Liam's persistence

"Liam, you can't boss me around. I can make my own decisions." She shook off his hand and walked back. "Let's go James" she said stopping in front of the topiary as she rubbed her wrist.

"Liam I promise you..." James said "I will take good care of Sandra, not even a single mark will be seen on her body when we return". He assured Liam and was somehow glad that they will be leaving him behind, whether he agrees or not. if he stays back that will be great because it will be difficult for the guard to follow them.

'He wouldn't report Liam because if he would, he wouldn't have quietly followed us long ago. His main mission seems like he was sent to follow us and see what we are up to since he hasn't ratted us long ago'. James thought to himself. He wanted to inform Liam about the guard but feared that Liam will insist on stopping Sandra even more.

Liam said nothing but stared at Sandra who was already crawling under the topiary with her bottle water in her mouth and her school bag on her back. He couldn't stop her, yet, he couldn't let her go there alone and hurt herself. when she said "I can protect myself", He knew her pride has kicked in. whenever she says that and he still forces her to do as he wishes, they would always end up fighting and he didn't want that.

James followed behind her and was glad that Liam had given up. "guy please remain here. If you leave, it might be hard to handle the situation when you are out." He said this mainly to get Liam to stay put so the guard won't follow them any further.

"for you. you know right" Liam responded.

"Wow it's much beautiful in reality than the recording." Sandra exclaimed after passing through the topiary of the lion and antelope. she took a deep breath to consume the sweet soft scent flowing on the air. "I see…the topiaries of animals here are those of the extinct." she said this looking at a rhino in front of her. she went closer and touched it. she didn't know most of the topiaries around her but they were all beautiful creatures and each had flowers growing on them.

Meanwhile, Liam had decided to go after them. 'What will few cuts do to me?' he thought to himself as he removed his school shirt and carefully placed it on top of the grass to cover it. Then he removed his singlet and held it with his teeth. He crawled on top of his shirt, then he carefully placed his singlet on the grass before him which his shirt wasn't able to cover and crawled onto it.

"Shit!" He moaned in pain. The grass had managed to cut through his shirt to his flesh. The Instant his knee met his white singlet it got soaked with his blood. He ignored that, anyway he expected that his decision won't be easy. He carefully and slowly brought his shirt to his front and was once again cut by the grass in the process. He placed the sliced shirt before him. there wasn't much protection it could give to him but something is better nothing. He continued with this till he got out from there not excluding to moan each time the grass cut him.

Immediately he slightly poked his head out beneath the back of the giraffe. His gaze met with Sandra's, then James. they were at the far end of the two topiaries staring at him. the noise he had been making attracted their attention that they had to look the direction it was coming from.

James stared at him speechlessly while Sandra wore a sarcastic expression. She was surprised and worried at the same time.

"Finally..." Liam smiled and gave out a sigh of relief. He stood up slowly due to the pain he was experiencing and tried not to show it in his expression. He looked around ignoring them like he was enjoying the view meanwhile the pain was clouding his head. Anyway he knew it will be like this yet he went through with it to protect his stupid sister.

"Liam!" Sandra screamed out his name from where she stood watching blood slipping out from each cut. Liam was shirtless and there was visible deep cut all over his bod. There were more than 15 cuts on his body. "you are unbelievable. Are you dumb?" she asked. The grass was cutting him and he continued.

"Indeed, he is" James didn't say more. he just removed his shirt as he walked close to him. He extended it out to his friend. "Clean yourself up." He was equally speechless and didn't know what to say to Liam. He had experienced the pain of the grass cut and knew what Liam passed through. He was surprised at least he didn't shout like a woman in labor when he was getting those numerous cut.

"Oh thanks" he reached out to collect it but James withdrew his hand and began tearing the clothes to shreds. "Eh?" Liam wondered why he was tearing them.

When he was done, James used each piece of cloth to tie Liam's injuries (deeper ones) to stop the bleeding. Cleaning it won't stop him from bleeding "your body is in a mess. No one will ever take this title from you. king of injuries". He grinned lightly as he thought 'no turning back' and decided to remind Liam "Liam, I wonder if you considered going through this same pain as we return." He smirked at him. "you didn't right?". 'It wouldn't be easy for Liam to suddenly turn back just because of the major setback but it would have been better if he didn't come at all' he thought to himself

Sandra's gaze at Liam intensified as she imagined her brother getting more cuts to the current ones he already has on his skin. "I can't take care of myself, you say? what about you? have seen yourself?" she scolded Liam.

Liam just looked at her and ignored her like she was a weeping child. Her pride level was still high. "I don't mind, Dra. It's just few cuts. It felt like nothing" Liam stated naturally but deep down he felt like his heart was being sliced. 'why does this still hurt so much? It should have stopped since like the other ones.' He endowed the pain in silent.

"So James where do we go?" Liam asked ignoring his sister who has be glaring at him.

"we need to do something first. I think we are being followed…" he said and walked out searching for something. Those topiaries he was in-between was blocking his view. Liam followed behind and stopped when he got to his sister. James didn't forget the guard he saw earlier when he went to the back of the flower giraffe. Now Liam was with them, the guard can easily trail behind them.

"followed…by who? we lost the security men." Sandra stated.

"I felt that earlier but I already checked and found nobody." Liam said with a calm voice but was unconsciously scowling his face because of the pain.

"even though, it's better to be sure." He spotted a large rock next to the topiary of animal they never knew it existed. He tried to move it to the topiary where they crawled out from. But he couldn't push the rock. "guy I need help here." Liam assisted him and they both struggled a lot to push the rock towards that position they wanted. Not to talk of the pain Liam felt during the process.

"shit! We will still have to push this when we are leaving." Liam complained because it wasn't easy for the both of them to push.

"just a bit…" he said and brought out the document that contained the map. he had kept it inside his shirt using his pant to keep it in place to avoid losing it or being cut by the elephant grass the first time he passed through. he opened it and looked closely into it.

"the next path we should follow is the left hand side of the dragon topiary." James said pointing to the beautiful dragon topiary he had admired earlier.

"wow!" Sandra was completely dazzled by how neatly the plant was carved into a dragon. "dragons signify royalty and protection. With the way the wings are carved up and the mouth wide opened like a dragon about to breath out fire. It showed protection. This was the way dragons pose to protect their loved ones like in the movie how to train your dragon." She said proudly. The movies of dragons she has watched made her to believe that dragons are loving sweet creature. She has always wished to see a real one if it actually existed.

"ha hahaha…I have always told you that you are dumb and am still saying that. Who is your history teacher?" James mocked her. "how do you do it? open your mouth to sprout out rubbish proudly."

"watch how you speak to me. You are passing your limit." Sandra got fired up. James never missed a chance to insult or belittle her. "whose help do you need? I came all the way here to assist you and you open your mouth to belittle me".

"calm down. I'm sorry." James pleaded with a mischievous grin. "I went overboard…but someone has to be honest with you and tell you the truth…" he continued but stopped when she glared at him. He couldn't help but tease her. "dragons signify cha…".