Found Me

"What are you doing here?" A girl asked with a frown on her face like Vesper just invaded her bathroom.

Vesper could do nothing but stare at the girl in wonder. Her dark curly hair was in twin-tails tied with a stuffed cartoon bear hairband. She was wearing clothes that matched the cartoon character on her head. She had a pair of big red rainboots on her tiny feet along with the same coloured umbrella.

"This is my castle. Who are you?" The girl squinted her eyes as she crossed her arms arrogantly.

"Vesper..." That was all the five-year-old Vesper McCarthy could answer. The girl who looked a bit older than him was much scarier than his mother waiting for him back home for him to bring back fruits that he volunteered to buy.

"I'm Helia." The girl held out her hand for him to shake It seemed like there was no problem sharing her castle if she knew their name. "Why are you not going home? Aren't you feeling cold?" She asked when she saw he was wearing short sleeves.

The moment Helia asked the boy with teary eyes, he resumed crying. "Hey!" She didn't expect that to happen, so obviously, she was stunned but managed to regain her composure and rush to his side.

The reason why she decided to come to the park was that she heard someone crying outside from the open window of her house. She was a ball of curiosity, and what if the thing that was crying was a puppy or kitten?

"I don't know!" The crying boy choked out. His fluffy red hair wasn't fluffy anymore as it stuck to his face along with his soaked clothes. "I want mummy!" Vesper couldn't see straight because of all the tears that were in his eyes.

"But I also don't know your mummy." Helia wasn't like herself from a minute ago. She was kind and caring now. "But maybe, my mummy can help. Let's go to my home."

"... I can't." Vesper spoke as he showed her his injured right knee.

"Then I'll carry you. And you carry the umbrella." Helia saw them small bag containing peaches and carried it before kneeling so that the boy can get onto her back. "It's yours, right?"

Vesper nodded vigorously as he held tight to the girl's shirt.

"Open the umbrella." She commanded and he did as he was told. She slowly got out of the tunnel, carrying the bag and the boy. The journey to her house took a long time because of the rain and the weight but nonetheless, they made it to Helia's house where her mother was just going to look for her.

"Helia, I've been looking everywhere for you! Where were y-" Helia's mother, Mare Knight, abruptly stopped when she saw her five-year-old daughter carrying a kid on her back.

"I'm sorry, mummy. I heard him crying and I wanted to help him. Mummy he's lost." The little girl faced down as she spoke. Her red rainy boots were dirty with mud.

"Okay. We'll talk about this later. Just get in." Mare closed the door and brought two towels for the kids to wipe themselves. "What is your name little man?"

"Vesper. Vesper McCarthy." The boy, looking like a wet golden retriever, let the woman wipe him.

"Vesper do you know your mummy's name?" Mare asked softly. She knew the kid was frightened.

The boy shook his head sadly before he shivered.

"Okay. Let's get you warmed up. I'll prepare bath for the both of you and I will talk to your mum, is that good hon?"

"Yes!" Helia excitedly nodded and removed her boots messily. For the past few days, it had been raining and she couldn't play with her friends, but now she got a friend. That meant she no longer had to play alone with her toys! "Mummy can I and he play with toys, please?"

"Okay but only after you wrap your selves with a towel."

"Okay!!" The little bundle of joy held the boy's hand and led him to the middle of the living room that was occupied with many stuffed toys.

"You wait here. Let me bring you my favourite towel." Then she ran away for her to come back in a second to show off her towel with the same cartoon character. "Ta da!!"

"You like ms ice cream bear?" Vesper asked as Helia wrapped him with her soft towel.

"I love her! When I grow up, I am going to be ms ice cream!" The girl spoke, full of dream and passion, before sneezing aggressively.

"Helia have you gotten a towel for you and Vesper?" Mare shouted from the bathroom when she heard her daughter sneeze.

"Yeeeesss!" Helia once again went back to her room to get the other favourite towel.

The kids played for a long time before Mare called them for a bath. The mother washed both kids thoroughly and made sure that they were both warmed up.

"You two remain here. Helia, I am going to give you some of your clothes for Vesper. I'm going to come back soon." The mother came back with a random pair of clothes which turned out to be one of her favourites.

"Mummy, I want to wear this one."

"But this one is small for you, didn't you say? This is the only pair of clothes that's going to fit him."

"But mummy..." Helia stared at the boy and the cloth before she finally gave in with teary eyes. "Yo-you can take it. You can have it because you like ms ice cream bear." She did her best to hold in the tears in her eyes.

"Thank you..." The boy murmured and wore the clothes that were given to him. His undergarments were also wet but luckily, or not so luckily, Helia's mother had a new, unused pair of them and gave them to him.

After the kids were cleaned and warmed, Mare gave them some snacks to occupy them before she began calling every neighbour, asking about the boy.

When Vesper's mother, Aura McCarthy, arrived at the house of Knight, she found her introverted son having the time of his life with a girl around his age. Although it was mostly the girl talking, she could see that he was smiling more and enjoying the story.

"Mummy!" As soon as Vesper heard his mother, he rushed to her with full force and crushed her into her embrace.

"Oh God, my baby." Aura caressed her son back lovingly before mouthing thank you to the other mother. "You must be Helia. Thank you for saving my son." She then thanked the girl standing close to her mother.

"So you are his mum?" Helia asked as she stepped closer to her new friend breaking from the hug.

"Yes, I am. And thank you so much!" Aura held the girl's hand tightly but not tight enough to hurt the girl.

"You are welcome." The girl didn't seem that much happy to be thanked. In fact, she looked a little sad. "Can I go back to playing with him?"

The other widened her eyes. Helia thought the pair of mother and son really looked like when they were surprised. They both had the same pair of eyes that were a mix of jade green and bottle green. They were captivating. Plus the hair... Although they both had the same fiery red colour, Aura's was wavy while Vesper's was curly.

"Sure. I need to talk with your mummy." As soon as the other mum gave permission, Helia once again held Vesper's hand and continued recreating her favourite scene from ms ice cream bear.

"Thank you, so, so much, Ms Knight. I don't know how much I owe you." Aura thanked Mare once again when they reached the dining area.

"Please call me Mare, Ms McCarthy. I also need to thank you for letting my daughter play with your son. As you may have noticed, Helia is quite talkative and can be a little too much sometimes." Mare chuckled and eyed the kids.

"I have noticed. My son has never been comfortable with people and this is my first seeing him this happy with people other than our family. And please do call me Aura then."

"Sure thing." Mare went into the kitchen to get something warm for the both of them to continue chatting. "So from what my daughter said, your son went to buy peaches from Ms Henderson and on his way back, he saw a cat and chaste it. He fell from the stairs near the park and injured himself, noticed he was lost and waited for you to find him in the tunnel."

"I see. I was careless for letting my son go alone. Sorry for causing all these troubles, Mare. I don't know how to thank you or your daughter."

"That is alright. This could have happened to my daughter too. We help each other in need. I've got your back." Mare winked playfully and poured a chamomile tea for her and Aura.

The mother chatted for a long time as the kids also had fun playing roles from ms ice cream bear and watching the show.

"Why don't you join us for dinner?" Mare asked Aura when the room gradually became darker.

"I don't want to add more burden to you." Mare saw Aura eyeing the marriage ring on her finger.

"My husband is away for a business trip and it's going to be lonely for the two of us to have dinner. So please?" Mare shone her brown eyes like a puppy and asked the elder. Turns out, that Aura was older than her by three years.

"Please?" Helia joined the plea with the same expression without properly hearing what she was pleading for.

"Mummy, I want to stay with Helia." Even her son tugged her skirt with a sad expression that she couldn't refuse.

"Fine." Aura answered as they too had no one at the house waiting for them. Aura divorced a year ago when her husband began to relieve stress by using violence on her and Vesper.

------

"Can I come here again?" Vesper asked as he wore his dried shoes at the entrance.

"Of c-"

"Of course!! We'll watch ms ice cream bear again!" Helia jumped with excitement, not caring she interrupted her mother.

"Aura, if you are busy, I can always take care of your son. Of course only if you want to. This is merely an offer."

"That would really help me." Aura looked like she was about to cry but held it in. Instead, she bent down to Helia. "Helia, do you want to play with Vesper?"

"Yes!! He's my friend now. We can play any time." Helia answered with a bright smile.

"Really?" Vesper asked with hope in his voice.

"Yes. We are going to be friends forever!" The girl patted the boy's head with a smile. She felt like she got a friend and a brother at the same time.

And this was how the two soulmates met.