The Best Gift

The Best Gift

            That lonely boy sat on the couch in the living room with a laptop on his lap and a PSP along with a Nintendo DS by his side. He ignored his eldest brother, Li Te’s yell asking him to turn off the TV, as he wasn’t even watching it instead he kept his focus on the StarCraft game.

            Kui Xian, he’s a nineteen years old boy and he’s also a pro-gamer. The reason he played games was that he’s lonely. He had been an unaccompanied boy for four years already. It’s not that he didn’t have anyone around him. He got his brothers by his side but he always felt that empty space in his heart. The empty spot that no one else can fill except a person named ‘friend’.

            He once has had a friend, Cheng Min. He was his best mate ever since they’re in kindergarten. Kui Xian was a shy boy and Cheng Min was the first person that extended his hand to be friend with this boy. The latter enjoyed playing piano and guitar. He also had a black belt in taekwondo. They grew up together; they play and fight, just as other boys do.

            After ten years of tears and laughter, Cheng Min came to him and said goodbye with a bland smile carved on his lips. Although it was a ‘Goodbye’, for Kui Xian, it was not good, not at all. He tried to forget about him and he decided to immerse himself into games. For him, games are thousand times better than real life. There were always a ‘Game Over’ but after the game was over, there will be a ‘Try Again’ button. For years, he isolated himself from other people and his only companies were his family and of course, the games.

            As time passed, he managed to recover with a bandage over his heart. He didn’t want the scar to bleed again so he always made his heart believe that friends come and go; old memories could always be painted over by new ones.

            Kui Xian went to a store on the Christmas Eve to buy something for his beloved brothers. Although he kept ignoring them, only he himself knew how much he loved his brothers. He passed a shop that sell gadgets and something had caught his eyes. He went in, at first, to look at the game consoles but then he saw a boy who was looking at the game consoles. He was standing there, maybe thinking about which one he should buy. Kui Xian felt like he knew this person. He focused his gaze and suddenly the boy turned to him. The pair of shining brown orbs was staring straight to him.

            The corners of that boy’s lips were rising slowly and his eyes were filling with tears. Smiles were formed on both of their faces. He was definitely sure that the boy was his long lost best-est friend. He was certain that the boy is Cheng Min. His whole body and brain also agreed to that. They were staring at each other, silently. All of a sudden, his brothers popped from nowhere and wished ‘Merry Christmas, little baby!’ to him. He was completely tongue-tied.

            That night, Kui Xian spent the Christmas Eve gaming, again. However, that time, it was different, he spent that night gaming with Cheng Min, the one that he missed the most, the one that he hated the most for leaving him, the one that longed a lot, and the only friend that he loved a whole bunch. For Kui Xian, that was the best present he ever got for Christmas in his entire life.