- Ten Years and Two Months Ago -

Money was running low these days for Josephine. The cost of looking after Dino was alright; that she could manage fine. What was actually draining the last of her cash reserves was in fact the bird hospital she had unwillingly ‘formed’. Since she had adopted Dino, Josephine found herself coming across injured birds more and more often. Henry helped out wherever he could, but the number of injured birds was steadily increasing and even he was at a loss at what to do.

“There must something strange about you, Josephine. You seem to have an affinity for attracting injured birds,” said Henry to Josephine one afternoon as he watched her bandage the wing of a finch.

Josephine didn’t look up from what she was doing. “I’ve always been strange.”

Henry let out a small laugh. “That’s not what I meant…” He then turned to peer around him at all the birds, some perched in cages, others just sitting around inside the hut. Josephine had allowed Henry to come into the hut after seeing him get pitifully soaked one afternoon in a heavy rainstorm.

Josephine finished what she was doing and stood up, carrying the small bird over to a makeshift cage made out of bamboo that already had another five birds in it. The bird flitted gently onto the perch and Josephine proceeded to check the other birds in the cage.

“You know, it would probably be nice if we could make an aviary for them outside. What do you think, Josephine?” asked Henry as he tried to see what she was doing.

Amber removed one of the birds, taking it over to another corner of the hut. “If you can find the stuff to build it with, go ahead. I don’t care.” She carefully removed the bandage around its wing and it began to flap it wildly. Standing up, she walked over to a window where she opened it just enough for the bird to fly out. Henry watched from behind, smiling.

“I’ll go and buy some wire tomorrow then. This place is starting to stink up real bad with you having to keep all the windows and doors closed. How can you stand it, Josephine?” said Henry from behind as he pinched his nose, distorting his voice.

Amber rolled her eyes as she proceeded to check the other birds. “If you can’t stand it, then get out.”

Henry arrived later the next day, a disappointed look on his face. Amber merely glanced at him as he sat on the porch next to her, heaving a heavy sigh. She returned to patting Dino, who sat perched on her right arm.

“The wire costs more than I thought, Josephine. We’ll have to wait a little longer before we can build the new aviary.” He turned to look at Josephine, still patting Dino. “I was thinking that I might look for a small part-time job. What do you think, Josephine?”

Josephine stood up, still not looking at Henry. “Do whatever you want, Xian Hua,” she said quietly as she headed into the hut.

-

Amber stood leaning against the wall of a building, eyeing the people who were busily walking along the sidewalk. She often came to stand like that, but always making sure that she was never in the same place twice. People always ignored her, as she seemed to have a knack for remaining invisible in a crowd. A person caught her eye and she stood up straighter, watching the man as he walked closer, engrossed in a conversation on his mobile.

The man passed her and Amber began tailing him, making sure that she wasn’t too obvious. She need not have worried, for he was completely lost to the conversation and did not notice whenever he bumped into the other people. He was exactly the kind of target Amber liked to pick.

She suddenly burst into a sprint, colliding into the back of the man. “Hey! What the-?” shouted the man as he fell, Amber falling on top of him.

They struggled with one another, trying to untangle themselves as they stood. “I’m sorry,” apologised Amber quietly before she ran off once more.

The man watched her run, shaking his head. “Kids these days,” he said into the phone. He hung up and walked over to a newspaper stand, picking up the day’s paper and handing it to the owner while he reached into his pocket. His brow creased slightly in confusion as he found nothing and his hand then proceeded to check his other pockets, turning up nothing still. Comprehension dawned on him as he turned to search the sidewalk for Amber’s long gone form.

“That blasted kid stole my wallet!”

Henry jumped out of the forest, a big smile on his face. “I found a job, Josephine!” he shouted as he ran up the steps to the hut, carefully opening the door so the birds did not fly out. However, the smile on his face disappeared, only to be replaced with a frown as he saw that she wasn’t inside. “Where could she have gone?” he wondered out loud.

He closed the door, retreating back to sit on the porch outside as he waited. Time flew by slowly and he busied himself with a novel, occasionally glancing up as he heard the trees rustle slightly, thinking it may be Josephine. Every time that happened, Henry couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed. He would then return to his novel feeling distracted and wondering why he was.

After trying to read his book for another ten minutes, he gave up as he realised that he had reread the same paragraph again several times. He snapped the book shut, lying back down on the porch with a sigh. Ever since that day he went to speak with Josephine in the library, his every thought had been about her. At first he merely pitied her, seeing that they both had a similar kind of past, even though hers was probably more horrible than his. But as the days flew by he found himself more and more mesmerised by her presence, the quiet way she held herself as she hid all her troubles from those around her. He found the way she took to the birds an endearing aspect of her personality and a small smile crept on his face.

The trees rustled once more but Henry ignored it, believing it was another false alarm. A dragging sound soon replaced the rustling and Henry now furrowed his brow in suspicion as he turned to look. He sat up straight when he saw Josephine dragging a large roll of chicken wire behind her.

“Where did you get all that wire from, Josephine?” he asked as he ran over to take the bundle from Josephine.

Amber let him take it, relieved that she didn’t have to drag the heavy thing anymore. “A guy was going to dump it so I asked for it,” she replied without looking at him.

Henry studied the roll of wire. “But it doesn’t look like it has been used yet.”

Josephine shrugged as she walked over to the porch, removing a bottle of water from Henry’s bag and drinking it down thirstily. She then stood up and headed towards the hut’s door. “I brought you the chicken wire, Xianhua. Do whatever you wantwith it Xianhua,” said Josephine over her shoulder as she closed the door behind her.

Henry watched her leave. He then smiled, looking down at the wire in his hands. “Then I’ll build you a great aviary, Josephine.”

Inside, Josephine leant against the door until she heard Henry continue to drag the wire to where he was going to build the aviary. She then reached into her pocket, pulling out the black leather wallet she had stolen. Opening it, she removed the KRW$1000 that was left.

“The wire cost me KRW$2300… I hope the rest will last a little longer,” she said in a soft whisper.

Josephine walked over to the corner where she kept her tin hidden under a box she used as a table to place Dino’s cage on. She moved his cage gently and pulled out her tin, placing the money inside. Her eyes darted once more over the items within, coming to a rest on the necklace Henry had given her with a smile. She touched it briefly then closed the lid, putting the tin back under the box.

-

It took Henry a total of three days to finish building the aviary, mostly due to the fact that he kept realising that he needed a certain piece of equipment when he needed to use it. On the first day when Josephine had brought the wire, he realised that he needed an axe to go and cut some bamboo for the frame of the aviary. The next day he returned with the axe and managed to cut down the bamboo he needed, only to realise that he did not bring any wire trimmers or cable ties to cut and hold the wire together. On the last day he realised he had forgotten a hammer but this time Josephine had anticipated that he would forget so she brought one instead. Together, they finished off building the aviary and they stood back to admire their work once they were done.

“There. It’s finally finished, Josephine,” said Henry with a smile as he stared at the structure that was around the same height as him.

A small smile lit Josephine’s face before she turned around and headed towards the hut. “It’s not done yet. Help me move the birds in, Xianhua.”

Henry grinned eagerly as he went over to help her. It took them around half an hour more before the last of the birds were finally put into the aviary and Henry set about filling bottles cut in half with clean water and seed. “You know, I’ve been wondering about how you’ve been managing to feed all these birds. I mean, it must cost quite a bit, right, Josephine?” he asked as he looked up from what he was doing.

Josephine had just removed Dino from his cage on the porch, faltering slightly as she avoided Henry’s gaze. “I… I managed to save up quite a bit before… my mother died,” answered Amber in a quiet voice.

“Oh.” Henry turned away, feeling guilty that he had opened old wounds. He then smiled as he finished what he was doing and exited the aviary. “Well, you won’t have to worry about money anymore, Josephine. I meant to tell you this a couple days ago, but it totally slipped my mind.” He walked over to the porch, leaning against one of the posts. “I found a weekend job at a deli near my house so I’ll be able to help with the cost of feeding all these birds from now on.”

Henry then came to sit beside Josephine, holding his arm out to Dino. The bird hopped onto his arm happily and Henry proceeded to his head. “I still can’t believe you managed to tame this bird to like me. I hated him at first but after you told me you managed to save him from his abusive owner, I kinda understood why he attacked me on sight.” He looked up at Josephine with a smile. “You really have a way with birds, Josephine. It’s amazing.”

Josephine stared into his eyes before turning away. “I’m not amazing, Xianhua.”

Henry cocked an eyebrow with an amused smile. “There you go being modest again, Josephine.” He handed Dino back to Josephine, who put the bird back into his cage. “I’ve been wondering this for a while… Why do always call me by my Chinese name, Josephine?”

Josephine stared out into the distance before she replied softly, “Because I think it sounds better.”

Henry turned away, feeling his cheeks heat up. A small smile touched his lips as he said to her quietly, “I think your name sounds nice as well.”

Josephine suddenly stood up, picking up Dino’s cage as she made her way over to the door. “It’s getting late. We’d better hurry and clean the inside of the hut if we want it to smell a little better by tomorrow.”

She disappeared into the hut and Henry watched her leave, grinning widely. He had seen her blush.

tbc.

Anyway, this'll be the last chapter about Amber's past for a while. So many things are happing on the trip and at other places at the same time, that it's taking quite a few chapters to cover them. But the next time I travel to the past, not everything will be so peaceful anymore...

Next Chapter: Henry & co on their to the resort.