A few days went by and Si had become completely natural with Ly Giai and me. He stopped calling Ly Giai miss and just used her name like he was with me. The boy was surprisingly energetic when you got to know him. Compared to when Ly Giai and I first met him, it was like we were seeing two completely different people.

  "Si, you help picking the fruits too," I demanded as he was just sitting on a rock, swinging his feet around while watching Ly Giai and me doing all the work.

  "Ok!" he got up and ran to Ly Giai. "Ly Giai, pick me up!"

  She happily took him up and let him excitingly pick the fruits. "Gently, you don't want to hold them too hard," she gently advised. Si nodded wholeheartedly. Watching him having fun, Ly Giai and I smiled at each other.

  "So good! As expected of my fruits!" Si said while we were eating our harvest.

  "That one you're eating was what I picked," I told him.

  "What? So gross! Ugh!" he made a disgusted face.

  "You wanna fight!" I raised my voice. Of course, we were just playing around.

  For some reason, Si had become too comfortable with going against me. I know he wasn't serious at all, but it was still funny to see him react every time.

  "Ly Giai. He's bullying me," he made puppy's eyes to win Ly Giai over.

  "What's wrong? Didn't you provoke him first?" Ly Giai smiled.

  Si was shocked, "You're siding with him. Not fair." His mouth puffed.

  "Why don't you like my pick anyway?" I asked.

  He glanced at me, "You are really dirty."

  I looked at myself and must admit, he was right.

  "I feel dirty too. We haven't had a chance to clean ourselves for days now," Ly Giai also said. She sounded embarrassed and self-conscious of her present state when speaking.

  "I found a pond when getting water. Let's take a bath at night when others are asleep," I suggested.

  "That's great," Ly Giai excitedly said. She was a cleanliness person after all.

  That night.

  Ly Giai was happily humming while enjoying her bath.

  "I want Ly Giai to wash me," Si struggled as I was cleaning him from a distance away from her. He kept trying to get away from me, but I pulled him back each time.

  "Stop struggling! You are not going anywhere," I firmly said.

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  After a while, he stopped moving and just asked, "Why is Ly Giai not over here with us?"

  "Because she is a lady. Men and women should not see each other's bodies unless they are married," I answered.

  "Why is that?" he asked again.

  "You will understand when you get older," I said. I didn't know if he was playing dumb or not. He looked at least eight or nine years old. Surely he should know why.

  "There. You're all done," I said.

  "Nice! Can I go up now?" he asked.

  "Yes, but make sure to stay put so Ly Giai and I can see you," I reminded him.

  "Okay," he said, then left. Leaving me here by myself.

  I used that time to wash too.

  "Ah," I let out a sound of satisfaction as I let myself float on the water. It felt great getting cleaned after days of dust and sweat. I closed my eyes to enjoy the moment.

  *Humming

  *Water dropping

  Even though we were far away, I could hear Ly Giai's sounds. How can I be calm with those sounds!? I couldn't see my face but it must've been red hot. While Ly Giai was enjoying herself, I was all tense up here. I couldn't stop my mind from imagining her bathing.

  "Well. I should get up," I started walking to shore. From where I was, I could still see Si playing with pebbles.

  But then. "Agh!" Ly Giai cried. I quickly turned but didn't see her anywhere.

  "Ly Giai!" I called her while swimming to her spot.

  "Ly Giai!?" I continued looking around aggressively. My heart was burning hotter at each call.

  *Splash

  I noticed a splash and swam over there. Ly Giai was barely afloat.

  I grabbed her hand and pulled her up. She grabbed onto me tightly and breathed heavily. Noticing that she didn't have any clothes on, I quickly closed my eyes.

  "Wha… what happened?" I asked.

  "I got a cramp… on my leg," she hardly replies while still catching her breath.

  "Is it gone now?"

  "No. Ugh… I was moving around too much…ah!... I got a cramp on my other leg too."

  "I… I see," Ly Giai was so focused on her pain that she didn't realize that she was completely exposed. "You should float flat to relax your legs. I'll hold you."

  "Ok," she replied painfully.

  Still having my eyes closed, I put a hand on her back and told her, "Lean on my hand." As her body turned horizontally, I put the other hand under her thighs to keep her balanced. Although I couldn't see, I could feel her legs' muscles were tense because of the cramps.

  "Now close your eyes and take deep breaths," I instructed.

  I could hear Ly Giai slowly breathing as I said. It was a long silence but after a while, her legs were more relaxed. The cramps had gone away.

  "Thank you. I felt much better now," Ly Giai said. "Why are your eyes closed?" she asked.

  "..." I didn't reply because I knew it would be awkward for both of us. I then put her back to standing after hearing she was okay and turned my head away.

  I focus my attention on the shore, trying to find Si. But after glancing through the whole shore, I couldn't see him anywhere.

  "Ly Giai, Do you see Si?" I asked.

  She took a few steps forward and looked around, "No, I couldn't find him."

  Immediately, I felt something wasn't right. "Hurry! We have to find him!"

  After getting out of the water and putting on our clothes. Ly Giai and I started going back to the mountain, calling for Si.

  "Si! Where are you!?" I yelled.

  "Can you hear us!?" Ly Giai followed.

  Half an hour passed but we still couldn't find him. We even went back to where we picked fruits this morning but he wasn't there either.

  "I told him to stay close," I was very worried. "Where could he disappear to so quickly? I still saw him a few minutes ago" I was lost and kept turning my head for anything to stick out.

  It was then Ly Giai held my hand that got me back. "Wait. Listen," she said.

  I stopped moving and started listening.

  "Do you hear that?" Ly Giai asked.

  I shook my head. "Just sounds of ruffling leaves."

  "But it doesn't sound natural," she added.

  I listened again, "Now that you mentioned, it does sound much rougher than normal leaves moving around."

  We both moved toward the sound quickly. It wasn't long until we saw what made those rough sounds.

  Three boys were beating up Si.

  "HEY!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, so loud that the whole mountain could hear it.

  I stepped up, trying to hold my rage at those kids. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!?" I growled.