1 When we met
Summer, the year 1999 at Henry noodles restaurant
A little girl of about five years was playing outside in the streets when a huge truck passed by and unintentionally dropped something on the street. The little girl who was busy in drawing something on the street looked at the truck.
A little boy of her age while holding an opened book in his hand, and an adult woman looked outside the truck to see if everything was okay, the little girl who was the only daughter of her dad, with no mother, smiled at the boy, but the boy looked at her with a serious face for a while, and just ignored her by again looking down on the book.
A middle-aged man ran downstairs from the restaurant towards the little girl, "what happened, Hazel?"
And a man from the front seat of the truck gets off "Are you okay, kid?" and ran towards her.
Both of them checked the girl and one said "She seems to be fine, I'm sorry, it was my mistake" he said and bowed,
"No it's okay, as she's fine" the girl's father replied with a warm smile on his face.
The girl smiled and looked at the boy in the truck who was still reading the book, "I'm Frankie, Are you the owner of this restaurant?" the man said.
"Yes, I'm the landlord, Li Henry, and the father of this little monster," he said while smiling and shaking his hand with Frankie.
"I'm supposed to live here from now on," Frankie said while shaking hands.
"Ah, your address is room three, unit four, building three?" Henry asked.
How do you know that?" Frankie asked with a shocked face.
"Aunt Noah from the community has told me, that a police officer will live upstairs, it must be you," Henry said while smiling,
"Yeah it's me, I just transferred here, hope we can help each other in the future an-" Frankie was about to say something when the women from inside the truck called him "Frankie"
"Yes?" he said while turning around, "It's really hot, let's move the things in first," the woman said.
"Oh, she is my wife, Ashley," Frankie said while pointing at her.
"Nice to meet you" Henry replied while the woman just smiled.
"And he is my son, Eric," Frankie again said.
"Aw, how cute the boy is! Hazel, say hi to him" Henry said while looking down at Hazel, she waved her hand but the little boy again ignored her and looked down at the book.
Frankie place the chair in the truck "So many things here, I'll help you move them later" Henry said,
"No, don't bother, it's okay" Frankie replied.
"Hey, we are neighbors, I'll help you," Henry said.
"Thank you so much, then," he said and get in the truck and left.
"Hazel, look we have new neighbors, you happy?" he asked her daughter while smiling "yeshh" she replied with a cute smile.
"Wait, you haven't finished your noodles yet, why play outside, go and finish your meal," he said to her daughter.
"I haven't completed my painting yet" the little girl replied,
"Painting?" Henry inquired. She nodded and pointed towards the painting of her and her mother, holding hands on the street, Henry looked at the painting while sitting down and getting a hold over his facial expression, and smiled,
"Woah, it's really good, you deserve a reward for such a good painting.
"Yeah!" the little girl excitedly said,
"fine, I'll give you an ice cream," he said always bearing a smile on his face,
"I want two," the girl said while showing him two fingers. He laughed,
"Okay, my little princess, two," he said and hold her hand while walking towards an ice cream shop.
Ashley was cleaning the house and Frankie was helping his wife by cleaning the table.
"The house is well-lighted, better than the formers, and our neighbors are warmhearted," Frankie said while picking up the things from the table.
"When I went to see Aunt Noah off, she told me that our downstairs, Li Henry, lost his wife last year" his wife replied while opening the box,
"Oh, how did she die?" Frankie asked,
"Alzheimer's disease" she replied,
"Poor, Hazel, she lost her mom at such a young age" Frankie replied.
Ashley's facial expression changed into a serious one,
"Poor? I don't think we are better than others" and again started doing her work.
Frankie stopped at his place while bearing a sad expression on his face and looked at her, then immediately smiled. "Uh, do you feel hot? c'mon the fan is ready, plug in, turn on to the maximum, and set it towards my wife" he said while laughing as if nothing happened and turning the fan in the direction of his wife. Ashley came and sat in front of the fan and smiled.
"Dear, just have a good rest, everything is ready, let me go to report for duty first, I'll be back for dinner," he said and left.
In a room, Eric was sitting on the floor while resting his head on the bed and sadly looking towards a picture, a picture of him, his father, his mother, and a little girl in her mother's lap. He was just looking at the photo when a tear formed in his eye.
"Eric" his mom called him while coming into the room, he immediately hide the photo under the bed, but it was too late his mother already saw it,
"what have you hidden?" she said while holding a box in her hand,
"N..nothing, my comic books" he slowly replied.
She gave him a suspicious expression, placed the box aside, and went towards him "Step aside, let me see" she said and move him from his spot to see, sit down, and picked up the picture.
She saw the picture and froze at her spot, only in a second her face turned red and tears started flowing out from her eyes. She took the picture from the album and stood up, showing it to him with an inquired face,
"Sorry mom" the little boy replied while looking down.
She was so frustrated and while crying badly tore the picture into many pieces, tears started forming in Eric's eyes but he managed to control himself, and looked at her mom with a serious and sad face.
She throws the ripped photo outside in the dustbin.
As she was throwing it, she heard a familiar sound "Aunt" as she turned around, it was hazel with two ponytails and holding an ice cream in her hand,
"You are Henry's daughter, right," Ashley asked.
"Yes, his brother Eric home?" Hazel asked with a cute bunny smile.
"What's the matter?" Ashly again asked,
"I bought an ice cream for him," she said while showing her the ice cream,
"He doesn't like ice cream, thank you," she said and left.
Hazel was contemplating what she had just spoken as she stared at her vanishing figure and then looked at the dustbin.
Two days later, Henry prepared dinner in the kitchen and called Hazel while bringing the food to the dining table,
"Hazel, come, we'll have sour spare ribs today," he said while arranging the food on the table and noticed that she was not coming outside so he went to her room, knocked on the door, and entered the room.
The room was neither too big nor too small, On the walls, there were trees, butterflies, kites, and cartoons drawn with colors by her, the whole room was messed up with toys and teddy bears, and she was sitting on the chair in front of a small table with a tape in her hand,
"Hazel, time to eat," Henry said while opening the door.
"Dad!" she called him in, "What's up," he said while coming into the room.
"Look, they have a younger sister," she said while showing him the picture, that was attached with tape by her. Henry looked at the picture
"From where did you get that?" he asked, still looking at the picture.
"Brother Eric's mom threw this with a box of toys" she replied while showing him a box of toys.
He looked at that and said "Dear, we can't keep them, let me throw them away, I'll buy you something new" he said while grabbing the box from her
but as she was a kid she said, "No I want them!" she said while snatching the box from her father.
" Look, Hazel, we can't keep other's rubbish and remember not to mention anything about the sister with our neighbors, okay? he said while sitting down at her level,
"Why," she asked.
"Because they have no sister now," he said.
"hmm, is it the same with my mom? has she died?" she asked.
"Not the same, she's now a fairy on the sea," he said while sadly smiling.
"Will she come back?" Hazel said with her innocent face.
"No she won't, she's staying there as a fairy, but don't worry, we'll also be there many after many years," he said.
"When?" she excitedly asked,
"Well, when my Hazel becomes an old granny," he said while caressing her hair,
"You mean like this?" she said and stood up from her seat and started walking like an old woman while placing her one on her back,
"Sweet beancurd jelly," she said in a lazy tone, trying to act like an old woman, "Young chap, do you want some?" while showing her empty hands to her father.
"Let me try," he said while laughing and acting as if he was holding a spoon,
"Yum, it's so yummy" and they both started laughing,
"Okay now, let me throw them away," he said while holding the box, but Hazel grabbed it again and put it on the floor, and hug her dad
"Dad, I've been glued for a long time, please"
"Fine, but for a temporary time" she broke the hug and gave him a bright smile.
"Now, go and wash your hands, let's have our meal," he said.
" Okay," she said and left. As she left, he looks
