CHAPTER TWO

Bryan Roland was a man who minded his business; some would say he minded his business a little too much. He never butted in, never added his two cents worth in what he had no relation with. He lived a relatively good life, with no external disturbance whatsoever. He'd walked out of situations that were incriminating, situations that weren't. He just wasn't big on trying to help when it was uncalled for. To say Bryan was harsh would be wrong; he only chose to live a life without drama. He had an aversion to it, to what made people lose their shit. He believed in letting life run its course with little to no interference whatsoever from him. He could interfere, but he weighed the pros and cons first. That's what mattered, the pros and cons of the whole thing. Sometimes, the cons outweighed the pros, so he stepped aside. It was the only way he'd live long and undisturbed. At a point, though, he stopped weighing the pros and cons and blatantly refused to help at all. It was a mystery as to what made him that way, but he relatively steered clear of humans and the drama they came with in general. The last time he decided to butt in, he received a black eye for his efforts. Though it wasn't a deliberate hit, he decided that sometimes, staying away was better than interfering. That was the main reason why he had a house in the woods, a place where the birds were the only things he encountered daily. He was relatively happy and stocked his house with a lot of food whenever he deigned to go out of the house. He had a few neighbors, too, but they were the kind that was never seen, no matter what.

He decided to live on his own after his encounter with how messed up people were. It was a normal day; the sun was up in the sky, shining brightly as though it was paid to do so. Bryan had a relatively routine; Wake up, freshen up, go to the gym, work out, hang out with the boys and sometimes ladies, go back home, read a book or watch a movie. He had a few stores in the city that provided enough money for him to live comfortably without fear of stuff running out. On that fateful day, he was walking when he encountered a girl that was stuck with her clothes in the door. She looked as though she needed help, and he hurriedly walked up to her and pulled her away from the door, which made the clothes that were stuck tear up. He expected thanks, but she turned towards him, eyes burning, and spoke through gritted teeth, "How dare you? Can't you see I have it under control? What, you think you're some sort of superhero saving a damsel in distress? Sorry to break it to you, but you're not, at least not to me. Now, my clothes are torn. What are you going to do about it?"

He watched with closed lips as she railed on and on about what he did to her clothes. He didn't mind, though; he just brought out a couple of bills and gave them to her. Then he said,

"Use that to get new clothes. Sorry for interfering."

She stared at the wads of cash he dropped in her hands and made as though to speak or thank him, but he was already gone by then, and that was the last time he saw her. After then, he always decided to mind his business, to not let his tendency to gravitate towards doing good deeds distract him from the sort of people humans were in general. They were ungrateful, asking for more no matter what they had. If he didn't try to help that lady that day, she probably would have torn her clothes by herself with the way she was dragging it, but since he came into the picture, she could blame it on him. That was the main reason why he resolved to stay away from helping people in general, especially people who never asked for it. He was content with being the selfish one, the one who looked after himself first. It may have looked like it was selfishness, but he had to hold himself back from butting in every time physically. If his help wasn't solicited for, he virtually stayed out of it.

On that day, though, he saw the start of the rain and decided to walk to the pavement to see just how hard it'd rain. The rain had always been his fascination since he was younger; it had a kind of soothing feel to it, something he couldn't explain. It was like a cold drink after a sweaty workout, the feeling that couldn't be rivaled at that moment. The rain was what he could depend on to lift his mood whenever he felt down. It was like an affirmation that no matter what happened, the rain would always be there. Even though it wasn't always, the mere fact that it came whenever it did was just something he knew he'd never make light of. The rain was more torrential that day, though, and he could tell that much. The forecasts never mentioned anything about a rainstorm, so it was unexpected, but it was a pleasant surprise, nonetheless. He stood on the pavement and watched the rainfall, a small smile on his face. The beauty of the rain could not be overestimated; it was overwhelming in itself. It came with thunder and lightning, and it came with a massive dose of power. The mere fact that a sunny day could change into a rainy one in the space of a few minutes was one of the things that fascinated him most. It was his reminder that situations never last; there could be a turnaround in the space of minutes. No matter how messed up things were, he remembered the rain, and it gave him a reason to smile again. The beauty of life was overwhelming, and he always took a second to admire everything about it.

He heard the sound of a car roaring through the woods in reckless abandon and strained his neck to see who'd be that reckless. The woods weren't a safe place to drive in the night, and he knew that for a fact. Still, he went to check what was going on to at least be on the safer side. Since it was that late at night, he was concerned for the driver. That wasn't the first reckless driver he'd seen come through the woods, and it was a favorite sport of the students that wanted to have fun. Though he wasn't against their idea of fun, he'd prefer if they weren't always taking stupid risks and putting their lives in jeopardy. He wasn't a fan of stupidity even if he'd been up to some stupid stuff in the past. Just the thought of it made him nostalgic, but he waved it away. He grabbed a raincoat from the place it was hung and put it on. Grabbed a pair of rainboots too and an umbrella.

As much as he loved the rain, he didn't like being in it when it was pouring with such ferocity. He chose to be holed up indoors, reading a book, or watching a movie. He'd never really entertained the thought of having a partner, of having somebody to share his life with. Being a loner in so many ways, it was a wonder he actually found a way to interact with people on most weekends. Since it wasn't like him to go out, his presence was often appreciated by the few he shared it with, the few he deemed worthy enough for him to. He wasn't that picky with friends. He just wasn't available for the kind of fun they wanted to have. That was the main reason why he lived apart from the rest of them, the main reason he chose to.

He wore his raincoat and rainboots like a soldier girding up for war. The wind was howling loudly, like a howl of pain. He took in a deep breath before he ventured out of the house, umbrella in hand and over his head. He walked straight towards the figure that stood alone on the road, headlights on. He walked with deliberate steps, hoping not to startle whoever it was. For one, it was late in the night, and a car breaking down in the middle of nowhere was not exactly a good time to startle someone. One mistake and he'd scare whoever it was off into the denser parts of the woods, the parts where he never ventured into because it was rumored to have beasts of all kinds roaming there. He didn't believe it one bit, but to be on the safer side, he adhered to the rumors to stay away from there. He wasn't going to cause a person to go that deep into the woods because of fear since he didn't even know what was there.

He got closer as he saw a female figure standing alone, hand in a purse. He didn't need to see what she held in the purse to know what she had in the purse was some sort of weapon. He was glad she was security conscious, that was the best part of it all. Since she wasn't gullible enough not to have some sort of protection with her, it showed she was smart, smart enough to put her protection first. He knew she was probably scared, and he’d be if he were in her shoes. The rain poured with even more ferocity, a ferocity that he even had to wonder if it was going to end that day. He only hoped that he wasn't making a mistake by approaching the woman by the roadside, the woman he didn't even know.

"Hey! What happened to your car?" He screamed out loud at her from a reasonable distance away, but she didn't seem to hear him. The wind took away all he said, and she heard nothing. She was soaked to the skin and shivering. He knew that if she stayed in that spot she did, she'd definitely catch a cold. It wasn't a probability, and she was already shivering as he watched. He didn't want to be responsible if anything happened to her, but then, what would happen if he left her there? What if she went down with a cold or worse, get found by some people who were notorious in the area? Would he be able to forgive himself if he could help, and he walked away from helping? There was no possible excuse he could give that made sense to him, that made enough sense for him to walk away from her and back into his warm home, a hot cup of tea by the bedside? He'd never be able to forgive himself if anything happened to her since he saw her first.

Although he was reminded of the last time he tried to help a woman and what came out of it, he knew he couldn't leave her there, shaking like that. She was soaked to the bones, and her teeth were probably chattering. He took a deep breath before he quickened his pace. He was going to get close to her, close enough to let her know where he lived was close enough for her to stay in, at least for the night. Whatever her response was, he'd honor it, that, he swore.

He walked towards her and hoped he wasn't making the biggest mistake of his life.