That’s him
Andy’s sketch was nearing completion. He was stuck with the nose. He couldn’t decide whether it needed to be higher or wider. But the rest of the face resembled that of his dream guy. Sometimes he wished he had a name to put against the guy’s face.
On Monday morning, he had reached the library earlier than usual. It was a busy day since people had returned books over the weekend. He inspected them one by one and marked them as returned.
After two hours, he decided to take a break. He got some tea and sat down to scan the regional news. For his condition, remembering things about China was already difficult and so he prevented reading up about the western countries. For some reason, he had an inclination towards reading news from Hong Kong and Taiwan first. Maybe it was because he felt a connection with Hong Kong for some reason, and he had seen the dream guy in Taipei.
The biggest news was that of Hong Kong’s first gay pride parade. Andy scanned through the articles one by one. He clicked on the link to the photo gallery on one of the sites and viewed the photos one by one. People looked so happy. Andy liked looking at happy faces.
And then his eyes almost popped out. It was him — his dream guy. He was in one of the photos. The dream guy stood in the middle of the photo wearing a pink tee shirt and waving a big rainbow flag. Andy used the zoom function to close in onto his face. He looked so handsome!
Andy went through the photos again, from the beginning. His heart was beating faster by the minute. After all those weeks of attempting to sketch his face, he had finally found him in a photograph!
By lunchtime, he had found nine photos from different sources. He printed them one by one and marked down the source URL behind each of them. Unable to control his urge to run home, he went up to his manager and asked him to be excused for the rest of the day. His supervisor remarked he had never seen Andy so excited before and let him go.
Andy rushed home and switched on his PC.
“What are you doing here? Don’t you need to work?” His mom had a very surprised look on her face.
“No. I took the second half of the day off.” Andy smiled. “I found him, mom.”
“Found whom? Your supervisor?”
“No, mom. The guy from my dreams. La la la.” He sang to her.
“Really? Where?”
“On the Internet. He’s in Hong Kong.” He typed the URL for the first website. “Here. Look.”
“Are you sure that’s him?”
“Yes! That’s him. Look at my sketch. Do you see the similarity?”
She thought for a moment before nodding her head.
“I was right all along.” He gave her a hug.
“I’m happy for you.” She had tears in her eyes.
“I must pack up. I’ve to go find him.” He went to the wardrobe and reached for the suitcase at the top.
“But you don’t know who he is!”
“No, I don’t. But I’m going to find out. Soon!” He put the empty suitcase on the floor beside the bed. “What should I pack?”
“Have you spoken to Sky yet?” she asked.
Andy sat down on the bed. He hadn’t thought about Sky yet. Yes, it was his duty to tell him where he was going.
“Is it okay if I don’t tell him?”
“You must tell him. He’s your boyfriend. How can you leave without telling him?”
“I’m afraid he’ll try to stop me.” Andy got up and paced the room.
“He’ll give you some advice if it’s required.”
“Okay, okay. I want to take a nap now.” Andy wanted to stay alone for some time. She worried for no reason. He stretched out on his bed.
A few hours later, Sky joined them for dinner. Andy showed him the dream guy’s photographs.
“Are you sure you want to go?” Sky asked.
“Yes!” Andy said.
“But this is like rushing there without preparation. Why don’t you try to find out more about the guy from here?”
“How do I do that?” asked Andy.
“You could write to the photographers and ask them if they know him.” Sky smiled.
“Are you pulling my leg again?”
“No, baby. I’m not. I just want you to find out enough information before we go there,” Sky said.
“You wanna come with me?”
“Yes, of course. You’ve never been there before.”
“Thanks. I can manage. How complicated can it be? Do you remember — I’d managed well on the trip to Taipei?”
“I don’t want to take any chances,” Sky said.
“What if the photographers don’t know who he is?” asked Andy.
“Then we don’t go.”
“No! I don’t care whether I can find out any information from here or not, I’m going.”
“Let’s eat now?” asked his mom.
“You know what? I think it will be quicker to ask them in person than by email,” Andy said.
“Christmas and western new year are coming up. So, try to find out as much as you can. We’ll go in the second week of January.”
“Why do we need to wait so long?” asked Andy.
“Most people in Hong Kong travel during the Christmas holidays. Going there during the second week increases our chances of finding him.”
“Oh, I see. I hadn’t thought about that.” Andy grinned. Sky was smart, sometimes.
“There’s no direct flight to Hong Kong from here. We’ll have to take a connecting flight from Guangzhou. Or maybe go by bus.”
“Have you been there before?” asked Andy.
“Yes. I have.”
“Good. I’m glad you’re going with him,” his mom told Sky.
“No worries, mom.” Sky looked at Andy. “So you have a fortnight to find out the details. Can you manage on your own?”
Andy hated that question. Of course, he could manage on his own. Why did Sky need to be so condescending all the time?
“Yes, I can.”
“Let’s eat now.” His mom led them to the dining room.
