That day I wandered around, listening to all the stories of this mysterious monster or scary ghost or whatever, and stopped when I noticed a big group of people.

I walked closer, curiousity guiding my steps, and then I saw him, the same boy that stopped that man before. Apparently the running man was a thief, and this boy retrieved whatever he had stolen.

Everyone was looking at him now, and it was clear that he didn't like it, he didn't want people to know that it was him. I felt a surge of sympathy and moved forward to help him get out of that situation.

I made up a story about a hero turning into a monster to scare the bad guy away, adding a touch of black mist to give it more color.

I was laughing inside at the absurdity of it all, but if these people were ready to believe in monsters and ghosts, then why not a superhero?

I wanted to go back and tell my mom about it, so I turned and went on my way, but before that I winked at him because he was so cute standing there with his mouth open as if I had just saved his life.

I didn't go far before he stopped me.

"Did you really see what happened?"

Oh I see, he's afraid I might know his secret.

Well, in a way I did, I knew it was him, but I didn't know how he managed to fool everyone else. Still, he looked so anxious and something like terrified that I couldn't bring myself to admit it so I told him half of the truth.

We introduced ourselves. Shen Wei, what a nice name, I had never heard anyone talk about him and I wanted to know more.

"Do you live around here?" I asked, and once again he looked uncomfortable for some reason. He didn't lie when he said he just got here, I was sure of it, as I was sure that it wasn't all there was to it.

It wasn't my place to press him for answers he wasn't ready to give, so I wished him good luck on his job hunt and was about to go away again when he called me back.

I was surprised, I thought he'd be relieved that I wasn't asking him any more questions, but he didn't say anything, he just stood there with his mouth open.

Gosh he was so cute when he did that, I suddenly had an idea.

"Do you know how to cook?"

He could work for my parents! We had enough waiters already, but he could help in the kitchen. My father had never wanted anyone in there and did all the cooking by himself, but he could certainly use some help and it would give me the chance to see the boy often and learn more about this charming mystery called Shen Wei.

I dragged him to my parents restaurant and looked straight into my mother's eyes.

"This is my new friend Wei, he's looking for a job so I told him he could work here."

I sent silent signals to my mom, making big pleading eyes in her direction and she understood me as she always does.

She always believed in me, I must have done something really good in my past lives to earn a mom like her.

She quickly agreed that they needed some help and our efforts combined left no choice for my father but to agree.

I grinned in satisfaction and my mom shot me a look that meant 'we will have to talk about this', and we did it that night.

She came into my room after my father had gone to sleep and sat on my bed. "Will you tell me now why I hired your new friend today?"

It was difficult to explain, but she always listened to me and believed in me, so I had no secrets for her.

"He's different mom, he has a secret and I want to find out who he is."

"A secret? What kind of secret? Should I be worried?" she asked with a frown, and I knew what she meant.

"He's a good guy mom, I'm sure of it." I said so she wouldn't worry.

I didn't say anything more because I had nothing else to say, but this seemed to satisfy her for now, she gave me a kiss and went to sleep.

From that day, I saw Wei every afternoon after school. I ate at the restaurant waiting for him to stop working then we would go out, chatting like old friends and getting to know each other.

The more time we spent together the more he intrigued me. It took me a few days to remember that we had met already years ago.

How could I forget my first gay crush? I couldn't believe it, but three years had gone by and he looked... well, older, more mature, more confident, he was no more the lost sheep I had met that day, he looked more like a young adventurer now.

I often wondered if he remembered me, I hadn't changed much, or at least I thought I didn't, but he never said anything and I never mentioned it.

It would have been weird to tell him that I still remembered him after talking for like half an hour three years before. It was only normal if he didn't remember me.

We spent all our free time together, but I began to wish for some time alone with him. We were always at the restaurant or in public places, and I wanted a bit of privacy... so we went to his place. It was a small, spartan room, the cooking books were the only personal touch, the rest was completely anonymous.

There wasn't even a television, how did he pass the time when he came back here? There was a chair by the desk, but I sat on the bed so that he could sit next to me, which he did.

He suggested going to play videogames, but he never played, why couldn't he suggest something he liked?

I wanted him to have fun too, not just go along with what I liked. I had asked my parents about him, they said he was hard-working, determined, set out to prove himself to them, even my father wasn't complaining, which was a praise in itself.

But with me, he never showed any initiative, and accepted anything I suggested.

The weird thing is that I was sure he never lied, like he wasn't lying now when he said he liked watching me play.

Maybe I wasn't the brightest guy in the world, but I understood the things that mattered.