In the alley, the man walked forward slowly. One strong gust of wind and the man would go tumbling down.
As he reached the middle of the alley, he suddenly stopped.
AnLing turned down the corner just as the man stopped. She was about to call out to him but seeing the man unmoving, she felt strange. He was mumbling something that AnLing couldn't hear. So, she cautiously approached the man.
He was looking down.
AnLing followed his gaze and saw a small boy at the man's feet.
The familiar fluffy hair caught AnLing's attention.
"Move!" The man grunted.
The boy was trembling, but he didn't do as the man said. His face was completely flushed and his eyes blinked groggily.
Seeing the boy not complying. The mans face scrunched up.
"You little brat, hasn't anyone taught you properly." He lifted his foot and kicked the boy hard. "When an elder tells you to move you move. What irresponsible parents would let a little runt like you run amok."
The boy winced as he fell to the floor and his eyes began to redden but he didn't cry. It was obvious that he was trying his hardest to hold back his tears, in fear of what the ugly man would do to him.
AnLing's heart tightened.
She couldn't believe what had just happened. She wiped her eyes just to make sure it wasn't an illusion but to her discontent, everything was real. From the little cutie to the ugly man kicking him.
AnLing felt anger erupt in her.
"How dare you!" she roared.
The man turned around and looked at her. His eyes were blank. He did not know who AnLing was, despite having toppled her just a moment ago, or if she was actually calling to him, but his eyes scanned her for a moment before the card she held in her hand caught his attention.
Immediately he checked his pockets when he couldn't find his card he stormed towards her. Darkness shrouded his face, causing him to look like a monster out for blood.
"You thief!" He screamed.
AnLing: "If I'm a thief then you've just attempted murder."
The ugly man's eyes widened.
He looked to the child on the ground and then back to AnLing.
"M-murder? Are your eyes broken? I was disciplining." He was forcefully sobered up by her words.
AnLing looked at him in disbelief. She'd never met a person so deluded.
Behind him, the little boy began to cower. It caused AnLing's heart to tighten even more. If she was any drunker she might have burst out in tears.
She turned to look at the ugly man who wore a high and mighty expression, her eyes filled with spite.
AnLing: "He's not your child. What right do you have to discipline him? Are you his teacher? Are you god?"
The man was taken aback for a moment.
"My relationship to him is irrelevant. Brats must be taught a lesson. Same goes for you, how dare you steal my card." He said before taking a step forwards.
AnLing felt her hands turn into fists. Her body itched to fight. He had tested her bottom line, after all, but she knew it wasn't only because of this.
After getting insulted, blackmailed and pushed around by Shuya she needed an outlet for the anger she held inside, and what had just happened to the innocent little cutie was the last straw.
She was itching for a fight.
Once the man got close he tried to grab the card from her hand. AnLing dodged him before he could, then she glared at him and crossed her arms over her chest.
"You want this?" AnLing held the card between her index and middle fingers and waved it around. When the man focused his attention on it she smiled and threw it aside.
Forgetting about her, the man ran to pick it up. He knelt over it the way Golem from Lord of the Rings would do over the One Ring.
That was how precious that was to him...
AnLing gave him a look of disdain.
Seeing that he was distracted, she walked towards the cowering boy and bent down to examine his face.
She was right. It was the boy she had met earlier on today.
Compared to then, the boy's face was paler, but his cheeks were flushed as if he wore blush and his breathing was erratic.
AnLing needed to check his temperature but she knew that if she went to suddenly touch his face the boy would be afraid, and she didn't want him to faint on her.
So, instead, she opted to pat his head and then said,
"Mingyu."
In AnLing's mind, the beautiful woman voice and her own voice overlapped as she said the boy's name.
Noticing a familiar touch and voice, Mingyu raised his teary-eyed face. He stared at her dead in the eyes not revealing any emotion except for the fear that he could no longer contain.
For a child, the experience was probably comparative to almost dying. He was alone, and deep down in his heart, he had probably begun to believe that no one would save him. That he would never see his parents again.
At least AnLing could only guess as her heart clenched harder and harder.
Behind them, the man stared at AnLing's back. His face was red, not with drunkenness but with rage.
How dare a woman one up him! He walked towards her, slowly.
The element of surprise was on his side.
or was it…
From where the man was standing it looked as if all of AnLing's attention was on Mingyu but it wasn't.
Despite being slightly drunk, her sense of hearing and of danger were still almost perfect.
The man's senses, on the other hand, were dulled. So dull, in fact, that he couldn't hear the sound of his own feet as he dragged them forward.
Quickly, AnLing got up.
As soon as she stood, the ugly man began to charge at her.
Before he could get close enough to touch her, AnLing steadied herself and then extended her leg quickly, kicking him in the solar plexus.
Upon impact, the man gagged and fell to the floor with a loud thud.
AnLing was like a character from a Kung Fu movie.
Mingyu's eyes where wide. He then wiped them with his firsts to make sure it wasn't an illusion.
It wasn't.
AnLing turned back to Mingyu and then bent in front him once more. Seeing his expression she assuming he was afraid so she proceeded to pat his head.
Her khaki pants were pressed against the ground and where they touched began to turn a dirty dark color. It had rained for two hours straight that day, but AnLing had forgotten.
Feeling the familiar wet feeling on her knee, AnLing sighed.
She looked at the little boy and considered embracing him but she knew that she couldn't possibly do that to a child she had just met.
AnLing was at a loss.
Meanwhile, Mingyu stared blankly past her towards the man leaning on the floor coughing, gagging and clutching his stomach. AnLing wasn't bothered by her adversary, she knew that since he had been so drunk previously it would take him a while before he had the ability to stand up, let alone try to attack them.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Why are you here?"
"Where are your parents?"
AnLing unleashed a barrage of questions on the boy.
He opened his mouth once but nothing came out.
His eyes widened and he looked at her with a horrified look, as if his voice had been taken away like the little mermaid.
"It's okay. Take a deep breath and calm down." AnLing said to him, stressing the word deep. Her voice had softened and, to try to calm him down, she stroked the boys head as gently as she could.
The boy looked up at her for a moment and then averted his gaze right away. His face reddened but AnLing wasn't sure if it was because he was blushing of if his fever had worsened so she frowned and touched the boy's forehead.
It was burning up.
He needed to go to the hospital.
AnLing opened her arms towards him.
Thank god. If anything had happened to the kid she was sure she would have beat the man a lot more than she had.
Mingyu looked up again but this time his big dark eyes calmed the fire within her causing her to slightly smile. He was adorable. AnLing couldn't deny that. His hair might have been a mess but his cute little vest dress suit and matching shorts suited the boy.
He was slightly chubby with a cool gaze which gave him the aura of a young master.
She couldn't help but feel conflicted. The boy looked about four or five years old with dark hair, dark eyes, and a milky white complexion. She couldn't help but wonder…
Would her child have looked like him?
Just as she felt her heart sink and her eyes sting, she brushed the thought out of her head.
Caressing the little boys fringe away from his eyes, AnLing smiled at him.
He was still shaking, but he made the effort to look up to meet AnLing's gaze.
He opened his mouth once more, ready to speak but a piercing almost inarticulate voice interrupted.
"You Bitch, I'll call the police!" the pudgy man slurred as he stumbled over to them.
'Haven't had enough huh?'
AnLing sighed.
She turned to look at Mingyu, patted his head and then put him down, before saying, "Close your eyes."
Mingyu reluctantly did as he was asked.
"Go ahead. Call them. I'll give you my phone. Explain to them how you abused a child." AnLing glared a the man. "Aren't you ashamed of yourself."
Each word AnLing spat was powerful.
It would have shaken any man to the core, but the ugly man could no longer hear a thing. He just continued to walk until he stood a few steps away from her.
Ready to give him another beating, AnLing pushed herself up from the ground but her legs were partially asleep causing her to stumble forwards.
The man's hand was already in the air and had begun to swing down.
Her reaction time was cut by half, and a sudden drowsiness came over her, blurring her vision.
Now, there was no way for her to avoid the slap. AnLing clenched her teeth and shut her eyes.
The last thing she heard before she blacked out was a child's sob:
"Daddy!"
Daddy?
Whose daddy?