FRIVOLOUS SNOW

22:00 It reads the time on Chu Lian's watch as he checked it after stepping out of a convenience store to buy a light snack. He felt so tired he wanted to fly back home and lay down on his warm bed. He just came from Lee's house. Lee is one of his close friends in school. He went to his house to help him with his homework but most of the time, they were playing video games until it was already late. Lian bobbed his head with the loud beat of rap music playing on his headphones. Lately, he has been into that kind of music. He mumbled the lyrics as he walked on a busy street with a few people rushing home also. Glancing at different boutiques as he passed by, there is always this one boutique that catches his eyes. An old one that sells traditional clothes. They change the clothes of the mannequin every day with beautiful and vivid colored robe. Too bad, he doesn't have an interest in traditional clothes. Lian hurried towards the pedestrian lane, walking together with the crowd. Upon crossing the road, he suddenly heard someone calling his name through the screaming music of the headphones. It was strange how he could hear a man's voice when he couldn't even hear the rustling of the crowd or the traffic around him. Lian turned around and people tried to dodge him as they walked past him in the middle of the road when they suddenly scattered and ran like crazy. He could see their scared faces as they screamed but he couldn't hear them. He turned to where they were looking as he removed the headphone, letting it rest around his neck and heard a deafening prolong sound of a horn. Lian wanted to run with the people but his feet were stuck on the ground like they were glued but he knew that even though he could run, it was futile. He couldn't avoid it anymore that even the ones who got to run were hit also. The driver of a fuel truck lost control of the break and was driving non-stop towards a road that pedestrians just started crossing. He pressed the horn so hard to alarm the people and they started running away. The truck driver's heart was pounding as he tried to avoid everything on its path and plan on crashing to an establishment so he could stop the truck. He didn't want to die yet. He still has his family waiting for him to come home. Chu Lian was also wishing not to die this early. He has a lot of things to do in his life. He hasn't lived his life to the fullest yet and then s**t happens. He could only pray to be reborn again in this world before he felt the impact of the truck on his body. ××××× Yong Jie ate silently together with his parents and a sibling with one sibling missing who was sent out for an errand. The Yong sect leader, Yong Qiang, the head of the family, glanced at his sons. One son secretly propping his feet on his chair, Yong Yi, the second son and the mischievous of the three. Yong Qiang refers to Yi as the only rough stone among the jades in which the jades were his two other sons. Yong Qiang gently cleared his throat and glanced at Yong Yi who straightened up his sitting position and continued eating. Yong Qiang glanced then to Yong Jie, the third son, who was eating silently and gracefully. He was the coldest of the three. He rarely socializes and took everything seriously. Yong Jie, even though he was behind five years with Yong Xian, the first son, Yong Jie was able to achieve Yong Xian's level. Yong Qiang doesn't have a complaint with his third son since never did Yong Jie disobeyed him, unlike Yong Yi. Yong Jie finished his dinner and gently placed the chopsticks on the jade rest, horizontally beside the bowl with the ends aligned properly. Just perfect! Yong Qiang could never ask anything from his third son. Yong Jie stood up as he thanked Yong Meixiu, his mother, for the food and saluted before he walked silently back to his room. Yong Yi haphazardly placed his chopsticks on the table and said his thank you for the food and bid their parents goodnight. Yong Qiang just shook his head as he continues with his food and glanced at lady Meixiu. They couldn't blame Yong Yi for behaving like that since they spoiled him when he was a child. ××× Yong Jie couldn't sleep. He had a lot of things running inside his mind so he stepped out of his room to take a breather. He knew it was the night he was waiting for. With the moon almost at its full moon phase, he stared at it feeling glad that it would be that last scene he would see. "Oh, Ah Jie." Yong Jie glanced at Yong Yi who happened to pass by with a jar of wine on his hand. He could see how he slowly hid it behind him and approached him. "You're still awake. It's hai hour (9 pm ~ 11 pm). Isn't it your sleeping time?" Yong Yi asked. "I could say the same to you." Yong Yi chuckled. "The night is still young but I guess it's time to go back and sleep." He said. "Don't let father see you drinking at night." Yong Jie said hearing his younger brother chuckled and watched him walked back to the direction of his room. He decided to go back inside the room and dressed for sleep. Without any hesitation, Yong Jie reached the drawer and picked a small vial preserving a colorless and odorless liquid inside. He made it himself. A sleeping poison. Anyone would think that you were only sleeping in the first hour after taking the poison. It would kill you during your sleep. Yong Jie removed the lid and drank the liquid in one go. He thought of it for a million times. He was always like this when he was a child but he tried to keep it from his parents and lived his life from the expectations of the others. He never had a life of his own that sometimes, he envy Yong Yi for having a carefree life. That was why he doesn't scold Yong Yi that much and only gave him few bits of advice to keep him from getting scolded by father. Yong Jie could feel the effects on his body already. His limbs starting to feel numb. He laid down on his usual sleeping position and placed his hands on top of his chest as he closed his eyes and never to be awakened again. ××××××××××