The Choice

"I say let's take the two of them!"

He looked at him as if he had gone crazy but he could not say anything to stop him, because he already walked to the side lawn. He had no choice but to follow suit with his action.

He was carrying a small garden bucket with a rag drenched with ammonia. The kids were not giving them attention as they watched the adults, having fun on the balcony of the lake house while the nannies of the kids were staying at one table, gossiping.

"How are we going to get them together?" He asked in between his teeth. He could feel his tooth moving as he spoke and it reminded him that he really needed to visit a dentist because the toothache he was having was giving him a headache as well.

He scanned the kids and the two girls who happened to be both wearing green dresses were not together. One was inside the giant inflatable pink castle, while the other one was on the side of the house, running after a kitten.

"I'll get the kid that was inside that giant pink castle. Get the kid with the kitten," he snapped at him as he walked towards the pink castle in line with all the nannies that were busy gossiping.

"Hey, you should leave that kitten alone," he said with a smile, hoping that the kid would not get scared with his loose canine tooth.

The girl was wearing a green dress and a yellow headband in her hair. He wondered if it was her choice to wear the green dress today. His daughter who is just a year younger than this kid always chooses her own clothes to wear, even though she did not have a lot of pretty dresses to choose from, unlike this girl.

He made a mental note to buy his daughter a lot of pretty dresses once he got the money from this job.

"You like the kitten?" He asked when the young girl held on to the kitten closer to her chest and pursed her pink lips as she looked at him from under her long lashes.

When the young girl nodded, he added. "The kitten's siblings are behind those bushes. Do you want to help it go back to—"

The young girl's eyes rounded with joy.

"Cookie has siblings?" She asked, stepping closer to him. There was no fear in her soft brown eyes.

"What the hell are you still doing?"

He startled and looked back to see his companion, carrying a sleeping girl in his arms, running to the bushes.

"Where are you taking…" She looked around, searching for an adult.

The kitten in her hands felt the anxiety that she was feeling, scratched her, and jumped out of her chest. Her hands bled but she did not cry out of pain, her eyes were in full panic but they did not last long because he bent down and shoved the white rag from his garden bucket to her face.

He did not bother to look back to see if someone saw him, picked up the little girl from the ground, and ran to the bushes while the girl was squirming in his arms.

"What the fuck!?"

"Sorry, she's knocked out now," he said.

The girl in his arms is now unconscious, her arms and legs were hanging down, swaying in his every movement.

"Hurry!"

His feet moved on their own. He followed his companion as they took the same path they used. They were halfway to the forest when sudden rain broke the sky. They were running back to their van and he could hear behind them the voices of the nannies that were busy gossiping calling for their ward.

"What now?" He said, panting when they stood behind a tree, shielding themselves from the sudden rain.

"We cannot take the two of them to my contact. They asked for one kid. I don't want some problem—"

"Are you insane? Then why did you decide to take two kids?" He shouted over the loud sound of the rain. He looked at the kid in his arms, drenched in the cold rain in confusion.

"Leave her!"

"What?"

He gritted his teeth, ready to punch the bastard in the face as he lifted the girl on his right shoulder to protect her face from the harsh onslaught of the rain.

"That girl has dark skin. My contact told me that we are taking the daughter of a CEO. That kid does not look like she came from a rich family!"

"That's your decision? You're telling me to just leave this little girl in this place, in this rain on her own?" He asked, gritting her teeth. If the bastard would say yes, he would punch his face.

"Carry her, then. I saw a bigger tree a bit far down," he replied, turning on his back, and huffing with the kid in his arms.

"There!" He pointed to a tree that was arched to the ground, its trunk was like a canopy.

"Leave her there. That path goes to a small park near here. They can easily spot her once they start looking."

He looked at the kid in his arms and her small weight was weighing his heart with guilt but the image of his own daughter in the hospital bed forced his feet to stride to the said tree and carefully laid the unconscious child on the ground. He was about to stand up when he pulled the yellow headband from her head and put it in a branch where it can be easily seen before he jogged to his companion who was already putting the child that they kidnapped inside the van.

He was repeating an apology in his head as he buckled his seatbelt and put on the jacket that he took off when got out of the van.

There was a deafening silence between him and his companion as they drove to the designated dropped-off point.