Chapter 9

Time had elapsed, and I started realising that if I were to continue accompanying the old man I might end up in a bad situation. I had to come up with an excuse, for me to evade from there without triggering his attention that was concentrated on me. A phone call, well, that was a huge no. This would make everything seem very obvious, thus that was probably not a great idea as such. 

" Uhm, how far is your house from here, sir?" I proceeded by asking the old man.

" Well, it's not that far away maybe 10 more minutes of a walk then my house will be somewhere on the right-hand side." He responded.

I couldn't disagree, apart from the potential problem I could be in, I was completely knackered from that long walk. I'm aware it's good to help out the elderlies, although I have helped him out enough, it has been more than an hour that I have been with him. I was tired from that long and hectic day we had since early morning.

I needed a rest, for a second, I reckoned that I should be straightforward with the old man, though I didn't think it would be a good idea of doing that. It was getting dark, already, and the night began to fall in.

Luckily, my phone got a notification, which indeed caused the phone to vibrate and make a slight notification sound. I instantly realised that's the exact moment for me to come up with a decent excuse to move away from there.

" Ohh! I literally can't believe it, my family is calling me, there is an emergency." I exclaimed!

I wasn't good at lying, so I had to make the best impression using my facial expressions and make it seem as realistic as it could be. For the upcoming few seconds, he didn't even react to what I had just said aloud. It started to annoy me even more, however, he came up with a response a few dreading seconds later.

" Ohh no! Son must immediately go and help them out with their emergency."

" They, indeed need you."

" Don't worry about me, you've helped me out a lot already and I'm thankful for that."

He said.

I eventually proceeded by handing him out his shopping bags and helping him to hang them somewhere on his bicycle.

" Are you sure, you will manage?"

I sarcastically and politely asked him.

I couldn't indeed just go away from there rudely. Although I had no further intentions of helping him out. I just had to seem as if I cared for him and gradually tip-toe my way out of his sight.

" Yes son, I will, don't worry." He responded.

" Go quickly there and help your family out." He added.

He furthermore handed me out a paper that contained his phone number and contacts. I politely took it and kept it in my pocket. I assured him that I would give him a call as soon as I will be 'available'.

And voila! That's how you do when you politely don't want to be with someone for a certain reason. There were no absolute harsh feelings between the both of us and we went separate ways.

He went forward, and I whereas proceeding to go to the opposite way out from there. It got darker and darker as I went back to the storeroom. I began wondering and recalling that I was indeed on a mission and the mission hasn't yet ended and I'm not even present at my post.

I'm indeed giving a bad impression to my other co-workers who have stayed back there. The girl was still in our hostage, we had to assure that nobody would come and ruin our whole plan and also take good care of the little girl. On my way back there, I saw a few boys.

Who appeared to be part of a local group. I was a coward. Yes! I can't lie about the fact that I'm quite afraid of small gangs and violence. I had no choice left but to take a massive detour and possible not be around those regional unions.

It took me 10 more minutes to reach there, because, well, I simply had to go around the whole storeroom just to get to the main entrance without coming across those young men.

Luckily we had a security system that only required a secret password and after the confirmation, the door would automatically open. Thankfully, Andrew told me the password when we were sitting at the restaurant, I didn't even have enough charge on my phone.

I was indeed taking a lot of risks, namely being out late at night in an unfamiliar place with a stranger. What made it worse, was that I had nothing to defend myself or enough battery life on my phone for an emergency call.

The passcode successfully succeeded and I entered the premises. I felt an immediate and sudden relief. Andrew was there, enjoying his cigarette. I had to explain to him my lateness, although it seemed that my lateness didn't bother him at all.

He further told me that there wasn't much work left either. So we were basically free for the night. We just had to regularly keep an eye on the girl. Although the next morning, the superior members alerted us that there will a few changes to our plan. That was it, no further information was provided to us.

It was getting late already, it was the first time I would see the girl closely. So I took the opportunity of seeing her whilst handing out her meal for the night. The rest of the boys were in the other room watching some Live sports that were going on at that time.

Whereas the little girl was in another room, indeed it was locked in and she couldn't escape no matter what she would presumably attempt to. It indeed had enough fresh air coming into the room, so there were absolutely no chances of her having suffocating issues.

Even if she had a certain phobia, it wouldn't be that worse either. It was a decent room to be captivated. So I had the box that contained some food with a bottle of water to keep her hydrated throughout the night, I eventually reached the room where she was in.

The lights were on, we couldn't leave such a young girl in the dark moreover all by herself. She was asleep, however, I was rather flabbergasted that she wasn't panicking or screaming for help.

Normally even adults, scream out for help, though this girl was rather particular from the rest. She was asleep when I went inside the room.

She ultimately woke up, she suddenly panicked for a few seconds, though that was expected. Then I calmed her down, she began to realise that I was different from the other members of my team.

First thing foremost, I had to introduce myself, I had to make her feel that she wasn't alone, indeed she was far away from her family, although that was the least I could do to make her feel at ease.

I began introducing myself, at first she was slightly shy and didn't want to say a thing though, but I maintained my calmness. I handed out her bottle of water, I told her to have a few sips of water, as it may help her to be slightly more relieved and comfortable.

Anyhow, I told her to tell me if she needed something or wanted to talk to someone I'd be there to help her out. Kids do indeed need someone whom they may approach with the hopes that the person will help them out when they are in need.

I indeed lack such a person, my parents, well, they were mostly against me for almost everything. My sister on the hand was slightly better, at least she did listen to my issues, however, I didn't spend most of my time with her as she was living quite far from us.

The only time of the month, we would meet was during the days she didn't have classes to attend or during the weekends. Ultimately, even these opportunities of meeting her decreased with time. Whenever she came home,  it ended up in an argument. It was mostly used two against our own parents and brother.

I completely understood the reason she avoided not coming home, who would wang to come to such a place? In other words, we didn't get to see each other for that reason. Hence, it led to me becoming even more lonely and that did make an impact on my mental health.

Ultimately, I decided to move away from my family and be on my own. I've struggled a lot in my life from a very young age and that's the reason why I don't want to see other younger children having to go through such problems at such an age. 

She was quite young enough to understand such things, so I just told her about my past in fewer and simpler words. She told me her name, was Stella.

" That's a sweet name!" I responded.

We continue to exchange and well, it took some time for her to finally begin speaking up for herself. She was barely 6 years old and surprisingly, She resembles a lot to my sister back when she was her age. I indeed told Stella that I had a sister that did resemble like her back when she was younger.

That made her smile, which was a great feeling. She then began to munch on the meal I brought for her. She was eating at a rather fast pace, I was surprised to see her eating in such a manner.

I instantly asked whether she had eaten as soon as she reached here. She allegedly didn't like the meal, hence, she was starving a bit. We obviously do untie her hands that she can and we tie them back approximately 15 minutes later.

That was sufficient minutes for her to complete her meal and tie her hands up. 

So I remained there so that she could finish her meal peacefully knowing that is not alone. She finished her meal and commenced weeping, I promptly asked her what was wrong. I could barely hear when she began talking.

She told me, she's missing her parents and home. After all, she was a kid, it was really expected that she would cry at some point. I had to calm her down so that her cries don't trigger others' attention. I wasn't good at solacing kids or babies.

So I did my best to calm her down and I had to remind her that also I at a certain point in life was completely isolated from my family. Perhaps it would assure her and give her slightly more confidence that she is not alone and is going through a rough period at such an early age. After a few minutes, she calmed down, I believed that it would be better if I were to leave the room and let her be by herself.

Probably that was the only option left, additionally, I couldn't spend much time here as the rest of the members might begin to speculate things against me.

" Stella, I will leave now, so don't worry I'm here, I'll be coming here to look up to you frequently," I assured her with a softly-spoken voice.

She agreed and I proceeded by going out. The boys were in the other watching some ongoing life sports. I practically didn't have much to do at that time, so I joined them to watch some sports. I sat on one of those sofas, well, I was rather uninterested in watching the television at that point.

My head wasn't concentrated at all on watching any sort of entertainment at that point, although I was a massive sports enthusiast. Just at that time, a lot of things were going through my mind. Perhaps, I should go out to the parking lot and light up my cigarette for some mental relief.

Andrew was out too, though he was on the phone talking to someone, maybe it was his girlfriend, well, it wasn't of my concerns. Although as soon as I began approaching him, he began weirdly panicking for no reason whatsoever.

That was rather a suspicious act, though I didn't take it too seriously. It's indeed obvious for people to be embarrassed especially when they are on the phone talking to someone privately.

It was an off-duty night for us, perhaps the next morning we will have to begin our ransom demands and maybe move her to a different. It all depends on our superiors' decisions. If the green light has been given, we shall go according to their expected scheme. 

Probably it's the right moment for me to call upon Frederick and keep him updated on what's going on, indeed, without disclosing the fact that I'm working for Alexander's team. Perhaps I should also my sister, it will initially feel unusual because it's after a very long time, though she's my sister and she fully deserves to know what her brother is going through and what is happening in his current life. By that time, Stella will already be fallen deeply asleep.

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