Dancing Seasons

Chapter 1: Eight Years OldThe playground was full of children of different ages, playing together and laughing loudly under the warm spring sun, parents and relatives sitting on benches nearby to watch over them. Liam loved the playground. He loved hearing the children’s screeching yells of excitement, loved the freedom of being able to drop to his knees on the ground and get dirty, loved running around mindlessly from one attraction to the other, and loved playing with the other kids. Considering it wasn’t something he did much, he was always excited to meet them and ask if he could play with them. Unfortunately, he didn’t have this privilege as often as he wished—his parents didn’t allow him to frequent such places, since it displeased his mother whenever his clothes got dirty and crumpled. Today was a special day, however, since his caretaker, Sebastian, had surprised him by taking him out of the mansion to play. Sebastian did that, sometimes, but he always asked Liam to keep it a secret because if anyone found out, they wouldn’t be able to go anymore. Liam was a good boy and didn’t tell a soul—he didn’t want him and Sebastian to be in trouble. Still, no matter how much the young boy enjoyed these days when he could pretend to be an average child in a typical city with normal parents, his reality was far from this—because he wasn’t a middle-class citizen. Liam’s family was very wealthy; his father was an influential business owner who had inherited a vast real-estate company, while his mother was a famous actress. They all lived in a large, isolated mansion in the countryside, owning horses and fancy cars, and affording permanent servants. The only downside was that the owners of all this wealth barely stepped foot inside the mansion, both too busy working, coming and going like flashes of light. From an early age, Liam was raised and schooled by Sebastian and the servants inside the property. Needless to say, he had no friends and barely interacted with people his age, which was why he was always so excited to be surrounded by other children. He knew these kids he played with were just temporary friends and that he would never see them again. Chances were, he only made another trip to the playground in a few weeks if he were lucky, but Liam would still enjoy the day as much as he could. Even if he didn’t perceive it in such complex terms because of his young age, Liam considered those friends to be something akin to an indulgence, like the treats he received when he was well-behaved. Those treats were short-lived, though, so while he enjoyed himself and liked to pretend that these days in the playground were something he experienced as often as other kids, he knew well not to have great hopes or expectations. He knew well not to take anything—or anyone—for granted. Because Liam often felt needy, he knew the disappointment of becoming easily attached would be painful, so he knew well by now that getting too close would eventually end up making him sad. He feared making friends only to never see them again, but this wasn’t something he dared to confess, not even to Sebastian. The last thing he ever wanted was for anyone to think he wasn’t a good boy and that there was something wrong with him. “Mommy, can I go play there for a bit?” Liam had been going down a slider when a boy’s voice echoed in the air, catching his attention. As he landed on the sand and quickly got up, he looked around to find the voice’s owner. He didn’t know what it was, but something about that simple phrase, uttered with so much excitement and hope, made him feel curious. “I’m sorry, honey, but Mommy has to go to work.” Blue eyes eventually found a duo of a dark-haired boy close to his age holding his mother’s hand, standing not too far from where Liam was at the playground’s entrance. The unknown boy seemed to have stopped, not wanting to budge as his mother tried to pull him along, urging him on. “But you already worked today!” The boy complained, pouting up at the woman. “I know, Adrien, but you know I need to go to my other job,” she replied, her face scrunching up in sadness. She was undeniably pretty with her fair skin contrasting with her dark long hair and eyes, yet they dressed humbly, her and the boy in well-maintained, but old clothes. Liam watched the scene as if mesmerized, his innocent gaze glued on the two for reasons he couldn’t fathom. “Come on!” the boy insisted, both his tiny hands grabbing hers as he tried to pull his mother along toward the playground. “I promise!” “Darling, we don’t have time,” she said, shaking her head. “We can come another time, okay?” “You always say that, but we never come!” the boy yelled, stomping his foot. “Everyone but me has already been to the playground! Why?” At this, Liam’s eyes widened in surprise. Had that boy never been to the playground before? Even if Liam didn’t have many chances of going there, he could at least say he had experienced it. “Because Mommy can’t,” the woman said, and while she hadn’t been aggressive, she was upset, as if she didn’t want to have to say this. “You know Mommy and Daddy need to work and Allen is waiting for us at home. I promise we’ll come another day, alright?” The boy stopped trying to pull his mother’s hand, yet his eyes, big and dark like hers, filled with tears as he looked up. She eventually heaved a sigh and crouched down, caressing his hands with hers. “There is nothing I wouldn’t want more than to let you play as much as you like, but we don’t have time,” she said sadly, yet soothingly. Tears of frustration fell from the boy’s eyes as he sniffed. “Please understand that Mommy needs your help. You need to take care of your little cousin while we’re working, okay? You must help Allen. You know how much he needs you, right?” The boy closed his mouth so tightly that his lips looked white from where Liam was. He eventually nodded, to which his mother smiled. Frozen to the spot, Liam watched the scene without blinking. That simple boy, who looked like so many other normal boys Liam had seen, also led a rough life, such that his mother didn’t even have time to take him to the playground, ever. Liam had always envied normal children, whose parents worked, yet had time to sit down for dinner with them, cuddle them, read them bedtime stories, and take them for a fun day out occasionally. It was his first time encountering another child who struggled in search of something, and it was his first time seeing how tough it was for some people to have time for such a mundane thing as letting their kids play. Liam was young and protected from the problems of the world and others around him, so to him, it always seemed like everyone lived the perfect life except for him. Seeing how other people also had their screwed-up situations was a little shocking to him. Liam’s throat felt unexpectedly tight—he felt sorry for the boy, whose parents apparently didn’t live far away but were always working, never at home. The woman promptly wiped her son’s tears away with a finger and stood. Then, hand in hand, the two went on their way, the boy taking one last, yearning glance toward the playground. His dark eyes locked with Liam’s blue ones for a moment, and he seemed a little taken aback at noticing someone was watching him. Even though there were tears still rolling down his cheeks and a small sphere of snot threatening its way out of one of his nostrils, Liam thought that the other boy was pretty. Awkwardly, Liam raised a hand and hesitantly waved. When the other boy’s free hand waved back, Liam’s heart skipped a beat, and he felt a strange sense of disappointment when the boy disappeared. “Liam?” Sebastian must’ve noticed how he had stopped playing to stare at the pair and had walked over to see what was wrong. “Did you hear that, Sebastian?” Liam asked, immediately turning to his caretaker, and clenching his small fingers around the fabric of the man’s shirt. “Yes, I did,” Sebastian replied gently, placing a hand at the top of Liam’s head. “What’s wrong?” “Can you go after them and tell that boy’s mom to let him play?” Liam asked hopefully, bright blue eyes looking up at Sebastian pleadingly. “We can take care of him while she goes to work!” Sebastian hummed slightly before crouching down until he was eye to eye with Liam. He smiled. “We don’t know them, Liam, so I doubt his mother would allow it,” he said. “Yeah, but still!” Liam insisted, emphatically. “You could ask her to let him play for just a little bit since he wanted it so much! It’s not fair to him! Don’t you think she was being a little mean?” At this, Sebastian released a small chuckle. “Most parents want to see their children happy more than anything, so I doubt that she was trying to be mean to him,” he denied, his eyes becoming a little sad as he looked back at Liam. “I understand your feelings, but that family is probably struggling so the boy’s parents need to be working all the time.” “Like mine?” Liam asked innocently. Sebastian shook his head from side to side. “Some parents, like yours, can have jobs that demand them to work a lot but they make a lot of money so they can have big houses, lots of food, pretty things, and many people to look after their children, like your parents,” Sebastian explained, choosing his words carefully. “However, not everyone is fortunate enough to make a lot of money, so some families work very hard and make very little money. That mother is probably worried about having to go to work so she can have money to afford tomorrow’s meals. That boy doesn’t have as many toys as you do, and neither does he have the privilege of being able to come to the playground.” Liam struggled to understand the meaning of the word privilege, but it was something Sebastian said many times, so he supposed it had to do with good things that he could afford to do. He had always considered the playground a rare privilege, but now that Sebastian mentioned it, it was a bigger privilege than he thought. “But…why does that happen?” Liam inquired, confused. “Shouldn’t everyone who works hard have lots of money?” Sebastian laughed. “Unfortunately, that’s not how it works, Liam,” he said. “Besides, having a lot of money doesn’t guarantee a happy life. Either way, even if I’m sure you feel sorry for that boy, it’s not our place to step in and intervene. That mother is just looking out for her family and doing what she thinks is best. Maybe the next time we come, he’ll be here and the two of you can play together.” “Yeah, I would like that,” Liam mumbled,‌ looking back at the entrance of the playground, his innocent heart somehow hoping that the boy and his mother would magically reappear. Of course, they didn’t. Despite Sebastian’s words, Liam wished he could’ve helped. Playing with others was so much fun, and not having friends sucked. If the boy didn’t go to the playground, did he even have friends at all? Probably not. Liam didn’t, and he had cool toys. If the boy didn’t have toys, he probably didn’t have anyone who wanted to play with him because kids liked other kids who had toys. Still, he couldn’t help the feeling of empathy he had for the other boy, even if he was a stranger. They shared a mutual pain, even if for different reasons, and when they had locked eyes, he instantly felt that they would’ve been friends if they played together. In the next few months, this thought would always help cheer him up whenever he felt down, and he wouldn’t feel so alone anymore.