"I think her name was Hannah? If I remember correctly, her family ran a moderate sized trading business." Orin pondered. "Her family perfectly fits the criteria for my plan." He knew very well that if his judgment of people was not correct, the backlash he would have to face would be very harsh. So after careful consideration, he decided to stick with it and commence his plan tomorrow.
The bright sun hung over the sky, casting light all around. The heat was slightly more bearable than in the past week. In an open area, a group of kids were playing a game with stones. Each of them had five stones in hand and this was a hand-eye coordination game where players used five small stones. The aim was to throw one stone in the air and pick up others from the ground in a specific sequence without dropping the first stone.
Among the group of kids, there was a specific one that Orin was looking for. She was squating in the ground, patiently waiting for her turn to come while she played with her set stones.
"Hannah!" Orin called out. She immediately turned her head in surprise. She recognized this voice very well. When she was 6 years old, she had been lost in a fair. She didn't know where her house was, and though she had tried to tell people the name of their family business, people rarely knew about it. All she could do was cry and hope that her parents might find her. During that time, she had met Orin. Her first impression of Orin was that of a poor boy who looked nice.
Orin had noticed her few minutes earlier and had watched her cry and plead. He had seen her before—playing near the shop of her family. He waited for a while before getting near and helping her. Fortunately enough, he knew where her shop was, and helped Hannah meet her parents which made a lasting impression on her. After that, She had never really seen him except a few times he visited their shop with his dad.
"ORIN! HI!" She was very excited to meet Orin again, because she hadn't seen him for about a year now. "Did you come to play with us?" She said as her eyes shone with excitement. She really wanted to play with him and get to know him better.
The kids around her were just as surprised. It was unusual for Hannah to react this way for someone. She was usually the quiet one of the group, really even speaking. But looking at her now made them feel like they didn't know her much.
"Is that Hannah's boyfriend?" Some of the girls whispered secretly. "Don't know, she never told me". "Doesn't he look very dirty? Look at his clothes, they look so old and dirty, eww." Although they were intrigued by the entry of a new character, they couldn't help but judge his dirty looks. "His clothes look dirty and his face is pretty cute," another girl said.
"Hey Hannah! What game are you playing?"
"I'm playing a 5 stone game. Do you wanna play with us?" She asked eagerly.
"Yeah sure! Can I play with you all?" Orin asked everyone playing. Although all the kids were not nice, they were just kids after all. Even though they looked reluctant at first because of how different he looked, they didn't disagree to him playing and some even nodded. Most of the kids didn't even have the concept of demarcation between rich and the poor. So they let him play with them.
The sun started going down and the kids started leaving, saying that their parents wanted them to return home before the sun disappeared. Hannah was also about to say her goodbye to Orin but before she could he asked if they could go together and she happily agreed.
As they walked together, Orin pulled out a soap from his small pocket. "Hannah, I have a gift for you." Hannah was quite taken aback. She never expected Orin to give her something, that too out of nowhere. Although she had learned from her parents to not accept gifts from other people she felt that Orin was not 'other' people and was also very curious about the gift.
"Wow, you got me a gift? What is it? Show me!" She said excitedly. Orin then handed her the soap he was holding. It was about the size of a normal soap on earth and was rectangular in shape.
"What is this?" She asked. For her it looked like a big rectangular rock but a very light one. "Its called a soap. My father gave it to me and told me that it is used to clean our bodies. And guess what? It cleans extremely well and even helps the skin become smoother and healthier."
The sentence—helping skin become smoother and healthier was all Hannah needed to hear before it piqued her interest. Even though she was just a 9 years old kid, she was still very self conscious about her skin health and wanted it to look nice and smooth.
"Is that true?? Have you tried it on yourself?" She was now very eager to try the 'soap' that apparently helped skin become smoother." Yeah, it's true. I have tried it on myself and it works wonders. You are one of the best friends I have, so I thought I should gift you this. I don't know if you would like it or not though." Orin said innocently.
When Hannah heard the word 'best friend' she was over the moon. She couldn't believe that someone had called her their best friend. Because she was the quiet kid of the group, she was never really best friends with anybody. "Your…..b-best friend?" She muttered.
"Yeah, one of my bestest friends in the whole world." Orin lied. Although he felt kind of bad for lying, it was necessary. 'Anything for the band' he thought.
"Hehe..you are also my best friend." She said innocently. She felt extremely happy at that moment.
"Try the soap after you get home alright?" He encouraged.
She nodded enthusiastically as they continued walking together,