Holding the little girl in his arms, Arthur nearly went into shock. His right arm was wrapped around her back automatically, while his left hand had unconsciously squeezed the milkshake.
He tried to process what was happening, and looked down. The little girl was wearing a martial arts practice outfit. In his mind, thanks to his time reading random stuff, the image of Dobok popped. A gray belt was wrapped around the girl's small waist, which confirmed his suspicions.
The only thing on his mind right now was who this girl was and why she called him a hero.
"How is everything? Can you tell me which princess I saved to have such a title?" Arthur stroked her back and joked a little to ease his own embarrassment. He was also talking to a kid, so he couldn't be rude.
"You are the hero who saved me from the evil man!" The girl finally revealed her own face, which was adorned with a bright smile and cheeks so cute that the urge to squeeze would arise involuntarily.
The girl's eyes were a sapphire blue color, and her black hair came halfway down her back. Her face was very cute and her dimples gave a better impression of her. Her hands were still on Arthur's neck, but she was already looking at him.
As soon as he saw her face, Arthur fell into a state of confusion, where he knew he had seen her but couldn't remember where, almost as if it were going in and out of his head. He didn't understand why, since he knew his memory wasn't bad.
The little girl noticed his expression and got a little weird: "Don't you remember me?"
"No, no! It's not that... it's just that my memory seems to be a little off. You know, the life of a hero is hard!" Arthur sighed at the end, with a tired expression.
This amused the little girl and her expression returned to a smilling one: "You were the hero who saved me and the other children from the evil man. Look!" As if she had remembered something, she lowered the top of her Bodok a little and a black shirt was inside.
Arthur recognized it instantly: "You! But what-"
"Julia!" A feminine voice, sweet but strong, sounded to interrupt Arthur.
A woman who looked to be in her twenties immediately ran to Arthur and pulled the little girl from his arms. Her eyes were almost watering as she hugged the girl.
"Don't disappear like that again, or your mother and I won't make it! Are you okay?!" The woman looked at the little girl, whom Arthur now knew was called Julia, touching her body to see if she was all right.
"Yes, I am!" Julia smiled a little, feeling ticklish from the touches.
"Thank God! Why did you suddenly run?! I was worried sick!" The woman took her time and looked at Arthur: "Who is-"
Before she could speak, a big strong man immediately went up to Arthur and grabbed him by the collars: "Who are you?!"
Arthur's attention had never been sloppy, so he immediately grabbed the man's wrist and squeezed it tightly: "Scram!" A tone of unquestioned authority came out of his voice.
Needless to say, the man immediately regretted his actions as he felt his wrist nearly break and his mind nearly collapsed upon hearing the boy's voice in front of him.
By this time, people's attention had already been called, and some security guards showed up as well.
"What's going on here?"
"Looks like there's going to be a fight! But inside the mall and with so many people watching?"
"It's not like it's impossible. That big guy over there looked like he started it all. Look over there, he's running to security!"
People around started to comment, but no one intervened because they didn't have to. There were already security guards, so everything would unfold naturally.
"Security, that man over there tried to kidnap a little girl!" The big guy immediately walked over to one of the security guards and pointed at Arthur. He was furious at having his wrist nearly broken by a skinny one, or so he thought.
The people watching were in complete shock. They looked at Arthur in disbelief, as a handsome, dashing young man would hardly play the role of a kidnapper. Of course, people weren't stupid and knew that everything happened in the world, so it wouldn't be weird.
"A young man who strayed from the path... poor guy."
"But he doesn't really look like a kidnapper. Look at him, he's even calm!"
"Do you think anyone would make such heavy accusations? If this kid really is a kidnapper, he might not even make it out of this mall alive without security!"
There were already numerous cases of kidnappers and rapists in Brazil who could not even get to the police car, or the cops did not arrive in time to stop the population from beating the criminal. It was a joint popular uprising, and the police could not blame the people's anger, the criminal being wrong in the first place.
A few men in the crowd were even approaching, ready to act if that was indeed the case.
"Are you sure what you're saying? Know that this is a very serious accusation!" The security seemed to have some sense of justice and found the situation strange to be able to give immediate judgment.
"Sure! Look, he even nearly broke my wrist when I tried to stop him!!" The big man showed the red mark on his wrist, which was streaked with purple.
"We saw what happened, and the girl was already far away from him when you faced him!" A woman in the crowd that joined in the noise shouted. She was there from the beginning, and she clearly looked at the whole situation.
"That's right! But it's still a fact that this man tried to kidnap the little girl!" The big man felt helpless but still spoke with some tone of justice.
Arthur just looked at it all calmly, and his eyes were only focused on the little girl. He now remembered that she was one of the children he had rescued from Carlos' house. They were in a basement and appeared to have been sexually abused, and the effect of hard drugs was later revealed as well.
Now seeing how well and happy the little girl was with what appeared to be her family, in this case the woman, he felt a strange sense of accomplishment and a little warmth.
"That feeling..." Arthur muttered to himself as he touched his chest.
"I'm telling you, arrest that man before he gets away! He's a criminal, scum, cr-"
"Shut up!" The woman who had been silent until now while holding Julia finally spoke, interrupting the man's rant.
She went to the guards and said that everything was fine and that it was just a misunderstanding.
"B-but honey, you can't just leave it-" The man was immediately furious and grabbed the woman's shoulder tightly. His eyes emanated clear meaning to her.
"Release my aunt, you idiot!" Julia, who was in the woman's arms, bit the man's hand with her tiny white teeth.
"Ah! You pest!" The man nearly exploded in rage and unintentionally hurled an insult. "Sorry, that's not what I meant!"
"Don't come any closer to me! I'm none of yours!" The woman immediately turned around and went to Arthur. She came close to him and spoke quietly: "Sorry about all this. I despaired when she ran away and -"
"You do not need to say sorry. Just seeing that little Julia is okay makes the rest unimportant." Arthur gave the woman a reassuring smile and smoothed Julia's hair.
Seeing all that, the big man felt like he was going to explode if he stayed any longer, so he walked away, his face grim.
The crowd also dispersed when they saw it was a misunderstanding. Some disappointed by the lack of action, while some satisfied that it was nothing too serious.
At that moment, Emily and the girls arrived, wondering everything. When Emily saw that Arthur was talking to a woman and a child, she approached curiously.
"Was there anything around here?" She asked as she reached Arthur's side.
He glanced at her and saw that her lipstick was softer and she seemed to have fixed some things in her appearance.
'She actually went to the bathroom to get a touch up...' He sighed and was amused inside.
"It was just a misunderstanding, but it's over. Hello girls!" He explained to her. He also looked at Madison and Sara who had arrived. They just waved back at him and remembered the story Emily had told the two of them about Arthur just walking away and leaving the others to wait for their "food".
"I understood. Hi, little girl!" Emily noticed that the girl in the woman's arms was staring at her, her little mouth slightly open. Emily gave her a smile and tried to pinch her cheeks.
But what she didn't expect was that the little girl threw herself into Arthur's arms and clung to him.
"He's my hero! Who are you?" the little girl asked as she gave Emily a sharp look, as if she were on a battlefield.
"Ah-"
That was the reaction of all the girls around, including the woman in front of Arthur.. Her niece had already told her that this was the man who saved her, and the shirt she had been carrying since leaving the hospital was his. Even though she went through hard times, the only thing she talked about was how strong and handsome her hero was.
Everyone thought she was joking as it was the police who took her out of the place, but the little girl kept saying it was a man with bright green eyes and dressed in black.
Now the woman finally understood. This boy or man in front of her was indeed very handsome, and his eyes were like two vibrant emeralds. Her eyes unintentionally scanned him before she realized it and looked at the girls who had just arrived.
But before that time, Julia jumped out of his arms and seemed to have gone to war with the woman who approached Arthur.
Even Arthur was feeling weird about it all. He patted Julia on the back and introduced.
"Girls, this is Julia, who I met while in the square. She was going to fall and I ended up sort of saving her, and that was it!" Smiling strangely, Arthur made up a random story and even looked at the woman, indicating that she shouldn't say anything and just follow along.
She noticed this and just nodded. After all, that case was pretty big, and even the culprit was killed a few hours later in a local store fire. There were still investigations going on, but much was hushed up because of the culprit's disgusting reputation. She couldn't reveal that Arthur was one of those involved to everyone.
Julia also found it strange that Arthur lied, but before she could say anything, he spoke first.
"Julia, this is Emily, Sara and Madison, they go to the same school as me!"
The girls were finding Arthur looking so cute holding the little girl and introducing them. Emily mostly, finding that side of him quite attractive. But she was soon destabilized upon hearing the little girl.
"Are you two dating?" She asked looking straight at Emily.
Hearing the question, Emily blushed up to her neck, while Sara and Madison nearly burst out laughing at the little girl's goal. Even the woman sighed with her hand over her face.