At first, he didn’t notice it.
The boy who had once scattered his toys, once mocked his silence—was simply *around* more often. At the edge of the group. Near the two boys who had always stood by him. Sometimes walking behind them, sometimes beside.
It wasn’t sudden.
Just subtle.
One day during snack, the boy sat a few seats away instead of across the room.
Another day, he passed him a crayon during drawing time without saying anything.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Little things.
His friends didn’t say much either. But they didn’t push the boy away. They let him sit with them on the carpet, let him join their block towers, let him laugh—loud and rough at first—until it softened.
There were moments when the tension returned.
A glance too long.
A silence too sharp.
But nothing spilled over.
One afternoon, while they were all outside, the boy—the one who had called him weird—walked up to him holding a broken toy car. He didn’t say anything, just crouched next to him in the sand and started pushing it around in lazy circles.
He didn’t look up.
But he didn’t move away either.
And that was enough.
From then on, the boy came more often.
He didn't talk to him directly—not yet. But he was there, and he didn’t make fun anymore. He even stood up once, when another kid tried to grab something from his hand.
“He had it first,” the boy said flatly, without looking back.
It wasn’t dramatic.
But it was real.
Something was changing.
One day, while the four of them sat around a puzzle, the boy nudged a piece toward him—the final corner that had been missing. Their fingers brushed for a second.
He glanced up.
The boy met his gaze for just a heartbeat, then looked away.
No smirk.
No cruelty.
Just a nod.
He placed the puzzle piece.
And for the first time, they all sat there—four of them—together.
Not perfect.
But possible.
Should the chapter be longer or is this enough?
