Few days, no, two months passed by when someone knocked on Ho-Chi's window. It was winter, and snow were falling from the sky.
Ho-Chi opened his window and looked outside.
The young master was looking up at Ho-Chi from the street.
Seeing the hollow cheeks of the young master, Ho-Chi's eye rim reddened.
Because it was a daytime, the door to the Gibang was tightly shut, the young master could only see Ho-Chi this way. The young master studied Ho-Chi for a moment before reached out his hand towards the window.
The window was on the second floor of the building, so the young master's hand barely reached the window seal. He didn't retreat his hand, so the hand just hung there in the air.
"Come with me."
For a moment, the young master's breath appeared as a white cloud and disappeared in the air. Ho-Chi studied the young master silently.
"Let's us run away. We can go into the forest and live there. If you don't like that idea, we can go to a countryside and become a pair of peddlers. If you are by my side, I will be happy doing anything."
Ho-Chi could see that the young master's reached out hand was shivering from the frigid air and was turning red.
The young master's clothes were dampened by the melting snow, and on top of his hat-less head a small hill of snow was forming.
Without showing any sign of cold, the young master's face looked up at Ho-Chi. His out stretched hand did not wavered.
"Come with me, Ho-Chi. I will take care of you…I will make you happy… Let's run away from here."
Ho-Chi lowered his head and hid his reddened eyes.
Ho-Chi wanted to hold the young master’s hands and message them warm.
Ho-Chi looked down on the young master and spoke.
"I have someone I like."
To Ho-Chi's words, the young master dropped his hand.
Fixing his gaze on the young master's face, Ho-Chi spoke again.
"Because I am a fox, I did not dare ask that person to hold me, so I only watched him from the side. I didn't want to burden that person and have others mock him, so I could not ask him to visit me more often."
Silently, trickles of tears streamed down on the young master's face
Ho-Chi didn't bat an eyelid as he continued talking.
"When I held that person's hand my heart trembled with excitement that I was awake the hold night. When I am in the same room with him I would hold my breath wanting to preserve the moment. I have a person like that."
"…Ho-Chi…"
When the young master called Ho-Chi's name, the sound buried itself in Ho-Chi's heart.
"I have someone precious to me, so I cannot leave with you."
Without any thought of wiping his tears, the young master vacantly started up at Ho-Chi.
Ho-Chi could not bring himself to make him leave.
For a while the young master stood there and carved Ho-Chi's face into his heart before showing tearful smile up at Ho-Chi.
"…Is that so… Does he treat you well?"
"…Yes…He showered me with the undeserving affections that I am very happy."
"…Is that so…Is that so… If you are happy, I am glad. It is very fortunate that you met such a person…"
"……Yes……"
The young master's tear rolled down and wetted the clothes which were dampened by the melted snow. His cheeks were frozen with tears.
Ho-Chi tightened his grip on the window and looked down on the young master.
The snow began to fall harder, and they piled on the young master's shoulders.
The cold snow entered the room and melted on the floor, but Ho-Chi kept still.
"I see… It is very fortunate…"
After the young master repeated the phrase like a sigh, a servant who looked like he was about to cry appeared from somewhere, stamped over to the young master's side, then opened the umbrella over him.
Tugging at the young master's sleeve, the servant rushed the figure to leave.
The young master looked up at Ho-Chi one last time before going under the umbrella and walking away leaving footprints on the snow.
Ho-Chi left the window open even long after the young master's footprint disappeared under another layer of snow.
Ho-Chi felt very glad that he could not cry that day. Otherwise he wouldn't have been able to hold back his tears from falling in front of the young master.
Even though the young master was freezing outside, because Ho-Chi wanted to study the young master for longer time, Ho-Chi could not ask the young master to leave.
Ho-Chi blamed himself for not asking the young master to leave quicker, but at the same time Ho-Chi wished the young master was still here. Ho-Chi knew that he can never see the young master after today.
Ho-Chi thought back on the young master's image in his memory. His hand was red, his face was frozen, his body was stiff with cold, and his mind was becoming numb. Even knowing all of these, Ho-Chi could not ask him to leave.
Ho-Chi curled up into a ball and laid there, waiting for the tears that would not come.
T,.T I think I need to translate one more novel to cheer myself up. For those of you who wants to read the manga version of this story the title for it is ‘The Tiny Fox with a Star’. You can easily find the manga through google search!