Chapter 2: HIDE
Three days had passed, ever since leaving the orphanage, Helena wasn't able to even drink a drop of water as she kept on running and running away from that police. She can only sleep for hours inside a trash bin to make her sleep peacefully. Before she dashed inside the truck, she saw posters that made her shiver in fear. It's her face sketched on it, they even got to draw her mole on the right side of her neck, her hair was braided that day so her neck was exposed. The cafe manager probably told the police that. Helena knew that she did something wrong, but she doesn't want to go with the police, they'll bring her back to the orphanage and make sister Joana hate her even more or worse they'll put her in jail. She was also confused as the police on how did she manage to type so many codes that fast, she just knew some of those terms regarding computers, since one of the nuns in the orphanage used to be a programmer.
Helena felt that the truck suddenly stopped moving, she readied herself and moved fast when the truck opened. She jumped out and ran as fast as she can, the man who was loading the truck earlier wasn't able to see her face, he didn't chase after her and just kept on calling her. When she's already nowhere to be seen, he just sighed. There's no use to chase after the girl, all the furniture inside are all big enough for him to notice if the girl stole it. He just shrugged it off and unload the truck as if nothing happened.
In the narrow alley near the trash cans, Helena sat down and cried. She kept on asking herself what is she going to do now? She can't run anymore, she doesn't even have the energy to even lift her arms. Helena heard some footsteps, she forced herself to stand to run again, she suddenly stopped when she heard an old lady's voice.
"Wh-what happened to you? are you okay child? ah! stupid me, of course, you're not!" the old lady suddenly hugged her and she cried her heart out. After being out for the first time from the orphanage and suddenly chased by the police, the ten years old child felt traumatized. All she needed now was someone to rely on, all she needed now was some warmth from someone who will make her safe from everyone. Hr exhausted body didn't even resist from being hug by a stranger.
"Let's go to my house, you need to take a bath and change your clothes." The old lady looked at the little girl in front of her pitifully and when their eyes met she suddenly felt a pang on her chest. This wasn't the eyes that a little girl should possess, it's empty.
The old lady helped her stand up and they went inside the door that was in that narrow alley. The old lady was the one who washed the girl. Helena felt lost and empty inside, she still can't grasp the reality and she was already inside a room and holding a cup of milk when she suddenly realized what happened.
"Who-who are you ma'am?" even though she doesn't trust the lady who helped her, she still politely asked her.
"You can call me Grandma Sen, just an ordinary citizen who runs a Diner House. How about you little girl?" Grandma Sen asked with warmth.
"I-I'm Lena. I'm an orphan." she wasn't able to tell her full name since she doesn't know if the woman was some police accomplice.
"I see, you can stay here if you want, but not for free, you need to work." Grandma Sen said that made her heart thump wildly. Helena put down the glass of milk and looked at Grandma Sen excitedly.
"I-I can work! I can wash the dishes, mop the floor, everything!"
"hahaha, sure sure, rest first for now. You'll start tomorrow."
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Five Years Later....
As always, Helena took the customer's orders and brought it at the back, where the workers are.
"You seem happy, missy? did you already say yes to that damn brat?" the head chef laughed after asking her. Helena showed a disgusted expression on her face when she heard the head chef.
"As if, I'd rather die than say yes to that damn maniac guy."
"ooooh, how coldhearted princess Lena. Here, these are the orders from table two, orders from the 'damn maniac guy' hahahaha" the chefs teased her that made her roll her eyes at them.
Helena made her way to give the orders at table two costumers. She smiled professionally and gave them their orders since it was already paid, she just smiled and give a few sweet words to costumers and when was ready to leave, a man called her.
"Yes, sir?" she asked politely.
"Can you please reheat this dish, it's cold now." the guy smiled at her and she smiled back, fighting the urge to smack the guy in front of her.
"Yes, sir. I'll be back in a minute."
When she turned around, she heard someone whistled from behind, which she didn't pay any attention to. This guy kept on hitting on her, he kept on making her life hard as a waitress.
"Oi, head chef, can I punch him already?" Annoyed Helena asked that made the head chef and the other staff laugh.
"Don't oi me princess. You can't do that or granny will make you repeat the rules here overnight like a chanting priest."
"Ugh, he just whistled at me. That fu- oi where are you guys going?" Helena asked when the chefs suddenly stopped moving and folded their clothes, they look like they are ready to kill someone.
"Where's that damn brat, such disrespect can't be tolerated here" the head chef said with a dark expression. When Helena was about to laugh, Grandma Sen slapped the head chef's back that made him go back to stirring the soup in the pot.
"Don't do anything reckless here damn brats! and you Lena, fix your hair." Helena immediately touched her hair.with panic visible on her face.
"Lena, there's still black hair dye in my cabinet, you can use it later." Janeth who's washing the dishes said while smiling at her.
"Ah, yes, thank you sister."
"Anyway, what are you guys talking about before I got here?" Grandma Sen asked Maki, the other waiter was about to answer when a guy suddenly put his hands on the shoulder of Helena.
"I've been waiting for so long, is the dish already...warm?" the guy maniacally asks. Helena immediately moves to get away from the man's grasp.
"Yes sir, you can take it now." Maki gave the plate to the guy which was fresh from the microwave. The guy stupidly holds onto it before he threw it on the floor, he cursed loudly that stole the attention of their other costumers.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing, you son of a bitch waiter!?" He glared at Maki who innocently looked at him. I let out a small laugh that made him looked at me.
"Hey, you bitch. Wipe my shoes clean. You don't know how much does this one cost. Now!" Helena just raised her eyebrows and never moved after the guy ordered him.
"Hey kiddo, you better watch your mouth or I'll- eh granny?" Janeth was stopped from talking by Grandman Sen.
Grandma Sen took a ladle and scoop some hot soup from the pot and splashed it onto the floor where the guy's shoes stand on.
"You crazy old hag!" after those words came out of his mouth, I immediately punched him and cried.
"Grandma are you alright!? After this man made you fall in love with him and took your money, now he's back asking for money again!? How vicious, you bastard! You use old women for money! You disgusting being!" Helena shouted at the man, which made him lose all the blood on his face.
"Oh my God!" Customer 1
"Ew, how could he?" Customer 2
"Oh, a fucking Gigolo" Customer 3
"A scum! Call the police!" Customer 4
Everyone in the kitchen and in front of the counter was dumbfounded. Helena kept on crying, acting was really for her. The maniac guy took a step back and look around him, he saw those disgusted face and was about to explain when a woman suddenly dragged him out, to escape the humiliation. When they were already gone, Helena wiped her eyes and smiled proudly at Grandma Sen.
"Oh yeah, how was that Granny? Should I audition for something?"
Grandma Sen glared at her and pulled her hair.
"Ouch! Granny!"
"G-grandma Sen, are you really in a relationship with that guy before?" Maki asked while pointing at the door where the man exited earlier. Maki received a kick on the leg by Grandma Sen.
"This kid was acting, are you guys dumb?" Grandma Sen asks. All of their mouths formed an 'o' when they realized what just happened.
"You mean, you guys believed my acting? Oh my God! HAHAHAHAHA" Helena laugh out loud that made the costumer look at them for the second time and resume to eat again.
"I thought you're really lonely granny and believed Lena, anyway it's really believable. Hayst" the Head chef Danny said while preventing himself to laugh out loud.
"Shut up! Now Lena go back to work!"
All of them wanted to laugh but afraid that they'll get kicked like Maki who's already teary now. This became Helena's daily life after being offered to work here five years ago. The people here are all kind and never made her life hard. They were all helped by granny and got offered here to work earlier before she got here.
After working mad all day, they were now eating lively in front of the mouth watering foods.
"Oi, Lena let's go take a bath together and i'll help you apply the hair dye." Janeth volunteered.
"Yes,sister! I love you! Hehe" Helena agreed happily.
"Uhh, I wish I was a girl, so I can take a bath with you guys." Zian said as he munched the food like a squirrel.
"Shut up, you just want to peek." Danny said. "You can take a bath with us later Zian, we'll teach you about the world of men." Danny laughed after saying it.
"Ew, gross! Lena, let's go. I can't stand these men, I need to take a bath. Granny we'll go first."
"Grannnyyy! Don't fall in love with younger men okay?" Helena immediately run after saying those, she heard Grandma Sen shout her name while Danny, Maki, and Zian laugh.
Janeth and Helena mix the hair dyes and applied it onto my hair before proceeding to the bathroom.
"Hey, your silver looks good to me, why are you trying to conceal it? It's not like it'll be a hindrance to our work." Janeth asked while focused on applying it on her hair.
"Sister, the school won't allow it." Helena said, which was half true.
"Oh, yeah I forgot. A junior high like you would look like a delinquent hahaha"
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The night came, when everybody was already asleep, Helena looked at the mirror in her room and saw the face of the girl who became wanted in the underworld.
After 2 years of concealing her identity, she had the urge to use Grandma Sen's computer when she was away doing groceries. She tried remembering something and suddenly her hands moved on its own again, she's back at the site where she saw the warning sign. At the right side of the screen shows a wanted list and their bounty, she was about to close it when she saw again the poster that was posted on the walls years ago, it was her face and now it was her actual face and not just some sketch. It fully shows her silver hair that was braided and the mole at the right side of her neck.
Helena unconsciously touches her hair and immediately went down to ask Danny to buy her some hair dye and a concealer stick. Danny look baffled but he still bought it and gave it to her. Due to her nervousness, the hair dye messed up the color of her skin behind her ears, nape, and forehead. When Grandma Sen asked her, why she did that to her hair. She just said that she saw someone in a video do it, so she was just curious.
After that day, she worked hard every day and in her third year of working she bought her own laptop, where she learns all of the things she needs to know regarding hacking. Just a month and she has already mastered it, she also can make a barrier and difficult codes to crack for those people who wanted to trace her address. She took jobs that require only the laptop and the internet, she takes request like hacking onto someone else's account and dig their past and investigate them through online, after taking those kinds of requests, she used the money in her account to invest into some companies. All she knows is that with this kind of knowledge she can live peacefully. At school she made sure that everything she does would be an average student would look like.
Helena made herself a millionaire at the age of fourteen and secretly put some money into everyone's bank accounts which they don't find odd since everyone doesn't look at the amounts in their accounts and just work and withdraw. They let it be since Grandma is so generous to them. The only one who questions the amount, again and again, was Grandma Sen. Grandma Sen did talk to them about the money in her bank account, everyone thought that maybe someone accidentally sent granny's account some money or someone was just tired of their own money and gave it to others. Helena stopped sending money to their accounts when she saw Grandma Sen use the computer to track the one who sends the money.
That day everyone finds it odd when she suddenly complains of stomach cramps, never in her four years stay in the diner house did she complain about sickness. She always works even though she's sick and needed to be hospitalized. When she's already in her room, Helena immediately opened her laptop and block everything and deleted everything that might make her granny trace the person who anonymously sends them money to her.
Helena did everything she can do to live peacefully, she won't marry and live her life here with everyone. Yeah, she can hide forever if she wants to.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone