“Hey. What are you doing in that puddle?”

I crouched in front of a girl who was sitting on a muddy puddle formed by cold raindrops and asked her a question that anyone could answer by looking at some teenagers laughing away with an umbrella that didn’t seem to be theirs. Normally, I wouldn’t have bothered with her even if I knew she was getting bullied because I’ve seen plenty of similar scenarios before and I knew I couldn’t help them all. But because she was looking so pitiful even compared to the others, I offered her my hand. However, as she did not answer, my eyes wandered off to a wheelchair on her side. It was broken and I could tell it wasn’t a natural accident that caused it.

“You seemed cold in that puddle. Why don’t you get out?”

Again, the girl didn’t respond and continued to get soaked by the downpour. After being annoyed by her muteness, I considered leaving, but as I saw her body tremble, I decided to continue watching. For 5 minutes, I observed her to see when she would stand up or respond to me, but she never did and instead shivered in the bone-chilling cold of the rain. Finally, understanding that she was reaching a limit, I took off my jacket, wrapped it over the girl, and pulled her out of the puddle and rain by covering her with my umbrella.

“The hell are you doing? You’re going to get hypothermia at this rate.”

After a moment of silence, the girl finally looked up to match my eyes and when she did, I was momentarily stunned. The first thing I noticed was her beauty; golden blonde hair, sky blue eyes, and pale skin that I could recognize even under the dark rainy clouds. I didn’t know much about the beauties at my school, but this girl definitely had a face equivalent or even superior to most of them.

However, rather than her beautiful looks, what I was really enchanted by was the pureness inside her eyes. As we continued our staring contest, I felt like my soul was being pierced through by her gaze. Those pure eyes showed me that beneath the mud and grime existed a soul filled with such purity that it washed away the image of her dirty appearance in my head. At that moment in time, I felt like something just clicked inside my mind. I felt like I just found what I had been looking for my whole life. What I currently felt wasn’t something as shallow as falling in love at first sight. Rather, it was something much deeper and indescribable.

“Thank you for assistance, but could you let me go please?”

I realized that we were a little bit too close for two strangers who had never interacted with each other before. However, knowing that she had problems walking judging by the broken wheelchair behind her, I simply got her in a princess carry while she yelped in surprise. I ignored her soaked clothes as I carried her in the direction of a nearby convenience store whose owner I knew quite well. The girl pounded at my chest at first, but after realizing my intentions, she stopped. I thought she might say something about the wheelchair, but she had no qualms about leaving it behind.

Normal strangers did not get so close to each other on their first meetings. Therefore, we walked in awkwardness for some time. However, because of the way I was raised, I quickly overcame such a thing and started a conversation with the girl.

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“What’s your name?”

After a brief pause, the girl answered my question.

“...Oculia Angelo...”

Oculia’s voice was small and timid as if she were a bit afraid of me, which was a normal thing considering I started carrying her to a location she didn’t know of yet. For all she knew, I could be a kidnapper pretending to be nice and later using her as a hostage to blackmail her parents. Of course, that was just a wild imagination I thought of in my head and her voice could be weak for all sorts of reasons.

I glanced down at Oculia’s clothing and noticed that it was a school uniform I recognized. And so, I carried on the conversation by asking her another question

“Judging by your outfit, it seems like you go to Trinity High. What class are you from?”

“...Class 2-4...”

“So you’re in your second year? We’re the same age then. So… why did the people back there push you into a puddle?”

A long period of silence followed my question and I knew I screwed up. I originally didn’t mean to ask her such a direct question, but out of habit, I did. I looked down at Oculia and sure enough, her face was downcast. However, she let out a meek voice saying “Bullies” and turned her face away from me.

The conversation ended there and for 5 minutes, we walked silently under the rain. Thankfully, she was light and I had good muscles, so we reached the convenience store without stopping for a break. At first sight of the store, I heard Oculia let out a small sigh. After entering, I laid Oculia down on a nearby seat and walked up to the store owner, Mr. Bendil, who was looking at me in surprise.

“Hey Bendil. Get her some towels and dry clothes and let her change in the storage room. Thanks in advance.”

After nodding, Mr. Bendil took out a key and unlocked a door behind him. He enter and after few seconds of listening to him rummaging through boxes, he came out with a towel and a set of tracksuits that seemed well proportioned to fit Oculia. I took it from him and handed it over to her. I then signaled that I was going to pick her up again and did after she held the items close to her chest. I carried her over and dropped her off inside the storage room. After giving her one last look, I closed the door behind me.

“Young boss. Who is that girl?”

Bendil whispered in my ear after handing me a towel, too. As I indifferently wiped myself off, I responded to his question.

“Just a girl I found on the ground.”

For some reason, Bendil looked rather excited at my answer. He shook his arms up and down like a child and with an equally childish expression, he began to spew out a barrage of words.

“But young boss, you never interact with women! Especially not one you just find on the streets. Did you get attracted by her looks? She is pretty damn pretty after all. It seems you’re finally maturing like a true man should. Oh, I looked after you since you were a child. You have no idea how much joy this…”

“Okay, you can stop now before I tell dad to sew your mouth shut.”

With that threat, Bendil finally shut his mouth, but he still had a teasing expression on his face that annoyed me quite well. For the next few minutes, Bendil and I waited without saying anything. Then, Oculia came out and Bendil backed away to serve a customer who just entered the store.

Oculia looked funny crawling on the floor. If it weren’t for the fact that I knew she was disabled, I would have thought that she was a zombie. I chuckled a bit before leaning over to pick her up. With the same old dispirited attitude, she got into my arms with her wet clothes in her hand. Then, I opened my umbrella and carried her out of the store.

“Young boss! Good luck!”

I looked back just in time to see Bendil stick his finger through a hole created with his thumb and index finger. The customer and I both gave him looks of disgust and I just hoped that Oculia didn’t see that gesture. I made a gesture of cutting my head off with my hand to him, and after Bendil gave me a thumbs up, Oculia and I walked into the rainy weather once more.