"Mom! Mom!" A black-haired, wide-smiled child dived into an embrace. Looking up revealed a somewhat tired and sunken face.
"Yes, what is it, Hui?" A soft voice resounded as she placed calloused, bandaid-riddled hands on his shoulders and knelt down to meet him with a smile of her own.
"Can I go play at Mei Mei's house tomorrow?"
Her smile turned down into a frown for a slight moment, only just a moment as it wasn't caught by the young Hui.
"Instead of playing why don't you go home and study? If you'll get a 100 on your next test I'll let you go next time, ok?"
"Oh... ok... mm ok! I'll work hard so I can go play."
With child-like innocence, Hui quickly brightened up, only looking towards the future in which he would ace the test and have fun. Hand in hand with his mother he walked home full of smiles along the way.
The figure of a child could be seen working through the night in his room. Scribbling on a notebook for hours on end, he finally put down his pencil and let out a well deserved yawn.
"Well this seems like a good place to stop." Turning his head to check the time, "What! It's already 12AM! I better get to sleep so Mom won't get mad at me."
Walking to turn off the light switch near his room's door, he heard the quiet voices of his parents coming from the other side and placed his ear against it to hear better.
"Jing, why didn't you let Hui go play? You know we're too busy to give him our time so why not have his friends give him their time?"
"Guang this is important for the future. If we don't teach him how to be serious now when will he learn?"
"Aiya, he's still a child! If all he study, study, study, he won't have any friends or connections in the future."
"Why don't you understand!? If he studies now he can get a good job in the future and make some money for a better life! If we can't give him a better life we should teach him how to get a better life himself!"
"And look where that got you! What good does an education do if all that's led you to do is work in a sweatshop! I don't have an education but I still make more money than you in construction!!"
Gradually, their conversation devolved into a shouting match, loud enough that Hui didn't even need to be near door anymore to hear it. Taking one step back, Hui knocked over a pile of books, creating a very loud thud.
Fear gripped his heart of what has to come if he were to be caught awake this late. Quickly he turned of the lights and scurried to bed, hiding under the blankets and desperately trying not to sob.
With blurred vision through tears, the corners of his sight seemed to darken — to lose color. With a head shrouded in fear and a teary face, he drifted off to sleep.
Hearing the thud, both Guang and Jing froze in shock. What felt like an eternity passed and Jing let out a sigh.
"..."
"..."
"We can't keep living like this."
"..."
"..."
"It's late we should get to bed."
"Mm."
The next day at school lunch time, Hui sat at his table, poking at his food and rubbing his eyes. He was confused as to why the corners of his vision were weird, but eventually gave up with a sigh, full attention on poking his food.
"Hui why do you look so sad?"
Looking up from his food he saw his friend Mei.
"Mom and dad were yelling at each other last night. Mei, I don't want to go back home. It's scary hearing them yell."
Hui stared down again and sighed. There was no semblance of the happy kid from yesterday.
Mei tilted her head in confusion. As a child the problem was too complicated for her, but she didn't like seeing her friend down and so tried her best to cheer him up.
"Well you don't need to worry about that as long as your with me!"
Those words soothed his heart and his face naturally bent back up into a slight smile. Once again looking up, he saw a girl with both shoulders on his desk, hands holding a round, cheery face.
"Class is starting."
The teacher walked into the room and everyone shuffled back to their seats.
Seeing as Hui was still a little down and without his usual energy, Mei reluctantly parted and spent the rest of class time thinking about what she could do to bring his smile back.
After school, the children waited outside by the playground for their parents to come pick them up.
"Let's go play while we wait for our parents Hui!"
Without waiting for a response she grabbed his hand and dragged him along with a spring in her step. Hui felt comfort gazing at her back and short black bouncing with each step.
Out on the playground, children could be seen playing around, but among that scene, the laughter of a boy and girl could be heard loud and clear. They tried climbing a tree only to fall back down after a step, watched ants crawl around, threw balls at each other, ran around the field.
The chase ended with Mei diving at Hui and catching him in an embrace, after which they rolled around the field for a while and then went to rest on a nearby bench.
"Ahh, that was fun!"
"Yeah! Let's try climbing that tree again later!"
The constant activities Mei found for them to do together was able to get Hui's mind off his parents arguing last night.
"Mei! It's time to go home!" A voice called out.
"Ah, it's time for me to go."
"Mm, okay. Bye bye."
"Bye bye."
Sitting on the bench now alone, Hui watched the warm sight of Mei walking home hand in hand with her mom, talking excitedly. They both turned back to have at Hui who in turn waved back until they were out of sight.
In a good mood, Hui's legs were swing back and forth and he started humming to himself while he waited.
Twenty minutes later, however, he remembered his parents would be working the whole day and wouldn't be able to pick him up. With that, his smile turned back down as he walked back home alone towards the setting sun.
Looking at the sunset, he remembered the sight of Mei happily walking with her mom and was too caught up in his thoughts to notice.
The gray in his vision drew ever so slightly in.