Outside, Malakai found Aliyah according to the location she sent. They faced each other once again.
“Where’s the child?” he asked breathlessly, “Why didn’t you tell us when you took her away?”
Aliyah was also extremely anxious, but upon hearing his questioning, she became displeased. “What do you mean? I should be asking how you couldn’t even keep an eye on a child.”
Malakai’s temple throbbed with anger, but a teammate held him back. “Stop arguing. Where’s Grape?”
Reluctantly, Aliyah led them to the other courtyard.
The dim light shifted slowly, taking away the last rays of sunlight from the room. Nelson sat in a corner, reading a book, his hand unconsciously flipping through the pages.
A little girl, just over a year old, lay quietly on the table beside him, staring at the koi fish in the tank.
Their rare moment of peace and harmony was suddenly disrupted by noise outside. Anthony rushed in after finding them. “Mr. Oconnor, I’ll take the child now.”
Grape looked up with a pout. “Is Mommy here to get me?”
Anthony smiled and said yes, then picked her up. “It’s time to go.”
Grape turned around and said to the gloomy man, “Goodbye, Uncle.”
Nelson lifted his eyelids slightly in response.
Grape stumbled a few steps outside, then remembered something and shook off Anthony’s hand. She walked back to Nelson. “Uncle, Mommy says eating candy makes one happy. You should be happy; you look ugly when you’re grumpy.”
With that, she stuffed a candy into Nelson’s large hand.
Nelson frowned, unexpectedly scrutinizing her.
She had already skipped away, leaving behind her cheerful silhouette.
Anthony quickly followed.
Outside, Malakai and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Grape safe and sound. “You little rascal, you scared me to death. How could you just go off with someone you don’t know?”
Grape solemnly replied, “I secretly followed Aliyah. You guys are too boring; I like Aliyah.”
Hearing the truth from the child’s mouth, Malakai looked surprised and then turned to Aliyah. “… Sorry, I misunderstood.”
Receiving an apology from her future teammate left Aliyah momentarily at a loss. She waved her hand. “Just keep an eye on her next time.”
She was young, her face full of collagen, half of it glowing red in the sunset.
Malakai instinctively avoided her gaze.
Meanwhile, Callie and Nick had followed their route and were increasingly puzzled by the buildings they saw. This seemed to be a hotel’s annex-a private area for wealthy people. How did they end up here…
Just as they were wondering, they saw Malakai and the others walking out of a courtyard with the child-
“Mommy!”
After being apart for so long, the little girl called out sweetly and threw herself into Callie’s arms.
Callie caught her in a tight embrace. “Where did you go?”
“To play.”
Callie smiled and looked up at the boys to thank them for their hard work.
On the way home, Nick drove while Callie sat in the back seat with Grape on her lap, casually asking, “What did you do to have fun today?”
Grape was focused on playing with her long hair and answered in her baby voice before saying, “I saw Aliyah and a very strange uncle.”
“Strange?”
“Yes! He was very fierce but also very handsome. I told him my mommy would definitely like him if she saw him!”
Her shocking words left Callie momentarily speechless.