"You are absolutely right princess!" Axel was going to agree as long as Penelope was the one suggesting it. "Hannah can keep the teddy bear. It would be easier for her to play with it. You are so smart!" Axel praised as he rubbed Penelope's hair affectionately. She tried to speak but before she could, Axel was already holding the box of confectionery. "You can have this instead".
Penelope shook her head again and pushed the box back to Axel, "My teeth will rot if I eat too many sweets". Penelope sighed and sat on the floor, looking all miserable which made Axel's heart tighten.
He felt bad seeing her like this like she was going to cry, so he sat down on the floor beside her and pulled her into a hug. "Don't be sad Penelope, tell me what you want and I will get it for you. Whatever it is". Axel declared and Penelope looked up at him with teary eyes.
"Anything?"
Seeing her misty eyes, Axel nodded without hesitation. "Yes, anything!"
Penelope swallowed nervously before looking at Hannah who was studying the both of them intently as though confused about what they were doing and Axel who was waiting for Penelope to speak, noticed it.
Thinking that Penelope was scared of speaking in Hannahs's presence, he sent Hannah away with the excuse of putting away the teddy bear and box of confectionery. When he pushed the teddy bear into Hannah's hands, he noticed her glaring at him and she was restraining herself from lashing out at him. In return, he nudged her to go into the house which she did obediently.
Hearing Hannah's receding footsteps, Axel walked back to Penelope and sat down beside her again. "She is gone. You can speak now".
Penelope licked her lips nervously and swallowed while her eyes darted to the house Hannah disappeared into before blurting out, "I want to go out!"
Those five words seemed to drain all her energy as she fell backward on the floor and spread her hands on both sides looking as miserable as she could.
Axel looked at the child sprawled on the floor and was confused. "If you wanted to go out, you could have told Hannah… oh…" Axel drawled, suddenly remembering that Hannah cannot move about freely like other people. And if she were to go out with Penelope, it would only risk the child to the danger of being exposed to those assassins.
"I asked Uncle Raymond about it but he said that Mommy would not agree because it is not safe outside. But I want to go outside. Nothing happened the last time, right? Nothing will happen this time too, so please Uncle Axel…" Penelope pleaded while clutching Axel's fingers. "Uncle Raymond says that mommy won't listen to him because she doesn't like him but I know she will listen to you. She likes you very much!"
This aroused Axel's interest, "she likes me?"
"Yes, she does!" Penelope sat up immediately. "She goes to see you every day and spends all her time with you, so she definitely likes you!"
Axel chuckled and shook his head at the child's innocent words. "You are right! Hannah likes me. Just stay here and wait for me. I will talk to Hannah and come back with good news!"
Penelope smiled, her whole face cheering Axel on. She didn't know why but she felt that persuading her mommy will be extremely difficult which is why she hopes that Axel would be able to pull something off.
…
Back in the room, Hannah placed the giant teddy bear on the couch before going to bed with the box in her hands. She opened the box and the first thing she saw was a pink card and when she turned it, it read: 'To my princess'.
Ignoring the elegant handwriting which belonged to Axel, Hannah threw the card to the side and removed the transparent lid that was in between her fingers and the delicious goodies in the box.
Hannah had always had a sweet tooth, so when Axel placed the box in her hand, though she glared at him, she was overjoyed.
She carefully took one of the sweets in her hand, like she was holding a precious object, and stared at it for a while, her eyes shining brightly before tossing it in her mouth.
Even though she wasn't done with the first one, she took another one and tossed it into her mouth. This happened again and again until Hannah had a mouthful of sweets.
Just then, the door of her room was pushed open and Axel walked in like he owned the place. On sighting him, Hannah almost choked on the sweets in her mouth.
"What are you doing?" Axel asked as he made himself comfortable on the bed. He was yet to notice the half-empty box of sweets in front of Hannah. He casually tugged on his tie and tilted his head to the side to have a good look at Hannah's face since she wasn't responding to him and that was when he noticed that her cheeks were puffed and her eyes were wide open. "What on earth…"
His eyes fell on the now half-empty box of sweets he got for Penelope and his eyes widened. Surprised, he grabbed the box from her and looked into it, just to make sure that he wasn't seeing things.
But his eyes were working perfectly fine!
More than half of the sweets were gone and he didn't need a genius to tell him that the missing sweets were in Hannah's mouth and some had probably made their way to her belly!
He had bought those for Penelope with so much love! Even though she said she didn't want them, he planned to persuade her to take them after talking to Hannah.
But that would not be possible now that Hannah had devoured everything!
Axel felt his veins pop and he glared at Hannah. "Who said you could have those?" Axel roared as he pointed at the sweet box with shaky fingers.
His whole person was shaking from anger.
If he could, he would slice her throat open and retrieve the sweets.
With Axel's eyes glued to her neck like that, it was becoming difficult and almost painful to swallow, even breathing was becoming hard for Hannah.
"Answer me!" He growled and Hannah closed her eyes at the noise, making the tears that had gathered in her eyes slide down her fair cheeks.
Axel noticed it and he frowned. Why was she crying? Was she trying to distract him?
Her breathing was now labored and with her eyes closed and tears still falling from her eyes.
"What happened to you?" Axel asked he got no response, instead, her tears increased. "Wait… I will get water for you". He was already at the door when he finished speaking and seeing him leave, Hannah finally relaxed and she was finally able to breathe normally. She looked at the door anxiously, knowing that Axel would be back any second from now.
With that in mind, she grabbed the box and packed a handful of the sweets, and stuffed them in her bedside drawer. Before she could grab another handful, Axel's footsteps were heard and her back instinctively straightened.