school holidays, Ming had focused his efforts on revising through his past modules. He wanted to make sure these middle level modules, that eventually led to higher level modules, were fully grasped and understood in his head. Now, on the second week of his holiday, Li Ming had other plans. With a haversack slung around his shoulder, Ming took a bus out of the university grounds and headed into suburbs.
Today, Ming was going back home.
The ride back home was slow and required the young man to change buses multiple times. However, it was perfect for Ming. The ride gave him time to think back on how this semester had went for him. It was by far the most broken Ming had ever felt in a long time, but then again, it made him stronger than ever before. At the end, he had patched things up with his best friend and had even met a complete stranger who turned out to be a very interesting person.
Now, there was something else that needed to be done. The trip home this year, was indeed different from last year. Typically, Ming would head back to the suburbs and pick up a part time job at the local stationary shop. The young man would spend Christmas with his family as it was considered one of the more important holidays for the Li Family.
The Li's were out and out a Christian family. Ming and his siblings were required to go for weekend church and say prayers around the table. It could be said that they took religion very serious in this aspect and that expected their children to follow suit. In the case of Ming, from a young age, he never found the appeal of church and the ideas of being bound by religion. He relied on science and never understood the reasonings behind the bible stories. Of course, he kept this in his heart and never shared it with his parents.
The main agenda of Ming coming back home this Christmas was to break the news to his parents. It was time for him to tell his family that he was gay. Many around the world have troubles in this aspect and not just Ming. Especially when it came to breaking news about his homosexuality to his christian parents, Ming were pretty sure as to how they would react.
The reason why his high school life was especially painful, was a result of his parents. When it came to being gay, Ming's parents would give a synonymous answer on this topic.
"Why are youths nowadays becoming more and more clouded by the idea of homosexuality? Can't they see that it is fundamentally wrong and untrue?" Ming's mother, Rong Xing complained as she watched the Gay Rights protest on the television screen. Such words were ingrained in the 15 year old's head and were eating away on his heart ever since. Ming's father, Li Fei would also occasionally bring up topics about being gay on the dinner.
And so, coming out of the closet to his parents would be hundreds of times harder than to normal people.
On the way home, Ming's heart wavered a lot and many times, he would try to talk himself out of doing what he wanted to do.
'Ming, listen up. Remember that you must come out of the closet to your parents today! Don't cower out! For many years, you have kept your thoughts locked in the deepest and darkest places in your heart. It is time for you to pick them up and share it to your parents! Don't back down now!' The righteous side of Ming screamed out of his lungs.
'No, Ming! If you do this, you are simply asking to be kicked out of the house! You know your parents well enough. They are the type of people that can't understand what it means to be a homosexual! If you want to be in a happy family, don't do this! It will be the end of everything! Trust me!" The scaredy side of Ming pleaded in the back.
'Shut up! It is not right that Ming has to bundle up all of his feelings and hide it from his parents! They are his parents for pete's sake! If they cannot accept strangers being gay, they should at least try to see and accept their own son in a different light! And even if they don't, Ming, I still think that it is best that you break such an important news to them. After all, hasn't this been weighing you down all these times?'
The last sentence spoken by his righteous self truly resonated with Ming. Ever since high school, him not telling his parents about his homosexuality had been an annoying thorn under his feet. Everyday as he moved about, there would be an underlying sharp pain that pinches him back to reality. No matter how he tried to mask it, the pain would always be there.
And so now, after what had happened in university with Sato, Ming had finally decided to act on his thorn. It was time for him to pull out the splinter that had been causing much suffering all these years. It was time for him to come clean to his parents.
As the bus arrived outside an apartment complex, Ming alighted with a not-as-heavy heart. He wanted to do it. He needed to do it.
Ming's family lived in the terrace house that was directly beside the apartment complex. Since Li Ming was born, he had lived in this terrace house. All of the memories of him keeping quiet about everything flooded back into his head. He still remembered vividly of the times where he came back from school, after being bombarded with gay insults, and having no one to talk to about it. Ming was never a big fan of sharing his thoughts on the internet. And so, he was truly alone all those times.