“Maria, is that you?” I looked at her. She crawled back to the wall of the flower block and buried her face on her knees.

“You got the wrong person,” she said with shaken voice, but of course she couldn’t fool me. I loved her voice that I could hear her speaking for hours, so I was familiar with her voice, but her rejection pained me.

I stood on my knees beside her. “Maria, I know it is you. It is me, Adrian. I miss you. In this past month, I can’t stop thinking of you.” I touched her head, and she parried my hand immediately.

“You have abandoned me. My family doesn’t love me. No one cares about me.” She tightened her hands around her knees, and her face was still buried, but I knew she was sobbing.

I patted her head again, and this time she didn’t resist. I unveiled the black hood covering her head. Her previously smooth hair became crumpled. I ran my fingers through her hair to her ear and I caressed the back of her ear.

“I regretted my choice. I should have stayed at your side when you faced a problem and when you were in the wrong, so we could go through obstacles together and walk on the right path. I was immature. I didn’t know fully about you and when I saw the truth about you, I felt disappointed, but nobody is perfect, Maria.

“I come here to fully accept you. I want to redeem myself, so please. Please. Gives me another chance.”

She raised her head a little, but it wasn’t enough for her to see me again. Her body trembled. I lifted her chin and forced her to see me. There were several brown stains on her face. Living on the street should have been hard that her eye bags blackened.

I caressed her cheek with the back of my fingers. “Maria, let’s go home.”

“I don’t have a home. I don’t want to stay in a cold and cruel environment.”

I shook my head. “I will bring you to my house. From now on, it is your home. Brother won’t mind it.”

She shook her head and tears flowed from her eyes. “You will abandon me later for sure. I am not a girl you think I was. There is always this darkness inside my heart. Sometimes, I can’t contain it anymore and snap at everything.”

“I will be at your sides in your darker time. I will become stronger enough that you will feel secure to depend on me.”

“Why are you going to this extent for me, Adrian? Your friends were right. There are many better women out there. I am—”

Before she could finish her sentence, I pulled her closer and she buried her face on my chest. I coiled my arms around her shoulders. I didn’t forget to keep caressing her head too, so she could calm down a little and feel secure.

“Don’t say anything bad about yourself. I know you have your own circumstance. If the world doesn’t forgive you when you want to change, I shall. After all, I chose you. For now, let’s go home.”

Maria nodded and I kissed her head. We went to my house together with my bike. On the way back, she always buried her face on my back and hugged me tightly.

My house was a two stories building located in a townhouse. I saw my brother’s car in the garage. That meant he had come back. It was the right time to talk about this to him too.

My brother was enjoying coffee in the living room when I entered the house. He stunned when I brought back a dirty girl, but he didn’t ask anything weird, and I appreciated him for that. He was the best big brother.

I showed Maria the bathroom and left to fetch my mother’s clothes. Luckily, my mother was around her height.

When I came back, Maria only stood silently before the door. “Is there something wrong? I hope our small bathroom won’t bother you.”

We were included in the middle-upper class, but her family rich was on an entirely different level, so I was afraid she would feel uncomfortable with our family’s bathroom.

The bathroom was quite spacious, clean, and even smelled good. We didn’t have a bathtub, but we owned a shower. It was comfortable for me, but compared to the bathroom in Maria’s house, it was small.

Maria shook her head and pulled the hem of my shirt. “I don’t want to be separated from you.”

I patted her head. This was her spoiled side I liked. “I won’t go anywhere. I will wait outside of the bathroom.”

Maria shook her head. She pulled me inside the bathroom and locked it. My heart suddenly raced. I wasn’t expecting this. “You want us to bath together?” She nodded and buried her face on my chest again.

“I—” I couldn’t utter any word. However, I quickly realized why she acted like this. I couldn’t imagine how hard her life was in the street. She didn’t have anyone to depend on but herself. I wanted to ask her about this too, but it wasn’t the right moment. I wanted her to calm herself first. “I understand.”

I pushed Maria from my chest and undressed my school uniform. I took off my belt, but that was it. I didn’t know what would happen if I took off my pants too.

I set the shower to warm mode and wetted my body first. I kept stealing glances at Maria who was undressing.

She took off her black long-sleeved shirt, revealing her round peaks. After that, she slid down her long skirt along her thick thighs and smooth legs. Those were enough to make all of my blood flowed to the vessel inside my pants as if it became a raging dragon that was trying to free itself from the prison known as my pants’ zipper.

Maria didn’t stop. She leaned down and put her hands behind her back as her fingers tried to take off her pink bra. I shouted in panic, “Wait, Maria!”

Maria was startled. She crouched and covered her head with her hands. “I am sorry. I am sorry.”

I was confused by her behavior. Her mentality seemed to get worse. “Uh, no. I didn’t mean to startle you. I was just surprised you wanted to take off your… err… underwear too.”

Maria looked up at me. “You aren’t getting fed up with me?”

“How can I? My cute Maria isn’t doing something wrong, is she?” I helped her to stand and pulled her to the shower. After that, I immediately faced another side while my back was touching her back.

Neither of us said anything and this situation made me awkward. My heart’s condition was like the droplets of water that were falling to the ground. Fast and noisy. I really felt bad about this. My girlfriend was in a bad condition, but I still felt aroused. Well, I guessed that was normal for a boy like me, but I swore I wouldn’t do anything bad without her consent.

I was curious what she was doing, so I looked back. To my surprise, Maria had taken off her bra. At the moment, she leaned forward to take off her panties.

I could only gulp and bit my lower lip. After she threw her underwear aside, she found out I was looking at her. She wasn’t bothered by it and approached me. I tried my best to not look at her, even though sometimes I stole glances at her perfect body.

I knew Maria wasn’t a naïve girl. I bet she knew I would get aroused. She was either testing me or she really needed attention.

She pressed her head on my back and her hands ran through my waist to my chest. “I know I am being selfish right now, but can we stay just like this for now? It was hard for me, Adrian. I thought of you too every time. I can’t believe you are still willing to be with me. That’s why I want to spend the rest of the day at your side.”

I pulled her hands and turned back at her. I couldn’t contain myself anymore if this continued. “Maria, I am sorry. I won’t do anything to you, nor will I leave your side. That’s why can you turn to another side for now? Please don’t turn back before I say so.”

Maria looked straight into my eyes before her eyes traveled to my pants. She nodded and faced another side.

I faced another side too and took off my pants. I chanted her name over and over while my right hand was doing the job.