Chapter 3: The Shadow of Light ==============================
I never thought that I would see Andrew again. Lots of childhood memories flowed through my mind. All those dirty tricks, the bad times and the good, the memories made me smile and a feeling of warmth surrounded me again. It was so good to see Andrew again, he was my childhood friend. The feeling was so special, I couldn't control myself and walked toward him, and hugged him tight. He was so surprised but returned my hug warmly.
"Why you are here?" Andrew asked.
"You are Amy's cousin?" I asked him.
"Yeah," he answered.
Then we sat down and I told him why I was babysitting Jared. He said he had a vacation so he came to here to visit his uncle and aunt.
"How's your family?" I asked him.
"They are good. They will be here next week. You want to see them again?"
"Sure, but don't tell them first. I want to give them a surprise."
Then suddenly he realized he only had a towel wrapped around his waist, and his face turned deep red. He excused himself and walked up the stairs to his room to get dressed. After watching Andrew disappearing into his room, I went to Jared's room to make sure he's ok. Then I started cooking dinner for Jared and Andrew. That's why I'm Amy's favorite babysitter - cooking is one of my assets.
After dinner, Jared went to his room to do his homework. I sat in the family with Andrew and chatted with him. We had a very good time. We talked about our childhood, about all the dirty tricks Edward and he had sprung on me and had a good laugh together. Before we realised it, the time was 10:00pm. After I put Jared to bed, I told Andrew I need to go.
"It's very late now, I need to go home," I said.
"It's only 10," he protested.
"Well, I have homework to do so I better get back home and get started on it," I said.
"Ok." He looked so disappointed.
"Hmm...I may came to visit Jared tomorrow," I said.
Then both of us fell silent, not knowing how to proceed. After what seemed like an eternity, I told him, "Goodbye."
"Hmm...good bye," he replied.
I walked out the house and got into my car. I could still see Andrew standing at the front door. As I started my car, I looked at him one more time, then pulled my car on the road.
The next day, I had painting as my first class, and it was one of my favorites. Amy walked toward me when she saw me.
"How did it go yesterday night?" I asked.
"Very good," she replied, then asked, "Did you meet him?"
"Meet who?" I tried to act stupid.
"My cousin, Andrew. I got back home very late last night and he'd already gone to bed so I couldn't ask him anything. Do you think...he's good?"
I smiled but didn't reply.
"Hey! Answer me," she said.
"Amy, thanks for your concern but I'm really not interested in any relationship right now," I answered.
"You are lying, Tin. You are still waiting, right?" she asked.
I sighed and said, "Maybe..."
"It's only a kiss, Tin. And you may never see him again," Amy said. I'd told her about my childhood crush.
"No, I will see him next week," I said.
"Huh? How do you know?" she asked.
So I told her that Edward, Andrew and I were childhood friends.
"That means you are in love with Edward?" she asked.
I nodded and she seemed quite happy with that.
"Why you are so happy, Amy?" I asked.
"I am happy for you. Both of my cousins are gay so you are lucky."
"That doesn't mean any one of them will fall in love with me. I am not handsome or cute or smart or..."
"No, Tin. You are a beautiful young man, I am sure of that."
"Thanks, Amy," I smiled.
With that, both of us got back to our work again. "My painting is due tomorrow so I better work hard now," I thought to myself. I'd decided to call my painting "The Shadow of Light."
After a while, Amy walked toward me, looked at my painting and asked, "What are you drawing, Tin?"
"A mayfly," I answered.
"Mayfly? Those little bugs used for fishing?"
"Yep."
"Why draw them?"
"Well, the topic of this assignment is free. So I wanted to draw something I really wanted to draw. A mayfly's life is very short. They hatch on sunrise and die on sunset, so they never see the night. They only live under the light. Just like the shadow, if there were no light, the shadow would disappear. Do you get it? Hmm...I'm not sure if I can explain it better, it's only a feeling."
"Hmm...I don't think I fully understand what you said but you sounded so sad. Tin, are you ok?"
"I am fine," I said and gave her a smile. I could see Amy's concern in her eyes. I was happy to have her as my friend.
"I think there is no one who can fully understand my feeling," I said sadly.
Amy put her hands on my shoulder and tried to comfort me.
Since I promised Andrew I would visit Jared (what a straight promise...), I followed Amy back to her home after classes. When Amy opened the door, I heard someone yelling.
"Jared, give me back my underwear!" I heard Andrew shouting.
When the door was fully opened, something hit on my face. I caught it just before it dropped to the floor. It's an underwear! I looked up to see Andrew standing there in a towel again. When he realised it was me standing in front of him, his whole body turned deep red. Worse, his towel chose to come loose and dropped to the floor right at the moment.
I quickly covered Amy's eyes with both my hands as Andrew just stood there frozen with a look of horror on his face. Then he quickly used his hands to cover himself but I'd already seen everything. He quickly ran upstairs, offering me a perfect view of his round globes.
I was stunned but managed to recover myself because Amy was yelling at me. I had used Andrew's underwear to cover her eyes!
tbc