His usual impish smile. He had been around long enough that he knew all the tricks and had wept enough. With curious eyes, he watched her gestures and the tension in her posture, as well as her body language. He then created a world within his own mind, and in that private place, he fantasized about her. That buried his solitude for a while, even as seclusion added loneliness to his excess misery, a lonely world where he was alone, a dream.

It’s not his choice, of course. He was scared to love, scared to tell her how much he adored her. Exhaling deeply, his eyes opened, filled with sadness.