Outing

The moment their eyes made contact, a chill ran down his spine. There was something within the gaze of his bright red eyes which wasn’t supposed to be in that of a child.

Calm, firm, along with the danger that lay within, with his pitch-black hair.

He didn’t know whether it was because of his eyes but Val was a devilishly handsome boy. But this was in contradiction to his normal character which was calm, composed, and somewhat innocent.

“How can I help you?” Val asked bringing his gaze back to the book he was reading.

He had forgotten how mature the 11-year-old boy in front of him could act sometimes.

“The master told me to take you out on a stroll today.”

“He did?!” Val asked in surprise.

“Yes, young master. Would 20 minutes be enough for you to prepare?”

“Yes,” Val quickly replied.  

“I'll send someone to pick you up by that time” Just before he could leave, Val voiced out.

“When is my mom coming back?”

“I'm not sure, but I believe that she would be here before the week runs out.” With this said, he walked out of the room.

A big smile appeared on his face as he picked up the book he was reading.

He found it the day before but just began reading it an hour ago. Surprisingly, he was interested in it and as for what this book contained, it had pictures and descriptions of different animals which he was yet to see.

His favorites were the wild ones with four legs and sharp teeth. He was wishing just a while ago that he would get acquainted with one of them someday. Little did he know that his father would be letting him out today.

He knew very well that he doesn't act like how a normal child would, as his thinking process somehow developed faster than usual, but he still couldn't help but act childish when he was excited, and right now he was really excited.

Exactly 20 minutes later, he heard a knock on his door.

Immediately knowing that they had come for him, he strolled out of his room where two guards already waited.

He was escorted outside the mansion and could see Josh already waiting beside a carriage with two horses.

Val entered into the carriage, followed shortly after by Josh before it began to move driven by one of the three men seated at the driver’s seat and the other two on the rumble.

They came out of their land area into the streets and Val who didn’t always have the luxury of coming out just kept staring through the window.

“So, where do you want to go?” Josh asked and Val who already had his mind made up, opened the book, showing Josh the animals.

“I want to see them.”

Josh blinked several times at what he was seeing, he wasn’t expecting something like this at all. He cleared his throat before speaking up.

“I’m sorry, there aren’t  any zoos in this part of Liv.”

Val looked back at the book in disappointment. There was a limit to the distance he was allowed to go and what Josh really meant was that there was no zoo in the area he was in.

“I don’t think they’re only in zoos,” he furrowed his eyebrows at Josh as if looking into his soul.

‘W-what’s with that look,' he subconsciously moved backward. This child was intimidating.

“Well, you can also find them in forests,” he shrugged.

“Forests?” Val frowned.

“Uh-huh,” Josh nodded.

Val knew that it was also out of the range limit he was allowed. Hell! It was even out of Liv.

He knew something like this would happen and had already made up his mind not to waste such an opportunity if it came to this.

So he was going to escape, which left him with two choices. The zoo or the forest.

While the forest would be difficult to get to because of its distance along with the fact that it was outside Liv, which meant he needed to get past the city guard, the zoo on the other hand was a place he didn’t know. Wait! He didn’t even know what it was.

So the decision was easy.

Now, he needed to come up with an escape plan and it didn’t take long for an opportunity to present itself.

They were currently going past an open market area which was quite crowded, the perfect place to get lost.

“Wait!” he shouted as the carriage came to a stop. “I want to go there.” He pointed towards the market causing Josh to frown slightly.

“Young master, I don’t think that’s a good idea. We can always have someone buy whatever you need.”

Fake tears filled Val’s eyes as he said in a sad and annoyed tone. “What do you mean! I’ve always wanted to go to a market and see for myself how things are bought and sold and here you are telling me this. If you guys can’t protect me, then what is the need of you coming along?! You shouldn’t be working for my father in the first place!”  

“T-This……..” Josh was at a loss for words staring at Val in disbelief. ‘I guess he’s right. I have to….we have to show our worth by protecting the young master. How can we back away from such an easy task.’

The guards who followed them were also having similar reactions and thoughts.

Having made up his mind, Josh nodded his head in agreement as Val grinned internally while wiping away his fake tears.

‘That was easy.’

************************

After leaving the horses and carriage to one of the three men, the other two along with Josh escorted him into the market.

“You’ll protect me right?” Val muttered loud enough with worry in his eyes.

“Of course. We won’t let anyone touch a strand of your hair.” Josh assured him.

Val beamed after hearing this but it wasn’t for the reason they thought.

Why he smiled was because with what he said, they would become more vigilant and focus on the surroundings more than Val himself.

Well, that was mostly for the guards as Josh was being a headache as his gaze kept drifting to him in a way that his escape would be immediately noticed if he tried. So he needed to come up with a distraction.

Asif heeding his call it didn’t take long before he found something perfect