"Kid?"
Noa lifted her head, tears mixing up with her sight. A woman had appeared—young, with a ponytail, wearing a coffee house apron.
"Hey, are you okay? Where's your mom?"
Noa sobbed. She didn't have an answer. What was a mom?
The woman kneeled down. "You're really small to be outside by yourself. Are you lost?"
Noa nodded. She was really lost. She did not even know where "here" was.
The woman glanced around as if she was looking for someone who could be with Noa. "Where do you live, sweetie? Can you tell me your address?"
Noa indicated no. She did not know what an address was.
"Okay, um..." The woman was hesitating. "What is your name?"
"Noa," she said softly. Her voice was hoarse. She didn't talk much in the storage room. There was nobody to talk to.
"Noa. That's a lovely name. I'm Jenny." The woman—Jenny—smiling, yet it was a worried smile, "Noa, do you know your mom's phone number?"
Noa also shook her head disconnectedly.
"Your daddy's?"
Still more shake.
Jenny's grin appeared more nervous. She brought out her phone. "I think we really need someone to come and help you. The police, maybe, or—"
"No!" Noa moved hurriedly backward. The police sounded frightening. The Mean Lady had said that police were bad. They took little kids away and locked them up forever.
"Hey, hey, it's alright!" Jenny said, raising her hands. "You won't be hurt. The police help lost kids find their families."
However, Noa didn't have a family. She had the Mean Lady, and she certainly didn't want to go back.
Jenny seemed to realize that Noa was about to run away. "Alright, no police at the moment. Let's say that you are hungry and then my coffee shop which is just next door might be of help. Come in and I can get you some food in a warm place."
At the mention of "food," Noa's stomach grumbled.
Hearing it, Jenny's face softened and looked sad. "When was the last time you ate, honey?"
Pointing at the bread in the puddle Noa indicated that it was her last meal.
"Is... that all you had?" Jenny looked more sad now. Quite sad. "Okay. Let's get you out of here."
She rose, extended her hand, and invited her to walk with her.
Looking first at the hand, Noa then looked at Jenny's face and finally, looked down the street where people walking fast were not paying any attention to her.
She had no other place to go.
Slowly, Noa took Jenny's hand after reaching up.
Warm and smelling great was the coffee shop. Like bread, sugar, and coffee, all mixed together. Noa's nose was overwhelmed trying to smell everything at once.
Jenny found a table in the corner for her and put her down in a big chair. Noa's feet were hanging high off the ground and were moving back and forth.
"Wait here one second, okay?" Jenny said. "I'm going to get you something to eat."
Noa nodded and looked around the place. There was a man on a laptop, two ladies conversing, and a teenager studying. None of them were looking at Noa, but that was okay with her. She was used to being invisible.
Pictures decorated the walls—pretty pictures of coffee cups and cookies. A counter had a big shiny machine on it that made whooshing and hissing sounds. Behind the machine, a boy with spiky hair was making drinks.
With a plate, Jenny returned. A sandwich cut into triangles, some orange slices, and a chocolate chip cookie were on it.
For a long time, Noa didn't take her eyes off it and the food.
"Go ahead," Jenny said softly. "It's for you."
One of the sandwich triangles Noa clenched with both hands and shoved it into her mouth. It was soft, had cheese in it and something else—ham? She didn't know. She just knew that it was the best thing she had ever eaten.
She ate the first triangle in three bites, then took the second, and then the third. Later she started on the orange slices.
With that sad face again, Jenny said, "Slow down, sweetie. You will make yourself sick."
However, Noa could not slow down. Her tummy was yelling "MORE MORE MORE" and her hands were listening.
In seconds, the cookie was gone. Crumbs were everywhere.
Jenny got her a glass of milk. Noa drank it so fast that some of it dribbled down her chin.
When the plate was empty, Noa sat back in the chair. Her tummy felt weird—full, but in a good way. A way she'd forgotten existed.
"Better?" Jenny asked.
Noa nodded.
Jenny took out her phone again. "Noa, do you think it is better not to call someone? You cannot be here and you cannot be out on the street by yourself. It is dangerous."
Noa's eyes widened. "No police!"
"Not the police, then. But maybe someone else. Do you know anyone? Are there any adults that look after you?"
Noa thought very hard. There was the Mean Lady, but she was very sure that the Lady did not want to see her again. Was there anyone else? She tried to remember, but her thoughts were like stupid and dark, like trying to see through muddy water.
Wait.
It was something. A word the Mean Lady had said that time when she was very angry on the phone.
"Kay... Kay-something," Noa said slowly.
"Kay? Like the letter K?" Jenny leaned forward. "Do you know someone called Kay?"
Noa scrunched up her face trying to remember. "Kay-us? Kay-ee-us?"
"Cai-us? Like the name Caius?"
"Caius!" Noa nodded. That was it. The Mean Lady had said that name. She was very angry. "Caius bad!" she added as that was what the Mean Lady had said. "Caius bad man!"
Jenny looked confused. "So, Caius is bad? Is he the one that... is he the one who hurt you?"
Noa shook her head. She did not know who Caius was. She only knew the Mean Lady didn't like him.
"Did the Mean Lady hurt you?" Jenny asked softly.
Noa looked at her hands. They were very dirty. Her nails were way too long. There was a bruise on her wrist and it was turning yellow.
She nodded.
Jenny's face got very serious. She looked upset but not at Noa. At someone else. "Okay. We are definitely calling someone now. Sorry Noa, but I have to. You need help."
Tears came to Noa's eyes again. She did not want help. Help meant strangers. And strangers were scary.
But Jenny closed her eyes and before she could dial the coffee shop door opened with a jingle.
A man walked in.
He was tall. Really tall. Tall like a tree. He wore a black suit that looked expensive and perfect, not a single wrinkle. His hair was dark and neat. His face was… Noa didn't have words for it, but it was the kind of face that made people stop and look.
But the scariest thing was his eyes. They were cold. Gray and cold, like winter sky.
The whole coffee shop seemed to change when he walked in. People sat up straighter. The boy behind the counter stood at attention. Even the air felt different—heavier, somehow.
The man walked to the counter. "Americano. Black."
His voice was in tune with his eyes. Cold. Flat. As if he didn't have emotions, or if he did, he'd sealed them up somewhere and thrown away the key.
The boy with the spiky hair nervously tried to make the drink. "R-right away, Mr. Kane!"
Kane.
Noa was familiar with that name. Somehow she knew that name.
She looked at the tall man. He was standing upright checking his phone while he was waiting. He didn't smile. He didn't glance around. He just stood there like a statue made of ice.
Something in Noa's chest leapt oddly.
She didn't know why but suddenly she wanted to be near him.
Before she could talk herself out of it, before her scared brain could stop her brave feet, Noa got off the chair. She walked across the coffee shop floor, her bare feet making no sound.
She went straight to the tall man and with one small hand grabbed his trousers leg.
The man looked down. His cold gray eyes met Noa's big brown ones.
For a long time, neither of them spoke.
Then Noa said the only thing that came into her mind: "You are really tall."
The man stared. It might have been the first reaction that passed his face since he came in. "Yes."
"Like a tree."
"...A tree."
"Uh-huh." Noa continued to hold his trousers leg. "A really big tree. Like in the pictures."
The man looked at her. His cold eyes scanned her messy hair to her dirty face to her too-big dress to her bare feet.
"Kid," he said still in his flat voice, "where are your shoes?"
Noa glanced at her feet. "I don't have any."
"Where are your parents?"
"I don't have any."
The man slightly squinted his eyes. Just a bit, but Noa felt it. "Everyone has parents," he said.
"Not me." Noa shook her head. "Only the Mean Lady. But I ran away."
"Ran away."
"That's what I said."
Behind them, Jenny was already off the table. "I'm so sorry, sir! She was just—Noa, come back here—"
But the man had that kind of power—one that made people stop with just a gesture—he raised one hand and Jenny at mid-sentence.
He really looked at Noa this time, his cold eyes searching her face as if finding something.
"What is your name?" he asked.
"Noa."
"Noa what?"
"Just Noa."
"How old are you?"
Noa showed three fingers. "This many."
"Three." The man's jaw almost imperceptibly tightened. "And you are out here alone because you ran away from the Mean Lady, right?"
"Uh-huh."
"Where do you live?"
Noa vaguely pointed to where she came from. "Over there. In the building with the stairs."
"That's not very specific."
"I'm only this many."
She held up three fingers again.
Was that... did his mouth almost twitch? It was hard to tell with the ice face.
The spiky-haired boy brought the Americano. "Here you go, Mr. Kane!"
Without even glancing at him Mr. Kane took the coffee and kept his eyes on Noa.
Noa might as well have been a little kid holding father's pants leg, expecting that some miraculous moment might occur just by her stubborn grip. She was clueless what it could be. But somehow she just felt it.
"Mr. Kane," fidgety Jenny reached him, "I found her wandering the street. She's lost and alone. I was just about to call—"
"Don't." His tone was closed and cold.
Jenny was slightly taken aback. "Don't... call for help?"
"I'll take care of it."
"You'll—sir, with all due respect, you can just not—"
She stopped mid-sentence as Mr. Kane gave her the look, and once again, he repeated not in words but by his authority, "I said I'll handle it."
He cast another glance downward to Noa. "You. Get out of here with me."
It was a command, not an invitation.
The majority of the people would have followed this instruction immediately without hesitation. But Noa, being bullied her whole life by the Mean Lady, had learned that sometimes you had to question before responding.
"To where?"
"A place that is not the floor of a coffee shop."
"Are we going to eat?"
"Most likely."
"Alright!" Noa released his pants leg and located his hand with hers instead.
Kane stared at her little, grimy hand as if it were a bomb ready to explode.
Nobody moved for a second. It was as if the coffee shop had bated its breath.
Then, Kane very slowly—so slowly as if it pained him—moved the coffee to the other hand and took Noa's hand with his.
The whole of her hand was swallowed up in his. His palm was hot, big, and made one feel safe.
Noa beamed up at him. "And you have big hands too. Like gigantic ones."
Kane didn't say anything. He just opened the door with his stride, Noa running after him, taking three steps for every one of his.
They were gone.
Jenny was standing there and yelling after them, "Wait! What if I don't—should I call somebody? Is this okay?"
Kane didn't walk away completely. Still at the door, he turned his head a bit and without a second thought, he said, "Charge the sandwich that I ate to my account. And whatever else she had."
They were already outside and the coffee shop door that jingled shut.
Not certain if he was a tree or a giant, Noa looked at the tall man. "What is your name?"
"Kane."
"Only Kane?"
"Caius Kane."
Noa sighed, "You are Caius! The Mean Lady said you were the bad one!"
This time for sure, Kane's mouth twitched. It could have been almost a smile. Or a grimace. It was difficult to tell.
"The Mean Lady was probably right," he said.
Then, he didn't only take her to the car but led her to a sleek black car that was parked at the curb, and Noa's adventure suddenly was bigger than she had ever thought possible.