It took a while for Liam\u2019s tears to stop, maybe because he had been keeping them inside for a long time. His nose was bright red, probably from blushing, and when I let him go, he immediately looked away. He was still acting the same, but somehow he didn\u2019t look as bitter as before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLet\u2019s go back.\u201d I offered him my hand, which he cautiously took.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We started walking back to the orphanage, holding hands. Even though we had been running so fast, we had done it for such a short time that we hadn\u2019t gotten all that far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s your name anyway?\u201d Liam asked me bluntly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m Katarina. I plan to visit the orphanage again when I have the time, so let\u2019s be friends, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHm-mm.\u201d He nodded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was so happy seeing him answer like that, especially when compared to the annoyed looks he used to give me, that I felt the need to pat his head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWh-What are you doing?!\u201d he squeaked, blushing and trying to push my hand away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s so cute,<\/em> I thought, grinning to myself, when I heard a voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou two seem to be having fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Someone was standing in front of us, but I couldn\u2019t tell who it was because they were wearing a hood that covered most of their face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who\u2019s this? A friend of Liam\u2019s?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The person in the hood slowly walked toward us before pulling her hood back and showing us her smiling face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a while, Katarina Claes,\u201d she spoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a black-haired girl who looked familiar. She was in the mansion where Keith was held after being kidnapped!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI know you! You\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m glad you remember me,\u201d she interrupted, smiling again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She didn\u2019t look like she wanted to harm us, but Larna had warned me that this girl was a dangerous Wielder of Darkness who didn\u2019t think twice about hurting people. After all, Keith\u2019s life was endangered because of her. I moved in front of Liam, shielding him from her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAw, you\u2019re scared of me? That makes me sad,\u201d she claimed, but her lips were still curled in the same creepily unchanging smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d I asked her while taking a step back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI actually have some business with that boy there.\u201d She pointed at Liam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She wants to do something to him?! He can\u2019t stay here then! It\u2019s too dangerous!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLiam. Run to the orphanage,\u201d I told him as he stood behind me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut…\u201d He hesitated, probably understanding that something was off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019re a fast runner. I want you to run there and find the man called Cyrus. He\u2019s one of the people who came with me to the orphanage. Can you ask him to come here? Please.\u201d I smiled while pleading with him, trying not to scare him, and he quickly nodded and started running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh my,\u201d the girl chirped, looking at him getting farther away, but I stood in front of her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI won\u2019t let you touch him.\u201d I stared at her as angrily as I could. I didn\u2019t really think that I could win in a fight against her, since she could use Dark Magic much better than me, but at least I could hope to buy myself time until Cyrus, who actually stood a chance, got here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It took a while for Liam\u2019s tears to stop, maybe because he had been keeping them inside for a long time. His nose was bright red, probably from blushing, and when I let him go, he immediately looked away. He was still acting the same, but somehow he didn\u2019t look as bitter as before. \u201cLet\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tak-berkategori"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3673"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3674,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3673\/revisions\/3674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novel.mdtaal-aminii.my.id\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}