"The Christmas Wish"

Chapter 1
Spring

Daniel paced down the darkened corridor of the martial arts academy, gym bag slung across his shoulder. It had been a long day, and he was looking forward to meeting his ex-girlfriend for dinner. It was odd, but they had gotten even closer to each other since breaking up.

“Excuse me?” a small, hesitant voice piped up. It was the little boy by the table in the entrance hall, still in his martial arts uniform. Daniel had grown accustomed to seeing him every day when he walked in for his lesson, and the boy was often still there after he was finished, hunched alone over a pile of homework.

“Can you help me with this please?”

Daniel stopped and scanned the loping handwriting on the worksheet that the boy pushed forward. Dropping his bag, he sat down beside him and started sketching and explaining. “I get it, I get it now!” his brown eyes twinkled as he smiled appreciatively. “I’ve been struggling with this for over an hour, thanks so much, urm… mister?”

“I’m Daniel.” he responded, surprising himself. He had never had much affinity for kids, but this boy set him at ease, and he glowed at the compliment.

“I’m Tommy.” the boy introduced himself with a foxy grin. “You’re really awesome! Can you help me with my homework every day?”

“Urm.. sure.” Daniel grabbed his bag, started to make his way to the exit, and then paused and turned around. “Tommy, the last kids’ class ended at 5pm. Do your parents…”

“My pick-up comes late.” the boy interrupted tersely and burrowed back into his homework. Sensing his discomfort, Daniel quietly opened the main door and shut it gently behind him. Stepping out into the bracing night air, he stole a glance back at the diminutive figure, huddled over the table and scribbling furiously under the flickering fluorescent lights.

+---+---+

They walked down a shiny black staircase, past a long mahogany bar and settled into a private booth. It was much too dark and the mood music irritated Daniel, but it was Tasha’s favorite restaurant. They chatted about work, the weather, and the recent vacation with her new boyfriend.

“What about you, Danny? Are you seeing anyone?”

“No.” he shifted uncomfortably.

“Well, have you tried looking online?”

“I’m not… really into that. Maybe you can introduce me to one of your girlfriends?”

Tasha grimaced. “Danny, you do know why I left you, don’t you?”

“I wasn’t good enough in bed?”

“NO! Your technique was great. But it was also obvious that you were just performing for me, and that you didn’t really want to be there. I know you went and read all the books, memorized everything and then practiced by yourself beforehand to get it just right, didn’t you? Always perfectly prepared.” Daniel looked away sheepishly and tugged furtively at his napkin.

“Danny, I love you, and probably always will. But while I suspected it before, now it’s clear to me that you prefer guys. I’ve accepted that you can never love me the same way I love you. Why can’t you accept yourself?”

“But my parents expect…”

“Your parents, your parents! You’ve always been the good son, the perfect son, you studied hard, you got into a top school, you got a high paying job as a software engineer. But Danny, you are twenty five years old now. You’ve got to live your own life and make your own choices. Is this martial arts thing another one of your parents’ ideas? To make you more manly?”

Daniel was busy examining the fork in his hand with undivided interest. “I met a kid at martial arts class today. He said I was good at explaining math problems.”

Tasha took a deep breath, shook her head and sighed. “Danny, you’re a really nice guy. Why do you insist on building this cage around yourself? If you keep going down this path, you’re going to end up a prisoner in your own skin. Please, please let yourself out.” She leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek. “It’s getting late. We should get going.”