"J-Jake." Helen hesitantly called out as she moved to hold his hand which was on the table, but before she could touch him, a man sitting towards the far end of the diner slammed his tankard on the counter, forcing both Jake and Helen to turn their attention toward him.
"Hey! I've been waiting ten minutes for my order!! Where is it?"
Hearing the man's complaints, which had rudely interrupted her precious moment with Jake, Helen gritted her teeth in frustration, but she restrained herself and didn't lash out at the customer.
Instead, she took a deep breath before turning her gaze back to Jake.
"Jake, I'm sorry…. I wish I could stay a bit longer and at least maybe heal your wounds but…." Helen trailed off and gestured helplessly to the impatient customer behind her.
Jake simply smiled with an understanding look on his face.
"It's fine. I was heading out to see Alice anyway." He said as he slid out of the booth and thanked her for the meal.
Jake was even more grateful because she didn't ask him to pay a dime.
While Helen appreciated his thoughtfulness, she couldn't help but frown after hearing Jake talk about her sister.
Alice was currently admitted to a health care center, and it had been weeks since Helen was last able to visit her little sister.
She was about to drown in medical bills, and to stay afloat, she kept working herself ragged, but she knew she should have at least made time to visit Alice.
Shaking her head slightly, Helen tried not to overthink it and depress herself even more.
Instead, she tried to force a smile on her face due to the relief that she had someone like Jake, who cared for Alice just as much as she did.
"Thank you Jake, and tell her I said hi, okay?"
"I will."
"Oh, and make sure you come straight home afterwards? I'll be done with my shift by then and I can finally take care of those cuts."
Jake smiled and nodded in response.
"I'll see you later." He said reassuringly before turning towards the exit, and Helen watched him leave the diner before hurrying back to attend to the unhappy customers.
Meanwhile, the rain had stopped by the time Jake left the diner, but the streets of the slum were still slick with puddles.
Jake pulled his coat tighter and walked toward the tram stop, then he weaved through different vendors who were shouting out the prices of what they were selling.
He noticed some children darting between stalls, and he could also perceive the sweet scent of fried bread mixed with the rusty smell of metal, but he was used to all of these, so he simply focused on where he was heading.
Upon arriving at his destination, Jake heard the screeching sound of the tram as it came to a halt.
Unlike what can be seen in the better regions of the city, the tram in the slums looked really battered and old, but it was definitely still functional.
Jake stepped in and swiped his chipped commuter card to gain entry before sitting on a seat that was close to the window.
Here, he could have a clear view as the tram rattled forward and passed the stacked apartment blocks.
Jake could see their balconies which had ropes fixed from one wall to the other and filled with laundry.
He stared at the rusted pipes that clung to the walls as the rust coloured water dripped into the gutter.
There were also a few cats prowling along the rooftops as the tram climbed a slope leading to the hospital district.
Jake completely hated it here.
But, it wasn't the hospital that he hated.
He simply didn't like coming here because every time he did, it reminded him of what happened not only six years ago, but also ten years ago.
Ten years ago, when Jake had been ten years of age, a mana rift had appeared out of nowhere.
It was the first time such a thing had occurred and it came with chaos and destruction that no one could have ever imagined.
Magical beasts and demonic creatures burst out of the rift, wreaking havoc on the city as they killed everyone and everything they laid their eyes on.
Thousands of people died on that day, but it wasn't just as a result of the monsters.
Rather, some died due to the wild and unstable mana that had followed with the opening of the rift, while others grew ill due to it, and have been unable to recover ever since.
A few people gained magical abilities and enhanced strengths because their bodies adapted to the wild mana it absorbed, but most times, the wild mana levels were known to cause sickness, mutation, and insanity.
Helen was one of the few people whose genes had mutated, turning her into a demi-human.
But the same couldn't be said about Alice, who was affected by a different mana rift that appeared six years ago.
Unlike her sister, who was only exposed to a little bit of wild mana ten years ago, Alice was affected by a large amount of it, and it seriously affected her nervous system, causing her to go through recurring seizures that threatened to take her life.
After seeing this, Helen swiftly brought Alice to the hospital, but the doctors informed her and Jake that Alice's seizures would only worsen if something wasn't done on time and that she could even suffer from hallucinations and memory loss.
There was also a risk of the unstable mana in her blood morphing into spikes that could kill her from within.
The information came as a shock to both Helen and Jake, and it's the reason why Helen had been so hardworking these past few months.
'Sigh.'
Jake sighed sadly as he recalled the day all of these had happened, and the frown on his face deepened even more.
He tried not to think too much about the past, because it only made him unhappy, and then he noticed the tram slowing to a halt.
The tram's brakes squealed as it finally stopped and Jake stepped out into the hospital district.
Looking around, he noticed how quiet the streets were.
It was unlike the other streets in the slums, which were always noisy, and as he walked forward, Jake could already smell the faint scent of antiseptic in the air, which only made him uncomfortable.
Nevertheless, he continued walking towards his destination until he finally spotted the small grey building with cracked walls.