Winchester (3)

Year 1853

Xander moved his fishing rod a little, checking to see if the bait had caught the interest of something, but it turned out that it didn't. It wasn't even approached by the fish.

It has been more than 2 hours since he was here, but not once has the bait been eaten by the fish. Even he spent lunch here despite threats of being scolded by Miss Yerez for not eating together and if he get caught, of course he would starve until dinner time arrived.

Xander put down the rod again, maybe he would get something if he waited a little bit.

Pluk!

A tremor in the pool caught Xander's attention. The boy narrowed his eyes, staring straight at the surface of the pond, it seemed like something was there.

Pluk!

Xander stared at it again, it seemed like it was the sound of a rock being thrown into the water. He looked for the origin of the stone throwing, maybe it was the prankster of one of the residents who tried to disturb him but then he saw her there.

The girl was seen sitting alone across the pond, with her face down and one hand seen scavenging something on the ground and throwing it back into the water.

Pluk!

The surface made a rippled again.

Xander continued to stare at the girl, as if she was completely unaware of Xander's presence here, because he could see that the girl was not trying to hide her tears at all.

Yes. She was crying.

Her face looked so sad. He didn't know what was on her mind. Xander looked back at the girl, should he approach her? Just to say hello or even cheer her up a little?

After thinking for a long time and not finding the answer, he finally put down his fishing rod and stood up, walking over to the girl.

"Hey .. If you keep throwing stones at the pond, my feed will not be glimpsed by fish even if wait until midnight ," said Xander, sitting next to Thea.

The girl stared intently at Xander. It seemed like she was surprised by his sudden presence around her. She hurriedly wiped her tears and took her distance from him.

Xander glanced at the girl, who was now looking away completely because she didn't want to look at him.

"You still remember me, right?" he asked. But again he was ignored.

The girl next to him still didn't want to look at him, but he didn't give up.

"This place is beautiful, right?" he said. "When I don't have a thing to do, I'm always here to enjoy all this." Xander looked around, it was spring now and the scenery around the pool was very beautiful, decorated with flowers of various colors.

"I can even spend the whole day here, sometimes just sitting around, lying down or fishing. In summer, this place will be very nice, you can swim in the pond and sunbathe there." Xander pointed to a large field that looked like a small hill in the distance.

Without realizing it, Thea followed Xander's forefinger and stared at the small hill he was pointing at, the girl was enjoying the green scenery that now caught her eye.

Xander smiled.

He didn't know why he felt he had to comfort a new child. He wasn't the type to pretend to be close to the people he had just met.

All the children of this orphanage gathered with their respective backgrounds. Most of them were the result of forbidden relationships from prominent aristocrats. He could see this girl beside him was one of the aristocrat's daughter. Maybe it was only him who was not clear who his parents were.

Seeing Thea's eyes filled with curiosity over what he was telling her made him feel satisfied.

"Have you eaten yet?" Xander seemed to have remembered something and asked. If she ran away this time, she wouldn't be able to eat lunch.

Thea lowered her head and shook her head once. She suddenly remembered her wound and covered it from Xander. Xander saw that and pretended not to notice.

"I haven't eaten either. Shall we go to the kitchen? I know some tricks to eat when you're out of schedule." Xander abandoned his fishing rod and ordered Thea to follow him.

Thea stood up. She looked at Xander doubtfully. But hunger overcame her doubts. with small steps she followed Xander from behind.

Xander slipped through the small door at the back of the building that connected to the kitchen. He took some bread and butter and shared it with Thea.

He sat on the floor. Thea never ate and sat on the dirty floor. She always sat at the dinner table, stopping neatly with fork and spoon in hand. But now she could not choose her circumstances. She stools herself and sitting next to the boy, holding the buttered bread, and eating it straight from her hand.

She ate in silence. Xander did the same.

"Do you want this?" After he finished his bread, he stood on the chair and took the eggs, milk and cheese from the top of the cupboard.

Thea filled her mouth with all the food Xander had to offer. After her crying, the hunger was overwhelming.

She gazed at him and wiped her mouth when she realized he didn't make a sound.

"Do you want some more?" Xander offered another bread.

Thea shook her head. She knew how to stop embarrassed herself. "No, thank you. I'm already full."

Xander just stared at her before nodding. "All right let's-"

Thea jumped off from the floor and immediately stood up. The knock behind the large door made her jump.

Xander brought his index finger to his lips and shushed her.

But the knocking didn't stop.