Finally, a BREAK!

turn your kindness into strength

Alphard briskly walked along, paying little attention to his surroundings and more on his destination: the food court. He was dying from starvation, and the food court was the closest place that was able to remedy his problems. The white-haired gent picked up the pace; he wanted to get there, and he wanted to get there fast. He could feel his insides, namely his stomach, rumbling in displeasure, and Alphard was tempted to rub it and tell it that he was in the exact same situation. Of course, he didn’t lack common sense, and refrained from doing so, a beat of sweat appearing on his forehead. At the moment he was wearing tight, blue jeans and a white-and-blue striped shirt, topped by another white sweater that matched his fair complexion. His navy blue sneakers squeaked as he made his way across the polished floor, and he carried a bag filled with groceries that he used for cooking his daily meals. His culinary skills weren’t the greatest, but they were good enough to live on, a fact that Alphard was eternally grateful for. He rounded another corner, and then another. Pretty soon, he was certain that he had no idea as to where he was going, and found himself scanning the area for one of those maps that they usually had stationed at various locations throughout the mall.

He was almost desperate – how humiliating was it to get lost in a mall? There weren’t many grown men out in the world who had the skills to get lost in a mall, and unfortunately, Alphard wasn’t part of the majority. Alphard’s worried eyes followed the pathways he was able to take – he could go right, left, or he could turn around and try to look for another route to the food court. Unknown to Alphard, he was actually standing in the centre of the mall, and there were almost a dozen paths to choose from. Thankfully, his ignorance to this fact kept him from becoming more worried than he already was. The abasement was already apparent on his near white skin – they were now flushed a light pink, and his eyes shied away to the ground as he blindly chose to move to his left. He then proceeded to be swept away by the incoming crowd, forcing himself to move his legs so that he wouldn’t hit anybody. He was beginning to rethink his brilliant idea to go and get a bite to eat. Now his problems consisted of starvation as well as getting to the destination he had in mind.

Alas, as the crowd thinned out, he could make out the wonderful smell that wafted from the food. So, it looked like he had guessed correctly and was nearing the food court. His spirits soared, and a light appeared at the end of a dark tunnel. There was hope; God was allowing him to eat once more. He hastened his steps, and soon found himself in the middle of the food court, spinning to look at all the different little restaurants that would satisfy his hunger. He chose an authentic Japanese restaurant, ordering spicy ramen. Alphard planned on visiting it again for the main course, but for now he was going to take it slow and go one at a time. His mouth watered as the scent of pure bliss reached his nose, and he was now impatient to find a table. He wasn’t thinking straight, and as he looked for an empty table, he wasn’t able to find one. Searching for a bit longer, he spotted an empty table that was blocked from his view by a rather large head. Sighing in relief, he made his way over and hastily plopped his food down – and then gawked at the person seated at the other end of the table, enjoying his food. It took him a few seconds to process the information. The man was probably also blocked from his view by the man with the large head and he wasn’t able to see him, thus causing him to move towards the table and put his food down.

After all the information had sunk in, he blushed furiously, his face going completely red. “Forgive me, I – I, uh, I didn’t see you there,” he apologized quickly as he stood up, his body stiff and rigid, and his eyes scanned the area once more, looking for an empty table so that he could quickly leave behind the man, the table, and the feeling of immense humiliation.

Coded by AMB Tanz

turn your kindness into strength

The dreaded feeling of abasement was allayed by the kindred spirit who, thankfully, permitted the white-haired male to dine with him. A cheeky grin appeared on the face of the dark-haired man, directed towards Alphard. Relieved, he sat himself down in the metal chair that wasn’t actually attached to the ground – it was attached to the column that was holding the small table up. Alphard carefully set his cup of ramen down on the table, and he awkwardly fumbled with the chopsticks, avoiding the man’s gaze. The situation was already awkward enough – the fact that a grown man was intruding on a stranger’s personal space. It wasn’t very gentlemanly, but then again, most of Alphard’s slip-ups weren’t. Yet he still persisted in trying to play the goodie-two-shoes.

“Thank you…” he murmured quietly, attempting to retain his calm posture – it was probably long gone now. “You don’t know how much you scared me there,” he chuckled gaily, shrugging his shoulders and scratching the back of his head, a sheepish grin apparent on his face. He was regaining his poise, although pink still thrilled his cheeks as he lifted his face to look at the man. He was dark-haired and sporting a blue polo shirt, and if he dared to look under the table (which he didn’t), he would’ve noticed the khakis and the type of shoes that he was wearing. However, he didn’t want to seem weird.

“Oh… my name’s Alphard. Most of my co-workers tend to shorten it to Alphie,” he stuck out his hand, returning the gesture and shaking Alec’s hand. He then proceeded to fumble around with his pair of chopsticks and then attempted to catch some of the noodles floating around in the beef-flavoured soup. After a bit of vexation from Alphard’s part, he managed to get a few strings of noodles on his chopsticks, but before he could get them into his mouth, they slipped away and landed in water, splashing Alphard’s face with brown liquid. Wincing and recoiling slightly from the heat, he gingerly tapped his cheek with his index finger and licked off the soup. Too a woman, it might’ve even been seductive, but, no, Alphard was in the presence of a man. After realizing this, his face once again flushed red. He looked towards the ground, hoping the male didn’t catch his un-gentlemanly nature.

“Yes, busy,” he agreed, nodding his head, still avoiding Alec’s gaze, suddenly very interested in the piece of floating vegetable in his beef soup. “So… what brings you here?”

Coded by AMB Tanz

turn your kindness into strength

Alphard merely offered Alec a sheepish smile for his sympathy – he was indeed a kind man. These were the types of people that Alphard liked, the type of people who didn’t make fun of you because of something you did, the type of people who would instead attempt to comfort you, to console you. Alphard sought out these types of people the most, for Alphard was the type of man who would be making blunders on a daily basis. If he hung around people who made fun of him because of his accident-prone nature, then he wouldn’t be able to take the humiliation every single day, let alone having his so-called “friends” rubbing it in. His life would become torture, a living nightmare. The mere thought of it sent shivers up and down Alphard’s spine, and he shuddered slightly.

He had begun to tackle his bowl of noodles, though he was having quite a bit of trouble with the chopsticks. He splashed a bit of beef soup on his cheek, and though he thought he had been able to successfully wipe off every last drop, Alec seemed to catch a spot that he missed. The man reached forward and lightly dabbed at the spot where the supposed spot of soup was, and at first, he suspected nothing. After all, it was just another act of kindness, was it not? However, after observing the strange stares and sideways glances, he soon realized what had just happened. His whole face flushed a very light pink, right to the very tips of his ears. His body went rigid and his posture stiffened. His hands began to feel kind of clammy, and he realized that he was indeed sweating. Not everybody in the food court had noticed the little episode between the two men, but still, some did. It was incredibly embarrassing.

Then something unusual happened – Alec seemed to slide off of his chair and to the floor, banging his head against the table in the process. It was as if he were both embarrassed and ashamed for what he had caused. Upon closer inspection to the finer details, Alphard had reason to believe that his assumption was correct and he was experiencing more emotional shock than he was. Suddenly, he felt of wave of sympathy for the poor man, and he felt the need to walk over and pat his back, or stroke the back of his head comfortingly. However, he realized that those actions would only make the problem worse and thus decided against it. He didn’t like the feeling of being completely helpless, though. Still…

“Oh… it’s fine, A-Alec… no h-harm done, right?” Alphard chuckled shyly, though to a spectator, it wouldn’t have been very difficult to detect his unsure tone, speaking as though he was telling a lie. The wariness in his tone suggested that he was rather… uncomfortable. Though Alphard thought that Alec was a genuine good man, in retrospect, he was beginning to think that entering the food court was a very grave mistake. Sadly, there was no turning back, and it was up to Alphard to patch things up, seeing as Alec was in no state to do so.

Alphard couldn’t think of anything witty to say, nor was he able to dig up an interesting topic of conversation. Everything that popped up inside his head seemed to be a no-no, and that was very bad indeed. His hands trembled, and he bit his lower lip nervously. His eyes were glancing sideways; first to the left, then to the right. Was there anybody still watching them? Most of them had resumed their meals, paying no attention to the two very awkward men, although a meager amount still had their eyes trained on the pair, eager for more entertainment. Alphard gritted his teeth. There’s nothing to see here. Please look away.

“Everything is fine, Alec, I really don’t mind… I-I don’t think anybody’s looking anymore… everything’s fine, Alec, everything is just fine,” he consoled the poor man, sounding like a mothering attempting to soothe a wailing infant. He wasn’t very good at it, and his words came out choppy and unconvincing.

But he had to do something.

Coded by AMB Tanz

turn your kindness into strength

A sigh of relief escaped from Alphard’s lips. Alec had seemed to take his consoling words to heart, and as he said this, the young male seemed to be looking better than before. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips, the rigidness slowly fading away into nothingness. Alphard was looking rather haggard at the moment – no doubt from the stress of humiliation: his white hair that was normally kept neat and tidy seemed rather unkempt, though how it became this way, he didn’t know. His body was still rather tense, an after-effect of the temporary abasement, but he could feel his muscles steadily unwind. His breathing relaxed quite a bit, and he thought, given a few minutes, he would soon be able to look normal.

Another sheepish smile was plastered onto his face, fueled by relief and giddiness. He leaned in, setting his arms on the table and drumming them rhythmically. “Well… glad to see you doing okay.” Of course, part of the reason he felt humiliate was because there was that little bit of soup on his cheek. Maybe if he’d been able to eat properly, they could’ve avoided the whole ordeal entirely. Curse the man who doesn’t know how to use chopsticks correctly, he thought grimly, guilt sweeping his feelings away. Alphard felt guilty for some reason, though it was irrational. If every problem could be traced to a single, trivial action that one might’ve performed, then wouldn’t everybody be responsible for at least ten other things? For example, if somebody were to be killed, one might trace it to making plans with that person the week before…

Alphard was thinking way too deep. He shook his head slightly, though the action would’ve most likely gone unnoticed, judging from the strange turn of events. He eyed the man warily, blue hues attempting to detect any leftover humiliation or embarrassment. They found none, much to his relief, and he reclined back in his chair. He offered a genuine smile at Alec’s comment, following it up with, “Quite a shame indeed.” He eyed the shake, though, and felt an urge to go and get one for himself. He was feeling rather parched.

“Speaking of shakes…” the white-haired man stood up, hoisting his body up with one arm on the chair. “I think I’m feeling rather thirsty. Could you perhaps enlighten me? I’d like to know where you got that, I do believe I’ll have some myself.” The tense atmosphere was now gone, and it was back to how it was before, perhaps even better. Alphard acted as if he were a good friend of Alec’s.

Coded by AMB Tanz

turn your kindness into strength

Alphard offered him a sheepish, lopsided grin. “Thanks,” he thanked, nodding his head in the black-haired man’s direction. Alphard’s gaze followed his finger, eyeing a burger joint that looked like they offered good milkshakes; he didn’t know if they were good or not, but if Alec had bought one, then naturally he’d have warned Alphard if the milkshakes tasted horrid – Alphard firmly believed that he was a kind man, and any kind man would do something like that.

Before he set off in the direction of the milkshake area, the man advised him to finish his bowl. Another nod was sent in his direction. “Don’t worry, I plan on finishing it. It is good.” Alphard wasn’t lying, but perhaps that was his special preference for Asian food. Putting it frankly, though, that was all he really enjoyed about the Oriental people – the rest of their culture went straight over his head. That didn’t mean Alphard would’ve gone out of his way to insult it. He’d have just… said that it didn’t suit his tastes. There wasn’t anything wrong with that, right? Everybody deserved their own personal opinion, but he wasn’t incredibly biased.

The man’s phone rang, and Alec took the call, telling Alphard that he’d just be a second. Alphard assumed that he was going to tell him something else, so he patiently waited. He mostly listened to the call.

When he hung up, the man told him that he needed to be back at work; apparently he’d forgotten to do something.

“That’s all right,” he said quickly, offering another warm smile. “I realize that… that you think it’s not my fault. Your day’s been stressful, huh? Well, I guess that means I shouldn’t get in your way. Easy as that. Rest well… Alec.” Alphard mainly tried to sympathize with him, perhaps attempting to console him, but apparently his social skills had been lacking after the rather… uncomfortable event that’d occurred earlier.

With that, Alphard strolled along to the burger joint, waiting patiently in the long line of customers wearing anxious, haggard or impatient faces, and the occasional person wearing all three. Like Alec, Alphard realized that they needed a rest.

The line moved quickly enough, and with a milkshake in hand, he ambled on back to the table, expecting to see Alec gone so that Alphard could continue to dine in tranquility.

Coded by AMB Tanz