[ Flashback still ongoing….]

….And indeed… Tessa found him.

At the far end of the playground, hidden beneath the wide canopy of the large tree.

Many times, she would see him there but that faithful day, she approached him. His head was buried in his textbook but even from his side view, she could recognize that it was the boy.

“ Hey.” She'd said.

His head snapped to him, and she saw it, the way he quickly pulled his sleeve to cover his bruises. The one she already saw.

[ For more and better remembrance on how their first meeting went, kindly refer back to ‘ Chapter 51: Missing pieces’...