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As she slowly led her brother, her face was stern as she passed through the crowd to get to their car...
She wanted to avoid all the looks of confusion, disdain, and pity from the onlookers...
Even Temi...
So she had to wear that stern mask of a face...
As she moved, she felt a tingling warmth on her arm...
Wiping it away, she ignored it and kept on moving, not bothering to look at what it was, to where it had come from.
Again, it fell on her skin, and again she wiped it off.
A third...
Frowning, she turned to see what it was...
Then she saw her brother crying...
His eyes were closed, but the tears dropped like a river.
With care, Amanda stopped and gently wiped his face as she gently whispered to him...
"Shhh... Timothy, Shhhh...you wouldn't want Dad to hear you...!"
At the mention of their father's name, Timothy stopped crying and went mute.
Then looking at Timothy, Amanda studied him very well before asking;
"What's wrong? What's the matter...?"
Timothy shook his head in fear as he stutteringly said;
"I...I...I, don't want to go home...!"
Amanda's face was unmoved...
It was as if she knew the reason why he didn't want to go back home...
Either she knew or she didn't, she still asked;
"Why not...?"
Timothy was silent for a little while.
Holding tightly onto his sister's arm, he rubbed his head on her arm, shaking his head as he said;
"I just don't want to go home...At least not now, nor ever!"
Amanda could sense the shake I'm her little brother's voice.
Although he wasn't a little boy of around five or six years, he was (as mentioned earlier), but Troy's age, fifteen, so crying and acting feeble like this was not written in the book of matured boys...
But Timothy just couldn't help it.
Looking away from her brother, Amanda looked ahead as she let out a slight sigh.
Slowly but steadily, Amanda walked towards the car with Timothy wrapped around her arm.
"...No matter what you'd face at home, you'd still need to have somewhere to spend the night, right? Have somewhere to sleep and enjoy life...!"
Timothy was slowly drifting off to sleep but he could hear his sister say this so clearly.
Finally, they both reached the car that was parked and were waiting for them.
As she turned to help her brother get in, she noticed a shadow behind them, when she turned to look at what it was, or 'who' it was, her eyes bulged as she unconsciously let go of Timothy, causing him to hit the floor...
It was his father that had been the shadow...
'How long had he been standing there...?'
'Had he been following us...?'
'Oh no, I accidentally let go of Tim!'
Amanda's thoughts couldn't stop running as she saw their father right behind them.
When she finally realized that she had accidentally let go of Timothy, she quickly bent down to pick him up but was stopped by her father's hand.
"Don't worry, Amanda, let me pick him up!" Mr. Clinton said as he bent down with his daughter.
At first, Amanda was lost...
'Did Dad just say that he would help pick Tim up...?'
'Am I dreaming or something...?' Amanda thought as she stared at her Father wide-eyed.
When he saw his daughter's shock, he only slightly smiled as he reached out for Timothy...
"Don't worry Dad...!" Amanda said as she blocked him.
"I can take it from here...!"
But Amanda was shut tightly and roughly as her father paused and then slowly turned his head in his direction, giving her a look that made the hairs on her body stand on end...
"I said, I can take it from here...!"
This time her father's voice raised a pitch causing her body to unconsciously tremble and jolt back in fear, leaving the boy for him.
Slowly supporting Timothy to the awaiting vehicle, Mr. Clinton sat him down comfortably inside it and then told Amanda to get inside.
Silently moving forward, she got herself into the vehicle as both she and Timothy waited for their parents.
Looking over at her brother, Amanda felt slight pity for her brother as she knew that when they got home, he was in big trouble...
Walking in the direction of the Smiths, Mr. Clinton pulled out a stack of dollar bills.
Sighing deeply as he looked down at the bills on his hands that he had just pulled out from his jacket pocket.
Raising his head and looking at Mr. Smith straight in the eye, Mr. Clinton stretched his hand out as he said;
"Here...!"
Mr. Smith, with a disgusted look on his face, slowly lowered his eyes down to look at what was handed to him.
"What's this...?" Mr. Smith asked.
"Money...!"
"What for...?" Mr. Smith asked as he finally looked up at Mr. Clinton.
Mr. Clinton was silent for a while.
"Let's just say...none of this...!" Referring to the situation, Mr. Clinton said;
"Ever happened!" Mr. Clinton's voice sounded firm and authoritative as if commanding Mr. Smith.
Staring at the hand with a sneer on his face, Mr. Smith laughed softly, but heartily.
Looking at the man that was standing right in front of him, Mr. Smith said in a low voice;
"Did we ever tell you that we were in need?" Mr. Smith asked as he glared at the man in front of him.
Mr. Clinton only stared at him.
"I don't need your filthy money...my family and I are better off without that handful...besides...!"
Pausing for a bit as he looked down at Mr. Clinton's hand, narrowing his eyes a little bit, he seemed to be measuring something...
After a while of hanging, Mr. Smith finally said;
"What's in your hand?" He first asked as he placed his hands into his pockets as he spoke.
"A few hundred dollars, so that everyone gathered 'round here would think of you as a good man? Shame...!"
With that being said, Mr. Smith brought out his arm and with his wife hooking her arm onto his with a bright smile, they turned and left, their children all following behind them.
Looking down at his hand, Mr. Clinton gritted his teeth hard.
Turning on his heels, he walked in the direction of his car.
On reaching his car, he found a boy amongst the crowd.
Walking in the direction of the boy, Mr. Clinton bent low a little bit and presented the money gift to him.
"Here you go, little one...!" He said with a smile.
"A few hundred dollars to go get yourself some ice cream!"
Shaking his head in negation, the boy said;
"No, thank you, Sir, my Mummy told me not to collect stuff, especially money gifts from strangers!" The boy said in the most cutest voice, which attracted a sea of 'Awwws' from the crowd to him.
Mr. Clinton's eye twitched a little.
"Don't you want to get yourself some pretty good ice cream?" He asked sweetly, trying to mask his anger.
The boy again shook his head in a negative response.
"No Sir!" The boy's voice was firm.
"But...!"
"The boy said 'no', now won't you leave him alone for God's sake? He's got his mother coming soon!" A woman of middle age shouted from within the crowd.
Amanda's father raised his head as he searched for whoever had said that.
Suddenly, the boy's mother appeared from the side and called her som to herself.
"Garrick...!" She called.
"C'mon, come here!"
Running in the direction of his mother's voice, the little boy went to his mother.
Hugging her little boy with one arm as she handed him his ice cream, the mother asked what had happened. A woman, Mr. Clinton suspected to be the one that had spoken from the crowd earlier, explained everything to the boy's mother.
When the 'not so' young mother learned what had happened, she turned her head to Mr. Clinton and said;
"Thank you for the kind greatest, Sir, but sorry, we don't need your help financially, right no!"
Starting at the woman for a while, Mr. Clinton tidied her for while.
His look was supposed to insert some fear onto the woman, and the crowd gathered, but the woman stared back unblinkingly at him.
Slowly turning his head away, Mr. Clinton slowly walked away.
He had never experienced such humiliation in his whole life...
Had he even experienced it even in the first place?
As he walked away, Mrs. Clinton threw the money away.
Getting into the driver's seat of the car, Mr. Clinton, silently started the car (although it was an electric car, Mr. Clinton placed his hands on the steering wheel) and then without stealing another look at his children and wife, Mr. Clinton drove off.
Timothy turned to look at his sister, and Amanda the same...
They were in for big trouble.