3 Haruhi wants to go out

"Papa, can we go out today?"

Haruhi whispered softly to my ears as she wakes me up.

"Hmm, where do you want to go?"

I replied.

She took a step back and paused for a bit.

"The park! I want to play around the park!"

The park, huh. Fortunately, there's a park nearby.

"Sure, let's go this afternoon?"

"Yay!"

She sped off of my room and jumped into the couch.

Haruhi, huh. She's nine but she behaves like a much younger person. I can only suspect that this is because she was a sheltered child. Quite literally in that aspect. She has also grown fond of me, often snuggling with me when I sit down to watch some TV.

Despite her being clingy, I can definitely feel her maturing day by day. Just the other day, she offered to help do the dishes. She struggled at first but it was easy with my guidance. After a while, she can do it on her own and sometimes volunteers to wash the plates after we eat.

I cooked breakfast for us and just lounged the morning away. But when afternoon came, Haruhi spared no time to to invite me to go outside.

"Let's gooooo!"

She held my hands tightly.

"Alright, alright. No need to be hyper."

Her hyper personality really is the opposite of my mellow. This is Haruhi's first time to go out though, so I'm making sure to never get my eyes off of her.

She's wearing the red dress I bought for her the other day and she tied her hair in a ponytail in the same fashion as mine.

"Papa, let's goooooooo!"

"Yup, yup, let me just double check on things."

After making sure that the doors are locked we exited the building and went on our way.

The park is just walking distance from my unit and is one of the largest parks around. Perfect for a walk for the both of us.

"Is there any reason you wanted to go to the park today?"

I asked her while she swung her hands happily.

"Hmm... Nothing really. After watching those shows on TV, I just felt like I wanted to go out."

She looked at me and smiled.

"I see."

I smiled back.

It didn't take long for us to get to the park as the moment our conversation ended, I can already hear a bunch of kids playing around.

Haruhi's grip tightened. Seems like she's still not used to people around.

"Scared?"

I squeezed her hand. She nodded.

"It's fine. I'm here."

I smiled.

We started our stroll by going to the pond, which is a place I like very much. I sometimes go here to clear my mind or when I just want to be alone.

This "pond", well, it's actually a dried pond and that's why people don't really come here that often. Which makes it the perfect spot for me.

"Papa, why are we here?"

Haruhi sat at the edge of the cobblestone pond.

"Haruhi, this spot right here is where I always go to clear my mind."

"Ohh."

She said enthusiastically.

I don't need to explain anything for Haruhi about myself. She pretty much knows what I do. She saw it all in the mansion.

"Let's move on?"

I extended my hand towards Haruhi.

"Yup!"

She smiled and took it.

Our stroll has lead us to my second favorite place in this park. A lake. Same as the first one, I usually go here and sit at the end of a short wooden platform extending towards the middle of the perfectly circular lake to clear my mind. Sometimes, I pick up nearby stones and use them for stone skipping.

I look into the lake and a lean guy with a pair of brown eyes stared back at me. He's wearing a turtleneck long sleeves and a shoulder length, flowing, black hair which he tied into a pony tail.

I smiled and so did he.

"Can't have it any other way."

I look around and saw Haruhi bored beside me.

"Nothing to do?"

I asked her. She just nodded in reply.

You know what? I have an idea. Let's teach her how to skip stones. I start looking for stones leaving Haruhi for a bit as she played with the water.

"Haruhi come here for a bit."

"Okayy.."

She lazily moved towards me.

"Check this out."

I threw a stone into the lake and Haruhi kept her eyes on it as it skipped, leaving ripples in its path.

Her eyes lightened up as she discovered something new.

"How did you do that?! Teach me!"

She tugged my shirt.

"Here."

I gave her a rock and taught her the proper angle and posture to throw the rock as flat as possible so it will skip.

"Ooooh!!!"

And she went off, looking for more stones and skipping them repeatedly. Paired with a child's curiosity and repetitiveness, this might actually take a while. I sat behind Haruhi making sure to keep a safe distance in case she messes up and throws the rock backwards instead of forward.

"Is that your daughter?"

A soothing, motherly voice rung behind me. Lazy to turn my body towards her, I just tilted my head upwards.

What greeted me was a dog's snout touching my forehead.

"What are you doing?"

The woman laughed.

"Well, I was feeling lazy so I just figured to look at you without moving my body."

She laughed even harder. Her long, silver hair bouncing in rhythm with her laughter.

I stood up and faced her. This time, taking a good look at her.

She's wearing a green tracksuit and rubber shoes. I guess she stopped here for a break. Her hazel eyes started tearing up due to laughter.

"Guess that really made you crack up, huh."

"I mean, who does that?"

She wiped off her tears.

"Papa, who's she?"

Haruhi noticed that I was talking to someone and hid behind me. I looked at the woman in front of me. I can guess she's around my age, she's probably in college. Considering that her tracksuit has a college emblem on it.

The woman crouched and smiled at Haruhi.

"Hello, My name's Yume! What's yours?"

"I-I'm Haruhi."

Haruhi said shyly.

"Hello, Haruhi!"

Yume smiled once more, melting the barrier between them but Haruhi, being shy, ran away and started skipping stones again.

Yume laughed and asked

"You guys from around here?"

"Yeah, we live in a nearby apartment."

"Ohh, same. Wait, you still haven't answered my question."

She smiled teasingly.

"Oh, yeah. She's my daughter."

I checked Haruhi to make sure she's still somewhere within sight.

"You guys don't look related though."

Her eyebrows furrowed.

She's sharp.

"Well, complicated things happened. I call her my daughter but we're not related."

No point in lying to a stranger.

"Ohh, so she's like, adopted?"

I nodded.

"Guess you can say that."

"Must be hard raising a kid on your own."

"Nah, I'm actually having fun. She's a sweetheart."

I looked at Yume and smiled.

"Yeah, I can see that."

She smiled back.

"Anyways, nice meeting you. Sir...?"

"Kuro. Also, no Sir. We're at the same age."

"Huh, did I tell you my age?"

She shot me a confused face.

"Not really, but I can guess you're around 21-24 and I'm 21 so that's not really far from my age."

"You're absolutely right, I'm in that age range. I'm actually 22."

"See?"

I smiled, feeling confident with my deductions.

She let out a subtle smile.

"Anyway, Kuro. I'm gonna continue my run now. See you around!"

She waved goodbye as she started running together with his dog.

Now that I noticed, that dog was so obedient he just sat there while we're talking. Must be really trained, huh.

I think it's time for us to go too. I approached Haruhi who's still trying her best to skip rocks.

"Haruhi, let's go home?"

"Okayyy!"

She threw her last rock which skipped a total of four times before sinking into the lake.

"Good job!"

"Hehehe.."

She smiled proudly.

I extended my hand towards her again and she held it.

"Did you have fun skipping stones?"

"Yup!"

She started skipping instead of walking, showing how much she looked forward to this.

But then, something else happened.

The moment we stepped out of the park's entrance, a black van pulled in front of us. My hitman senses told me there's something wrong about to happen next and I wasn't wrong. From behind, a person rushed towards me and tased me.

"Ack!"

I let go of Haruhi in order to defend myself but I wasn't the target.

It was Haruhi.

The van's door opened and Haruhi was kidnapped right before my eyes. It was as clean as it can get.

"Papa!!!"

Haruhi shouted at the top of her lungs but before I can react, the van already drove off together with Haruhi and the guy who tased me.

These people are professionals.

"But sucks for them."

I smiled, grabbed my smartphone, and opened a GPS app.

"I'm a professional as well."