The next morning I searched around in the fridge. Not finding what I had wanted to find I turned around.

“Mom, where’s the fish I asked for?” I asked.

“Oh that fried one? I gave it away,” mom answered. “I made some boiled rice soup for you. Have it before you leave.”

I walked over and sat down at the table grabbing a bowl, “But I thought I told you I wanted that for breakfast.”

“I know, I know, but that young man seemed like he was really sad,” mom toldd. “I’m going to leave first. Lock the door before you leave.”

I nodded and began to eat the soup mom had made for me. After I was done I grabbed my bag and headed down the road. The university would take fifteen minutes to get to by feet. Anyway it wasn’t like we had a vehicle or anything.

It was all the same. Nothing had changed. The tan building stood high up reaching into the sky. Window followed by window. I stared up at the long stairs that led into the school. It was torture going up in the condition I was in. I gave a deep sigh and headed up slowly not noticing that behind me a rich car had pulled up and someone had stepped out.

He mumbled, “This school seems so old…”

In the building the white tiles led to the doors on either side of the wall. My first class was the third door to the right. Math class. I hated that subject, it was my worst. I half limped in and sat down at a desk and in came my friends. They rushed right over the moment they recognized me.

“Oh my God!”

“We heard you were kidnapped!”

“Did he do anything to you? Was he hot?”

“I heard he tortured you. What happened to your ankle? It looks like an alien from outerspace!”

I laughed at their remorse and wondered who they heard these from.

“I’m ok. Nothing really happened and of course he wasn’t good looking,” I replied.

My friends sighed and sat in the desks around me. I heaved another sigh and leaned on my elbow. Within seconds the whole room was filled with students and conversations. This school year was going to be the same. That was what I thought before the teacher came in.

“Students. Students calm down.” The teacher said walking in. It was just my luck that I didn’t look up when the teacher entered because behind him trailed someone whom fate had decided to play with.

“This is a new student. He just transferred to our school. Please respect him and help him if needed,” the teacher announced. “You may introduce yourself and take a seat afterwards.”

“Hey, my name is Jiro Wang,” he said. I looked up almost recognizing the voice and as I did it seemed like a huge shock or more like a blow to the head. He walked pass me and took a seat somewhere in the back.

“Welcome back everyone. As it is the first day I’m going to hand out a quiz to see how much each one of you remember what we learned,” the professor continued as everyone else grumbled, “this’ll be worth 40 points…” he went on.

Transferred? New student? I wondered. Oh well. It doesn’t matter much. When I have time I should thank him and apologize. Those were the only things I really owed him.

After my last class for the day I headed out of the school and down the painful stairs. Looking around I spotted him a few yards away. He was standing under a tree staring at something in the sky. I slowly stumbled over to him.

“Hey, Jiro right?” I said and he turned to look at me with no expression then looked away. “I…” before I could go on he walked away.

What the? He doesn’t even wait for me to finish. My conscience is really killing me. I just want to say thank you and say sorry and never talk to him again. I’m already lucky enough that I have class with him. What’s with him acting so stuck up?

*********************************

“The sky seems a little pale today,” Jiro thought to himself.

His mom used to love staring into the blank clear blue sky. When looking at it she must’ve been really happy and calm. When he heard his name he turned around to see the girl.

“I bet she only wants to apologize,” Jiro thought, “I don’t like it when others say sorry. I don’t like saying sorry either. No one hurts no one and it doesn’t matter whose fault it is.” Jiro turned and walked away.

“I have to buy something for mom. Soon, it’s almost time,” Jiro said to himself as he lingered along the sidewalk.

************************************

Again that night was cold. It wasn’t completely dark yet but the sun was already down and it was just about time for Xi to start dinner but to our luck the fridge was empty. I guessed mom must have used them for the fish she was selling.

“Xi you stay and try to use the rest of the food in the fridge to make something. I’ll go and buy some food,” I said.

It was cold out and my sister did not need to go out since she had homework also. I grabbed my thick jacket and grabbed some money before leaving. The cool breeze felt like it was whipping at my face when I made my way down the street. My hair would be flying all over if I hadn’t tied it back earlier. Poor as we were we also lived in the worst part of the neighborhood.

I walked into a store and came out later with two bags of food. It was totally dark now and even colder than before. My thick jacket seemed to get thinner because the cold air was really getting to me. I was freezing. I’ve heard before that walking alone in the dark in this neighborhood wasn’t a good idea, but if I hurried I would arrive home in one piece I hoped. It was normal for me to have bad luck but that night my luck really really went down.

“Hey Miss,” a voice came out of nowhere.

I squinted my eyes to look around but I saw no one. Then a figure appeared before me then I looked at him in silence.

“I’m lost would you help me?” he questioned.

I knew I shouldn’t trust anyone and this man gave off a weird vibe, “You should ask someone else. I’m not really good with directions.” I was telling partly the truth because it was true that I was never good with directions, I could only remember from memory and could never tell anyone how to get anywhere. I began to walk away but he grabbed my wrist causing me to drop the bags.

“Anyway would you help direct me,” he said pulling me.  

“Let go of me! Let go!” I shouted as I pulled back and fell to the ground.

I suddenly felt like I've been getting injured a lot lately. Even the concrete was ice cold. I quickly glanced to see where he was and started to slide myself away from him. Even through the dark I could make out his figure coming towards me silently. He grabbed my jacket and pinned me down. My heart thumped. I didn’t like this.

“Ahh!” I screamed and as I did he covered my mouth with his dirty hands.

I panicked and my brain couldn’t transmit anything correctly. His free hand dug around in my sweater feeling me and I could feel his dirty lips on my skin. I pushed my fist into his side as hard as I could and he dropped aside getting off me. I quickly got up and started to run but he reached out and grabbed my ankle. With that I fell flat onto the ground, my hands first. He grabbed my shoulder and there was silence. Confused I turned around to see someone else standing there.

“Can’t you see she doesn’t like you doing that?” a voice asked.

I blinked watching as he punched and tossed the attacker to the ground. He bent down and grabbed my bags walking over to me. I didn’t move an inch because his aura felt familiar.

“Can’t you get up? You should scream for help at least,” he said with that cold tone of his. “You’re such an idiot.”

“Jiro?” I questioned finally getting something out of my mouth.

I could feel his hands on my arms as he pulled me up to my feet.

“You’re so thin,” he said watching me shiver in the dark. He took off his jacket and put it around me. “Can you walk?”

I don’t know why but I was speechless. My body moved forward, but I almost tripped doing so.

“Here,” Jiro said grabbing my wrist and putting my hand around his arm. “Walk while you lean against me.”