Saturday was extracurricular time. On formality, every student had to choose Scout or Flag Raiser as the main club while other clubs were just the second choice. However, there were many people who didn’t have a club because some of us were just too lazy.

For me, I joined the Stay at Home Club. It was a very official club—more than Scout and Flag Raiser—where the members could say screw the rules and stay at home on Saturday.

To be honest, I never joined the activity of the Stay at Home Club. On Saturday, I usually hanged out with friends and at night, I would have a date with my Maria.

Today was probably the first I joined the Stay at Home Club’s activity. I just wanted to spend my time together with Maria at home.

Rey and Stevan had called me and invited me to hang out. I would love to tell them I found Maria, but Maria seemed scared to interact with people other than myself, so I refused their invitation.

I and Maria were still procrastinating in my mom’s bedroom. She was sitting on my lap while watching Wetube with my smartphone. I was drying her wet hair. Yes, we had taken a bath… in different bathrooms.

Maria’s long hair was surprisingly easy to maintain. Her hair’s texture became smooth again in one day. Though, I bet she used my mom’s hair treatment stuff. I didn’t understand myself. I always had healthy hair. I only treated my hair with shampoo.

After drying her hair, I combed it. Sometimes, I secretly sniffed her hair. We used the same shampoo, but for some reason, her fragrance got me addicted.

The video she watched just ended, and she suddenly noticed I had been sniffing her hair. She brought her face to my hair and smelled it. “You smell good too, hehe,” she said.

I pinched her cheeks because her reaction was so cute. Maria pinched my cheeks too in return. We just stayed like this.

“Can you stop pinching me?” I asked.

“No, you first.”

“Let’s stop at the third count. One, two, three.”

I let her go, but she still pinched my cheeks. I wrapped her neck and pulled her to my chest. We rolled left and right until she said stop. I let her go beside me. We stared at each other and laughed until we were bored.

“Aren’t you bored to procrastinate in this room?” I asked.

Maria “Not really. I am happy to spend time with Adrian.”

Her mood seemed good, so I thought this would be the best time to ask about her life on the street.

“Isn’t it about time you tell me about your life on the street?”

The smile on her face vanished. She sat and faced another side.

I sat too and massaged her shoulders. “Is it still too heavy for you?”

Maria turned at me and smiled. “No, if it is Adrian, I can tell you.” She crawled back onto my lap. “Hug me first.”

I wrapped my hands around her body. I avoided touching her breasts.

Maria opened the story with a sigh. “My father… I hate my family, so I ran away after stealing money, but I didn’t bring my phone because I was too emotional.

“I was so convinced no one cared about me, and I saw women living on the street, so I followed them. The first day was so difficult. I left my family’s house with a pretty outfit and some thugs tried to harass me, but luckily there were many kind people and they saved me.

“The second day, I was so frustrated, so I spent my time in the mall. I bought food for lunch and dinner. I bought a cheap outfit to let me fit on the street. I learned how to survive by seeing how a woman beggar lived on the street.

“Beggars’ bonds are thinner than a family but thicker too. We rarely interacted, but at our weakest time, we protected each other such as the time we bathed on the public toilet.

“My money lasted until the tenth day. After that, I survived by doing beggar things like begging for money, cleaning cars’ windows with a feather duster, and singing on the street.”

Maria paused. She suddenly rubbed her cheek against mine. “My Adrian, sometimes I got no money and couldn’t eat. Beggars have a difficult life, so we never shared. I realized how much I missed your warmth. Only you are kind to me.”

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I held her chin and kissed her cheek. “You are safe now.”

Maria smiled. “Thank you, Love. My life on the street was hard. I needed to cover my face every time to protect myself from thugs. I couldn’t appear pretty and stunning. It stressed me so much.

“One day I had lunch and a bunch of thugs approached me because they saw my face. I was lucky that time too. It was in the daytime and there were many people. However, that incident opened my mind. People actually dared to do crime in the public.”

I patted her head. “Poor or rich, evil exists in every caste and race. I hope that incident changes you into a better person.”

Maria was quiet for a while before replying, “You are right. I wasn’t better than those thugs. I was a bully. I bullied people to make myself feel better.”

I could see her feeling guilty about her bad deeds. It turned out living on the street had a good effect on her. As a boyfriend and her family, it was my duty to help her if she wanted to change. Before that, sometimes you needed to voice out your regret.

“Maria, do you regret everything you have done to those bullied girls.”

Maria’s body shook. I understood the most it bothered her so much, but a good family didn’t only spoil their loved ones. I had to be firm in need.

I stopped hugging her and turned her body to face me. “Maria, answer me.”

Her face was pale. Her eyes darted around, and I pressed her cheeks, forcing her to look at me in the eyes. “I… I regret it. People have a life too. Maybe they dreamt of wonderful school life, but I trampled their hope. I am sorry. I am sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize to me. You never did anything wrong to me. You have to apologize to your victims?”

Maria laughed helplessly. “Are you really saying that to me, Adrian? I want to change, but apologizing to them is a waste of time. My father, I will be happy if he changes into a better person, but I won’t forgive him ever.”

“But, do you want to see your father apologize?”

Maria nodded. “I do.”

“And so your victims. They probably won’t forgive you, but that’s the burden you have to atone.”

“I will think about it. For now, can we stop talking about this?”

“Alright.” I lifted Maria from my lap, and I left the bed. I was about to go to the door, but Maria grabbed my hand.

“Adrian? Where are you going? You won’t abandon me, right?”

I laughed and flicked her forehead. “Abandoning you in my house? Didn’t I say I won’t abandon you? You need to trust me, okay?”

Maria nodded weakly. I knew she was still doubting me. I didn’t know what would be our future, but for now, I just wanted to be with her.

“I just want to change clothes. You too. We will visit your aunt.”

I originally wanted to spend time with her, but I remembered my mom’s order. I had to obey her and contacted Maria’s aunt. Besides, I didn’t want to make her aunt worried. She might have contacted the police too.

We went there with my bike. Maria hugged me tightly. It seemed she felt nervous to meet her aunt. We arrived in thirty minutes.

Her aunt immediately went outside after I knocked the door. I smiled at her and stepped aside, showing Maria who was hiding behind me.

Maria played with her fingers as she stared at the floor. “Hello, Auntie.”

I could understand her nervousness. She felt guilty because she had said no one cared about her. At the same time, she felt nervous because her identity as a bully had been revealed.

When I told the aunt about Maria, she was dumbfounded because Maria was a good girl in her eyes.

The aunt approached Maria slowly and touched her head carefully. “Maria? Is that you?”

Maria looked into her aunt’s eyes and nodded. She was taken aback when her aunt hugged her. She only spread her hands and not tried to hug her aunt back.

“I was worried to death. Where were you?” her aunt asked.

“I will explain it inside,” I answered in Maria’s stead.

Aunt invited us to the living room. I told her about Maria’s life on the street and our wish to let Maria live in my house. We thought she would oppose us, but she agreed and felt relieved instead.

“Don’t you worry about a boy and a girl living together under one roof?” I asked.

“I do, but you don’t live alone, right? I see you as a dependable child. Your parents must have raised you well. Living with you is a better environment for Maria.”

I felt flattered to hear that and sipped a coffee in front of me to hide away my awkwardness. “Then, I swear I won’t—”

“You don’t have to swear anything in front of me. Sooner or longer you will do couple things anyway. That’s perfectly normal for a couple. I just hope you will hold to do that kind of thing until you have your citizenship ID card.”

I nodded. “I won’t disappoint you.”

“I will talk about this with Maria’s family, though I bet they won’t care. You will go to Maria’s house to get her belongings,” the Aunt said. She then looked at Maria. “Maria, you have had it tough. I hope you will continue going to school, even your fellow bully friends aren’t bothered by it.”

Maria averted her eyes from her aunt. “I will try.”

Her aunt didn’t say anything. She said she wanted to invite us to dinner, but it was better to have dinner in Maria’s house because every member of the family would gather at lunchtime, and Maria’s dad had come home from America too.

I was curious about Maria’s family too. Did they worry about Maria or not? Even though I always heard about bad things about her family, but a family was still a family, right?

After bidding farewell to the aunt, we went to Maria’s house. The security was happy to see Maria again. He contacted people in the house and opened the gate.

The way to the house was quite far. We passed a fountain, trees, and flower gardens. There was a field where many deer lived freely. Maria’s face in the rearview mirror was indifferent. I thought she would feel a little bit excited to come home again, but I guessed she really hated her family.

We arrived at least. Her house had a big terrace with several pillars sustaining a square-shaped roof. Statues were placed in between the pillars and on the roof.

We needed to climb the staircase to arrive at the terrace and a man had waited for us there. He wore a black vase with a white uniform underneath. He smiled and bowed. “Welcome back, Miss Maria. I welcome you too, Mister Adrian Taher. My master is waiting in the dining room.”