Sitting in the hall of Stacey’s apartment building, Kane looked up at the flickering lights of the hallway in a daze. Leaning against his shoulder, Stacey was sound asleep while hugging his arm. It had only been ten minutes since they arrived. At first, they were talking, and before Kane knew it, Stacey had hugged his arm and fell asleep. 

“She is a little too defenseless….” Kane muttered as he sighed. He did not know why this girl trusted him so much. She did seem quite attached to him now. He sat there, not daring to move in case it disturbed her. He was not shy around girls, but he was not used to being hung on to like this. But when he thought about how they were now sworn brother and sister, he couldn’t help but think it was not so bad. Both of them were only children. They had their own hardships they had to deal with, but now at least, they had someone else to lean on. 

As time passed, a young woman in her early thirties walked off the elevator to see the sight of her daughter hugging a young man’s arm and the young man seemingly staring off into space. She couldn’t help but smile and felt slightly relieved at the same time. “May I ask who you are?”

Kane, who was not expecting someone to speak to him, almost jumped out of his skin. When he looked up to see a young woman looking down at him with an amused grin, he scratched his nose and said: “I am Stacey’s brother.”

    “Oh? I did not know Stacey had a brother. Why are you two out here?” The woman asked. She was finding this quite amusing. 

“As I am not someone known by the neighbors here, I did not think it was right for me to go in. I did not want people thinking my little sister was up to something.” Kane answered honestly. 

“Hmmm…” The young woman nodded her head in approval. In order to not be misunderstood, he stayed outside. And knowing her daughter, she asked him to wait with her. “I see….” The young woman looked down at the ‘sleeping girl’, raised her foot, and gently nudged the ‘sleeping girl’. “How long do you plan to keep faking being asleep?”

“Mom!” Stacey pouted as she raised her head. Half her face was red from sleeping on Kane’s shoulder. However, she had been awake for ten minutes now. But she did not wish to let go of Kane’s arm just yet. And even more so after her mother showed up.

Kane looked at Stacey and then at the young woman and finally realized what was going on. He felt slightly embarrassed since he did not realize that the woman before him was Stacey’s mom, but now, looking closely at the two, they did look alike. “Sorry, I should have realized. My name is Kane Woods. I work at the same place as Stacey and helped her out today.”

“Alright, come in. And explain to me what happened….”

- - -

Inside the small apartment that had a small living room kitchen area, a bath, and two bedrooms, Kane sat at the small kitchen table with a glass of water in front of him. The young woman looked at Kane with approving eyes. “I owe you. If something happened to my daughter, I do not know what I would do.”

“Mom, you should introduce yourself.” Stacey wondered when her mother was finally going to tell Kane her name. She had only been asking questions left and right without introducing herself.

“Ah! Where are my manners? My name is Helen Norland, Stacey’s mother.” Helen felt slightly embarrassed when it came to her daughter, she cared about nothing else. Helen was similar to Stacey in every way when it came to looks. It could be said that Kane was looking into Stacey’s future fifteen years from now, blonde hair, blue eyes, petite, and very beautiful. Kane wondered what kind of man would leave such a woman.

For Kane, it was a little strange because Helen was only about twelve years older than him. While she looked tired from working every day, she was still beautiful and was right in his strike zone. 

Stacey, who was next to Kane, raised her foot and kicked Kane’s shin. “Why are you staring!?”

“Ouch! Stacey!” Kane felt as if his shin had been broken. He reached down and rubbed it. His face red. He realized he had been staring a little too long at Helen.

“Hehe…. You have the daughter and now want the mother?” Helen couldn’t help but tease Kane.

“Mom!” Stacey’s face was bright red. She did not know her mother was such a tease! “Kane and I are sworn brother and sister. We are not like that.”

“Oh?” Helen gave her daughter a knowing look. But when she looked at Kane, she could tell her daughter had a ways to go to make this boy understand her real feelings. The hero saving the beauty was definitely a way to a maiden’s heart, but it seemed the hero did not realize it yet. “Anyway.”  Helen decided to stop teasing the two. “Kane, I am happy to know my daughter has made a friend willing to look out for her. I work three jobs, so it is hard for me to always be around. Even now is rare for the two of us to even speak like we are now. I hope you can keep being good friends with my daughter.”

Kane looked up at Helen’s sincere expression and smiled. “It’s fine. I would not have offered if I was not willing. Plus, having a cute little sister is not so bad. I do want to make a suggestion, though.”

After the incident with the boy from earlier, Kane had thought about it a bit while he worked his other job. There would be days when Stacey would not be working while he did need to work. Having her home alone was not safe. So he thought about maybe letting her stay at his house with his grandparents. 

Hearing Kane’s suggestion, she looked at her daughter, whose eyes seemed to be glowing, and smiled. “Alright. But…. Stacey, go to your room and let me speak to Kane for a moment.”

“Mom…” Stacey wanted to object but was quickly cut off by Helen.

“Stacey, go.” Helen’s firm tone made it obvious that she was not going to take no for an answer. Stacey could only give Kane an apologetic look before going to her room. She, of course, did not close her door all the way, nor did she go more than two inches of it. She was trying to listen in on their conversation.

When Stacey left, Helen sat down across from Kane and said: “I do not know what you feel, but my daughter is still young. You seem like a good kid, so I will say this now. If you two become more than what you are now, be sure to be responsible as the older party. My daughter is not ready to be a teen mom.”

Kane choked on his own spit. He looked up at Helen and quickly waved his hands back and forth. “I wouldn’t dream of it! I am not even looking for that sort of thing at this time. I have a lot going on. Stacey…. Well, she is quite cute, I will admit to that, but I do not have those feelings for her. Whether they develop later on, I do not know, but I promise I will never do anything that will jeopardize her future.”

Helen chuckled as she smiled. She quite liked Kane’s bluntness. “It’s good you think this way. Just know as a mother, I worry for my daughter. I thank you for being so considerate of her. I wish I could do more, but as you can see, just to keep this little place, it is already working me ragged. So I am asking you to look out for her in my stead. If Mama Claire is willing to trust you, then so will I. I leave my daughter in your care.”