It's safe but it isn't home

The Cafe must have been swarmed but the section that Lily sat in, was comparatively serene and calm. The lights were dim, and the melody of the beautiful song filled the small space.

She felt warm and safe wearing Ace's sweater. Although her legs were cold, she didn't complain. She wasn't the one who would worry anyone for anything she needed. She had learned that she should always be content with what she had in her life.

Her face lit up when she saw Ace, walking in, holding two cups in his hand.

She quickly kept the yellow umbrella that she was holding. Unlike her small frame, the umbrella was quite big. It didn't look like it belonged to her.

"I ordered a latte for you. Hope you don't mind"

She smiled, picking up the cup. She liked tea, but she wasn't going to tell him. He had already done a lot for her, being only a stranger.

"I never..what is your name?" Lily took a little sip and looked at Ace through her eyelashes.

"Oh yes, I am Ace." Ace extended his hand. Now that he was just in a t-shirt, his bulging blue veins were visible on his extended hand.

Lily blinked a couple of times, before raising her pale hand, which has gone a little pink due to the cold. Her soft fingers barely made contact with Ace's hand and she retracted them back.

"Lily, my name" she picked up her cup and took another sip.

Ace held his cup filled with black coffee and looked at the strand of blonde hair that had fallen just above her eyes.

He rose from his chair and holding the strand between his fingers, put it back.

"If you want, we could make a complaint against those men, so they don't bother you again" he kept his eyes on her.

If anyone could make those guys pay for their mistake, it was him. He could have ended their chapter today, but he didn't want to scar the girl sitting in front of him. Through the years, he was away from the home, he had been trained enough in self-defense.

After he started his boarding school, there were nights when he couldn't sleep, nights when he would just toss and turn in bed hoping for the sleep to finally greet him, nights when he would keep on listening to the songs as the sun rose, nights when he would wake up in the middle of the night hoping that his mom would rush to his room and hug him like she usually used to do when he was at home.

He had a roof above his head, it was safe, but it wasn't home.

It was until he met his coach, who saw the big red eyes and the bags under them, and understood what he needed.

He started to spend more time with Ace. He would involve Ace in all sorts of sports, sports that exhausted him and made him sleep like a log at night. He never wanted for the silent kid to be bullied in school, so with sports, he began to train him. Few boxing techniques, few self-defense tricks, every day, making the boy, strong, one day at a time.

All the efforts, not only made him sleep peacefully at night but also made his body develop faster giving him a manly physique even when he was young. Exercising every day made him much energetic and happy.

Now, he was nth times better than any trained men and was able to take 4-5 attackers on his own.

Lily put her cup down and looked at Ace. She had already dried her tears and there was a sparkle on her face.

"It wasn't a big deal," she answered.

"Are you sure?" Ace asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Yes, I am the one who decides if it was a big deal or not. If I say, it's not a big deal, then it's not a big deal." She knew Ace didn't understand her so she kept on explaining," if I consider it important, it's going to hurt me more, I would keep thinking about it making it worse, on top of that, since I think it's serious, people would start to gossip about it"

She blinked again and looked at the boy, who looked more confused than before.

"They were just a couple of drunks, who lost their way."

"You are way too nice" Ace smirked looking sideways to which Lily just smiled.

She looked outside and flinched. She was late for her work.

"I should go, I am late. I might have to do overtime later"

"You want to go back ?" The girl had surprised him more than once now. He didn't want to argue with her, not the day she was harmed.

"I will drop you, just give me a minute" Ace quickly got up.

"I- I can go" Lily was about to leave on her own when they heard a strong thunder.

"Just a minute" Ace brushed his hair and walked to the desk, paying up, he tipped the girl heavily.

"Tonight, I want to play the game you keep talking about," Xander yelled from the table he was sitting on.

Ace narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

"I am coming anyway" Xander yelled and chuckled.

..........

By the time, Ace was returning to the rented room in the prestigious hotel he was staying in, it had started to rain heavily.

Even though he was back in his hometown, it was difficult for him to stay in his home. While Noah and Xander had taken one room each, Ace refused to spend the night there anymore, or at least, till the memories would start to blur out.

He could hear the large drops falling on the roof, and getting replaced by the next set. The wind and the rain were making it difficult to drive or see anything in front of him.

He had always loved Rain, so instead of a frown, his lips were making his favorite curve. A smile.

He would have almost missed it if it wasn't the red light, which made him stop. A person dressed in complete black was standing near the bus bench.

The heavy rain had made the person completely drenched. He was about to curse when his eyes fell on the boxes kept on the bench. The boxes were more important than his or her health.

"And here I thought, she was the only crazy one"

He mumbled and started looking for anything he had with him. He couldn't have cared at all, but something has made him stop at this place, and he felt like there was a reason behind it.

His gaze fell on a yellow umbrella. He picked it up, opened the gate, and put the left hand's palm just above his eyes. He had no time to waste, as the signal would go green any second, so he rushed to the bus bench.

The person's back was to his side when he kept the umbrella on one of the boxes and turned to leave.

"Here..use it"

*Honk* *Honk*

While the lightning brightened the dark sky, Ace turned one more time to see if the person had picked the umbrella, but could only see a pair of glasses looking back at him.

Rain was stunned for a second when the stranger kept his umbrella and began to leave. She wanted to thank him, but her lips were frozen. Even if she tried, she won't be able to form a complete sentence.

She didn't remember how or when she brought everything and kept it on the bench. And what was she waiting for? She turned around to see the stranger, who had risked coming out of his luxurious car and handed her the umbrella, but her glasses were completely covered by the raindrops, making it almost impossible to see anything.

She was about to open the umbrella when suddenly it stopped to rain, or something was already above her head.

It must have been raining cats and dogs, making it smell like the earth, but..but she remembered his smell.

Reid.

His goofy smile made her feel warm instantly.

"I. I was looking all over for you"

Reid had his jacket over both of them, as the rain had finally started to turn into a drizzle.

After making Rain sit comfortably, Reid and his roommate picked up the boxes and kept them in the car. It was a big six-seater car, which Reid's roommate owned, which made it possible to have room for Rain's stuff.

"I was with Rachel in a nearby bar, when I got a call. I thought that if I talked with her, she won't be that hard on you" Reid had started driving.

"He is the one who called me to ask about the new roommate, and then I remembered that you wanted a room?" He continued speaking making his way to his house.

"I don't have your phone, so I called your building, they told me you had gone." He shook his head as he parked the car in front of the building.

"We both didn't waste any time and start looking for you" He turns to look at Rain with a displeasing look.

"I was worried" he mumbled hoping his roommate at the back hadn't heard it.

It's always easy to keep your walls up, to avoid any kind of emotions, but what's tough is to trust people. A part of rain was exploding her mind, telling her to stay away, but a bigger part of her wanted to take a leap, to trust him this time.