ENDS

Third person P. O. VAll text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

The weather outside was a little too dull and mostly cloudy. Louie sat by the window and stared at the endless array of trees that surrounded the house she had found herself in, slowly and silently crying to herself again.

She was all alone in the room as Santiago had stepped out a few minutes ago to get who’d shower her and at least buy her lunch. To him soldo was behaving a little too rash by leaving a frail looking five year old hungry for over six hours.

But Louisa never complained. All she’d do is cry.

Well she’s been crying, what exactly do you expect a kidnapped child to do?

As Santiago walked down the hallway to get her something from the kitchen, he mistakenly bumped into Ferreti.

” Someone looks depressed” Her native Italian accent crawled into his ears.

Santiago only let out a smirk as he stood to reply her statement.

Ferreti was an attractive lady, with the height and figures that could keep her tied with a modeling career. It never failed to amaze him how such a vibrant young lady would rather live for a clan.

Two faced.

That was her code name. Not to be insultive but it was literally true. This lady could take on the personality of anyone and everyone. From an Indian native in Sri lanka to a Hausa speaking lady from Nigeria and her Italian accent would remain absolutely hidden.

And she was a perfectionist at it. Honestly it amazed him too.

Ferreti was rarely present at the den so her presence was actually one that needed questioning before anything. She was actually on a mission currently and leaving a mission to come into the den was actually frowned upon as it makes it easier to trace.

But as the sister to the boss.. Sometimes such offenses pass by unnoticed.

” What are you doing here Fer? And no, I’m not depressed. Just a little too tired” Santiago replied and unknowingly released a sigh.

” Taking care of the kid of any mission can be hard. Trust me, I know ” her tone was technically referring to current mission and he laughed actually feeling sorry for her.

This was her longest mission yet and apparently seems like the toughest. None of them even had an idea that she was gonna stay that long.

But she wasn’t complaining so they all kept their lips sealed till it was over and of course successful as usual.

” I’m famished.. Just wanted to grab a thing or two to eat. And find someone to shower the little girl” Santiago relayed his problem and Ferreti looked at him like he’s trying to crack a joke or something.

” Hope you aren’t trying to ask me” her words were almost sounding threatening.

The young man before her laughed ever so heartily at her reaction.

” I wouldn’t. You won’t even do it if your life depended on it” he said with remnant traces of his laughter on his lips.

“Good” she huffed and whipped away in the other direction, swaying her hips intentionally to grasp his attention.

It was no new fact that Ferreti was deeply interested in Santiago. But as the sister to his boss, Santiago knew better than to come close.

That didn’t stop her from teasing him anyways.

He shook his head amusingly and walked towards the kitchen.

The house was oddly empty at that hour and Santiago believed they had dispatched another spy team again. Possibly they’ve got a new mission.

The thought of incoming missions already got him feeling weak as he cannot tell how much more mind stress he can handle.

Once he gets his pay from this job he’s gonna go on a vacation, he thought to himself.

“I pray its that easy” he muttered under his breath knowing all the procedures he had to go through to earn the much needed vacation.

But he decided to push the thought aside till further notice and stepped into the kitchen.

The opened cereal box on the counter looked interesting enough. So all he did was to get two bowls, spoons and a few cubes of sugar before heading back to the room.

The image of Louisa sitting by the window with tears in her eyes popped into his head and lord knows the sight brought a huge discomfort to his chest.

After making his way back to the room, he slowly opened the door and met Louie sleeping with her head resting in the window seal. Her breaths were incredibly deep so it was completely obvious she had cried her hungry self to sleep.

He gently placed the contents of his hand down on the nearest table and decided to prepare it first before waking her up.

Once he was done, he tapped the little girl softly at first. She only stirred and he tapped her again.

“M-mommy? ” were her first words immediately she opened her eyes, but her features fell and her eyes began glistening from the disappointment once she recognized who it was.

” You need to eat okay? ” Santiago cooed to her and although she was a little girl with a stubborn heart, she knew he was right.

So she nodded in affirmation and he took a seat close to her to begin spoon feeding her.

One by one she ate the cereal and even demanded for a little more as the first bowl wasn’t satisfactory. Although she was shy to ask, Santiago read it off her body language when the first bowl was running empty.

Halfway into the second bowl a knock came on the door and Santiago politely excused himself to go answer it.

On opening the door, his heart ached for Louie already but he had no other option than to step aside and let Soldo’s will be done.

The nurse stepped into the room and Louisa raised her head from the food she was focused on eating.

The moment the baby girl set eyes on the visitor, she began shedding silent tears again. So Santiago could only accept that the little girl recognized who it was.

As the crew doctor began to pull out her apparatus from her little mobile purse Santiago only whispered to himself.

“Hunter please search a little faster ”

Because it was time to drain Louisa by a syringe again.