When I was sixteen I met a boy. He looked at me trembling like a scared rabbit. He had big eyes of undefined color, barely covered by eyelashes so thin they were barely visible. His lips were closed tight, he looked terrified of something.

When he spoke, his voice had such a beautiful sound. I thought he wanted to make friends, so I replied. Maybe we could have bought some of these sweets and eat them together, I thought, but he remained silent for a while and then he just sighed.

I considered the possibility that maybe he had no money with him, he looked like one of the kids from the local orphanage. I can always spot them when they come into town, half of them have the same lost-puppy look, while the other half fakes arrogance to cover it.

I don't like pretences, so I was glad that he wasn't faking it and was showing me his true self. He wasn't trying to pretend that he was either rich, or strong, or indifferent.

On the contrary, while he was looking at the window he had an expectant, very emotional way about him that was endearing.

I appreciated that he wasn't putting up an act. He was just a boy who wanted sweets but maybe didn't have the money to pay for them. He was showing me his heart, and it was magical.
What could be more beautiful than being oneself to your last breath?

So I decided to buy him something. I went inside before checking my pockets, but it was too late now. I only had money for a couple of lollipops, so I bought them and gave him one.

Startled, he stared at me before taking it out of his mouth.
"What is this?" he asked. I explained it, surprised that he never had one before.

I watched as he licked it with a content expression of his face.

I could not avert my eyes. His joy was captivating, the purest soul I had met in my life.

I was never the same after that day. I had had a girlfriend for a few months, but I never knew that I liked boys as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I didn't see that boy for months, years even.

For a while I considered going to the orphanage and ask for him, but I didn't even know his name, plus I thought my father would have killed me. Orphans had no connections and no money, so not exactly on his favourite list. Let's not even start on the fact that he was a boy, how would I explain to my dad that I wanted to see him so much?

So I went on with my life and the thought of him slowly became nothing more than a faint memory. I had my school friends, and I went out with a couple of girls - and secretly with a guy too.

Three years went by and I wasn't thinking of him anymore, but the memory was still there, waiting for something to call it back.

One day I got out of school and decided to take a walk and then stop at my parent's restaurant for something to eat, when I saw a man running and someone else chasing after him.

I looked out of curiosity. The older guy had a bag in his hand and stumbled back falling down, and the younger guy approached him.

He was considerably younger and thinner, I couldn't understand why the other man appeared to be so scared of him. He didn't look scary at all to me.

The boy spoke with a firm voice.

"Give it back."

The man on the ground obeyed immediately. I widened my eyes, what the hell was going on?

I heard gasps all around me. The boy took the bag and hurried away. I joined a group of people talking and inquired on what had happened.

"Didn't you see that monster? I've never seen anything like it!"

I was between shocked and puzzled, what were they talking about?

I asked different people and got slightly different versions of the same monster, was I the only one who saw a man and a boy?

Maybe my mom was right all those times she told me that I was different. I always thought she only wanted to make me feel special like moms do sometimes.

I still remember the first time she said that to me. I was five years old and still in kindergarten. My usual teacher was sick and another one came in her place.

He was a tall man - or at least he seemed so to me, but I was so little I can't be a good judge of that.

He smiled all the time and liked to tell us stories, but I didn't like him. I was afraid of him and I refused to come out from beneath my little desk, and when my mom came to take me home I hang on her skirt like a koala scaring the hell out of her.

I remember that I cried and begged her to not sent me there anymore.

My father was very annoyed, he complained about my tantrums but my mom yielded and supported me.

"I will take a few days off work, the restaurant is mine too and I can do as I want, and I want to spend some time with my child."

He couldn't object to her words.

I stayed by her side all the time, following her everywhere, until one morning I saw that teacher with one of my kindergarten friends and I started crying, pylling at my mother's arm.

"Save her mom, save her, the monster took her."

She explained to me years later that at the time she didn't really believe me but I was so desperate that I wouldn't calm down so she took my hand and told me, "Let's go save her together."

We followed the teacher and the little girl. Later on I heard that he had seen her walking around and had approached her offering to buy her some sweets and then take her home, but he hadn't told her what he intended to do before that.

She had been told to not accept anything from strangers, but he wasn't a stranger, he was her new teacher who always smiled and made them laugh, so she went willingly until he asked her to get in his car.

She didn't want to do that, but the parking lot was deserted and they got behind the car and he started to caress her hair and face before lifting her skirt.

When we arrived she had her eyes open wide like a scared little rabbit and he was touching her. I didn't really understand what was going on back then, but I started screaming my lungs out and my mom joined me, only her screams were actual words.

"What are you doing? HELP! You monster get away from her!"

I grabbed the girl's hand and hugged her protectively while my mom started hitting the man with her bag screaming for help.

Soon a crowd arrived following her screams. There was a lot of confusion and the teacher tried to get away with it with soothing words but there was no calming my mom.

She kept telling everyone what she saw. "He was touching her! He had his hands up her skirt, look at Hong's eyes, she's paralyzed!"

It was a long day, when my father heard about it he became so furious he would have probably killed the man had he been the one to find him that day.

But what really stuck with me was what happened next. That night my mom came into my room and hugged me tight, then she told me that I was her little hero.

"Don't ever care what others think of you, you are perfect the way you are, ok?".

I had looked her in the eyes, crouching under the blanket.
"He was a monster, mommy?" Little me asked.

"Yes, LanLan, he was, you were right."

"Why nobody else say it, why they smile when he smile?" I managed to say between sobs, I couldn't understand why I was the only one scared, why nobody else could see how creepy he was.

"You know baby, often people only see what they want to see or what others want them to see, but you're different, you see the truth, you see what's really there, can you understand what I'm telling you?"

I was five, but her voice was sweet, so I ventured a simple:
"Is it good?"

She kissed my forehead and said, "It's a beautiful gift. My baby is special, nobody will be able to fool him."