Chapter 94: 401,402, and 403
While Kain, Amelia, and Gene were in the office finalizing their transaction, Dominic, Ashton, and Avery went out on their own adventure.
In the beginning, they were with the adults. Just walking and looking around. But soon they found themselves separated. Not because of anyone’s negligence, but because they wanted to leave.
It didn’t take much for them to go unnoticed.
Dominic led his two siblings back to the sections filled with refugees.
"They’re over there," Dominic said, using their telepathy.
Crouching in a corner, his eyes were glued to the five people. A man, a woman, and three children. The three children were the same as them, two boys and a girl.
The girl looked delicate, clinging to her mother. One boy sat between his parents, and the other was held by the father.
In contrast to Kain’s family with silver and blonde hair and violet and green eyes, this family had a head of brown hair and hazel eyes.
"Why are they here?" Ashton asked.
"And who are they?" Avery asked.
Dominic didn’t respond. It was Ashton who answered the question.
"I think...they might be their parents."
The silence stretched. The three children watched the five of them, unsure whether to approach.
"Do we go look?" Avery questioned.
Seeing the three children here made them wonder what happened at the lab. If they wanted answers, they would need to ask. The issue was that they weren’t sure whether they did want answers.
"Go ask," Dominic finally decided.
Ashton and Avery looked at him, lips pursed. They were still unsure, but since their brother decided to ask, they would go.
They scurried around, trying to avoid people.
When they were almost approaching the family of five, the three children turned in their direction.
Dominic, Ashton, and Avery halted. The six children stared at each other. Searching.
In the end, Avery broke the silence, "401, 402, 403, what are you doing here?"
Hearing the numbers, the children flinched. Their parents, who had been watching the scene, heard what the three well-dressed children called their own children.
"Lila?" The woman’s voice was delicate, cautious. She looked at Lila like she was something precious. The delicate little girl tucked herself further into the woman’s arms, as if afraid.
Dominic furrowed his brows. He didn’t understand why Lila was acting like this. When she was at the lab, she was a little tyrant. Even worse than Avery, who likes to fight.
Not to mention, she and her brothers were considered prodigies; they had never once been the type of children who needed to be afraid of anything.
"Who are you?" The man asked, questioning Dominic’s group of three. His tone was hard.
The woman touched his arm, shaking her head slightly.
She turned to Dominic and the other two. She spoke warmly. "Little friends, do you know Lila, Boyd, and Xavier?"
The three exchanged glances, then looked at numbers 401, 402, and 403. They decided that if their parents could give them names, the same could happen to others.
They nodded.
"Did you stay at the same orphanage?"
"Orphanage?" Ashton said, taken aback.
Dominic grabbed his elbow. He looked up at the woman, "No, we aren’t, but we know each other. Did you find them in an orphanage?"
He noticed none of the three had spoken to them. They huddled in their parents’ arms, pretending to be frightened rabbits.
The woman looked at the man beside her, but she didn’t answer.
Dominic watched them.
He opened his mouth to say something else when he heard his father’s voice.
"Looks like we’ve found our runaways," he drawled.
He picked up Avery and handed her to Amelia, then picked up the two boys.
He observed the people the children had been speaking to.
Their entrance caught the attention of the other refugees. The contrast between their unkempt appearance and the polished appearance of the people before them made them somewhat self-conscious.
Of course, some were jealous, but they didn’t voice their opinions.
The air around the two families crackled with tension. Kain’s indifferent gaze met the man’s somewhat aggressive gaze. Amelia’s calm gaze met the woman’s gentle gaze.
The contrast was even more so with the children. While the three children relaxed against Kain’s and Amelia’s arms, they looked sharply at the other family.
The other family with their three children looked much more vulnerable. They appeared helpless.
People looked at them with sympathy and at Kain’s family with distance.
The way the people around them positioned themselves made it clear that if Kain’s family moved too quickly, they would move to defend the other family.
Kain found it strange. They hadn’t said anything, nor had they done anything threatening, so why were they so wary of them?
He looked at the three children pressed into their parents’ arms, then at Dominic and Ashton in his arms.
"Do you know them?"
The children nodded.
"He’s 40..." Before Dominic could continue to speak, Lila began crying.
The woman patted her back, soothing her.
"You’re disturbing our children. I suggest you go." The man said through gritted teeth.
Kain smiled and took a step closer. He scanned the three children, stopping at Lila’s face. He leaned slightly.
"Little girl, if you want to pretend to be frightened, at least release a few tears. Your eyes are dry."
Lila’s crying stifled, and she opened her eyes. A malicious gaze flashed in her eyes before he lip trembled once more, and she went back to leaning in her mother’s arms crying.
The entire thing took no more than a second or two. People assumed the little girl might have been frightened by the icy tone.
He stepped back. Without a farewell, he walked away.
He walked back to the boat where everyone else was waiting. He had declined their offer to stay the night.
He wasn’t sure why, but something about the barge didn’t sit right with him. When he approached the refugees earlier, he could feel the tug in his chest.
He wasn’t sure what it meant, so he would rather stay on his own boat than stay on the barge and encounter trouble.
