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It was the first time I realized just how cruel our grand reality of flashing lights and proud society was. No one cared about the homeless face to face, but if they were recorded for the world to see, the smiles would be sympathetic as they worked relentlessly to aid you for a moment of generous fame.
Reaching where Willow was still looking at the pictures of custard waffles in the shapes of fish, I looked at the vendor as he bowed his head with a wide grin. He was clearly Korean, and from the looks of the menu, which was in Korean with English translation, it was clear all the options were Korean street food.
I smiled while Willow looked up at me. "I want this one." She pointed at the custard waffle with her eyes that seemed to beg mine, as if we couldn't afford to buy the entire cart of food.
"How many would you like, beautiful lady?" the man asked.
"Um..." She trailed off as if she wasn't sure, and it was completely odd for Willow because she was never indecisive to this extent.
"How about this. Since you two look so grand tonight, I'll give you a few to eat on this chilly night! On the house."
Willow rose up to give the man a wide stare. "But..."
"Don't worry," he assured us. "I'm almost done for the day. The food would go to waste."
He said that and yet he worked on making a fresh batch of everything, and soon enough, we had way more than enough food for both of us to share.
I took the bag of food and the offered drinks and looked to the bench just across from the cart. "Willow? Let's go sit over there."
She blinked and followed my gaze. With a slight nod, she looked at the man for a long minute.
"You remember me, don't you?"
It took me an added second to realize she was speaking in Korean - one of the many languages I’d taught myself in my teen years. Those, too, were dark times, but I wasn't going to let anyone of any race take advantage of me in this field of connections and fraud.
The man smiled as his eyes softened.
"Your blue eyes and pink hair are hard to forget," he whispered. "However, it brings me much joy to see that after many years, there's finally a spark in those fascinating eyes."
Willow didn't have anything to say, but she took a step back and bowed.
"During that time, you were the only one to offer me kindness. Thank you."
"And I'd do it again and again," he vowed. "Go eat. The drinks are organic and will help with any hangover." He winked at the final part. Willow rose up and shyly smiled before she skipped over to the bench.
I quietly followed while their conversation still ran through my head, and once we finished setting up the food between us, I decided to see if I could learn more about it.
"You’ve passed by this path?" I inquired.
She paused in drinking more of the organic juice, her eyes slowly looking back at the man. It was like she was seeing the events unfold before her eyes while she quietly replied.
"Once, but it was during a bad time. Onyx was gone back then, and I was still recovering from being pushed off the cliff by that bastard," she muttered and closed her eyes. "I used to get nightmares a lot, but that night was horrendous. It was just again and again. The moment my eyes closed, it would feel like I was falling to my doom. Then there was the activation of phantom pain from my broken bones and the bouncing force against my head. Once I was completely submerged in pain, that's when I'd sink within the depths of darkness; that numbness that approached when death was creeping closer and closer. It would feel so fucking real...and poof, I was awake again."
I could tell the memory was revealing those strings of fear in her eyes, and I couldn't help but reach out and place my hand on her knee to remind her she was here with me on the bench and not sinking to her doom.
She smiled while her eyes opened slightly to stare at the drink in her hands.
"I decided to run from the Pack House, and well...I just ran and ran. It was around this time of the year, near Christmas. I ran until I ended up in a park, but it only brought me more sorrow because everyone around was with their loved ones. The run reminded me how I wasn't a wolf yet again, and I was just tired of life. I came and sat upon a bench and began to cry. I was tired, hungry, cold. It actually made me want to end things, but then I'd remember Onyx and that he wouldn't be there to save me, and Aurelia was dealing with something back then, too. I was alone...and I didn't want to be. That's when I smelled the aroma from the cart."
She looked to the cart once more as the man began close up.
"It was a weird spot to be in because no one was around. It made me wonder if he'd ever made a penny after a long day in the cold. I was so hungry, but I had no money with me. I probably looked wretched and drained, but he didn't shoo me away. He asked me what I wanted. I'd begun learning Korean back then because it was one of the easier languages for me to grasp on my own with books. I read out what I was looking at and he seemed so impressed with me. He did exactly what he did just now. Gave me food and water, and offered me a sweater of his that he had as a spare. I sat on this very bench...and after I was full, hydrated, and warm, I cried. I cried hard enough for him to come over and listen to my troubles. I didn't really care who he was, but I knew for a fact that he held a wolf scent to him. He listened to everything and insisted on taking me back to my territory. He reached the border of our lands and watched me go. I tried coming back the next day, but he never showed up."
She looked at me and frowned.
"I want to do something...but I'm not really coherent enough to do anything."
I smiled then, and I noticed how my wolf watched her. Did she realize how pure of a heart she carried? A heart that somehow still held an ounce of emotion after everything she'd gone through: tortured, ridiculed, encouraged to die by her own peers and enemies alike.
