Kono Su Qingrashii Shi Jieni Bao Yanwo-wo Shi Tingsurugogoanimede Di1huawo Wu Liao Shi — Ting

He was bored, he said. So bored that listening to her breathe on the line was the only thing keeping the silence from eating the walls.

Afternoon Static

" Kono su… qingrashii shi… " the voice on the other end crackled. He was bored, he said

She smiled. Or maybe she didn't.

" Jieni bao yan wo— " he said, and she imagined him hugging the air of his own lonely apartment, two cities away. He was bored

" Wo wu liao shi ting, " he whispered. I'm bored, just listening. " he whispered. I'm bored

It was him again. The boy with the broken Japanese and the Mandarin that slipped through the cracks like water. He called her Jieni —the way her name sounded in his mouth, soft and foreign.