Anatole

"You heard her, right? Stop ruining her artwork," I said.

The three boys looked at me and frowned. They are not even listening to me.

"Y-yohan!" Anatole cried.

"You kids are old enough to understand the word 'stop', right? Stop messing with her. I clenched my fist behind my back. I tried to be as calm as I could, despite the rage that I felt when I saw Anatole's state.

"Who are you? Another entitled prick?!" The boy said, crossing his arms.

"We don't care about your art. What a pain in the ass!"

"Go away, dickhead. Or you want to be in trouble like her?"

The three boys said and even showed me their middle finger. I sighed in disbelief and approached Anatole instead. I wonder why they grew up treating people like that. They must have been surrounded by cruel people that made them normalize physical abuse.

"Hey, are you alright? I'm here." I held Anatole's arm and gently lifted her up.

"Y-yohan... my painting..." She hugged me immediately and cried. "I'm sorry, I couldn't protect my painting!"

"We'll get your painting, okay? Let's clean your wounds first. It's going to be alright." I caressed her hair to calm her down.

"What a crybaby! Stop doing art like this if you don't want us to beat you up again!" a boy said.

I gritted my teeth. "Did they do this to you, Anatole?"

She nodded her head. "They just pushed me to the wall and punched my arm."

I was about to talk to the boys again when Sai suddenly shouted.

"DO YOU WANT ME TO REPORT THE THREE OF YOU?"

The three kids took a step back, afraid of Sai's frustrated expression.

"How old are you, huh? How old are you?" she asked with her eyebrows scrunched. "Answer me!"

"Sai!" I hissed. I couldn't approach her because I was holding Anatole.

"Thirteen," the boys answered. All of them sounded scared! Bloody hell.

"How old are you?" Sai asked Anatole gently.

"Ten..." Anatole responded.

"You guys are three years older than this poor little girl and you are bullying her?! Why are you ruining her artwork, huh? To feel superior? Or are you all just insecure about her because she has a wonderful talent and the three of you don't?"

I heard someone sniff, and I immediately stood up, carrying Anatole with me. I covered Sai's mouth when she was about to say something again.

"That's not how you teach kids a lesson, Sai. Stop," I whispered in her ears.

She frowned. "They are bad kids."

I shook my head. "They are kids." I handed her Anatole so she could carry her. "Hold her; I'll just talk to the boys."

Sai glared at the three before walking away with Anatole. I glanced back at them; they were looking away. I can't see the confidence that they had a while ago. Sai must have scared them so much.

"Where are your parents?" I interrogated.

Their eyes widened. "What?!"

"Your parents? I need to talk to them. Tell me where they are," I said.

"No way! You're going to get us in trouble!"

I shook my head. "The three of you will get yourselves into trouble if you continue hurting someone. What you did to Anatole is wrong, it won't make you superior than anyone else."

"But, my parents said I should never paint. It's bad to paint. We are just teaching that kid a lesson; she's been painting ever since!" the other boy exclaimed.

I see where this is going. "It's never bad to paint. If you don't like what Anatole does, then let her be. Take me as an example. I have been painting for twenty years and I never got in trouble. That applies to everyone, alright? It's not a bad thing to do."

I gave up on asking where they live. I wanted to talk to their parents, but they refused. I just explained things, and I do hope they understood what I'm trying to say.

"Aren't you going to hit us too? We hurt Anatole. You can punch us too and go away already."

I smiled apologetically. "Hurting someone won't solve anything; it's against the law. Stop doing it to others, alright?" The three looked confused. I just ruffled their hair. "Go home and get some rest."

They went in another direction, so I walked away from the alley. Sai was already cleaning Anatole's wounds using her first aid kit.

"Yohan!" Anatole greeted.

"How did it go?" Sai asked.

"It's all good. They won't hurt you anymore, Anatole... here. I handed her the painting that she made. Some parts were crumpled. There were also traces of dirt and scratches because of the boys. "We'll just fix it later, okay?"

Anatole nodded. "Thank you, Yohan! And... Sai."

I sighed and sat beside them.

"Sorry, I shouted at kids. I got angry and forgot they are minors too. I just realized what I did wrong because of you," Sai said.

"Just don't do it again next time. Kids are kids; it's not their fault. It's the environment where they grew up." I rested my back on the bench.

"Yeah, I realized that too. Thanks for pointing my mistake out," she smiled apologetically.

I glanced at Anatole. "Are you going home?"

"I was about to go home, but they saw me. My grandma's probably angry because I'm not yet home," she said.

"We can accompany you to your home and talk to her," Sai said.

"Really?" The kid's eyes sparkled, but it faded right away. "But... she will find out that Yohan and Sai are from the workshop. She'll get angrier at me!"

I shook my head. "No, we won't tell her that you went to our workshop. Trust us, alright?"

"Okay! Thank you so much! What a life saver!" she sighed in relief.

We stayed on the bench for a while. Sai handed Anatole some snacks, and I just drank water. Anatole's home is thirty minutes away from here. She said she rode a pedicab to get to the art workshop's venue. Her home is really far from the basketball court, but she wanted to create art.

"How did you know that there's an art workshop? Your home's quite far from here, Sai asked. We're now walking to the next locale.

"Last year, Mr. Howard Brent told me."

Sai's mouth formed an o. "Really?"

"Yeah. I didn't go to his workshop last year, but he went to our house, and then he saw me outside, painting. He told me that he's going to have a third workshop the year after and told me the date, which is today!" she said excitedly. "I waited for a year, and I'm so happy that I got to attend today."

"Wow, this must have been a big day for you! Did you know that Howard Brent is my dad?" Sai said proudly.

Anatole gasped. "Your dad is very kind to me! You are so kind too."

"Let's search for Iseul's home later. Let's get Anatole home first," I told Sai, and she nodded.

"Iseul?" Anatole asked.

I bit my lips. Did I say that out loud?

"Y-yeah, she's a friend of mine." I smiled at her.

"Yup! She's Yohan's friend," Sai said, scratching the back of her head.

Anatole smiled widely and skipped.

"My mom's name is also Iseul!"