London, England
A pretty girl with her long hair tucked under her woolly hat was busy pulling on her coat, enough to drown her not-so-tall self.
'Ugh, why is the air colder today than before? Am I going to catch a cold?' the girl thought to herself.
Winter had hit London, not just today, but for the past few days in the area where she happened to be.
The girl walked casually, enjoying the cold weather that would soon turn into the snowy season. Occasionally, the beautiful girl hummed to herself without even glancing at her surroundings. Concentrating only on what was in front of her, the girl occasionally glanced at the tip of her toes.
Ripp...
A hard pull was suddenly felt by the girl.
"Who... - who are you? Why are you pulling me like this?" the beautiful girl squealed, her voice trembling as she tried to hide her fear.
She really didn't recognise the young man who was suddenly pulling her.
The young man who was dragging her did not answer, just looked at her for a moment and then walked faster, his hand still dragging the girl.
'Who is this uncle? Why is he pulling me and taking me away? Does this uncle want to harm me?' The girl monologued in her head with all her negative thoughts.
She was well aware that there were many 'bad' people around her, even her ex-boyfriend, whom she had to reluctantly label as 'bad'.
It was also the reason why she chose to holiday alone in London without any company.
Running away?
Maybe! More precisely, she wanted to divert her pain with things that might make her happy.
That was her wish!
As if ignoring the girl's rebellious movements, the young man was focused on facing forward towards one of the large villa-like buildings that he had decided as his destination this time, with a few turns of his head back without any intention of reducing his running speed.
'U...-uncle.'
The girl gulped down her saliva with difficulty, trying to get her voice out by suppressing all the fear that still surrounded her.
What on earth was going on? Had she missed something? And who was that man beside her?
Riddles that flew through her head in confusion.
"We're safe," the young man said suddenly and released his hand that had been tightly gripping the girl's hand.
"Huh?!" squealed the girl in shock as she realised something was wrong.
'Safe? Safe from what? Indeed, I was in dan-'
The girl hung up her sentence. She was getting more and more clueless about the situation.
The young man just sighed roughly, with his gaze focused on the beautiful girl who was covered with a scarf that partially covered her face, with the wool beanie hat still on her head.
"You didn't realize that there were a lot of bad guys after you, kid?" the young man asked casually.
The girl's eyes were busy blinking several times like a robot clicking repeatedly.
"Huh! After me? What are they after? I don't have anything valuable that they can target, uncle," said the girl as she frowned in confusion.
The young man just shrugged his shoulders indifferently, to which the girl replied by asking the young man again as if to confirm.
'There's no way I could have seen it wrong. But... Why would they switch to targeting a girl like this?' muttered the young man in his mind.
Confidently, the young man arrogantly said that the girl was lucky to have met him on holiday so that he could help her when she was targeted by members of the group that the young man suspected, otherwise it might be the girl's life that would be at stake.
The girl reflexively shuddered in horror as she heard the young man in front of her who began to walk towards the living room of the villa.
"Un...-Uncle, where are you going, don't leave me," squeaked the girl as she tugged at the shirt of the young man who was already walking in front of her as if to let her go.
The young man chuckled softly, and stopped his steps, "What's your name?" He finally asked the girl who he realised had a big age gap with him.
And remind the young man that repeatedly the girl called him 'Uncle'.
"Cailey Anastasia. Just call me Key," Key said casually while extending her hand to the young man who was older than her.
The young man nodded his head slowly. Not long after, the young man again asked Key about her age, especially since the girl always called him 'Uncle', did he really look old in Key's eyes?
Hearing the question asked by the young man, Key quickly answered that she currently reached the age of seventeen.
"You're a student here?"
A quick nod immediately answered the young man's question.
"I'm a final year student at Oxford uncle," Key said honestly.
'Oh student, wait seventeen years old... final year student? Oxford? Then what is she in London for?' the young man monologued in his mind.
"If you were studying there? Why are you here now?" the young man asked in confusion.
Key sighed softly before telling him why she ended up in London, where she finally met the young man she kept calling 'Uncle'.
She said that the reason Key ended up there was because she wanted to relieve her exhaustion while waiting for her graduation.
Of course, Key did not explain the details of why she ended up in London.
The young man was still a stranger to her!
At least Key's reasoning still makes sense, right? After all, Oxford and London weren't that far away for her.
Hearing Key's explanation, the young man could only nod his head, as if understanding every word that came out of the girl's mouth.
"Come in, take a rest first," the young man said to Key.
It took some time for Key to digest the young man's words.
"B-but uncle, to whom does this place belong? Is it okay if I relax here?"
"Hng, you can relax here as if it's your place. It's just that you're not allowed to touch the objects in there," the young man said casually while pointing to a large glass cabinet that contained ceramics and unique objects stored inside.
Key enthusiastically agreed to the young man's words.She said she would be a good girl while she was there.
After that, Key's small steps led her to the sofa that looked soft in the centre of the room.
'How cosy...' Key thought to herself.
Slowly Key began to lay her body down on the sofa while comforting herself by closing her two eyes that were getting tired.
Not far from where Key was, a young man seemed to glance at Key for a moment while making sure that the girl would not disturb him or eavesdrop on the conversation, before he reached for his mobile phone to call someone.
"Hello?"
"Hello Sir."
"Can you find out about the girl called Cailey Anastasia?"
A quick reply of assent was heard from the other end of the line, although at the end of the conversation, the person on the other end of the line checked to see if the young man was still on holiday or not, because as he recalled the young man who was now instructing him was taking a rare sabbatical.
"Yes, is there a problem if I ask you?"
"No sir, I'll be looking for information soon."
The young man just buzzed softly and said that he would wait for further information quickly.
After the call was enough, the young man disconnected the call with a long sigh as if today was a tiring day for him.
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