2 2. The Boy She Saved Before

A wide range of emotions passed through her face, she cannot believe that the person she longed to see for a long time is here in front of her just a few meters away.

She stood there for a few minutes with changing emotions while watching the person talking in the phone until she settled her chaotic thoughts and her face turned blank without a trace of the emotions it previously displayed.

She speed walked to the nearby stop to hail a cab forgetting the answered call of her friend.

Memories of the past surging to her head as she remembered the child she saved before...

"Little brother how careless of you to actually slip on the pond? or did you want to catch the koi fish too?" The girl asked the drenched boy she just saved from drowning in the pond, "Next time you want to catch fish tell me to come with you, i am very good at catching fishes and even if we slip i know how to swim so you are safe when i am there." She grinned at the boy and patted his head like how her father pat her head when he is comforting her.

"Little miss! Why are you drenched, you'll catch cold, did you go swimming with the fishes again? I already told you that you are prohibited to do that, if you want to swim then swim at the pool," an elderly woman worriedly told the little girl then seeing the boy beside the girl, she was shocked,"Aren't you the child of Master Feng? Why are you also drenched? Little miss, did you influence him to go swimming in the pond with you?" The woman questioned.

"No auntie Ling, he fell in the pond so i helped him, i already promised that i will not go catch the fishes in the pond, its just that i saw him slip so i helped him," the little girl explained and the elderly woman asked the boy for confirmation who only nodded, she sighed at the children then brought them inside the house to bath and change.

"My name is Tiara Xue, but my family calls me Ara but you can call me older sister since i am six this year, how about you little brother?" the girl asked after they finished changing and the elderly woman, Auntie Ling, left them at the living room to play with a warning that they should not go out of the house or else she will not give them the desert which is a chocolate cake that she knows Tiara loves to eat.

"Riven, and i am not your little brother."the boy curtly said.

"But i'm taller than you! how are you not my little brother?" the girl argued as she stood up to prove her point.

"I am older than you." the boy said coldly.

"How could that be? Your short? How old are you then?"

"Nine." the boy answered and the girl laughed making the boy throw her a sharp glance.

"Okay, i decided to believe you, since i am older i should give in to you just how my older brother gives in to me." she nodded after contemplation and attempted to pat the boy's head again but he dodged and look at her coldly.

"Since you save me earlier, i will forgive you for not believing me and i even promise that when you need help i will help you like you did earlier." the boy said seriously as he looked at the young girl who stopped and pondered for a while as she heard what he said.

"That sounds nice, pinky promise?"the girl did not argue and offered her little finger, the boy thought that the gesture is weird and useless but accepted nonetheless.

Tiara was pulled out of her reverie when someone gripped her forearm to stop her from walking, she looked up and saw those pair of familiar eyes who used to look at her dotingly but now as she looked at them she can no longer fathom what is contained within those eyes and she wondered if this is still that same little boy who promised her that he will help her in times of need or that same boy in middle school who promised to take care of her and protect her forever if she ever get bullied, she doesn't know anymore. Maybe she even forgot about her already, it has been eight years. If not because of his constant appearance in the television and newspaper she wouldn't even be able to recognize him immediately, he changed a lot. She should not have taken those promises seriously and foolishly await his return before.

She was lost in thought, she did not notice the flicker of emotions in the man's eyes.

"Missus Ra" the man said softly bringing her back from her dazed state.

She pulled her arm from the man's grip and schooled her emotions,"Do i know you?" she asked indifferently, "I think you got the wrong person." She plainly said and continued walking to the stop.

"Tiara let's talk, i know you recognized me." the man said without betraying any emotion in his tone of voice. He gripped her right shoulder forcing her to stop and turn around to face him.

"Unhand me 'stranger' or else don't blame me for my next action." Tiara said with firmness, 'how dare he demand to talk when he himself did not give her that right before he left and never returned, i already buried him to the past where he belongs and he still has the audacity to present himself in front of me as if i am obligated to talk to him!' she gritted her teeth as she thought to herself, the tender feelings from the memories of the past gradually dispersed and replaced by a bout of anger.

"Tiara, i..." before the man finish his sentence, Tiara, with incredible speed grabbed the hand on her shoulder and twisted it then followed with a heavy kick on his joint causing him to fall hard kneeling on the ground then she ran to the stop leaving him to fend for himself.