A light flashed in Edith's eyes as she heard Alex's words. "What do you mean missing?" She tried to hide her anxiousness and calm down before the kids. "Alex, tell me what happened exactly."
"I don't know what happened," Alex said. "I saw Hazel running away from the playground towards the back of the kindergarten. When I ran after her, I could not find her. I tried to look around but she was no longer there."
Alex was playing with his best friend, Tyler Lu at the playground when he saw Hazel ran away with an aggrieved face. Recently, he was closer to the girl due to their interest in Gundam, and therefore, Alex was worried and had wanted to ask her what was wrong.
However, after searching for her, Alex could not see her and decided to look for their teacher.
Edith frowned.
"Teacher Qian, I know what happened!" Megan Xiao, Hazel's best friend spoke up. She glanced at the other kids and pointed at Cindy Bai. "It was Cindy's fault!"
"Megan Xiao! Don't simply accuse me." Cindy looked at the teachers with a resentful expression. "I did not do anything! I do not know anything."
"I heard what you said to Hazel," Megan said. She shot an angry look at Cindy and then, turned to her teacher. "Teacher Qian, Cindy told Hazel that she was unwanted and a bad luck bringer. That was why her parents passed away."
Edith shot a look towards Cindy and the girl took a step back. Cindy's expression showed as if she was going to cry anytime soon.
"Teacher Qian, I really didn't," Cindy said.
"It was true," Ian Huo spoke. He turned to Cindy with a displeased look and said, "I was there. I heard you said those words to Hazel and that was why she ran away with tears on her face."
Hearing Ian's words, Cindy looked at him with her watery eyes, and her face scrunched up before she started to cry. "Ian! I hate you!"
Edith looked at the group of kids and slightly understood why was this happening. Ian Huo was the handsome boy in the kindergarten and had a lot of admirers. Cindy Bai was one of them. However, Ian had always had his eyes on Hazel, even though that little girl was not paying attention to him.
Perhaps something happened between the kids and Cindy had unintentionally spoken those unpleasant words to Hazel.
However, to spoke those unkind words to her classmates… she was disappointed that Cindy would say such things.
Edith stood up quickly and turned to her colleague. "Teacher Shen, I have to ask you to inform Headmistress Fu about this. I will go out and ask the guards to keep their eyes on the kids and look for Hazel."
Once Teacher Shen nodded, Edith quickly went out. After asking Guard Dan to help her look through CCTV, Edith then ran around the school to look for Hazel. She recalled that Alex had said that Hazel was in the playground earlier and started to look there first.
When she arrived, the other kids were still playing around, but Hazel was nowhere to be seen.
Edith looked at every corner and spot where Hazel might hide. Her heart grew anxious when she could not see the little girl. She was worried about the little girl's mental state after being told of such hurtful words.
Back then, when Edith had lost her mother, a few of her schoolmates had spoken almost the same words. Later, she had beat the others as hard as she could to the point that her grandfather was called over by the headmaster and had to receive some punishment.
But Hazel was different.
Hazel was a gentle girl. Although she would always show herself as someone matured, the little girl was quite a sensitive girl. Edith could still remember the last time Hazel had hugged her knee close to her body and silently cried because she was missing her parents.
"Hazel!" Edith started to shout out her name. "Hazel Mo! Where are you?"
As she continued to look around, Teacher Shen went to her side and asked, "Teacher Qian, how was it?"
Edith shook her head.
"Do you think Hazel had gone out of school?" Teacher Shen asked.
"I don't think so," Edith said. "But Guard Dan and the others were looking at the CCTV. Hopefully, we will find Hazel soon."
"Then, I will continue to look for Hazel look over there," Teacher Shen said as she pointed at the opposite direction of where Edith was going.
"Hazel!" Edith called out again once Teacher Shen had turned around. She recalled Alex had mentioned that Hazel had run towards the back of the kindergarten and head over there quickly.
Almost ten minutes have passed, but Hazel was still missing. A few teachers and guards had joined her to look for the little girl, and Headmistress Fu had decided to call the police if they could not find the little girl in the next five minutes.
The good thing was that Guard Dan had confirmed that the little girl had not stepped out of the school premises. She was last seen running towards the back area, entered a blind spot, and she was not seen since.
What if she was kidnapped by someone else, but they have not realized it?
She should inform Neil Mo and the police right away!
Edith closed her eyes and stood under the hot sun. Her face reddened and she was sweating all over. Her chest heaved up and down as she tried to calm down and think of where the little girl might hide.
Her surroundings were quiet. The only thing she was able to hear was the wind blowing and the rustling of the leaves.
Edith started to wonder if Hazel had gone inside the school building hid there. She took a deep breath and was about to turn around to find her inside when her ear caught a familiar muffled sound. Edith stood up still and tried to listen carefully.
Once she was able to pinpoint where the voice came from, Edith walked stealthily towards the direction. Her steps halted as she reached the big dumpster. The putrid smell assaulted her nose and Edith ignored the smell and walked around the dumpster.
A sigh of relief escaped her upon finding that the little girl was crouching not far away from the dumpster.
Because of the smell, no one had thought that Hazel was going to hide there and they almost could not find her.
"Hazel," Edith called out her name softly.
The little girl lifted her face and Edith has felt a tug in her heart upon seeing the girl's puffy eyes and tear-stained face. She quickly went over to Hazel and pulled the little girl into her embrace.
"Teacher Qian," Hazel spoke between her sob.
"It's alright," Edith patted at the little girl's back and kissed the top of her head. "It's alright. Don't cry. I'm here."