3 | Who is he?

"You…", a confused male voice attempts to collect itself, "Are you okay?"

Eyes filled with terror had locked on the huge build in front of them, not a single motion is able to escape their grasp. With tension increasing, every single sound surrounding both fades away, and only their own heartbeats are audible. Having started a short while ago, the staredown appears to have already made one of the participants uncomfortable. Despite the overwhelming size, the man towering the boy did not move as he felt concerned about the situation.

"Kid, what are you doing?", slightly softening his voice, the merchant addresses the young boy on the ground.

Expecting a reply or at least some sort of reaction, the old man remains silent. Yielding his position, the merchant sighs and directs his attention to his sides, away from the boy. After his short search, the towering figure lightly scratches his head and returns his attention to his initial target. Regaining composure, the merchant lowers himself while still keeping his distance from the boy.

A warm, yet soft smile appears on the man's face, "Don't worry, I won't hurt you."

"I'm sorry for being so scary, I…", before he manages to finish his sentence, the old eyes catch sight of something, "Wait, can you even see me?"

White, cloudy, and devoid of life, is a description someone might give to a blind person's eyes. Focusing on the glassy eyes of the boy, the merchant waves his hand in front of the boy. To his surprise, the young eyes quickly followed the movements.

"What?", questioning his own eyes, the gentle man waves his hand again, "That's… beyond odd."

Realizing his rudeness, the merchant quickly retrieves his hand, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't intend to cause you discomfort. There's just something about your eyes that confused me."

Knowing full well that there will be no reply, the man ensures that his facial expression looks kind, "Well, I am not sure if you understand what I'm saying, but I need to get back to work. Before I do, I'll give you something, nothing dangerous of course."

Doing his best to not startle the boy, he slowly gets up and turns around to face his stand. A single step later, the man leans over his stand in order to grab something. Having achieved his goal, the merchant returns his body to a standing position and reaches into his pocket with the other hand, out of it he pulls a clean handkerchief. It appears to be either brand new or simply barely ever used, in the handkerchief he places the object from his other hand and wraps it up. While still finishing up his preparations, he slowly rotates himself towards the boy.

Gently taking two steps forward, the merchant in a friendly manner explains, "Since I don't know what you enjoy I picked something that most people enjoy and don't have allergies to. If you happen to not enjoy it, I can pick something else for you."

Lowering himself and placing the object on the ground, the man lightly chuckles, "Of course, if you happen to know exactly what you want, you are free to choose yourself."

Keeping his speed consistent, the old man returns to his workplace and calls out the soon-to-be customers. With only the eyes having the freedom to move, the boy remains in the same spot for a while to verify that there is no threat. Since the towering figure is not so close anymore, the kid is able to explore the environment with his eyes. Next to his right foot, there is the recently placed object, although it doesn't look threatening he has no idea what could be in there. Despite the potential warning signs, curiosity wins.

Using his left hand for support, the curious child leans forward with his right hand extended. First, he decides to just lightly poke it with his trembling fingers, but the wrapped-up object does not respond. Having completed the first test, the young hand lightly grabs the object and heads toward the boy's face. It's soft, yet solid enough to not break apart, although it was faint at first, the kid's hand began to warm up.

Even if there were a pile of red flags, the curiosity consuming the boy would not allow him to stop. Heading upwards, the warmth from the object heads toward the boy and enters his nose, with it there is a certain scent that follows. Surprise takes over the young face and the eyes of it remain locked on the object. In a hurry to investigate, the boy quickly removes his left hand from the ground, and after losing this support his body slams against the wall, although he doesn't notice the pain.

Now that both hands are at his disposal, he begins to unravel the mystery that has been hidden from him for so long. One movement at a time, a light brown bun with a slight golden layer reveals itself. With just one look from his eyes and a whiff of his nose, the boy's mouth moved instinctively towards the delicious-looking bun. Energy flows through the young boy's body as he devours the food item in his hands. Being too far lost in his meal, the kid does not notice how the open wounds on his body slowly begin to close.