Bab 21: What is a Home?
Wolfe frowned. "Leon, I....."
Leon turned away from him again, saying in a lazy tone. "Well, that's enough reminiscing for me. I'm really tired, don't bother me anymore. Good night."
The actor didn't say anything anymore as well, and they both slept with heavy hearts.
Meanwhile, Leon dreamed of something.
A lion cub and a wolf cub climbed on the tree, crawling up an arm- thick branch.
At the end of this branch, resting in a snug little corner of the tree, was a bird's nest.
They observed the baby bird quietly, waiting for it's mother with quiet chirps. Then, its mother did came flying and brought a worm in its beak.
"Why do birds have nests?" A quiet voice came.
It was the chubby little wolf, asking in a whisper at the little lion's ear, so soft that it was almost inaudible.
The little wolf was scared that even the slightest noise would scare the strange creatures in front of him.
The little wolf had never watched animals this close before. He was always cooped up inside their house, never leaving his mother's side, his mother wolf afraid that even the wind outside would hurt her child.
If she learned that his little cub climbed a tree, watching birds in such a dangerous position, he would definitely get some spanking.
That was what the little wolf was afraid of so he hesitated for a few minutes before taking the little lion's hand to grab the low hanging branch.
But the lion promised that nothing will happen to him as long as he's here, and the lion always spoke the truth. So the little lion gave him his first time tree-climbing.
"It's their home." The little lion answered his question briefly.
The little lion is smart, he knows many things and can answer the wolf's many questions about the world that he didn't know about because of being an overprotected child.
But he never answers too much or too little, staying humble and never acting superior to the little wolf. His tone when speaking with him is always gentle, but he was very honest and never hides his real thoughts.
Noticing the little wolf's reaction to the word 'home', he asked "What's wrong? You look confused."
"Gege..." The little wolf fidgeted, interlocking his fingers and moving them up and down like fluttering wings.
He always do this when he's in deep thought, and starting to feel down again. "To you, what is... a home?"
"You're asking me what is a home?" The little lion faced him and sat on the branch, his legs dangling on the air.
"Hmm... The basic definition of a home is someplace a family stays in."
"So it's like a house?"
"Kinda. Most of the time it's a house." He pondered for a while, knowing well that the little wolf is not really asking him what a home means.
There's a hidden question in his tone. He obviously knows what a house and a home is.
He's trying to lead the conversation into something, so the little lion tried to guess what it is in order to give the best response.
He didn't take a while to think, but he thought it through very hard.
He said, "But my teacher told me there's a difference between a house and a home."
The little wolf's eyes widened in interest, as he explained:
"A house can still be a house when no one's there, but a home can't be a home without anyone staying in it."
"I think a home is someplace important to you, someplace you've stayed in a long while with important people, someplace you'll always return to or someplace you'll miss when you leave it."
He observed the little wolf closely, gazing at his deep black eyes.
This little wolf seem like a little dense to others, but he is actually very shrewd, and knows how to say the right words to get the outcome he wants.
If he wants to express himself fully, instead of saying it outright, he uses roundabout methods. This seems to be his nature, it's just the way he is.
The little lion wasn't like that, but he finds it interesting.
Still, he doesn't like seeing the little wolf so bothered for long.
He wants to immediately fix it, so he asked, "Xiao-Xiao...Why did you ask me this?"
The little wolf looked at him, expression unreadable. But his eyes bear a sorrow weighing on him.
"Gege, by your definition..... I don't think I have a home."
The little lion's expression didn't change from this revelation, only showing that he is willing to listen whether or not the little wolf wants to continue.
The little wolf's eyes were focused on the bird's nest. "Someplace to return to... to miss when you're gone... We don't have that. "
"We had many houses. We had one in Italy, in Poland, in Pakistan, in Singapore... I can't remember the others, but we have lots of houses."
"None of them are homes according to what gege said. I don't miss them, and they're not important to me."
"What about the one you stay in now? You always say when you leave that you're ' going home '." The little lion said.
"Oh, I just got used to that expression. We only stayed in the penthouse for two weeks now. I know we're not going to stay there for long. I won't miss it either."
"How long do you usually stay in one house?"
"Hmm... It think the longest is three months."
The lion raised an eyebrow. "That short? Wow, you guys moved out a lot."
"We do. Mom always give me my airplane and train tickets for me to keep on my notebook. I counted them. Right now, I have 37. So that means we had 37 houses."
"And you never return to any of them?"
"No."
The little lion was genuinely surprised, then a sudden thought came to him.
Before he can voice it out, the little wolf continued. "If I don't have a home, does that mean I'm homeless? Like those uncles on the streets?"
"Um... Well, you're too rich to be considered homeless." The little lion rubbed the nape of his neck, the usual sign when he's uncomfortable, especially when hiding something.
There was a question he wanted to ask but was interrupted.
Besides, it's not the right time, the little wolf needs to be consoled and asking it might make him feel even more blue.
"But I guess you're also the same with homeless people on the street. You do have a house to stay with, but not a home. Homeless means 'not having a home ', grammatically speaking, so you still fit the definition."
The little wolf just nodded solemnly at these words. Seeing him like this, the little lion can't take it anymore. He took his hand and jumped from the tree branch.
It wasn't really high, but the little wolf was too shocked and the momentum made them tumble on the grass for a while.
The little lion ended up on top him. "Oops sorry. Are you hurt? Can you stand?"
"I'm ok—"
"Then come on!" The lion made no hesitation and pulled him up right back to his feet, holding his hand while running.
"Find some big twigs. Really big ones."
"Why, gege?"
The little lion smiled at him. "We're going to make our own home!"
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