The dark sky was packed with shimmering stars…
The brilliant moonlight blazed across the heavens, enveloping everything—the massive tree crowns, the grass, the flowers, the basketball hoop, and the concrete ground below—in a wash of pure radiance…
The moonbeams cast down onto a basketball resting on the floor…
A hand scooped the ball up, gently bouncing it between both legs, spinning it on a single fingertip, and tossing it overhead while driving forward toward the rim.
Instantly, the ball handler leaned his torso forward—SWOOSH!!
In a flash, he accelerated into a dead sprint, leaving behind a blurry silhouette.
Frantic footsteps thudded heavily alongside the rhythmic pounding of the ball hitting the ground, the wind blowing his hair straight back, his face drenched in sweat, when SUDDENLY…
He launched himself high into the air, everything slowing down as he seemed to hover suspended in mid-air, strands of hair floating in the breeze.
Eyes blue as the sky slowly came into view, brightening by degrees…
an absolute silence fell over the court, without a single sound cutting through the air…
SLAM!!!
…A direct dunk crashed straight into the hoop, echoing out as both hands gripped the rim tightly.
Thump…
thump…
the basketball dropped to the floor and bounced away while he swung in mid-air before releasing his grip to drop down, panting heavily as he pushed his hair back and turned on his heel to walk away.
Spreading out before him was a small pond filled with lotus blossoms.
He stepped down onto the grass, casually shoving his hands into his pockets, strolling slowly toward the edge of the pond as each footstep rustled the blades beneath him, before sitting flat on the ground and bowing his head to let out a soft breath…
sweat dripped from his chin, splashing onto the dirt.
The moon reflected off the surface of the pond, a gentle gust of wind sweeping past to disturb the tranquil water with light ripples.
The breeze blew past, causing his hair to shift slightly, and he tilted his head back, letting his black hair with white-gold highlights drape backward while his blue eyes looked up, the bright moon reflecting perfectly inside his gaze.
He slowly closed his eyes…
taking a long, deep breath and thinking: “This feels so comfortable…
I hope it lasts forever”…
He abruptly lay flat on the ground, propping his head up with one arm and shutting his eyes…
he raised his remaining arm toward the moon while slowly opening his eyes…
the soft sky-blue gaze filtering through his fingers…
He blinked once, his eyelids drooping slightly as he uttered a question: “This peace…
will it stay like this forever?”…
He slowly opened his eyes, his blue gaze seemingly glowing, when a door creaked open, and a middle-aged man poked his head out from inside the house.
“Hey Ersak, get in here!
The party’s about to start!” “Hm?!” Ersak jolted, his eyes widening as he faced backward and replied: “Yes sir, I’m coming right now!”.
Finishing his words, Ersak slowly stood up to brush off the dirt, turning around to head toward the house, which looked incredibly cozy with warm light pouring out from the windows.
Ersak stepped onto a path lined completely with flowers on both sides, and as Ersak walked, another gust of wind swept through…
The wind caused the flowers on both sides of the path to sway gently, and Ersak walked slowly inside, the flowers shifting their direction toward him wherever Ersak took a step.
Ersak stood before the door, gently reaching out his hand to grab the handle and pull the door open, the warm yellow light inside spilling out through the crack.
The moment the door swung wide open….
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERSAK!!!!” everyone in the house shouted in unison.
An older uncle with white hair staggered up from the drinking table in the back, his body completely limp as he smiled and bellowed: “HAPPY BIRTHDAY Ersak!!”.
His wife sat right next to him, covering her ears as her face tightened with pure anger, screaming back at him: “GOOD GRIEF, IT’S SO LOUD!!
WHY ARE YOU YELLING SO DAMN LOUD!!!”.
Ersak stood dazed for a brief moment before cracking a gentle smile and saying: “Thank you so much, everyone!”.
A little girl smiled brightly from behind Ersak, pushing Ersak inside while saying: “Ersak, go blow out your candles!”.
Ersak was pushed by the girl toward a table holding a cake—a two-tiered white cake topped with fresh red strawberries—as another uncle approached, pulling out a birthday hat and placing it on Ersak’s head while speaking.
The uncle: “Put this on first, then you can blow out the candles!”.
Ersak nodded, raising his hand to adjust the hat and saying: “Thanks a lot, uncle.” The moment Ersak finished his sentence, all the lights went out, and someone stepped forward to light the candles with a flame, and when every single candle was lit, applause erupted….
At the same time, everyone started singing….
“Happy Birthday to You!.”~ Ersak brought his hands together, slowly closing his eyes…
Inside Ersak’s head: “I wish….
this moment would last forever…..” With his wish finished, Ersak slowly opened his eyes, his gaze appearing even brighter than before…
Ersak bowed his head, taking a long, deep breath to blow out all the candles in a single puff..
When the final candle went out, everyone clapped and shouted in unison: “HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERSAK!!”.
The lights flickered back on, and Ersak looked up at everyone smiling toward him, “POP!!”..
“POP!!”, two party poppers unexpectedly went off.
Ersak flashed a bright smile and said: “Thank you, everyone, for celebrating my birthday.” A young man approached Ersak and threw his arm around Ersak’s shoulder, catching Ersak off guard, “Ah?”..
He smiled warmly and said: “Happy birthday, Ersak, I’ve got this gift and I hope you’re gonna like it!” Finishing his sentence, he reached behind his back to pull a small gift box out from his shirt, handing it over to Ersak, and Ersak accepted the gift upon seeing it.
Ersak took the gift, smiling happily as he said: “Thanks a lot.” Yet another person stepped forward, and Ersak looked up as the man scratched his head, saying: “Forgive this cousin of yours, okay, I forgot to buy you a gift, sorry.” Ersak let out a forced laugh and said: “Haha, it’s totally fine, sir.” He flashed a grin while saying: “I’ll give you a gift later, don’t get mad at me, okay!” Ersak replied back: “Yes sir, I’m not mad.” Out of nowhere, a young boy approached, dipping his hand into the cake before turning his head toward Ersak and the two older cousins to shout out loud: “HOLD Ersak down!!” Ersak and the cousin who had his arm around him stood dazed with question marks over their heads, then the cousin holding Ersak seemed to realize what was happening, “Oh!
Got it!” He held Ersak in a tight grip, causing Ersak to startle and try to break free, Ersak: “Hey, what’re you doing?!
Let me go!” The young boy took his cake-covered hand and smeared it right onto Ersak’s face, making Ersak yell: “HEY!
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!” Another little boy rushed out, stepping up to smear more cake onto Ersak’s face.
Seeing this, everyone couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing, while the first boy laughed as he ran away, saying: “Catch me if you can, bro, hahaha!!” Ersak broke away from his cousin’s grip and gave chase with his face completely covered in cake, his hands clenched tight as his body burned hot like fire, glaring with dagger eyes as he spoke slowly: “WANT ME TO CATCH YOU AND SHOW YOU WHAT’S WHAT?!” Finishing his words, he instantly gave chase after the two boys, the two little kids running and laughing so hard that tears streamed down their faces while Ersak pursued them back and forth, growing so incredibly furious that his temper flared hot like an open flame.
Ersak wiped the cream off his face with his hand: “FREEZE RIGHT THERE!!” One kid: “HAHA CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, BRO!!” The other kid: “HAHA LIKE WE’RE GONNA STOP AND LET YOU BEAT US UP!!” Over at a corner table in the kitchen, a woman sat laughing, her blue eyes matching Ersak’s exactly.
A voice barked out from the nearby drinking table: “Ersak’s mom, come over here and hang out!” Ersak’s mom nodded, smiling in response: “Yeah…” Her gaze tracked Ersak, her eyes drooping slightly as she thought inside her head: “I wish you’ll always stay healthy and happy just like you are right now” (she shut her eyes with a gentle smile).
Ersak’s mom turned around to walk toward the drinking table.
“It’s already almost 11 PM, huh?” Ersak chased after the two kids, his loud shout echoing through the room: “YOU TWO BETTER STOP RIGHT NOW!!!” Outside the bustling house, right along that flower-lined path, the wind kicked up continuously, causing the blossoms to sway and rock back and forth in the breeze.
Behind the window looking inside the house where Ersak was running back and forth, the flowers, the entire path, and the grass shifted following Ersak’s movements, rhythmically…
unconsciously…
Inside the house, the chase finally ground to a halt, Ersak and the two boys panting heavily after running around all this time, Ersak leaning forward with his hands on his knees as sweat drenched his forehead, while one kid lay flat to breathe and the other leaned backward, gasping for air.
Ersak spoke between heavy breaths: “Haaa…
haaa…
haaaa…
I caught you both, run again if you’re so tough!…” The boy lying on the floor wrapped his arms around his head, shaking it back and forth as his head spun, groaning: “Fine, you win..
I’m so exhausted, my head’s spinning like crazy, oh gosh!” Ersak and the boy sitting on the floor looked at each other and burst out laughing happily.
Ersak strolled over to the sofa amidst the surrounding sounds of laughter and cheerful chatter, plumping down onto the couch as his eyes grew heavy, slowly closing…
A middle-aged man stepped up right in front of the resting Ersak, his gaze incredibly heavy…
inside his eyes was nothing but a deep, dark abyss with only a tiny speck of blue light remaining…
he stared at Ersak but said absolutely nothing…
He slid his hand into his pocket to pull out an envelope, leaning down to place it right beside Ersak.
He straightened back up and adjusted his tie, thinking inside his head: “I can only give you this thing….
forgive this uncle of yours for not being able to give you a better gift…”.
As he spoke to himself, he ground his teeth tightly…
Letting out a long breath, the uncle turned around to leave….
flashing a smile, he looked back at Ersak and whispered softly…
“Maybe I shouldn’t have let you have that thing….
I’m..
truly..
so..
sorry….”.
The uncle’s voice trembled as he spoke…
drip….
a tear splashed onto the floor….
weeping openly, he uttered: “I hope you won’t remember this uncle of yours….”.
He spun on his heel and walked straight away, wiping the tears from his face as he moved…
having finished wiping his eyes, he adjusted his hat to hide his tearful gaze, walking step by step toward the door, when a boy came running wildly over.
He leaned his torso to dodge but bumped into the table behind him, causing a flowerpot to rock back and forth, nearly tumbling over before he quickly caught it.
He let out a heavy sigh, set the flowerpot back in its original spot, and turned around to open the door, stepping out to leave the party behind, one step at a time….
Something strange was happening to the flowerpot as the blossoms seemed to move, slowly…
one by one…
each petal dropped off, withering away, a single petal falling…
drifting gently through the air…..