2 First Meeting

A girl is standing under a plum blossom tree, staring at the blossoms on the ground. She's wearing purple dress knee height with fur coat, black leather shoes and white under knee socks. The girl have big doe eyes that's slightly slanted at the end, high nose, pouty lips, slightly fair skin, dark hair that's tied into a pony tail, and flushed cheeks due to cold.

The girl have been standing at the same spot not moving for almost two hours, slightly shivering from cold, waiting for someone to find and pick her up.

This was the first time the girl went out of country with her family, and this was their 3rd day in Beijing, China. At 10 years old, she was having so much fun viewing the things that she encountered for the first time with curiosity, that she didn't even notice she'd been separated from her family.

At first she tried to find them, asking the locals if they'd found her parents but who knew language barrier would be her first problem, so she could only find her parents by herself feeling terrified at this foreign place. The next problem was, she lost her way and here she is now, standing at an unknown street with plum blossom trees growing on the sides of the road.

She was pondering if she should move again, and try to find them but she was also worried that she'd get more lost than she is now. Her eyes started to get misty and her nose turning red, she looked up at the slowly falling blossoms when she heard a sound of bouncing ball and hurried footsteps.

She looked behind to see a boy around her age picking up the soccer ball 4 meters away from her, the boy seemed to have noticed her eyeing him as he tried to find the perpetrator.

As their eyes contacted each other, the wind blew making the blossoms dance around them. It seemed magical for the girl. She girl even forgot to breath and started to feel bashful to have been caught staring. In her mind she thought, he looked like the princes in Disney movies she had watched, he was charming, and she was charmed by her.

The boy cut their eye contact and started to walk away. She didn't know why, but she felt panicked, her feet subconsciously took a step until it turned into a frantic running.

"ah! Ahhhh. Ummmmmm… w..wait.. please." She tried to voice out, chasing after the boy and almost stumbling in the process.

The boy heard her voice and took a glance at her, seeing her running after him. He wondered why, so he stopped his tracks. The girl caught up and stood in front of him both hands clenching the sides of her dress, looking anywhere but him.

"ummm. L-lost. I'm…." the girl stuttered in English, her cheeks and nose started going deep red, and her eyes forming tears, as she choked the lost sentence with quivering lips. "Please, help….me."

The boy looked at her with a frown, registering what she had said. 'She's lost?'

He looked around to see if she's with someone then returned his eyes on her to see her shivering from cold, rubbing her hands together, both her nose and cheeks were red, her lips pale, and eyes with unshed tears. He was about to say something when someone called after him.

"hey! Why are you taking so long?" A tall boy approached him, and noticed the girl. "What's this?" The tall boy eyed him suspiciously.

"She said she's lost." He simply replied.

"oh." The tall boy looked at the girl, and thought she look like a little bunny, a little lost bunny. "What's your name?" He asked but got no response. "Where are you staying?" but got the same result. "How about we accompany you to the police?" The girl looked at him and he tried to offer his hand. The girl only glanced at it, and then looked left and right, hesitating.

"We're not suspicious." The boy laughed awkwardly with his hand still in the air waiting for her to grab it. He looked at the other boy. "Tan?" he probed him, asking for help.

The girl looked at the boy named Tan, and he nodded. The girl's eyes brightened and her left hand tugged at Tan's bottom shirt with her head down low. The tall boy retreated his hand when he saw the girl's movement, while Tan only glanced at the girl and turned to the direction of the police office.

At the police station, the boys helped her translate her broken English into Chinese, telling them what Hotel she stays at and so on. She looked at Tan, eyes full of admiration, feelings she doesn't understand started to build up.

When the police told her to get on the police car to escort her back to their Hotel, she thought the boys would accompany. To her disappointment, they didn't. Only the tall boy watched her drive away while Tan already started walking back.

The girl and the police went into the hotel and accompanied her 'til their room. When the police knocked, a maid opened the door and looked at her with slightly irritated eyes, and talked to the police for a few moments. The girl looked at the police and thanked him.

When the police left, the maid glanced at her, and the girl bit her lips. She followed the maid, and heard laughter from the dining area. When she arrived there, she saw her parents and little sister eating happily not noticing her presence.

She breathed deeply, "a-I'm back…" she carefully said.

The people on the dining table stopped laughing and looked at her for a moment.

"mmh." Her father hummed.

Her mother went back to eating.

And her sister lightly smiled at her.

No one asked how she's feeling, and it doesn't even feel like they knew she was gone.

Her hands trembled. She inhaled, smiled faintly, and went back to her room. She didn't eat dinner that night and fell asleep, her mind thinking of wanting to meet that boy named Tan again.