The group of three continued their shopping spree for another hour. This could be considered to be a very short amount of time, yet, the number of clothes that Sato had purchased for Leah was eye-widening. There were at least 5 to 6 sets of clothes for every occasion. Every time the pair entered a store, they would leave for one or two bags. Sato would ask for the advice of one of the attendants in the store and would purchase anything they had suggested. Each time, the attendant would be surprised and speechless at the lack of care when it came to money. By the end, Madel was helping Sato carry over twelve bags of clothes.
"Well, do you want to shop for anything else?" Sato asked Leah sweetly. He himself did not know what he was missing when it came to raising a child. He regretted not doing more research yesterday night as to how he should raise a seven-year-old.
Sato noticed that Leah had not answer his question, but was focused on a particular store in the corner of the floor. The store was namely FAO Schwarz, and from the storefront Sato could tell that it sold an assortment of soft toys. Soft toys of different animals, shapes and sizes. The one that Leah was staring at was a huge fluffy bear that was around the height of Sato. Seeing that the little girl wanted to get a closer look, Sato pushed her along as they stayed by the storefront and admired this child attention-grabbing masterpiece.
Sato took a look from the outside and it seemed to be that the giant bear was not for sale. Yet, this did not really pose much of a problem to him. He asked for Madel to push Leah around the store, while Sato headed off to the counter in search of the manager.
The manager came out of the back room and heard Sato's question of whether the bear was for sale. At first, the lady manager was receptive to Sato's question. However, when Sato took out his black label card, her attitude had a 180-degree switch. The manager gave a call to headquarters at once and got the go ahead to allow Sato purchase the bear. In addition, Sato would be getting the bear delivered to his house that very day. The process didn't take very long and within 10 minutes, he was back with Leah and Madel.
"Would you like to purchase a few soft toys for yourself?" Sato asked smilingly.
This time, Leah nodded yes. She had not done so for any of the stores and never really showed that she wanted anything. For her to say yes to soft toys, it made Sato remember that Leah was just like any other kid. They love to play and things like clothes wasn't exactly fun to them.
"Alright pick however many you want."
Hearing this, Leah's face brightened up like a light bulb as she was wheeled around to find her favorite soft toys. At first, the little girl only dared to choose two medium-sized bears, but with Sato's persuasion, she picked out two more larger bears and one small bear. In particular, Leah loved the small bear. It fit perfectly in her embrace and she was not willing to let it go even during payment. Seeing this, Sato allowed her to carry it home by herself, while the other four bears would follow along with the delivery truck that would bring the giant bear to their home.
As Sato was settling the bill for the bears, Leah sat patiently by a sitting station in the store. Madel was standing outside of the store at that moment and so, it was just Leah by herself. A lady dressed in a flowery dress could be seen walking at a rapid pace towards the little girl. Leah looked up and realized that there was a woman coming closer to her. With a closer look, Leah's facial expression changed.
"Mu..Mummy." Leah trembled with her words, her face paled.
"You little wrench! I cannot believe I managed to find you here!" The lady of the Macy Family, Jocelyn shouted furiously. Her hand reached out as she grabbed ahold of Leah's skinny arm tightly. "You're coming home with me right now!"
"Stop!" Behind her, shouted an angry voice just like hers. Jocelyn turned around to see a pale prince that was normally seen in movies. That prince was Sato. The young man's face was as angry, if not, more furious than Jocelyn. Seeing how she was holding onto Leah, Sato did not hesitation to walk up and used force to remove the lady's hand from Leah's arm.
With a push, Jocelyn was shoved back and Leah quickly hugged Sato's leg. Leah's body was trembling from the assault from Jocelyn.
"Step away from my daughter! Who gave you the rights to meddle in my family's business!?" Jocelyn pointed at Sato. By now, there was a crowd of onlookers trying to get ahold of what was happening. Her plan now was to defame Sato as Leah was technically her adoptive daughter. "I can take legal action with you for trying to kidnap her from her family!"
Sadly, the person whom she was fighting with was totally out of her league. Not flustered, Sato replied nonchalantly. "Go ahead. I'll be seeing you in court soon anyways. Are you okay, Leah?"
"You!"
"Are you okay, Leah?" Sato did not heed the crowd nor Jocelyn anymore. He proceeded to walk off without a care for what other thought of him. Seeing that the little girl was about to leave with him, Jocelyn started panicking. This little girl was essentially a ticking timebomb for her family. If she did not get Leah back at this moment, their family may truly enter an even deeper rut than they were already in.
Running up cynically, Jocelyn reached out her hand in attempts to take Leah out of Sato's arm. She shouted, "Give her back!"