(Third Person POV)
Willy stands his cane magically on the ground and presses a button on it, causing the arms of a coat hanger to flip out from the sides, and he hangs his coat and hat on it. Noodle climbs onto a ladder so she can scratch Abigail's chin while Willy sits on a stool to milk the giraffe, and (Y/n) merely stands by, watching him do so.
"So, have you done this before?" (Y/n) asks Willy.
"Once. In Africa. Magnificent beast," Willy replies.
"Was she wild?" Noodle asks.
"Wild? She was absolutely furious," he replies, making the girls chuckle.
"You sure can be silly, Willy," Noodle states.
"I suppose that's true-dle, Noodle," he responds.
(Y/n) and Noodle look at Willy with confusion.
"'True-dle'?" they question.
"That doesn't work, does it? But nothing rhymes with Noodle," Willy says, and looks up at Noodle. "Where'd you get that name, anyway?"
"Doesn't matter," Noodle replies, the sadness clear in her voice.
"No, go on," Willy tells her.
Noodle looks at (Y/n), who nods her head as if telling her to tell him.
"This," Noodle says, and shows him an amber-and-gold ring on a string around her neck. "It's all I have from my real parents. See? 'N' for Noodle. Or Nora, or Nina—or nothing at all."
"Can't you trace the owner?" Willy asks.
"You don't think I've tried?" she replies. "When I was a kid, I always hoped that I'd find my parents. They'd live in this beautiful old building full of books. My mom. . . she'd be waiting there for me at the door. And I'd run into her arms and she'd give me this big hug like she'd never let me go. But then I realized it was just a stupid dream."
"There's nothing stupid about that," Willy tells her, deeply moved.
"I've been telling her that for years," (Y/n) chimes in.
"Isn't there?" Noodle asks.
Willy then looks at (Y/n).
"What about you, (Y/n)? What's your story?" he asks.
(Y/n) thinks for a moment.
"Well, I suppose you deserve to know," she says. "Remember when you gave us the Silver Linings and I was a little sad about it?"
"Yes," Willy replies.
"Well, I was sad, not only because I did feel it would be harder not to have chocolate every day, but also because it made me remember the day I wandered off—the day my father was going to take me to get my first chocolate," she explains, making Willy's eyes widen a bit. "My father was a very loving man. When my mother died, I became the most important thing in his life."
She takes a photo out from her (apron/pants/dress/skirt) pocket and gives it to Willy. It's a photo of four-year-old (Y/n) with her father.
*flashback*
Four-year-old (Y/n) holds her father's hand as he takes her to the Galeries Gourmet.
"It was my fourth birthday, and I was excited because that day my father promised he would buy me the finest chocolate the Galeries Gourmet had to offer."
(F/n) and (Y/n) stop at the entrance to the Galeries Gourmet, where a photographer is waiting, and (F/n) gives him a silver sovereign. He then picks (Y/n) up, and they smile as the photographer takes their picture.
"He wanted it to be special. He even arranged to have our picture taken at the entrance."
(F/n) gives little (Y/n) the photo, and the two make their way inside the beautiful candy industry, trying to make their way through the large crowd.
"However, it was quite busy that day, and we were having a hard time trying to make our way through the crowd. Eventually, I realized that I was separated from my father."
(Y/n)'s hand unknowingly slips out of her father's grasp, but the innocent child doesn't realize until a few minutes later that she was no longer with him.
"Daddy! Daddy!" the child shouts, but she can't be heard over the loud crowd.
Scared, she tries to find her way out, though it's quite hard to do so since she's so little.
"I tried calling for him, but I couldn't find him. Not knowing what else to do, I left the Galeries Gourmet."
(Y/n) waits on a bench outside the Galeries Gourmet, but a few hours pass, and (F/n) has not come out of the Galeries Gourmet. Afraid, the poor child starts to cry.
"You can imagine how scared I was. A poor, naive child without her parents, sitting all alone on a bench, not knowing what to do. Hours passed, but he never came out."
(Y/n) then climbs off the bench, thinking that maybe her father is somewhere nearby but just doesn't know that she's been waiting for him.
"I thought I could find him myself, so I started to leave. But then, Bleacher came up to me."
"Hello, little one," a deep, gruff voice says, and (Y/n) looks up to see Bleacher and Tiddles approaching her. "Where are your parents?"
"I told him that I was lost, that I accidentally wandered away from my father. He said that he had a friend who could give me shelter. And I naively agreed to stay with them, thinking that I could look for my father the next day. But I signed the contract and fell into Mrs. Scrubitt's trap, making the biggest mistake of my life. They said I owed them twenty thousand sovereigns for my stay there."
*time skip to some years later*
(Y/n), now a little older, is sitting on her rickety bed, reading a book after having finished a long day's work.
"I tried to focus on the positive in my misfortune. I had a bed and a roof over my head. One day, Mrs. Scrubitt just came into my room."
Mrs. Scrubitt enters (Y/n)'s room, causing the child to drop her book and jump off her bed out of fear. (Y/n) sees that the heartless hag has a blanket bundling something up in her arms.
"At first, I thought she was going to abuse me, even though I didn't remember doing anything wrong that day. But then I saw the blanket in her arms. She gave it to me as though it were just a sack of potatoes, and then she left."
Mrs. Scrubitt carelessly gives her what she had, and then leaves the room, slamming the door on the way out. (Y/n) stares at the closed door for a moment, then looks at what Mrs. Scrubitt gave her when she hears a cooing noise coming from it.
"What she gave me was the most adorable creature I ever saw—baby Noodle!"
"(Y/n)!"
"What? You were insanely cute!"
(Y/n) smiles and coos as the little baby in her arms smiles up at her. It's when the infant frees one of her little arms from the blanket and places her tiny hand on (Y/n)'s cheek that causes (Y/n)'s heart to melt.
"I thought of Noodle as a little sister the moment I saw her. She was pretty much the only reason I put up with Mrs. Scrubitt and Bleacher. I made sure to protect her from their abuse whenever I could."
*flashback ends*
"Despite how I was happy to have a sister-like friend, I still wished my father would come for me. In my dreams, he would barge into the laundry house with the police. The police would take Mrs. Scrubitt and Bleacher away while he'd give me the biggest bear hug in the world. So big, I could barely breathe. But then I'd wake up, and I'd realize that this was reality—working for Mrs. Scrubitt while hoping a miracle would happen for me and Noodle," (Y/n) says, trying so hard not to cry.
(Willy's POV)
I feel my heart break for (Y/n). Her voice was cracking by the time she finished her story. I can see her eyes brimming with tears, and a soft sob leaves her lips as she wipes away her tears. I see Noodle looking at (Y/n) with sadness and pity. I look at the photo (Y/n) gave me. Her four-year-old self looks so happy in it. I walk up to her and give her the photo back, and she puts it back in her pocket. She looks up at me, and I see a couple more tears fall down her cheeks. I gently cup her cheeks, wiping her tears away, and I pull her in for a hug. She stiffens, clearly surprised, but then she hugs me back after a couple seconds.
"I'm sorry you had a terrible life," I whisper.
After a moment, I pull away from the embrace.
"I know things haven't been easy for you two. But they're going to get better. I'm not going to let you girls rot in that wash house forever," I promise them.
"You promise?" Noodle asks me.
"I can do better than that," I say, and I climb up the ladder until I can reach my hand up to her, holding my pinky out to her. "I pinky promise. And that's the most solemn vow there is."
Noodle hooks her pinky with mine, binding the promise.
"Get scratching!" I tell her, and jump down the ladder to get back to milking Abigail. "We don't have long until that guard comes to-dle, Noodle. To-dle!"
I hear (Y/n) snort at that.
"That's not even a word," Noodle says while scratching Abigail's chin.
"Oh. I'm gonna keep working on it," I say, making (Y/n) and Noodle giggle.