“A Friend In Winter” by MikasiWolf (part 1 of 2) [18+]

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Today I'm reading an adult story for mature listeners.

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If that's not your cup of tea,

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or if there are youngsters listening,

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you can skip this one

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and I'll have a new story for you next time.

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You’re listening to The Voice of Dog.

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I’m Khaki, your faithful fireside companion,

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and Today’s story is the first of 2 parts of

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“A FRIEND IN WINTER

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by MikasiWolf, a Singaporean Wolf Mercenary writer.

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“A FRIEND IN WINTER” has formerly appeared

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in the FANG 10 Anthology,

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published by FurPlanet Publications.

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His works have been published by Thurston Howl Publications,

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Rabbit Valley, Goal Publications among others.

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You can find links to more of his stories

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on his FA or WikiFur page.

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“A Friend in Winter”

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by MikasiWolf, Part #1

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of #2 Everyone in Twotown University loved the Christmas holidays, whether they celebrated them or not.

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Those who did went home to family or their SOs,

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while those who didn’t

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also went home to family or their SOs.

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Except for a select few,

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including Tsang Hai Jun.

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As is the case with many Asian naming systems,

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Tsang’s first name was actually Hai Jun,

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though everyone in school called him Tsang.

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It was Tsang’s first year studying World Economics,

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and in normal times,

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he would be looking forward to seeing his family back in Taipei.

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This didn’t include his older brother Hai Seng,

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but younger and older brothers never do get along,

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even less when they were felid.

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With his head marked with white and dark stripes,

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accompanied by a spotted pelt,

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many recognized him as a leopard cat, which,

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as Tsang had to constantly remind others;

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was neither leopard nor common cat.

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Tsang and his family were Buddhists,

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so they didn’t celebrate Christmas like some Taiwanese did.

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But like most traditional Chinese,

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they did observe Dongzhi,

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the Winter Solstice Festival.

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Falling during winter

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—22 December to be exact

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—some have made comparisons of it to Christmas, with its importance second only to the Lunar New Year,

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which heralds the coming of spring.

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In both these festivals,

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conversations at family gatherings

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tended towards the side of whose son and daughter got into university or

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compulsory military service,

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along with the dreaded

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“When’re you getting married?”

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Since his admission as a freshman in September,

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Tsang made regular calls back home.

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All through spotty Skype and Whatsapp calls, of course

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—long distance calls cost more than his student loans combined.

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Aside from having to deal with his dismissive brother,

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it gave a sense of normalcy

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despite being so far from his hometown. Ma and

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Pa had encouraged him to pursue his studies in the states

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for the reason that he would have “more opportunities”,

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but they also seemed to have the preconception

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that he would also have more opportunities to get hitched.

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Every other weekly call had them asking about his well-being,

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and even whether he remembered to use protection or not.

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That, despite the fact he had yet to meet anyone outside of lectures.

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The fact that he wasn’t all that suave and confident in speaking to others didn’t exactly help that fact.

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By the time December drew near, Tsang had

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had enough of parental interference, well-meant or not.

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“Ma, Pa, I’m never getting married, if that’s what you’re asking.”

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Tsang snapped on the phone.

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His parents always listened to his calls on speakerphone;

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all the better to talk over each other with.

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Sometimes his asshole brother even joined in,

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all part of being one big happy family.

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“Son, everyone has to go through the process.

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It’s part of the full cycle of life!

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Just like all your ancestors that came before.”

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“Well, here’s some news for you, Ma.

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I like men, not women.”

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Taipei has a progressive LGBT movement,

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though many traditionalists still frown upon it.

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Tsang immediately learned Ma and Pa

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weren’t any different.

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Their stunned silence was quickly punctuated by Hai Seng’s declaration

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that he’d be damned by the Eighteen Courts of Hell,

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and that he’d sooner kill him

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than have a fag for a brother.

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Tsang cut the call, and it took 15 minutes for his breathing to get back to normal.

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He could no longer return home,

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that’s for sure. His parents tried calling back,

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but he chose to ignore their calls, knowing ignorance was better than hearing whatever they deigned to say.

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And what was there to hear, anyway?

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“Son, you better do right by your ancestors, or the Gods help me, I’ll matchmake you faster than you can say ‘gay’!”

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Two nights later, when the phone rang and he forgot to check the caller ID,

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he heard the beginnings of a roar from what sounded like his dad

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and dropped the phone.

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The parents had sent him

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countless text messages, but Tsang couldn’t bring himself to read them.

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He’d grown up with his family

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for close to 21 years,

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if he included his time in military service,

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and he couldn’t bear to see the words of ridicule and denunciation from the only people he could have counted on.

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They hadn’t yet cancelled his university education,

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though it would probably be a matter of time before the admin office contacted him.

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It felt better pretending that he still had a family who would accept him for who he was,

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rather than waiting at the airport with cleavers.

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Needing all the cash he could have on paw,

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Tsang cancelled his flight back home,

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to receive 50% of the ticket’s value. None of Tsang’s

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dormmates knew about his sexuality.

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They’d likely assumed he was just another loner who spent most of his day studying or more likely jacking off to whatever porn he called up on his computer,

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as if anyone could jack off more than an hour straight.

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He didn’t have anyone he could call friends,

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unless he counted Mike Zhang,

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a yellow-throated marten who studied the same economics program Tsang did.

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Mike was born and raised in the states,

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his parents having come over thirty years back,

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and though he didn’t speak much mandarin,

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he and Tsang got along fine.

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He always seemed

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so laid back in lectures,

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yet always had an answer for the lecturer’s questions,

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and had a joke ready for everyone.

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Mike was on the debate club

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and had no shortage of friends,

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and Tsang had so far failed to talk him into going out for a movie or lunch,

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with others having beaten him to the punch.

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And as the Christmas break neared,

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all the students new and old

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packed their stuff and returned to their hometowns or birthplaces,

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till school resumed in January.

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December 20th came.

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Being alone in the dorm

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was a most surreal and unfamiliar experience.

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Whenever the other dormmates were around,

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Tsang could never summon the courage to tell them to change the TV channel to something he’s a little more familiar with,

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even if it was in Cantonese with English subtitles.

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They left him pretty much alone,

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but as Tsang saw it,

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all it would take was one dispute for everyone to hate him for the next three years they were to room together.

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Now that they weren’t around,

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Tsang felt slightly liberated having the dorm

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and TV to himself,

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yet felt something was missing.

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For lack of anything to do,

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the leopard cat headed to the mall to do some grocery shopping.

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The university campus was devoid of any soul,

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save for a few work staff and the university’s security officer.

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The university’s LGBT association had some of their lights on, however,

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suggesting they had an event on for those who hadn’t yet returned home.

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Or perhaps couldn’t return home for reasons just like Tsang’s.

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A knot made itself known in his stomach,

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and Tsang fought back the tears that threatened to come.

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He’d considered dropping in on a LGBT meeting

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to see what they had to offer;

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perhaps even see if there’s someone he could relate to.

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But the fear of cultural differences

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and the potential of someone he knew spotting him headed there

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caused Tsang to give it a miss.

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Even now, with the building more deserted than during the school terms,

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he didn’t think a great idea to pay a visit like he was desperate for company or something.

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The leopard cat made his way to the city center,

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where the roads were busier,

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and the sidewalks crowded.

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He huddled into his jacket,

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wondering once again if he should buy a thicker one,

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or wait for his winter coat to grow out, which it never seemed to do.

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Perhaps his body was too used to coming

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home to a warm house or something. His home in Taipei

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never lacked for heat, that’s for sure.

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And because of that,

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he now had to shiver

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in half-assed dorm heating.

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Last-minute shoppers thronged the corridors of the malls,

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looking for that special something for that special someone.

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Tsang wondered how many of them were there looking for something meant for their significant other,

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yet not being able to tell their family about them.

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He wished he had an SO to call his own,

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and not have to tell his family about them, but the

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truth was, he didn’t even have anyone remotely close. Mike was

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straight, and he wouldn’t be paying attention to Tsang even if he wasn’t.

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There were lots more choices for him in and outside of university,

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and the marten didn’t have to worry about an ocean separating him from the other.

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Tsang trawled the shelves of the supermarket,

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figuring that if he couldn’t celebrate Dongzhi at home,

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he could at least celebrate on his own.

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Instead of hitting the liquor shelves in a bid to spend his night drinking,

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he looked in the confectionary section for tangyuan,

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glutinuous rice balls filled with sesame seeds and sugar.

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They were an integral part of every Dongzhi gathering,

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and symbolized unity on aspect of their roundness.

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Despite the relatively international offerings on the shelves,

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no tangyuan could be found.

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The fact that few if any people here celebrated it probably helped make that fact,

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and Tsang settled for getting some microwavable mochi instead,

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his tail lashing a wild storm.

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He rarely drank, but grabbed some ramen fish noodles,

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fish chips and two cans of Tsingtao fermented milk beer anyway,

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figuring it would be a pain to rewalk the cold streets to get anything he felt peckish for.

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Tsang’s phone vibrated as he joined the snaking queue

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to the fast check-out lane.

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He always kept his mobile data connection on, and figured it was his parents doing their best to get him back in the fold again.

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Two expletive-laden messages had made their way to his phone recently,

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but the manner of phrasing had him wonder if Hai Seng was the one who sent messages

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through his parents’ phone.

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The older leopard cat was never creative enough to vary his sentencing and words,

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and one could pretty tell it was him who wrote any message.

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Figuring he had nothing better to do with his time,

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and the queue wouldn’t move faster anyway,

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Tsang thumbed the screen with a pad,

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his unsheathed claw slipping twice against the tempered glass screen protector.

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How’s your holiday so far?

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Tsang stared at the Telegram message,

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before registering that it had come from Uni:

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Mike Zhang Economics.

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Mike had asked him to join the guys for meals before,

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but aside from that project on Informal Economies in 3rd World Countries,

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never contacted him on the phone before.

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But then, this was also the first holiday break they had at the same time, so perhaps he’d just been flipping through his contact list in his spare time.

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Wondering if he should text back or save face with silence,

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Tsang hitched his groceries under his arm

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and settled for the former.

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Boring as Hell, he typed.

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Back home, words in the equivalent of “Hell” or “Death” were avoided,

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as it’s believed to bring bad luck or misfortune.

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Even the number 4 was avoided where possible,

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as it sounded like the mandarin word for “die”.

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But Tsang figured the rules didn’t apply if he wasn’t actually home.

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Shopping for some snacks and beer X0.

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Mike’s gotta love all these emoticons.

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Some call it “booze”.

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Where you at? Still at your dorm? :P

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Mike’s reply came fast enough that he was likely chilling on the couch or something.

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Yes. Tsang figured there wasn’t any need to lie about that.

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For the next 30 minutes he was in the queue,

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followed by the long walk back to what looked to be his new home for a while,

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Mike didn’t reply.

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Tsang had never felt more lonely. #

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Tangyuan is traditionally served after being boiled,

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but it seems that this wasn’t to be the case with microwavable mochi.

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Tsang stuck his tongue out as he scraped it down with a plastic tongue cleaner,

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wondering what possessed him to try getting a taste of home when mochi

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were most definitely not from home.

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The mochi had disintegrated as it was boiled,

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turning the water brown with its red bean filling, and Tsang had sampled one before deciding he’d pass.

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He cracked open a can of milk beer to wash the taste out of his mouth,

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and headed over to the common room couch,

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turning the TV on to see what’s planned.

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Plenty of Christmas-themed shows were on different channels,

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including Home Alone,

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a movie about a young dormouse forced to defend his underground country home against two psychotic cats

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when his family forgot about him.

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Just as he settled on that,

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the bell to the dormitory rang.

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Tsang’s ears stood as he wondered

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who could be visiting.

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Definitely not the housing staff; they had their own access cards and didn’t need to ring.

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Once they even entered when he was trying his hand at cooking pasta at the stove,

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and meekly offered them some.

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The thoughts of an armed gunman outside entered his mind

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as he thought back to all those online news stories he’d read before coming to this country.

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His parents had even insisted

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he bought a gun as soon as he enrolled.

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Tsang had refused,

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given he’d no idea how to go about this.

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Besides it would look strange that a foreigner was trying to get one for whatever reason.

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And anyway, his university didn’t allow students to carry on campus.

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They’d insisted he get pepper spray at least, but given that his nose couldn’t stand even the emissions of curry Tsang

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never thought it a good idea to incapacitate himself at the start of a fight.

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The leopard cat got up from the couch

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and pressed the intercom button.

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“Yo, who is it?” He added the “yo” so that the newcomer wouldn’t guess he was a foreign student on his lonesome.

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There was no response,

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and Tsang briefly wondered what to do.

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He then remembered the intercom system on their end had been broken since the semester started,

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though Maintenance had insisted they’ll fix it in due time.

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A month had already passed since the last request,

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and Tsang had no doubt yet another month would on account of the Christmas break.

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So this was what $30,000 a year got them.

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“Hang in there,” he said ineffectually to the intercom,

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and walked to the main door.

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Through the glass in the door,

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Tsang couldn’t see anyone.

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He decided that he’d open the door quickly,

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stick his head out and shut it if anyone tried anything.

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He opened the door and looked both ways.

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Seeing no one save bushes,

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he made to shut it,

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only for a resistance to make itself known on the door.

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“Surprise!” A flash of bright yellow and brown appeared before him,

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and Tsang jerked backwards,

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falling onto his tail.

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He cursed in mandarin, springing upright with his claws unsheathed.

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“Mike?” He asked uncertainly.

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The intruder held his arms out,

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a grin across his muzzle.

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The yellow fur on his shoulders stood out even in the dim light of the hallway,

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and in one of his paws was a six-pack of beer.

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“In the fur!” The marten proudly declared. Tsang’s

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mix of surprise and confusion had him slowly retract his claws

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as Mike helped him up.

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Tsang’s fur was all bushed out,

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and he tried his best to flatten it with both paws,

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licking his arm fur as Mike laughed.

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“You really should ask who’s at the door with the intercom,”

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Mike commented. “I could always be some nutter with a gun.”

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“Intercom’s down since the semester started.

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Who knows? Maybe for the last three years.”

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Tsang waved the marten to follow him through the hallway.

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“I doubt it. The seniors say this building got a makeover just last year.”

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Mike confirmed. “A piece of shit renovation it turned out to be, then.”

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Tsang opened his dorm’s door with his access card.

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“I was wondering when you’d get into the lingo,”

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Mike laughed as they entered the lounge.

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He stared at the remains of Tsang’s meal.

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“What, you were drinking alone?”

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“I don’t have much of a choice.

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Everyone else is gone.”

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Tsang shrugged, picking up the beer can where he’d left it.

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“Nice choice of movie, this.”

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Mike indicated the movie on screen.

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The movie had progressed to the psycho cats sharpening their claws with a hand file

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right after they’d considered the dormouse’s home

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perfectly ripe pickings.

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“It’s what’s on. I saw the mandarin dub back when I was a kit,”

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Tsang looked carefully at Mike.

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“Didn’t you say that you’re returning home for Christmas?”

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“Last I checked, Christmas Eve’s on the night of the 24th. Ma doesn’t

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mind as long as I turn up a little before then,”

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Mike chuckled. “My ticket for the Greyhound is booked for tomorrow, so I only have to wait till then.”

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The marten flopped down into the couch. “Speaking of which,

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I heard you saying you were flying home to be with the family.”

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“Not anymore. I cancelled my flight weeks back.”

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Tsang sat on the opposite couch.

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“Shiiiit…your family okay?”

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Mike’s muzzle creased in worry, his ears flat.

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He looked so cute whenever he did that,

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but Tsang wasn’t in any mood to think about such things.

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“They’re fine. So’s my jerk of a brother.”

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The leopard cat picked up his beer where he’d left it

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and sipped, but the familiar taste now tasted bad.

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The first time he’d drunk was back when he was 16,

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in one of the food streets that dotted Taipei.

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He and his brother Hai Seng got along better then,

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and Hai Seng wanted to celebrate his becoming 18 with two cans.

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Though Tsang was underage then,

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his bro had bought another two cans on his behalf,

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which they’d drunk till they were

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absolutely wasted.

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Hai Seng had checked whether Ma and Pa were asleep first before letting Tsang enter the house.

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It was the first time he awoke at noontime.

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Then Hai Seng had trouble finding work after high school.

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He was exempted from military service because of some health condition or other,

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but this also meant even blue-collar jobs weren’t eager to hire him.

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Tsang, on the other paw,

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did relatively well in school,

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and this made Hai Seng jealous.

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When he got accepted into an overseas university,

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the two brothers’ relationship took a turn for the worse.

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Hai Seng blamed his lack of opportunities to that of it all being given it to all the

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“uni scum” and was always ready to say it was not so much his skills

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as Tsang having gotten lucky in school.

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Tsang was more than glad to be rid of his brother ever since he left for the States,

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hoping he would return to Taipei next time to find Hai Seng had moved out.

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And here Tsang was,

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far from home, wondering whether or not his parents still accepted him.

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Hai Seng was now an even bigger asshole, but could he really blame him for that?

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The little brother he knew had bested him,

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and to top it all off

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had turned out gay.

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Back when the brothers had gotten along,

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Hai Seng had been pretty vocal about not wanting to have anything to do with homosexuals,

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especially after seeing one of the local LGBT representatives hand out flyers.

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If Pa wasn’t around,

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Hai Seng might have started a fight with them,

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outnumbered in public or not.

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“Then why are you still here?

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Family’s where the heart is.”

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Mike popped a can from his six

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-pack but didn’t make to open it.

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Tsang opened his mouth to explain,

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but wondered whether he should be sharing personal matters with the marten.

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After all, how well did they know each other, really?

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Here in the States,

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everyone referred to anyone they knew, classmates included,

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as “friends”, even though they might not go out to the movies together, or even be on talking terms to begin with.

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To Tsang, friends are people whom you felt comfortable with,

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people you could count on

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not to not sell you out to others.

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Sure, he’d spoken to Mike a couple of times,

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both about schoolwork and personal stuff,

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but that hardly counted as being friends, as much as one could call their coworkers friends.

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Even now, when Mike was telling him how family is so important and all that,

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wasn’t he just saying what any random stranger would say?

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Everyone says family is the most important thing in public,

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but the truth was, they probably had their own issues with them to begin with,

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shitty siblings included.

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Why were he and Mike even shooting the breeze to begin with?

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Because Mike was bored, and had no one else

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to talk to? “You know what, Mike? I don’t want to talk about them.

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Hell, all I want to do right now is watch Home Alone,

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and think happy thoughts opposite of the movie’s theme,”

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Tsang turned pointedly to the screen.

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“Hopefully, no psychotic canine comes along to ruin my fun.

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You can stay if you like,”

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the leopard cat added as an afterthought.

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Mike opened his muzzle,

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whether in shock or in the middle of an unspoken question.

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“Come on, Hai Jun. I’m just trying to help.

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No one should ever have to bear the burden of their problems alone,”

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Tsang flicked his ears at Mike’s usage of his first name.

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“Just tell me what it is, and we can work it out, alright?”

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“It’s a personal matter, and I intend it to stay that way,”

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Tsang snapped. “Look,

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why are you even here?

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Because there isn’t anyone else in your dorm you could talk or drink with?

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You think I don’t know how things work here, just because I’m a foreigner who doesn’t know any better?”

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“God above, Tsang.” The marten’s neck fur was starting to bristle,

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but Tsang had enough by now.

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Enough of people who wouldn’t think twice about ostracizing a homosexual coming to terms with his emotions,

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enough of asshole family members

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who wouldn’t accept their son

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for who he was rather than who he preferred to fuck.

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And last of all, Tsang had enough

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of a certain entitled marten

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who thought they could gatecrash

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his own melancholic self-reflection just so that

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they had someone to help while away their time

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before catching their own ride back home.

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“I’m gay, and I really don’t care what you think about that!”

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snarled Tsang. “And neither do I care what my family thinks!”

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He sprang up from the sofa,

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and Mike fell off the side of his sofa in shock.

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Tsang stalked towards the dorm door, yanking it open.

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“I think you’d better leave.”

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Mike stood slowly up from where he fell,

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his fur all bushed up.

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His expression looked uncertain

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as he walked slowly towards Tsang.

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“Tsang, I get that this must be all...”

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“Leave. Now.” Tsang’s voice took on an edge

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that had Mike stride out with his ears down.

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Tsang slammed the door harder than he ever had,

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his breaths coming in hard and fast.

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Now that Mike wasn’t in front of him

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asking difficult-to-answer questions about why he wasn’t going back to the family,

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Tsang wondered if he had overreacted to the whole thing.

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He didn’t have to tell Mike he was gay,

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and he certainly didn’t have to tell him to get the fuck out,

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although spending the afternoon in an uncomfortable silence with someone else

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holds very little appeal.

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But Mike hadn’t been a jerk to him in any way,

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and could always have found some other way to spend his time,

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such as pay-per-view television or something.

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Everyone seemed to have a subscription to Netflix these days.

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The marten had no lack of friends he could have called or messaged

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through any combination of messaging apps, let alone some foreign leopard cat

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he’d only spoken to a couple of times.

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Tsang put his face in his paws,

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wondering just how deep his problems had gotten.

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He’d been disowned by his family, no question about that;

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but he’d also ostracized one of the few people that would ever consider talking to him,

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friend or not. Damn,

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Tsang didn’t even have any childhood friends in Taipei he spoke to after High School came and went.

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He’d been alone most of his life,

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and now he would stay alone now,

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doomed to spend Dongzhi and Christmas

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and the rest of the holidays alone,

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subsisting on ramen

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and what passed off as shitty tangyuan over here.

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The leopard cat spied the remaining cans in the six-pack Mike had left behind.

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He really probably should return those cans to Mike,

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at least as a common courtesy, but Tsang couldn’t bring himself to speak to the marten at this moment.

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The last thing he needed was for a full-blown argument to make itself known

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right now and make the situation far worse.

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Besides, if Mike had brought the six

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-pack down all the way here,

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he must have been willing to share.

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Tsang would need something to take his mind off his troubles anyway.

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He prised a can of Budweiser away from the cardboard packaging,

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opening it with a satisfying hiss.

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The smell of hops and alcohol emanating was far more noticeable than that from the milk beer Tsang was drinking,

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and at least didn’t remind him of his brother.

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And as he poured the golden fluid down his tongue,

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the sting of the mix of fermented grains enlivened him somewhat,

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reminding him that for everything that happened,

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he was still alive and kicking.

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He drew his eyes back to the movie before him,

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Kevin the dormouse’s jury-rigged traps having wounded the psychopaths.

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Despite that, the two burglars remained determined to pursue the mouse

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who’d caused them so much bloody grief.

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This drew Tsang to an interesting observation.

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Like Kevin, Tsang was alone

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and vulnerable to the cold cruel world.

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A world that really didn’t give a shit about their fates mainly because they had no one to care about them.

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Despite the difficulties faced by the cat intruders,

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and being the lowliest of scumbags to say the least,

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at least they had each other to count on,

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to understand their trials and tribulations,

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even if it was a common enemy three-quarters their height.

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The leopard cat felt that having someone to count on,

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be they friend or lover

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would make life so much bearable, so much less harsh.

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He, Tsang Hai Jun had not a soul to count on,

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but that doesn’t mean it had to be this way.

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A warmth spread itself from the pit of the leopard cat’s stomach,

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and he sat up straighter in the couch,

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reaching for his phone.

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The modern world

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had its advantages,

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and Tsang knew how he could make use of that.

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He had a Fuzzbook account,

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though its settings were always set to private so no one else could add him unless they were friends of someone else

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who actually knew him.

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And in the US, that was nobody.

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Tsang unchecked all those restrictive settings and applied them,

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right before realizing

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this wouldn’t help him,

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at least in the short term.

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It’s not like people he knew from classes would be queuing up to add him on Fuzzbook,

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especially when they already tried and failed almost a semester ago.

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Tsang knew he needed something more immediate to find someone he can relate to.

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He knew about dating websites and apps;

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they were popular in Taiwan where one’s success in life

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was also counted in whether you had a girlfriend or boyfriend.

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But those required time to build up a conversation

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and trust with someone before meeting them,

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assuming things even got that far.

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The leopard cat doubted anyone would be online or even be checking their accounts with Christmas so close.

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Tsang flipped through the other apps he had installed in his phone but never used.

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These included Tinder, Grindr and Knaughty.

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He remembered from his search months ago

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that Tinder seemed more oriented towards a straight audience,

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and Knaughty seemed more targeted more towards canines,

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what with emphasis on the more canid details such as tongue length and knot size.

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He’d liked Grindr the most,

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because of the good-looking male models he’d seen there,

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but have yet to install it because he didn’t have the confidence to talk to anyone there.

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Tsang figured that it’s time for him to set up an account after all,

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something that was long overdue.

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There were several sections

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regarding his personal details that he filled up,

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including “Pelt Makings” and “Sheath/Shaft Appearance”,

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of which he took a selfie of his own dick he stroked to feline perfection.

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Thrice Tsang had to retake the photo so that his barbs were shown in full view,

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though he hoped that wouldn’t put anyone off.

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But better to be rejected beforehand than right at their door, right?

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He checked the location map of other nearby Grindr users,

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noting that most of them were situated in the City Center.

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There were at least three others on campus, however,

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or at least those who didn’t turn their location finder off.

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One was in the staff block,

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probably a TA or lecturer.

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Tsang figured it might be better to speak to someone of his own age,

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so that they had some common ground to begin with.

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It’d be a real joke speaking to someone who could be grading him on this semester’s finals

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and have a shit grade come back to bite him in the ass.

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Looking at the map once more,

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Tsang saw an account by the name of

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H4ppyLife

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located somewhere in a dorm building.

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The name looked promising.

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And he was a jaguar,

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so there would at least be some species familiarity.

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Tsang took a minute to gather the courage to type a message out to the guy.

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Yo, you hanging out in the dorm or something?

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Tsang typed. Despite not having done anything like this,

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Tsang didn’t think he had time to watch a Youtube video or read an article on the best conversation opening lines he could use.

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Especially when the few people who would understand his situation

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could already be getting ready

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to leave for home.

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It was several tense minutes as Tsang stared at the form,

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praying to the Heavenly Deities

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that H4ppy would reply with something, anything, so that

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he could go through another avenue of recourse already.

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Then H4ppy’s status changed from “Away” to “Online”,

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followed by H4ppyLife:

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Yep, nowhere else to hang around!

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Family is and will always be a pain xP,

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came the reply. Well,

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they definitely have a common point to relate on.

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In this case, a shitty family.

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Tsang’s tail quit lashing in anxiety,

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an involuntary purr building up in his throat.

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The use of emoticons would also mean this guy would express his emotions overtly.

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Tsang always had difficulties reading other people’s emotions,

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even if they were of a similar species,

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but this could have been from being on his lonesome much of the time. H4ppyLife:

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What’s up? You don’t seem in a rush to get back home either. ×.×

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A confident guy the jaguar seems to be. Lonelyheart:

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It’s complicated. You don’t want to hear about it.

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Tsang kicked himself right after he sent the message.

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If he sounded troubled,

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practically any sane person wouldn’t want to touch or whack him with a barge pole,

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or whatever the idioms around here was. H4ppyLife:

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Hey, lighten up already.

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That’s what this app’s for :D.

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Look, how about you come up and let me take care of it for you?

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My dorm’s in Elden’s Gate, level 2.

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Just ask for me at the intercom?

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Gods of the Heavenly Palace,

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was this guy a professional counsellor or what?

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Not wanting H4ppy to think him ungrateful,

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Tsang thumbed out a quick reply. Lonelyheart:

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Thanks! See you there :) #

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This was the the #1 of #2 parts of

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“A Friend In Winter”

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by MikasiWolf, read for you by Khaki,

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your faithful fireside companion. Tune

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in next time to find out how Tsang’s search for friendship goes?

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As always, you can find more stories on the web at thevoice.dog,

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or find the show wherever you get your podcasts.

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Thank you for listening

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to The Voice of Dog.