Lilia opened her mouth to comfort her husband. "Jean, you ..."
But before the sentence was finished, Lilia suddenly stopped walking. She felt that the scenery around her looked familiar and triggered a memory that was buried in her mind. Even though she had been traveling around this village for quite a while, this was the first time that familiar feeling had emerged so strongly inside her heart.
Lilia and Jean were standing on one of the main paths of the village. The path ran straight from the gate to the end of the village and was connected with dozens of other, smaller paths. Several paths lead to narrow alleys in between the houses.
Lilia's gaze was fixed on one of the paths that led to a narrow alley. Lilia herself didn't know why, but she couldn't take her eyes off the alley.
"What's wrong?" Jean also stopped when he noticed Lilia's strange attitude. He turned around and followed Lilia's gaze. During that glance, Jean's expression turned dark. But the next second, his expression returned to normal. "Do you remember anything?"
Lilia took a step towards the alley. Her forehead creased as she tried to dig up the memory that had suddenly popped into her mind.
"If I remember correctly ..." Lilia rubbed her chin. "I feel like I've met a stray kid here ..." she said hesitantly.
14 years ago, she met a stray kid covered in blood with a chain on his leg. In fact, the term stray child might not be appropriate and less accurate to describe the boy she met. But for a little girl of ten years old, only that name came to mind.
The boy's appearance looked pathetic, with a face full of dirt and dust. That child was so dirty that Lilia couldn't see his true face behind all the dirt. But Lilia wouldn't be able to forget those dark and cautious eyes. His eyes made Lilia think of an injured beast.
His clothes also looked tattered and torn. The color might have been white at first, but faded and stained with blood and dust. His trousers were torn in several places. The iron chain wrapped around the boy's ankle was about half a meter long, and he held the end of the chain in his hand.
It was the first time Lilia had met a child with such a tragic appearance when she was only ten years old.
"Lilia?" Jean's voice brought the woman back from her memories.
Lilia sighed and explained, "I don't know who that stray kid is, nor if he ended up being saved by someone else."
She wanted to know what happened to that stray kid. Was her help actually of use to him? How was that kid now?
The sun was already setting in the sky, making the temperature there even colder. Jean said something to Lilia, but the mountain wind suddenly blew hard at the same time. The woman did not have time to catch Jean's words as it was carried away by the wind.
"Sorry, what did you say?" Lilia walked over to Jean and stood on tiptoe so that the man could immediately speak into her ear.
Jean lowered his head and whispered, "I am the street kid."
*****
14 years ago…
Lilia was on a tour around Arum Village with her teacher and a group of other students. She walked at the back of the line looking around curiously. Children from cities tended to have a high interest in rural life.
This was Lilia's first time seeing chickens and ducks, and roaming the front yard of the house. She watched the birds peck at the ground for food, then her gaze shifted to the roof of the house. The roof was made of homemade bricks, unlike the roofs of the houses Lilia knew.
Little Lilia saw the village like a new world full of mysteries and other interesting things. She couldn't wait to explore the entire village.
Lilia was so focused on her observation that her pace became slower and she fell further behind the group. However, the teachers in charge of watching over the students didn't realize this. The three teachers were busy arranging the twenty noiseless students to speak, so they didn't have enough time to pay attention to Lilia who was quiet and didn't make trouble.
The little girl saw the children living in the village several times. She wanted to approach them and invite them to be friends. However, both the children and the adults in the village always gave Lilia suspicious looks. She didn't understand the reason, but she knew she wasn't welcome here. Their gazes reminded Lilia of Sylvia's cold gaze.
So Lilia lowered her head and tried not to meet their eyes. She gripped her pink backpack tighter before accelerating her pace.
Unfortunately, Lilia didn't realize that her group had turned on another path while she continued walking straight. When Lilia looked up, she was surprised to see that her group of friends had disappeared. Lilia looked around in panic, but there was no one around.
The little girl was in panic when she realized that she was separated. Lilia ran down the path, hoping that she would meet someone who could help her. However, Lilia hit a boy instead.
Lilia was shocked when a child suddenly jumped out of the small alley, but she couldn't stop in time. They collided and Lilia fell on to the boy.
"Ouch!" "Oww!"
Their hands and feet were interlocked, so it took them a while to break free.
"S-Sorry ..." said Lilia as she tried to get up. But her movements stopped when she saw the boy's clothes that were tattered and stained with blood. "Y-You…" Her voice trembled as Lilia met the eyes of a hawk.
In her mind, Lilia immediately concluded that this child was a stray kid. Lilia was raised as the daughter of the Pangestu Family, so she was never short of anything. She frowned at her surroundings since all she ever saw were clean and nice things. Therefore, during the ten years of her life, Lilia had met stray kids in Surabaya only a few times. To her, they were shabby and dirty children without parents. And this boy fitted that description.
The boy frowned as Lilia didn't move from above him. "Can you step aside?" he asked curtly in a hoarse voice.
The boy's body was very thin, with thin cheeks and chapped lips, as if he had been given no food or drink. Even so, the child's gaze was still as sharp as a knife, like a beast that refused to bow to anyone.
Lilia heard the boy's words, but her mind was still fixated on the bloodstain on his shirt. Instead of moving, she asked in a trembling voice, "You… What happened to you? Are you alright?"
The boy was momentarily stunned. How long had it been since he heard someone worry about his condition? All he ever heard were insults and curses slowly eroding his spirits.
The kid was watching Lilia from the bottom up. Lilia's snow white skin and clean appearance made her look like a porcelain doll. The white lace skirt she wore also showed that Lilia was not from this village.
But the boy didn't want to waste his time. He had used all his remaining strength to escape from that place. If he didn't leave now, he would definitely be caught again. After nearly four months of being locked up there, this was his eighth attempt at escape.. The boy began to run out of ideas to escape.
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