1158  A Better Life

"Jay, now that we have given her food and a coat. What now? We can't just send her on her way." Jay's friend looked at Kana with a complicated expression.

"Todd, I think I will take her back to my place. It's small, but it's better than staying outside." Jay had thought about it. And he could not, against good conscious, send this girl back into the cold. She might just freeze to death even with a jacket. She might even get the jacket stolen from her. Plus there was something strange about her. The happenings of earlier still bothered him. He could have sworn he was talking with a man who had threatened her. But he could not remember for the life of him.

"Are you sure? You can barely feed yourself, man." Todd was worried for Jay. He knew Jay was working to make ends meet and still going to school.

"I will take up a second job…" Jay replied. "I mean. Right now, school is not getting me far. My grades are average. At most, I will end up not being able to pay my tuition. I did not want to pull out a loan since I would never be able to pay it off. No matter what, I will end up in the same boat. Just like many others." "You want to drop out of school just to take care of a kid you have no relation to? I mean, I feel bad too, but…." Todd did not mean anything by his words. He was just worried for his friend.

  "We all need a helping hand, right?" Jay smiled at Todd. "You helped me back then when I was kicked out. I could have become like her. I will return the favor by helping someone else. Maybe in the future, she will do the same. Kindness is what keeps us humans going. Without kindness, we would have all died out long ago." "Alright. But if you need help, let me know. I might not be super rich, but my family does have some money. I will see what I can do about getting them to donate some clothing." Todd could only do what he can to help his best friend.

"I will not say no," Jay replied helplessly. He did have some savings but not enough to buy enough things for the little girl to need.

Kana heard their entire conversation. She snuck a peek at them as she ate her burger and felt that they were both very kind people. If she had known this before, maybe she would have had a chance to live a halfway decent life, but back then, she was afraid of everyone. She could not see the kindness of others without thinking they had an ulterior motive.

"Whose the kid?" A burly man in a sweater and slacks walked in. He looked at Kana and frowned slightly before looking at Jay and Todd.

"She's someone who needs help. She will be coming to live with me, so she is no longer on the streets." Jay replied honestly.   "I see… Do you need more shifts?" The man asked, which stunned Kana. She looked at the man, but he was not even looking at them. He was looking at the paperwork in his hand.

"I would appreciate it," Jay replied. If he could get a double shift, he could stay at one job and even get overtime pay.

"Alright, starting next week, you can come at one. If you work six days, that is ten hours of overtime. You do good work, so I know I can trust you to work hard. Plus…" The burly man looked at Kana and smiled. "You are doing this to give a child a new life. If you need anything, just ask. You can take two meals home from now on on top of your daily free meals. Think of it as me trying to help a little."

"Thanks, Boss!" Jay was happy. He looked at Todd, who gave him a thumbs up and returned with a thumbs up of his own.

"Alright. For now, go get your things. I will give you a ride back to your place. Don't clock out. I will do it for ya. Also, go get two dinner sets of whatever you want. Get some meat for the girl." The word meat made Kana's eyes shine. She loved meat the most! She found this burly man to be a very good guy!

Jay ran off to go do as he was told while Todd walked over and smiled at Kana. "Our boss may look mean, but he is warm hearted. Everyone here owes him. So we all work hard for him. He has never treated us badly."

"Th-Thank you…." Kana choked out. She was still tearing up. She could only remember the harsh days she lived when her mother died. Running the streets, doing her best to survive. But no matter how she looked at it. Kindness was only a stone's throw away. While this thought lingered in her head, she still wouldn't change her current life. She met the man she was willing to love for all eternity. She had amazing daughters and sons who were her whole world. She had a warm and loving family. She would never give any of them up. Her current life was amazing. But even now, she did not mind experiencing the what if factor. Trial or not. Illusion or not. She wanted to help this young man reach new heights. Since he was willing to do so much, she was willing to help him as much as she could. This world, of course, had different laws, so she could not just rampage around, but this did not mean she could not help him live a better life and maybe ever reach his dream.

Kana took another bite of her burger as she looked at Todd, who was busy talking with his boss and then at the door that Jay had left in. She wondered just what she could do to help him live a better life.