The boy observed some of the restaurants scattered around the food court.
After looking at one after the other, he sighed.
"What's wrong?" Asked the girl.
"I don't know what to eat."
The girl thought for a little while.
"How about I take you to my favourite place."
"Ok."
She grabbed the boy by the arm and pulled her towards a restaurant. It was a take-away fast-food restaurant. The storefront seemed relatively archaic in its design, the menu was stuck near the top as a sheet of paper instead of being displayed on televisions, giving off an old-fashioned aesthetic. The colour design was relatively bland, in contrast to many of the other stores nearby.
As the two kids walked closer to the store, a pungent smell of spices flooded the girl's nostrils, she smiled happily as the nostalgic smell activated her taste buds. The subtle background noise faded away as she was consumed in a world of flavour and intrigue.
"This is the place."
The boy observed it for a little while.
"I guess I'll get something from here." The boy decided.
As he reached into his pocket to pull out some money, he could feel the girl's eyes glued to his hand. When he pulled out the money, the little girl awkwardly looked at him.
The boy walked up to the counter. A worked dressed in flowery clothing with a dirty apron greeted him.
"What I can I get for you..?"
The worker spoke in a somewhat irritated tone.
"I'll just have the vegetable curry and rice."
"Uh, anything else?"
"No thanks."
The worker tapped the register and stuck out his hand.
"That'll be eleven dollars and thirty cents."
The boy handed him the fifty dollar note and the employee seemed annoyed. He sluggishly opened the cash drawer and impatiently counted the change.
He handed the change back to the boy along with a receipt.
As he walked back to the girl he could feel a sense of unease.
"U-um... I don't have any money left..."
The girl was unable to make eye contact with him.
"Could you possibly lend me some money... I promise I'll pay you back!"
She was slowly accumulating quite a large quantity of debt.
The boy looked over at her, she still had her head down, unable to look him in the eyes.
"That's fine, I guess."
He handed her a twenty-dollar note.
"T-thank you so much."
She walked over to the counter and made her order.
After a while, the two of them collected their orders. The curry was stored in a little plastic container with a lid. The rice and curry were pretty crudely squished into the containers, with a little bit of sauce leaking from it and getting over their hands.
The two of them walked over to an empty table and sat down.
"I know it doesn't look like much but it tastes really good!" The girl assured.
The two of them opened their containers and began eating the food.
Steam was escaping from her mouth as she scoffed down the food. She carefully covered her mouth while she was chewing to make sure she was presentable.
After a little while, the girl decided to start talking with him.
"So is it good?"
"It's alright."
The girl pouted.
"Only alright?"
She seemed disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm. The boy nodded, confirming his previous statement.
Eventually, the two of them finished eating and took their trash to the nearest bin.
They stood still for a little while, the girl seemed to have something on her mind.
"Um... when do you have to go back?" She asked.
"Pretty soon, he told me that'll he'll come back to get me in two hours when I was dropped off."
The smile faded from her face.
"We still have a few minutes right?"
"Yeah."
With her newfound friend, she decided to go to one last place.
*
Gentle pattering sounds radiated from the roof of the mall. It was a slight rain, gradually increasing in ferocity.
The two of them were standing in front of a small but sanitary and orderly store.
"Is this where you buy your glasses?" The boy asked.
She nodded in response.
The two of them walked into the store.
She pointed to some of the glasses and began talking about them.
"I really like the design of this one, but it doesn't really fit on my nose... This one has really nice colours... This one makes me look like a bookworm... This one just looks funny!"
She happily described and elaborated on several of the glasses on display. Speaking to someone like this about her interests was something she had never been able to comfortably do before. Despite how weird the boy was, it was his lack of words that made it so easy to talk to him.
It wasn't long before it was time for the boy to go.
She decided to follow him out towards the exit. The two of them walked side-by-side until they eventually made it to the large automatic doors.
"I guess you're leaving now." The girl said.
The boy began walking towards the door.
"Wait."
She decided to put on the glasses that she previously bought.
"H-how do they look?"
"They're alright."
The little girl sighed, she had already gotten accustomed to the way he responded to things.
The two of them made their way out of the mall. There was a thin layer of water built upon the ground from all the rain. It was still raining pretty heavily, strong enough that most people had umbrellas with them.
The boy could see the orphanage car parked several metres away from the exit. Suddenly, a somewhat tall boy scrambled out of the passenger seat, rushing frantically towards the two of them.
"Maia, I'm so sorry!"
"Theo?"
It seemed her brother had been desperately searching for her.
The two of them walked towards the stressed brother.
As Theo got closer, he suddenly lost his footing on the wet ground and crashed into the little girl. She desperately grabbed the boy's sleeve to try to keep her balance but eventually slid onto her back.
The rain was heavy.
Her hair was and clothes were completely soaked. The water on her glasses also blocked most of her vision.
The little girl had changed a lot since then.