Chapter 106: A Sob Story (1)
Arriving on Floor Two, they called out to the man, signalling for him to come around to their side. The tall man heard it, and his eyes lit up.
Hope had been dying for so long; now, hearing the voice, something inside him was rekindled. He hadn’t expected anyone in the building to peek out, let alone come to help him. This wasn’t the first building he found. It wasn’t the first time he knocked. He was asking for help everywhere.
But, before, no matter what building he or whom he tried to reach, he was ignored, until now.
He knew that to keep his wife and child safe, he had to continue moving. He had to find someone willing to help. He remembered what the young lady had told him about going east. He threw his hope into those few words, not knowing whether they would yield results.
Ian, Paige, and Jaylin fished them out of the water. They were on a crude raft that was slowly taking on water. The tall man, his wife, and child were, as expected, filthy and as thin as a rake.
When the tall man saw Jaylin and the others, his eyes widened.
"It’s you," his voice cracked.
Jaylin gave him a small smile. She had no idea what to say to him. Is she supposed to say long time no see? That would be a little inappropriate given their situation. She decided not to say anything and helped them in.
After his wife and child went inside, he followed. The man slumped on the floor, not far from his family. His wife hadn’t said a word the entire time.
The bags under her eyes were heavy. She looked as if she would collapse in the next second. When she felt she was steady enough, she opened her mouth and hoarsely said, "Thank you."
She looked down at the child in her arms. She pressed her hand against the little girl’s chest. Feeling her steady heartbeat, she let out a sigh of relief. She looked up at the people before her.
"Do you have any water? For the child," she said, coughing.
Ian went to get three glasses of water. The woman fed the child before she drank any herself. The man gulped it down, feeling like he could finally breathe.
It took some time for them to orient themselves. In that time, Kain and the others had arrived at Floor Two.
He saw the man sitting on the floor with a woman and a child. He gave them a once-over before looking away.
"Take them into the common area. Give them something to eat."
When Jaylin heard this, she looked up at Kain, eyes sparkling. With a direction, she helped the man and his family go in.
The three were given food and a chance to relax. They were even given clothes and told to bathe.
"Whatever trouble you had before, it’s okay. We’ll talk about everything after you freshen up," Hanna took over the reins when she saw the three people.
Considering herself the goddess of benevolence, she pushed Jaylin aside and became more enthusiastic than anyone in helping the family.
Jaylin looked at Hannah like she had gone crazy. She couldn’t understand why she was acting like this. Does she want to put on a show for this family?
Whatever the reason, Jaylin allowed her to do her thing. If she wanted the extra work, she didn’t care.
It took another half an hour for the family of three to relax and for the man to talk to Jaylin. Hannah had been hovering, cooing over the mother and little girl.
When everyone sat down to talk, the man still looked refreshed.
Before anyone else could talk, the man started speaking. "Thank you," he said to Jaylin. "If it wasn’t for you, we would be dead. I thought about what you said all the way back. Lucky we didn’t eat it, or who knows what would have happened."
Rubbing the back of her neck, Jaylin said, "You don’t need to thank me. If I’m being honest, I never really expected you to find us. I thought you were already dead."
The woman beside him flinched and held her head down. Tears filled her eyes. A look of guilt that Kain caught flashed in her eyes.
The man laughed, mirthlessly, "I figured. I never really even thought I could find out. All I did was go off the words you said about going east. It was a long shot, but here I am."
He cleared his throat, "I was actually wondering..." He stopped and looked at everyone. "Could you, maybe, take us in?"
His eyes fixed on Jaylin. She was the only person here he knew. He didn’t know if she could make a decision, but she was his only lifeline. The woman saw the man looking at Jaylin and turned to stare at her with pleading eyes.
Jaylin had no clue what to say. She couldn’t decide that. All she could do was look at Kain, who looked back at her.
"Ava, Dom, Ash, come and take this little child away, will you?" He asked flatly.
The three children walked over to the lady and the little girl she was holding. The little girl was no more than four. She was skinny from hunger. She had been silent the entire time. When the triplets came up to her, urging her to go with them, the girl looked at her mother.
Seeing the three children looking up at her with their innocent eyes, waiting for her to make a choice, she finally relaxed, allowing her child to play with them.
Kain sent a message for them to play well with the child through the link.
"So, Jaylin somehow saved your life, and you were lucky enough to meet the people who saved you again?" Kain rested his chin on his knuckles. "Tell me your sob story. How did you manage to make it through?"
