Wherever that may be

Arc IV (2) - 1850

She picks it up with a confused expression adorning her features and goes inside her house, trying to be as quiet as possible.

"Where were you?" is the first thing she hears coming out of her father's mouth. The shadows of his face look particularly accentuated, and his tone drips pure annoyance, "Do you think we have time to lazy around? Look at this mess!"

He motions to the copious amount of shoes and fixing tools messily scattered through the whole kitchen. The smell of glue hits Jenilyn strongly, and she needs a few seconds to recover enough to mumble an apology.

"I'm sorry. I fell-"

"And it took you half an hour to stand up?", her mother interrupts, and then sighs to express her disappointment, "just help us here, Jenilyn, the day is already half lost".

The brunette doesn't say anything. She swallows thickly and looks at the envelope for a moment. She decides to put it aside. Then, she sits on the floor, ready for some extra working hours.

-

Many hours later, Jenilyn is in the kitchen as her parents sleep. She gathers a cup of water and a part of her dinner portion and goes back to the backyard. She's surprised to find the puppy just where she left him, his weak body still trembling. He tries to bark at the sight of the human, but he fails. The brunette smiles in compassion and feeds him.

She stares at the dog eating with eagerness. She wonders for how long the puppy must have fought until she found him. She wonders what could've happened to him if she hadn't.

Feeling her eyes prickling, Jenilyn rushes inside to find a piece of cloth thick enough to help the dog warm up and another one to clean his fur. In her search, she finds the mysterious envelope on the top of the kitchen counter. She brings it to the backyard as well.

The brunette sits again, letting the puppy climb to her lap. She cleans him absent-mindedly as she reads the letter with a sceptic expression.

Moving from word to word, her features grow more and more confused.

"What the hell?", she murmurs when she finishes the letter, and it's enough to wake the sleeping puppy up. He analyzes the piece of paper with interest, gifting it a sniff or two.

"Is this girl crazy?", Jenilyn asks the dog, and he merely stares at her with a blank expression. The brunette pets him once again.

"Should I tell her to stop writing or just ignore it?"

The puppy barks, this time successfully.

"It would be too impolite to ignore her, I guess", she looks at the letter again, and brings it to her nose.

"Someone is well-off", she murmurs, and the dog loses interest again, climbing off the girl's lap.

"I need to go to sleep, buddy".

The dork barks again.

"I guess you can... stay here".

She stares at his dark eyes and pets him besides the ears.

"You kind of look like a bear. I think I will call you Kuma".

Kuma moves his tail with renewed happiness, and Jenilyn smiles one last time before going back to her house. There, she searches for the cleanest piece of paper she can find and begins to write.

Dear Ellise,

I certainly do not recall leaving any piece of private information go around freely, nor I think that my parents did. Your letter comes at an absolute surprise.