Everyone's attention was on me now.

I stuttered uneasily, "I... I don't know... there was someone and the thief screamed and then he threw the bag and ran... I didn't see anything..."

I was so scared, what if anyone had noticed anything, what if they could link it to me, what if they demanded for more explanations.

I had been too careless.

Luckily, someone came to my rescue, diverting everyone's attention.

"It was a hero." A male voice spoke up, making its way among the crowd, and my breath caught in my throat as soon as my eyes landed on him.

"I saw it all, the thief was running and a superhero stopped him. The thief was armed but the hero turned into a gigantic monster engulfed in black mist, and there was nothing he could do against it."

I couldn't believe my eyes. It was the same boy.

He had grown up but hadn't changed much, and I recognised him immediately.

I looked at him with a puzzled look, what was he talking about, superheroes and gigantic monsters, and even black mist, what was all that about?

I stared in a daze and saw him winking at me. Why did he do that? What did it mean? He couldn't know that it was me...

He walked away from the crowd and I went after him on impulse. I realised only later how foolish I had been, but at the moment I didn't even consider taking advantage of my actions. I had retrieved the man's stolen goods, he owed me now, I could have convinced him to hire me, but seeing that boy again had distracted me from my job hunt.

I wanted to know his name, and I was anxious to know what he had seen, what would I do if he had realised that it was me? I had never done this before, and I couldn't remember the moment I had changed the way people saw me. Was there anyone around?

I quickened my steps and reached him. I touched his arm and he turned on the spot.

"Did you... did you really see what happened?" I asked.

He smiled. What a smile he had.

"You looked uncomfortable under those stares, so I gave you a break," he said.

He looked perfectly at ease, so I felt reassured that he hadn't found me out.
I was glad my secret was safe but I was even more glad that now I could be just a normal person and actually get to know him after all this time.

I thanked him for being so considerate and introduced myself. The polite thing to do was for him to introduce himself now, and I tried to hide how eager I was when he shook my hand delivering the information I was craving for.

"My name is Zhao Yunlan, pleased to meet you. Do you live around here?"

Yunlan...

"No, I... I just got here, I'm looking for a job before I completely run out of money."

I cursed inwardly, why did I have to say that? Now he might think that I was poor and desperate. I mean, I was but there was no reason for him to know that!

"Well, good luck then," he said, and motioned to move away.

"Wait!"

He turned with a puzzled look and I just stayed there with my mouth open, not knowing what to say.

Suddenly his eyes lit up as if he just had a brilliant thought.

What he said next should have surprised me, but I was so enchanted by the fact that I had found him and we were talking that I was willing to talk about pigs flying, if it ever came to that.

He didn't speak about flying animals, though. He asked me a question.

"Do you know how to cook?"

All the kids at the orphanage had to take turns doing the cleaning and cooking so I knew my way around the kitchen. I didn't know why he was asking but it didn't really matter, I was just happy that he was talking to me, so I nodded and he smiled.

He smiled again. At me. This day was turning out to be the best of my life.

"My parents have a small restaurant, I could ask them if they can give you a job, what do you say?"

I was speechless for a few seconds, different emotions going through me at the same time: relieved for finally finding a job, worried that I might cause him troubles, embarrassed that he felt like I needed rescuing, but also excited at the prospect of seeing him regularly.

The latter won I guess because the only words that came out of my mouth were, "You work there too?"

He laughed. "No, I'm still in school, but I often eat there so I hope you're a good cook." He winked at me again.

It seemed to come so naturally for him to wink at me, and I felt butterflies going through my whole body. I nodded as if in a trance and he grabbed my arm to pull me along.

"Let's go talk to them!"

We walked for ten minutes then he stopped in front of a nice little restaurant and I began to panic. He smiled encouragingly and we went in.

His parents seemed to be a nice couple, and I hoped they liked me enough to hire me. I didn't even care how much they'd pay me, if I had money I would have paid them.

Yunlan introduced me as his 'new friend Wei' and said that I needed a job.

His father seemed about to say no but his mother jumped up and stopped him before he could say anything.

"That's great, we were just looking for some help, right Xin Ci? Help with..."

"In the kitchen," Yunlan said. "He can cook."

"That's great," she said again, but her husband didn't seem convinced.

I saw him narrow his eyes and look an me suspiciously.
"What can you do? Are you good with desserts? Cakes?"

I lowered my eyes, at the orphanage we only ate cakes at birthdays, unless they forgot, so I couldn't really claim any knowledge there.

I kept my eyes down, uncomfortable under his gaze.
"Actually I'm more familiar with vegetables and meat."

Yunlan's father frowned but once again he was stopped from saying anything by his wife.

"That's perfect! Exactly what we needed! Of course you can work here, we're happy to have you."

I felt like I was missing something, but I was over the moon knowing that I had found a job and I would be able to see Yunlan every day.