Chapter 90: Side Story-14
JOHN
"Do you like it when it’s snowing, Steve?" I ask as I look down at Steve who appears to have diamonds in his eyes as he looks at the white environment around him.
"Yes..." He replies, his eyes sparkling as he reaches out his tiny hand to catch a snowflake, "It looks pretty."
"Do you know, what I wanted to name you when you first came to me?" I smile at him mildly.
"What?" He cranes his neck to look up at me, his eyes wide with curiosity.
"Yukio," I reply, my smile is getting wider. Steve blinks, clearly not understanding the meaning of my words. I chuckle and slowly explain it to him, "It means ’snow boy’. I first saw you on a snowy day like this." I regard the white environment.
"Oh." Steve lowers his head, "Then why did you not give me the name?"
"Hmm, then dawn on me that ’Steve’ was given by our mother. So I didn’t change it after all." I squeeze his small gloved hand gently, "This is the only thing that was given by our mom to you. Your name, so I didn’t want to take that away from you."
Steve doesn’t seem to be listening as he eyes the snowfall intently as if they are about to turn into something big and grow a mouth to talk to him instead of me. I smile at him.
"We should go home now, Steve," I say as I look around. The night has fallen and everywhere is covered in white. Ruth won’t be able to meet us today as he has some emergencies.
Ruth works a lot. But I don’t mind. I am always free and welcoming when it comes to him. So we still get plenty of time together.