Miss Wong was holding a school book tightly to her chest in fear, her face filled with anxiousness as she heard the sound footsteps around her.
She looks left and right with a complexious of fright, her heart beating like a speeding train from the disquieting situation.
Suddenly from the front she sees a man charging at her.
He was holding a heavy wooden pole as he swung it in assault on Miss Wong.
She immediately closes her eyes as she sees the pole striking at her, as though all the things around her would disappear from sight when she closes her eyes.
As she feels the attack coming at her, it evokes a painful memory from her past that she is still trying to run away from.
A little girl with ponytails in a short red dress was sitting on the ground against a white wall.
There were loud sounds of wailing coming from that little girl, containing a frightful dread for what's to come.
She holds onto her two legs as though they can become a shield to hide her away from the oncoming punishment.
The little girl was closing her eyes shut and burying her head inside her legs in hiding, revealing only her tied black ponytail.
A father in his 50s with poor raggy brown clothes was shouting at her with a drunken anger, "You're just like your disobedient mother!"
In his right hand he was holding the feathery part of the chinese feather duster.
"Noo! Don't hit me Daddy," the little girl cried out foreboding the pain of the punishment.
The father ignores her cries and strikes down in beating with the feather duster.
She hears the banging sound that the feather stick makes when it hits, but she was surprised to not feel any agony affliction.
Slowly the girl opened her wet eyes and looked up cautiously from her hiding.
Her little heart was beating loudly during each of the small breaths she took in to calm herself.
"...M-Mommy??!" the small voice calls out.
She looks up in shock as her breathing paused, she sees the familiar angelic face of her mother smiling calmly and gracefully at her lovingly despite the agonizing pain she's bearing.
When their eyes met in that silent moment, it seems like her mother's eyes were saying in a calming way 'You're going to be okay'.
Despite the trepidation she feels in her heart, she's overflowing with a sense of security under her mother's large compassionate wings.
Afterwards the mother and daughter sit on a wooden table, as the mother caringly daps some chinese medicine on her daughter's red bruise on her arm.
"Is my darling Fei Fei not angry with Daddy," the mother asks, seeing that her daughter has been so quiet as she tends to her arm.
Shaking her head the ponytail girl looks up adoringly at her mother, "Daddy is an adult...But I know even adults can sometimes make mistakes."
She answers with her adorable voice without a hint of hatred.
The mother paused hearing her daughter, "My darling Fei Fei has become so smart. When you grow up, you'll be an even better teacher than mommy."
She pats her head in an affectionate as they exchange a simple smile together in this quiet room.
In the long seconds as Miss Wong waited for the affliction of the incoming strike she didn't hear more noises.
She opens her eyes like the little ponytail girl did from her memories, slowly to the reality in front of her.
She stood in silence as she saw the large back of a man standing in front of her, holding the pole the gangster was about to attack her with.
The man turned his head to reveal a face observing her affectionately with care.
'Mr. Lik!' Miss Wong calls out in her mind.
"Are you okay Miss Wong," Hui Lik asks, observing her body to make sure she's not harmed.
At this moment Hui Lik only thought about the safety of the woman in front of him.
"I'm oka- Mr. Lik your back!" Miss Wong was wide eyed as she called out to Hui Lik.
"Huh?"
Turning around Hui Lik swings his large wooden pole at the gangster that was trying to attack him with a surprised attack.
The enemy was able to block with his elbow on the side above.
But Hui Lik knocks the assaulter out with a hit from the other side.
Following Hui Lik saw a couple more men charging towards him, he smashed the pole into the stomach of the man closest to him.
And blocks horizontally with the pole an incoming attack from the man on the right.
Miss Wong was watching with hesitant eyes on the man protecting her, filling her heart with worry that he might get hurt.
Although Hui Lik was able to block the strike from the right he wasn't quick enough to avoid getting whacked by the man on the left.
"Ah!" Hui Lik groans in pain as the gangster whacked him with a wooden stick on his left arm.
Getting whacked by a hard wooden pole was a very sore experience, as he felt a burning sensation as it bruised him.
He kicks the man who whacked him with his knees, pushing the gangster onto the ground.
While simultaneously smacking the face of the man on the right with his wooden pole.
Meanwhile, Hui Lik's juniors also arrived to take out some more gangsters coming towards him.
"Mr. Lik are you okay," Miss Wong asked tenderly, holding his bruised arm.
There were tears in her eyes that wets her eyelashes, when she watched Hui Lik getting whacked by the pole it was almost like she felt the throbbing pain for herself.
It was in that moment seeing him courageously protecting her after she closed her eyes in fear that it connects him to the warm memory of her mother.
Hui Lik who was fighting with the adrenaline inside him didn't feel much of the pain at the moment.
But now that the adrenaline is fading he could feel it truly like hot sizzling oil on his arm when he touches the bruised area.
"I'm fine," Hui Lik answers weakly, looking at where the whack bruised in his arm.