Chapter 4: Unexpected Encounters and Bike Mishaps

The door opened, but it wasn't Lorus who opened it; instead, it was a girl. She had wavy short pink hair and a beautiful figure. Hahaha, what luck forme , both girls I've met, they're both beautiful. I looked at her and said, "You're not Lorucs...."

 The girl smiled and said, "Hello, I'm Audrey, you're the new guy, right?" 

I replied"Yes, that's me, and my name is Rick." She said, "Nice to meet you, Rick." I respond, "I'm pleased to meet you too, Audrey." 

I expected her to invite me in, but that didn't happen. She stopped me and said, "You need to help me fetch Maria; her bike is broken, and we can use your truck to transport it." I answered, "Yes, of course, we can do that." 

I headed towards my truck, and she commented, "This truck looks old..." I replied, "It may seem that way from the outside, but it's fantastic inside. Don't judge a book by its cover." Approaching the door, she said, "Let's hurry; she's outside alone now." I said, "Certainly, let's keep moving."

We got into the truck, and the drive began through the rural road. On the way, she didn't utter a word. There was a lot of silence. She seems like a nice girl. It's strange, though; we've spoken before, but now neither of us is saying anything.

 "Ahem," I need to say something, break this silence. But what should I say? Yes, of course, I'm an idiot. I should ask her about Maria. That should smooth things over. I looked at her and asked, "By the way, who is Maria?" She replied, "We're not far now." I was puzzled and said, "Sorry! What?" She said, "No, no, it's my mistake." Both of us spoke at the same time. We both had the same idea about breaking the prevailing silence. 

After a moment of silence, Audrey spoke, "Maria, one of the girls living in the mansion." I asked, "Is she your sister?" She answered sternly, "No, we're not related." I replied, "Alright, good. By the way, I just arrived, and I still don't know anything or anyone." She smiled and said, "I'm sure you'll catch up." I said, "I hope so. I don't even know what I should do." She replied, "Turn right here." We continued driving, both silent. 

After a while, we arrived, and I saw a blonde girl with her glasses lying on the ground, her bike crashed . Audrey exclaimed, "There she is, stop here." 

I looked at her and said, "She doesn't seem hurt." And also When she mentioned a bike, I thought it was a motorcycle, not a regular bicycle. Audrey ran towards her and asked, "Maria, are you okay? You're not hurt, right?" The girl started speaking with a tone of fear in her voice and said, "I'm fine, but the bike isn't." She approached and hugged her, asking, "What happened?" Maria began explaining, "I was on my usual bike ride, and it just fell. The front wheel got punctured, I don't know why." Audrey started comforting her, "Don't worry about the bike; you're okay, that's what matters." 

The girl's expression told a sad story; she felt bad about her bike. Deciding to console her, I said "I'll look at it when we get back, and I promise I'll try my best to fix it." A smile appeared on her face, and she said, "Thank you, I hope you can fix it." Audrey then resumed talking, "We were really worried about you; we thought you got hurt." Maria assured us, "I'm fine, Audrey, not a scratch on me." Audrey said, "That's good, now let's go back home." 

I directed towards the bike and said, "You two get on the truck, and I'll load the bike at the back." Maria smiled, saying, "Thank you." I continued, "As promised, I'll try to fix it later; it doesn't look too bad to me." She exclaimed, "Really, that's great." I told her, "A flat tire is fixable." She stood in front of me, repeatedly saying, "Thank you, thank you so much".

 I introduced myself, "By the way, I'm Rick." She responded, "I'm Maria, nice to meet you." I replied, "Pleasure to meet you too, Maria." Maria's expressions shifted from sadness to happiness; the bike meant a lot to her. My words helped calm her. "Fixing this bike won't be as challenging; I've dealt with many flat tires myself," I assured her. I placed the bike at the back and started driving towards home.

Ugh, silence again... I won't say a word this time. After a long silence, I started feeling like I might be the problem. Maybe they don't like me, or maybe they're just shy. 

After a prolonged silence, Maria spoke up, saying, "Okay, I'll say it. You two make a cute couple. There, I said it." Audrey angrily responded, "We're not a couple; I just met this person." I also spoke up, "I work at the mansion; I just arrived a few hours ago." Maria started laughing and said, "Oh my, what a blunder. So, you two aren't in a relationship?" Audrey replied, "No, we're not in a relationship." I added, "No." Maria started blushing and said, "What an awkward situation... Oops." 

I decided to tease her to lighten the mood and said, "But I'm still single if you were wondering... Hahaha." Wait, why did I say that just now? The silence in the truck continued until we arrived. It seems my comment about being single wasn't taken as I expected. The two girls headed to the house, and before they entered, Maria turned around...