Tetra Pact

Chapter 4

They pulled up at the Noble Minds premises and their chauffeur got out to open the door for Evan, who needed a little coaxing to finally slide out of his seat, his hand in his sister's. "Thanks, Mister Adams," Eden said.

"Eight thirty?"

"Yup." Evan tugged at her hand upon recognising the familiar building. "Thank you." Their driver took off.

When they entered the centre, Eden was greeted by a flustered parent volunteer, who informed her that the new volunteer had arrived much earlier than expected. The children had barely started coming in, and they hadn't prepared any work to assign him. Eden let Evan occupy himself with the Lego corner before the session started and headed to the office where the newbie was waiting.

The copper-haired boy stood up as soon as she opened the door, flashing a small smile. Eden returned it, nodding. She gestured to the chair at one side of the office desk as she made her way to the shelves, tossing the file she'd picked up from home onto the table. She rummaged through the drawers and took out a brand new name tag, passing it to the volunteer.

"Write your name on it." She sat down and took the particulars form from the folder, giving it to him as well, along with a leaflet. "And fill this in. The leaflet is for you, too."

"Okay." He looked at the name tag and back at her. "My full name?"

"Just your first name will do."

"Alright."

Eden glanced over at the computer screen and read through the programme for the week as the boy wrote down his name and details. He returned the form to her. She muttered thanks, catching sight of his name on the tag, and froze for a split second. Then she transferred her gaze to the form, where she once again paused upon reading the very first section. Asbjørn Ben Yao. As if she wasn't surprised enough at his clearly Scandinavian name - that she was quite sure she would butcher - under the optional 'other names' he'd written Chinese characters.

"Sorry... How do I pronounce your name?" she asked, slightly sheepishly.

"As-byon."

"Ah... Asbjørn?" She looked at him for confirmation. Her eyes travelled down to the next section, where he'd indicated his spoken and written languages. "You speak Chinese?"

"Yeah."

She realised she could marvel at his personal particulars later on, and shoved the paper into another folder containing everyone else's details. She took another look at the programme and assessed the activities lined up for the week. Then she checked the list of volunteers who were making it for each session, and the children attending too. She looked back at him decisively.

"Actually, we have a four-year-old girl: Holly. She has Asperger's, though her parents speak to her in Mandarin, so she only responds to that language. If you don't mind, could I assign you to her? We're having a hard time trying to include her in the activities when she doesn't understand what we're saying."

"Oh, sure thing."

"But she's not coming tonight, so you're free for this session." She scrunched her face in thought. After a few seconds, she stared at his earnest face. "Do you want to work with my brother today?"

"Your... brother?" he asked, visibly confused.

"Yeah. He's thirteen," she said, looking at him intently. "He has low functioning autism, but he's been progressing lately. And I'll be there to support."

Asbjørn seemed unsure.

"It's fine if you're not comfortable yet," she told him.

"No, I just-" he stuttered. "I haven't even begun lessons... I'm afraid I'm not qualified."