"Ex-Excuse me! Have you seen a child who's around 107cm (3.5') and has light brown hair with black eyes?"
Maria grabbed Hai Hung by his robe when she saw him appear in the crowd again. She had been searching for her missing step-brother all morning and was on the verge of giving up for the day. Holding her stack of 'missing person' posters, she finally found a sign of her missing step-brother with an unknown person.
However, before she had the chance to catch up to them, they ran away, preventing her from chasing after them. Frustrated and depressed, Maria decided to ask some strangers to see if they knew where those two ran off to.
"Excuse me, have you seen a person in a black robe with a kid who has brown hair and is about this tall?" Maria estimated Li Biming's height to be above her waist.
"No, I haven't." The person in front of her shook his head and walked away.
"Okay, thank you."
***
After asking a few more people, she didn't find any clues on where they had run off to. But just as she was going to head home, the robed man who was was with her step-brother appeared in the crowd again. Maria ran up to him in a hurry, afraid he would disappear again, she grabbed his sleeve without thought.
Catching her breath, she questioned him with anxious eyes. Hai Hung saw the hand holding the robe's sleeve and shook it off. He then turned to face the panting woman, displaying the child in his arms. Maria looked down to find her step-brother in this stranger's arms and was shocked.
One had to know that her step-brother was very wary against other people. When her parents found him at an abandoned church and brought him home, he stayed silent even after waking up. Weirdly enough, the child would stare at us with caution every time we tried to feed something to him or just touching him.
/He's just pretty.../
Maria never knew the motive behind her parents' actions. Why would they waste their efforts to take care of a child like him? Although she was somewhat jealous that this unbiological little brother of hers had a piece of her parents' love, she grew to accept it. However, her step-brother was still somewhat guarded against her and her parents. Seeing him lie peacefully in a stranger's arms with a smile caught Maria off guard.
"Take care of him." Hai Hung knew this lady in front of him was Li Biming's sister based on her previous actions and Li Biming's reaction when he saw her.
/This dumb boy.../
Maria carried Li Biming on her back and bowed to Hai Hung, giving her thanks. When she raised her head, Hai Hung's face was in close proximity of hers, scaring her. Maria froze and her heart started to furiously pound.
/I-Is he g-going to.../
Hai Hung shifted his head to Li Biming's face that rested on Maria's shoulder and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.
"I'll be back... Wait for me." After whispering this into Li Biming's ears, he stepped back from the blank face and blushing Maria and left.
Maria stood in place, shocked. When the stranger's face approached hers, she thought he was going to take her first kiss, well she was the prettiest girl in the district, but it seemed like she was wrong. She caught a glimpse of the man's eyes that were hidden beneath the robe, those crystal aquamarine eyes which looked cold were warm like the setting sun on the horizon when he gazed at the person on her back.
/Back? From what? For what?/
She contemplated on his words and was confused. But since this didn't have to do anything her, she chose not to dwell on these matters any longer.
***
"Mother! I've brought him back!" Maria entered the house with difficulty, it was not easy carrying a person (even if he was so light) all the way home.
"Honey you're back! Thank god both of you are safe." A lady dressed in what seemed to be a dress from the medieval times approached Maria. She looked similar to Maria with her dark ginger hair and emerald eyes.
"Lena, did the kids come back?" The sound of a man's voice travelled to the front door.
"They're back!" Lena yelled back. "Let me get you guys something to eat. Can you put your brother on his bed first?"
"Okay."
Thankfully, Li Biming's room was on the first floor, not the second, or else Maria might just fall down the stairs with him. After placing him on his bed, Maria covered him with a blanket and walked to the living room.
"Mother, he's resting right now."
"Thank you honey, come have some fruits."
As Maria chewed on a peach, she looked down at the newspaper on table and saw the headlines: THE LAST WITCH HAS BEEN CAUGHT! Below it was a paragraph describing who caught the last witch along with his picture and a picture of the witch burning on a pole.
"The last witch has been caught? But what if she wasn't the last?" Maria said curiously.
"Maria! Don't say that!" Lena scolded Maria's crow's mouth (A/N: someone who jinxs a lot has a crow's mouth).
"Sorry mother..." Pouting, Maria continued to chew on her peach.
In this world, there are witches. These witches were only women and they have very strange powers. The goal of these people were to overthrow the kingdom, and they almost did. However, no one would've expected that the blood of the merpeople was their natural weakness. Therefore, these witches did not succeed in their rebellion and were hunted down. An easy trait to distinguish them from normal people was their birthmark. They all have a spade looking birthmark somewhere on their body. The Hunter's Association's Justin Gourden had just recently caught the suspected-to-be-last witch as described on the newspaper.
"Mother..?" A small voice was heard from the door of the living room.