04. Unknown Figure

But after the incident, Caitlin fainted and after hearing the whole story, Danar finally allowed Caitlin to do chores at his internet cafe without paying a penny. Danar still allowed Caitlin to work as long as it was only on Saturdays, and even then only for a few hours. But even so, Danar's salary was still high enough for Caitlin to receive. She wanted to refuse but Danar persisted.

Danar's role in Caitlin's life for approximately one year has been very-very large, Caitlin often inserts Danar's name in every prayer, praying that the man will run smoothly for his thesis and that he will graduate quickly because Caitlin has often heard him complain about unfinished thesis cases.

Danar was considered a brother to her, Danar was always kind to her and Caitlin promised that when she got her salary, Caitlin would treat Danar to something as a token of her gratitude for the man's kindness this time.

Caitlin had her school uniform and backpack ready in twenty minutes. She immediately said goodbye to her grandmother who was still in the room, not forgetting to tell her that Caitlin had also made food for her grandmother to eat.

Caitlin has often left her grandmother alone and likes to ask the neighbors next door to help monitor her condition regularly, especially to help feed her grandmother when she eats. Fortunately, Caitlin has good neighbors so she doesn't have to worry too much because she has to leave her grandmother alone.

"Grandma, Caitlin is leaving first. Grandma, don't forget to eat later, if Caitlin comes home later but Grandma hasn't eaten yet, Caitlin will be sad. Grandma is careful at home, Caitlin's leaving first." She kissed her grandmother's forehead with a smile before finally Caitlin left the house to go to school.

Caitlin came out of the house in a hurry, five minutes later the first bus would be coming even though she had to arrive early at school because she had a side job helping to tidy up the books in her school library. If she ran now to get to the front stop it would only take three to four minutes, Caitlin thought it would be more than enough.

Caitlin stopped running as soon as she got to the stop, she put her hands on each knee as she tried to get as much oxygen as possible from the exhaustion from running. Caitlin looked around and realized that the bus stop was very quiet today, which it should be because it was still too early to wander around, but usually Caitlin would still find one or two people waiting for the bus with her, but today it was so quiet it was just her and...

'She's here again', Caitlin muttered to herself when she found the figure of a girl in a black hood standing in one corner of the bus stop, not far from where she was standing at the moment.

"You're almost late Caitlin," the girl spoke to her.

Caitlin glanced at the clock on her wrist. "I still have one more minute before the first bus arrives," Caitlin said flatly.

The girl turned, and Caitlin's eyes immediately met hers. The girl always wore a black cloth to cover part of her face, so only her eyes could be seen by Caitlin.

"Even if you are late, you can still take the number 7 bus that comes after your first bus, and—"

"No," Caitlin interrupted quickly. "I already told you that I'm not the least bit interested in your offer. So, stop telling me to get on that number 7 bus you always mention."

"I thought so." The girl laughed softly, but her gaze turned sad the next second. "Though I just wanted to offer you your right to be happy. But you always refuse it," said the girl still with a sad look.

Caitlin snorted, annoyed that their meetings were always decorated with the same topic. "Just think. If you were me, would you easily accept an offer from someone you've only known for a month? Moreover, she never shows her face at any of your meetings, she never even introduces her name. She just suddenly comes to you and offers a form of happiness by taking a bus you've never been on before, only that part of it doesn't make sense. But worse, here only you can see her as if she were a wandering spirit. Try to answer me, are you going to accept such an unreasonable offer easily after all the explanations I've explained just now?"

"Done," said the girl shortly.

Caitlin immediately frowned in disbelief. Her long sentence was only answered with one word that didn't even have anything to do with what she was asking.

"The bus you've been waiting for has arrived," the girl spoke again as if answering all the questions in Caitlin's head.

Caitlin reflexively looked behind her and sure enough the bus she was waiting for was on its way to this stop.

"Caitlin," the girl called and Caitlin immediately turned to her. "I'm not lying about wanting to offer you happiness, I also don't have the slightest bad intention for you, I'm just offering happiness that we can get together later because I need that happiness. But I can't force you if you don't want to. You must have tried to find out something about me from your curiosity. I promise to tell you everything if you are willing to cooperate with me. For now, you can refuse, but if you change your mind later you can come to me and get on bus number 7 at six in the morning like I always tell you."

Then the girl's hand reached out to open the black cloth that covered part of her face. The first reaction Caitlin showed was confusion, Caitlin narrowed her eyes just to examine the face of the girl staring at her at the moment.

"My name is Elena." The girl introduced herself.

Caitlin suddenly remembered the article she hadn't finished reading at Danar's internet cafe this morning. The article she had deliberately searched for because she was too curious about this girl, but now that Caitlin had seen what the girl looked like with her own two eyes, she was surprised as her head gave some speculations out of the blue.

How could the girl look so much like her starting from the eyes, counting down to the face shape? Then what confused Caitlin even more was the fact that the girl looked just like herself but in a more mature version.

Actually who is this girl named Elena?

Caitlin really didn't know her, but how did she manage to make her so curious?