It turns out the 5-year-old's pet fish had just died and she left school to get a new one.
"Thank you Luis for being my hero and saving my life from the bad guys in New York City," said 5-year-old Addy Gonzalez.
Adaline, also known as "Addy" Gonzalez, was reunited with MTA bus operator Luis Jimenez who rescued the 5-year-old after spotting her walking alone on a Harlem sidewalk last month.
The 60-year-old was just wrapping up his morning shift on the crosstown M116 when he spotted the 5-year-old girl seemingly by herself on the sidewalk near 106th Street and Broadway.
Jimenez says he kept an eye on the girl for about a block or so before telling a passenger to call 911. He then pulled over and called his dispatcher, and with the help of other riders, got the young girl on the bus.
Police eventually arrive and get the girl safely back to her family.
"It made me feel so good, my heart was pumping, I couldn't wait to meet her and her parents because something like that should be celebrated, she was able to get home," Jimenez said.
Gonzalez had somehow slipped out of school and said she was on the hunt to replace her fish who had just died.
"We were totally, like, scared. We didn't know what to think. You know, we was terrified because that's our little girl," Gonzalez's mother Julissa said.
"It doesn't surprise us. She's always been very determined to do what she wants," Gonzalez's dad Cesar said.
During their joyous reunion, Jimenez wanted to make sure Gonzalez got a new fish.
"I decided to name my new fish... Luis. I was excited and happy and it was perfect," Gonzalez said.
Jimenez said he was considering calling out sick the day he found Gonzalez and said the small decision to go to work had an enormous impact.
"It's beautiful to meet Luis. And he is really a beautiful person. And thank God. Thank him. You know, she's here with us today," Cesar Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez gave Jimenez a gift as well, a Jet's hat that said, "Addy's Hero."
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