A girl was sitting, face-palming with her eyes closed on the ground. Her head was down. A debate was happening in her mind about her teacher, friends, family—their behavior towards her. Her mind was full of many thoughts, most of them sorrowful. Suddenly, the cold breeze touched her face as if someone had touched her. She was startled, then looked around, but there was no one, reminding her that she was alone. She grew sad. If anybody saw her, no one could tell she was sad unless they looked closely into her eyes and her hand gestures. Her long face made her seem like someone who was not interested in talking to anyone. She held her head, trying to stop her thoughts and let herself relax for a while. This led her to look straight ahead. She saw the breathtaking view of nature before her. Her eyes widened, taking in the moment, then softened and returned to normal, but something had changed. Her eyes were no longer dull but sparkling. She saw that the trees were dancing slowly with the wind as if they were playing with each other. Birds were chirping as if they were talking. Clouds were enhancing the view, looking like cotton candy. She felt like eating them, even though she wasn’t a fan of cotton candy.

She stood up, opening her arms wide to feel the wind through her whole body. She shivered as the wind passed through her clothes. Goosebumps made her relax. A beautiful smile formed on her face. She felt like her worry and tension were going away. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath of fresh air. She felt like a bird flying in the sky, free to do anything, free to go anywhere. She wasn’t thinking about anyone or anything but freedom. The wind picked up, and her clothes flew. She started smiling widely and began waving her hands as if she were dancing with the wind as her partner, then started spinning with her hands open. She stumbled over her bag and landed directly on her butt. She felt a little pain but forgot about it when she looked at the view again. She lay down on the ground and gazed at the sky. Her eyes grew heavy as she hadn’t gotten good sleep, and eventually, she fell asleep. But after just five minutes...

Suddenly, a thunderstorm occurred, startling her awake. The rain was drizzling. Dark clouds formed all over the sky. She stood up with her bag to leave. She wanted to stay, but she knew she couldn’t remain there for too long, as she wasn’t allowed to have peace for long. Still, she was happy to have encountered such a beautiful moment in her life. She would always remember it. That place would be her peacemaker from now on. She said goodbye with a smile, and her eyes seemed to say, “We’ll meet soon my best friend forever"

She arrived home and looked around, noticing that no one was there to welcome her as usual. Used to this, she shrugged off her emotions. The house was messy, with things scattered everywhere, but she wasn’t in the mood to clean up. She barged into her room, put her bag on the bed, let her hair down, and lay on the bed on her back. Staring at the ceiling for a while, she ignored the growling of her stomach and changed her position. Hugging a pillow over her head, she snuggled her face into it.

Despite her growing hunger, she didn’t want to get up. But eventually, she did. She went to the bathroom to freshen up, coming out while wiping her face with a towel. She didn’t have many clothes, but she had enough to wear something different every day of the week and wash them to wear again. She changed out of her school dress into normal attire, combed her hair, and rolled it into a bun.

She went to the kitchen to look for food. The sink was full of utensils, but she ignored it. The fridge had only some bread, a few tomatoes, a cucumber, milk, cream, and a few bottles of water.

She took some ingredients out of the fridge. After opening the valve on the gas cylinder and turning on the stove, she placed a pan on it. She put some butter in the pan and toasted two slices of bread on each side, making two sandwiches with cream in between. She turned off the stove and the gas valve, then put her sandwiches and hot milk on a tray and took it toward her room.

Just as she was about to leave, she heard the door knob turning and saw her little brother, who looked like a mischievous pig trying not to get caught. She chuckled but then gave him a stern side-eye, which made him look scared, even though he tried not to show it. Admiring his cuteness, she put her tray on the table and placed a coaster on the cup of milk to keep it warm.

She walked toward her brother with a glare and an annoyed expression, her right hand raised in a mock threat, which made him close his eyes instinctively. When nothing happened, he opened his eyes to find her gently touching his shoulder. She took his bag from him and told him to go straight to their room for a warm bath due to the cold weather, so he wouldn’t catch a fever. He headed toward her room, but, but smell of butter caught his attention. His eyes landed on the toast, and he licked his lips as his stomach growled. A frown formed on his forehead, and he pouted. . His sister watched him closely, smiling at his reaction. She tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to flinch and turn to face her. He smiled nervously before running to their room. She facepalmed, took the tray, and followed him.

She grabbed some fresh clothes for him and called out loudly, instructing him not to take more than 15 minutes and to put his dirty clothes in the bucket for her to wash later. He responded with a cheeky "Okay, Your Highness," which made her smile as she sat down on the bed & put his clothes on the bed.

He entered the bathroom with a grin. He had a mischievous idea in mind. He intentionally turned the cold water tap instead of the hot, just to irritate his sister. But what he didn’t know was that she already knew he was going to do something.

He shouted loudly, "Mini, the water is so cold! I'm freezing!"

Mini sighed and entered the bathroom. She saw her brother smiling to himself, so she picked up a mug full of cold water and spilled it on him. He immediately started shivering.

"Now it looks like you're *really* feeling cold," she said sarcastically.

He turned around, shouting, "Mini, why did you do that?"

She laughed and replied, "Weren't you going to do the same?" She turned on the hot water tap and added, "Now stop messing around and take a proper bath."

She was about to say more, but her brother interrupted, "I'll do it! You go now," while pushing her out of the bathroom.

She smiled and walked out. Suddenly, a thunderclap echoed outside, making her flinch. She went toward the window and stretched her hand outside. Water droplets started falling on her hand. She smiled, looking up at the sky, and put her other hand outside to enjoy the rain and the cool breeze. This made her shiver. The wind grew stronger, and the rain began to fall more heavily. She quickly shut the window as the rain was starting to come inside, making the room wet.

She went to the hall and tidied up the area. It didn’t take much time as it wasn’t too messy, just a few things scattered around. Then, she noticed her brother’s bag inside the room and went through it. She took out all the books since the bag was a bit wet on the outside and had a few specks of mud on it. She grabbed a cleaning cloth, dampened it, and wiped away the mud. After cleaning, she placed the bag under the fan to dry.

Looking at her own bag, she remembered something. She took out a leaf she had picked from the garden, along with a roll of tape from her pouch. She walked toward her wardrobe and pulled out a diary. Carefully, she taped the leaf on both sides and placed it inside the diary. She love nature, and collecting leaves had become her hobby. She had started doing it one month ago. This was a special habit for her. She wrote down today’s date and described the beautiful scene she had just witnessed, smiling as she wrote.

Her brother came out of the bathroom, rubbing his head dry with a towel.

"Mini, did you see something?" he asked.

She looked in his direction and smiled, nodding. He understood and sat on the bed, asking, "How was it?"

He noticed her eyes sparkling as she remembered the moment, and a genuine smile—rare for her—spread across her face. Seeing her happy made him smile too.

He pinched her hand, bringing her back to reality. She hissed in pain and frowned at him.

She flicked his forehead with her finger. He began rubbing his forehead.

With a smirk, she said, "Tit for tat."

He pushed her and began tickling her. She burst out laughing, trying to push him away but failing, as she was sensitive to tickling.