I missed Papa so much.

 

Why did he leave us to this aunty?

 

Ai¹It is the kid’s short-formed name. Usually, for kids around here, they’ll call themselves with their own name and never used ‘I’. Haha, finally the kids were given names after 2 years feels so sad.

 

Aira, a little girl of five years old, looked at the analog clock on the wall for the n-th time with disappointment. Of course, she had gloriously mastered the art of counting to twenty, but reading an analog clock was still something quite mysterious to her. She was still confused between the long and the short handle on the surface of the clock. Especially when the clock didn't even have numbers around it as usual.

 

Although she still couldn't make out what was the time, she could estimate that it was nearly midnight from the sounds of crickets outside. The music was incredibly near as if Mr. Cricket was somewhere in an obscure corner of the room. It sounded just the same in her Maktok's² it refers to ‘Grandma’ in Bahasa Malaysia. Mak = mother, tok = elderly person. house when she visited the exotic rickety house made of wood where the surroundings were full of trees and bugs. However, she wasn't scared because Mama had told her once that Mr. Cricket was friendly and didn't bite. It only loved to play songs to entertain everyone.

 

Aira rubbed her eyes repeatedly in exhaustion as she peeked at the nearby window to look at the dim driveway outside. Some cars did pass by, but none had stopped in front of the daycare center to her dismay. She tried her best to stay awake. She was afraid dearest Papa would forget about both of them. He said he was coming by tonight after running some important errands. But she had waited for so long without seeing even his shadow. Baby Aina had cried so hard until she fell asleep just minutes ago.

 

Aira sighed and gently rubbed Baby Aina's back. She cooed slightly and continued sleeping with tear-stains over her face.

 

Truthfully, the strange, yet overtly friendly aunty was quite intimidating. She could feel that the concern she showed to her and her little baby sister wasn't genuine. That cold, piercing eyes didn't show even a glimpse of compassion even though the lips were uttering comforting words.

 

She remembered that in so many bedtime stories by Mama every night, don’t naively believe what happens on the surface. She was exposed to so many plot twists that were so mind-baffling, with evil princes, lustful enchantress, magical talking plants monsters, and kind witches. And don’t forget the most cliché of them all, a wannabe step-mother plot.

 

It had shaped her own perspective into a more complicated one. Mama always said there were no such things as free lunch. A kind prince never falls down from a tree (unless it was a Korean drama). Of course, a kind, beautiful lady was the same. Usually, these ladies are spiteful inside but could show a serene face outside. Mama called them 'White Lotus', though Aira wasn't sure why. Most probably, they were obscure antagonists who will insidiously obstruct the main lady protagonist's way to happiness through scheming. It was highly complicated; hence, Aira only understood a small fraction of it.

 

Of course, she knew what this aunty wanted from the first time she saw how this aunty talked to her Papa this morning. Alarm bells were ringing in her head immediately!

 

How she dressed, how she smiled, how she tucked her loose hair over her ears, and how she tilted her head a little during conversations when Papa dropped her off very early this morning. Little Aira's eyes had turned as round as boiled eggs, as she recalled all the cues Mama had told her in so many stories about evil enchantresses!

 

The lady was trying to seduce Papa!

 

Fat chance!

 

Mama was still alive and kicking! Nobody could snatch away our Papa from us. She still remembered Mama had advised her on a few occasions, beware of random overtly friendly women who had stars in their eyes when they looked at Papa! This was a classic example of such cases. As usual, their Papa was always so blur and couldn't see what was in front of him. But Aira didn't blame him. She knew he missed Mama very much just by looking at the panda-like shadow under his eyes and the unkempt stubble over his jaws. Mama was the one who always reminded him to shave to prevent him from hurting them from a session of smooches and playing. Additionally, it seemed like Papa was having some difficulties lately. He rarely smiled too.

 

As such, from the very beginning, Aira had put up a wall around her and tried her best not to be coaxed by this strange aunty. In her heart, she knew that her responsibility lies in defending little Aina. She knew little Aina got the same feeling as her since her lovable (but a little naughty) baby sister was very resistant to this Aunty Lisa. Although she was scared, she stilled her heart and pretended to be cute and innocent in front of this aunty, though she wasn't sure did the aunty bought it or not.

 

The door to the main nap room opened suddenly, and a beautiful, long-haired mature lady with a prim cream-colored flowy dress entered the room with a slightly frustrated look. She approached Aira's bed and sat beside her gently. She rubbed Aira's head with a smile as Aira tried her hardest to endure.

 

"Little one, your Dad just messaged me. He couldn't make it by tonight. But he will definitely come by tomorrow evening. Don't wait any longer. Sleep, okay?"

 

"Are you sure, Aunty Lisa?" Aira felt like crying, but she tried her best to hold it in.

 

"Yes, you can see the message he sent to me just now. It appears that he seemed to be in some kind of an accident, though he wasn't hurt too much." The aunty took out her smartphone and showed it to Aira. Although Aira couldn't understand what was written, at least she could still detect the familiar avatar her Papa use for instant messaging. It was the picture of Papa with their beloved Mama.

 

Aira nodded weakly. "Okay, Aunty. I will sleep after this. Thank you for informing me."

 

The aunty continued to fondle her head with a smile that had not reached her eyes, "Good child."

 

"Please don't take Aina and place it in the cot. She never slept in cots before. We always sleep together in the same bed. If not, she will start to cry again." Aira pleaded with a morose look.

 

"Sure, sure. Take care of your little sister. Call for me if her diaper got too full. I will just be next door in the office, okay?"

 

"Okay, Aunty Lisa."

 

As she watched the beautiful mature woman walked by gracefully, she wiped the tears threatening to spill out and patted her own cheeks to give herself a morale boost.

 

Just until tomorrow! I will be a strong girl!

 

...

 

The next day, Aira tried her best to be obedient and helped out in soothing Aina. She stopped Aina from hurting Aunty Lisa on multiple occasions, which gave rise to a pretty good impression on her while earning herself some brownie points. The caretaker seemed to be more receptive to her after that, and she could even negotiate for a lollipop. She had a bowl of clear chicken soup with cauliflowers and carrots with rice for lunch. At the same time, little Aina was fed with a partially pureed rice porridge with the same soup since she could see speckles of cauliflowers, carrots, and pieces of chicken inside. As usual, her baby sister threw the worst kind of tantrum in front of the lady by flipping everything away, earning herself a harsh glare and a silent treatment. However, Aira could see the simmering anger within the aunty's expression as she walked away to the pantry to prepare another bowl of porridge.

 

Aira whispered, "Nana, you need to behave. What if that aunty won't let Papa take us home?"

 

"Mommm... Mama... Mama... Papa... Nana wants Papa." Although little Aina couldn't really speak well, she seemed to understand her big sis' intention. She started bawling again in sadness.

 

"Shh... it's okay. Papa is coming. Be a good girl. Be nice to Aunty." Aira hugged her pitiful little sister as her eyes misted.

 

To prevent the same incident from happening again, Aira offered to feed her baby sister when Aunty Lisa came by with another small bowl of porridge. She then, spoon-fed the little one while singing a nursery rhyme her Mama used to sing to them to appease Aina during mealtimes.

 

"Three little kittens,

They lost their mittens,

And they began to cry,

Oh Mama dear, see here, see here,

Our mittens we have lost.

 

What lost your mittens?

You naughty kittens!

You shall have no pie!

 

Meow~ Meow~

We shall have no pie...

 

In no time, Aina finished her bowl of porridge, and they went to have a short nap due to Aunty Lisa's insistence.

 

...

 

"Wakey, wakey! See, see who's here?"

 

Aira rubbed her eyes a few times as she tried her hardest to clear off the sleepiness away. The familiar voice made her jumped with joy! As her vision cleared, she saw the center of their world sitting beside the small bed with pink sheets. His stubble had grown so bad, and he looked extremely unkempt while smelling funny. However, his familiar gentle gaze and smile soothed her heart. Aina was clinging on him sleepily while cooing in happiness.

 

Aira jumped towards Papa and hugged his neck while crying. However, she was careful not to push Aina down from her Papa’s grasp.

 

"Papa! We miss you!"

 

...

"Mistress Hana, Mistress Hana, over here!" Chomper surfaced from within the deepest part of the Crystal-veined stream, not too far from them. He was flapping his pectoral fin jovially with a smile plastered on his face. The adventure he had together with Hana and co. had made him closer to them. Although he wished to stay to wait for the kind goddess to recover while she was unconscious, he had to return as soon as possible to attend to his whimsical young miss. No one would want to help her at all if he was not around. So, he bade the others goodbye after finding that they would be alright, though, nothing he could have done to help if there really was something not alright. As such, when the Grand Elder had asked for volunteers to serve as a liaison between the Waterwave marine clan and Mistress Hana's group, he had immediately offered his service.

 

He knew that the Grand Elder had instructed everyone to wait at the Five-fork Crystal river. But as someone who had a humble upbringing, and experienced a sudden meteoric rise, he knew, he had to go above and beyond to show his gratitude towards his benefactor. So, he appeared at the side of the stream where Hana and the rest frequented the most as early as possible, which was three days before the arranged meeting. He had actually raced to the location as soon as he received the Grand Elder's instruction.

 

The white fox with branches over his head gave him an acknowledging nod, to his surprise. Only the notorious black snake was still super intimidating towards him. The yellow bird fluttering around the goddess' head and the round brown thing in her embrace totally ignored him.

 

"Chomper? Is that you? Why are you here?" Hana was pleasantly surprised to see Chomper. She thought she had communicated clearly with Ara to anticipate her arrival three days later. Wasn't this a little bit too early? She just wanted to check their herb garden and maybe get herself a short wash by the stream today. It was unusually heaty today after last night's torrential downpour.

 

"Yes, yes. It is little me, Mistress." Chomper blushed, as he could see Hana's confused look and could guess he was a bit too eager.

 

"I'm here to inform you that the Grand Elder had prepared an escort at the Five-fork Crystal river further upstream. But then, I was thinking, do you need help? I could arrange for a lift from this point towards the Five-fork Crystal river later."

 

"Is it far Ku-chan? Do you know the place? Did we need Chomper's help?" Of course, our aunty didn't know where was this 'Five-fork Crystal river’. She planned to depend on Kuro entirely. However, Kuro himself had other plans to handle and hadn't had time to discuss it out with Hana yet. After all, it was a three-days-later event.

 

Kuro clicked his tongue and glared at the snakehead fish unhappily. It made pitiful Chomper shivered all over. He did hear the tales of how all the pseudo-spirit crabs were hauled carelessly to intimidate Sir Mekong and his elite team by this mean snake. Hana knocked Kuro's head gently while laughing. "What's the matter? Don't be mean to Chomper, okay? He is just trying to help. Be nice."

 

Kuro sighed and answered, "Nothing. I didn't manage to discuss this properly with you yet, Mommy. I'm actually not going to the fish's lair since I had something to complete. Remember the forest spirit? I had to scout for its actual location first. It could take quite some time. I don't want to delay any longer if we wanted to start the project soon."

 

"But, then, how are we supposed to go to the Five-fork Crystal river?" Shiro asked his brother. Everyone, excluding Kuro in Hana's group, didn't know the forest well. It'll be quite dangerous without a guide.

 

"Let's just take up Chomper's offer, guys." Hana vetoed everything and answered carelessly. She knew this not-so-little fish had a sincere heart and wished to help the rest in his own little way. Such a fine young ma, er.. fish. Another thing was, she was quite interested to see how this little snakehead fish planned to 'help' them with his friends. Will they work together to make a boat for them or something?

 

True to Hana's thoughts, Chomper beamed happily as his anime-like eyes glistened. "I'll personally come the night before the third day and bring along a few friends, okay?" Before Hana could reply, the little snakehead fish sped off while humming cheerily.

 

"That one come and go just like the wind." Markisah commented while chuckling. In her mind, she was counting the number of strange friends Hana had. Of course, she excluded herself as she felt that she was the most normal one.

 

"Hana, I had to go too. Need to arrange a few things after this for the seed collection." She flapped upwards gently and flew off towards her hometown. She needed to warn her friend that the unfriendly fox was coming.

 

After that, she could wash her wings clean from any guilt.

 

...

 

 

Authors’ Note:

1. Ai = It is the kid’s short-formed name. Usually, for kids around here, they’ll call themselves with their own name and never used ‘I’. Haha, finally the kids were given names after 2 years
2. Maktok = it refers to ‘Grandma’ in Bahasa Malaysia. Mak = mother, tok = elderly person.