"AHHH!" Hazel scream pierced through the area.
Her voice caused the people around them to stop abruptly and turned to the man who was holding the little girl hostage. Some of them began to take out their phone and recorded the scene, and some began to flee, afraid to get pulled into the situation.
Seeing that the people had started to gather around them, the man held on to Hazel tightly and took a few steps back to his car.
"Hazel!" Neil has been trailing after his niece and had kept his guard down, as the little girl was within his sight. He had not expected that someone would grab at his niece right before him.
His heart thumped with panic and his expression darkened. The air around him turned stiff as he set his gaze on Hazel.
"Let go of her," Neil spoke with a cold tone. He looked at the man and his anger multiplied upon recognizing the man who was holding Hazel.
It was Edward Xiao, the manager who was dismissed from the company not too long ago after he was accused of embezzling the company's money.
"Stand back, or I will kill this girl," Edward shouted back as he stared back at Neil angrily.
His brow furrowed and Neil obediently took a step back when he saw the small knife pointed on Hazel's back.
"Uncle!" Hazel started to tear up. Her face paled from fright.
Edward Xiao sneered upon seeing that the great President Mo had obediently listened to his command. "President Mo, I finally got your attention, huh?"
Things were very difficult for him ever since he was laid off from his job. He was someone with a high monthly commitment. Without his monthly wages, how can he survive living in L City? In the end, his wife had threatened to file for divorce if he could not find a job to support their life. However, he had to leave the MH Group because of embezzlement. How would the other company dare to employ him?
He could not accept the situation!
Therefore, he has been coming to the headquarters almost every day and hope that he will have his chance to meet with President Mo and explained his situation. However, every time he came, the guards will stop him from coming in.
He had no other choice but to wait outside and hope that he could create a chance to meet with President Mo.
After staying around for weeks, Edward had learned a bit about President Mo's schedule and knew that he would usually take his niece to the headquarters every Saturday.
Edward wanted to take this chance and have President Mo to talk to him. If kidnapping or threatening to harm the little girl would be the only way, then, he was willing to take the chance.
"Let the girl go," Neil said. He eyed Edward cautiously, afraid that one wrong move would hurt Hazel. "Let's talk in peace. The little girl is innocent. Let her go."
The words somehow agitated Edward and he held the little girl tightly. "She's innocent? Then what about me? I'm innocent too. I tried so hard to see you and explain my situation, but did you try to hear me out?"
Hazel whimpered at the pain and Neil subconsciously stepped forward to grab his niece back.
"Stay back!" Edward roared.
"Alright!" Neil raised both hands with a distressed expression. His eyes shifted to a side as he noticed that his friend, Henry was standing not far away from Edward. His friend had come out from the parking lot and get off his vehicle upon noticing the situation.
Neil's heart was a bit at ease, knowing that if Edward tried to flee with Hazel, Henry would do anything he can to stop him.
Edward grew angry as he caught Neil exchanging a glance with someone behind him. "I'm warning you not to do anything funny. If something happened to me, this little girl will die!"
"Alright," Neil repeated. He motioned with his eyes and let Henry knew not to make any unnecessary movements. "What do you want? I will do anything as long as you promised to let the little girl go."
At this time, he needed to buy more time for Henry to assess the situation and take action to save Hazel.
"Ha-ha," Edward began to laugh. He had been wanting to talk to President Mo after he was dismissed unjustly. But now that Neil had promised to do anything as long as he let the little girl go, Edward suddenly did not know what he should ask.
The smile on his face stretched up upon seeing President Mo's anxious look. Edward Xiao raised his hand slightly to wipe the sweat trickling down his face.
At the same time, Edith, who had been watching the situation for a long time took this chance to approach the man stealthily.
As Neil was speaking to Edward and tried to persuade him to let Hazel go, Edith moved to grab at the man's hand which was holding a knife, and pulled his hand back, causing the man to scream in pain and loosened his grip on the weapon.
"What the—"
The knife in Edward's hand fell on the floor with a clang. Edith kicked the knife away from Edward's reach, revealing that it was actually a silver fountain pen instead of a dangerous weapon.
Edward did not get the chance to finish his words as Edith had hit him behind his neck and kicked him behind his knee, causing him to fell on his knee.
"Ah!" Little Hazel yelped at the sudden movement. Tears streamed down her face as she realized that she was finally free from the strange man's grip.
"Hazel, go!" Edith shouted.
"Hazel! Come here!" Neil called out urgently and the little girl immediately ran off to his embrace.
"Uncle!" Hazel buried her face in her uncle's neck and started to cry.
"It's alright. I'm here. You are safe now," Neil continued to coax the little girl as he kissed the girl's face repeatedly. His embrace tightened as he recalled the moment when Hazel was taken away.
Neil realized that it was the first time in his life that he was so scared. Despite the slight expression on his face, his heart was unable to calm down. If something happened to Hazel, Neil would not know what he would do.
"How dare you try to harm a little girl?" Edith said. "I have called the police. If you got something to say, you can wait until the officer came."
Neil raised his head when he heard her voice and saw that the kindergarten teacher had successfully apprehended Edward Xiao.
The man was lying on the ground with his face on the floor while Edith secured both his hand behind. Her right knee was pushing the man down with her weight so that Edward could not move around. The passerby began to cheer at her heroic act before they moved to help Edith hold the mand down.
Neil narrowed his eyes as he saw the scene in front of him.
He was not expecting that the person who would be the first to act and safe Hazel was Edith Qian. He was surprised when he saw the girl moved stealthily towards Edward.
Neil was worried that her reckless act was going to hurt any of them, but her movement was quick and precise as she unarmed Edward and threw the weapon away.
It was an intense moment but she had calmly saved Hazel and took down Edward. Her movement... It was as if she was trained with those moves.
At that time, Neil could not deny that Edith's pose and action just now were just too imposing and domineering.