When he awoke from his unconscious state, Vicente looked at his surroundings a little agitated, soon identifying that he was back in the room where he and his sisters had been living for the past few months.
He saw Nina lying beside him, sleeping while the marks of her crying could still be seen on her face.
Realizing what had happened, Vicente felt himself again in a passive position, losing yet another important person but unable to do anything about it.
“Damn it! What do I do? The older sister has been taken!” He shouted to himself, furious.
The contours on his face looked more distinct at the moment, while his look that seemed to no longer contain any childish naivety would make more sentimental people moved by his situation.
Vicente was not even 11 years old, but he had already experienced tragedies that few adults ever had.
This world was chaotic, and dangers were lurking in every corner. But still, most people did not have to see their mother dying brutally, nor their sister being taken away by strangers.
Death eventually caught up with everyone, but many people at least lost their loved ones in less extreme ways.
The burden on Vicente was not small!
He got up from his bed and almost exploded with anger. Still, in the presence of his little sister, he did not show his violent side by attacking things in his surroundings.
“Big brother?” Nina asked.
She was deaf but could already speak when she lost her hearing.
Nina had avoided speaking since then, as she felt pretty uncomfortable. But she was fully capable of doing so.
Upon hearing Nina’s sweet voice, Vice stopped trembling with anger but did not look back, as the look on his face would definitely scare his younger sister.
“Big brother, what shall we do? Big sister has been taken away…” She said in a crying tone, as her little eyes watered.
Vicente closed his eyes and tried not to show his pain to Nina.
He turned to Nina and smiled, taking her in his arms and hugging her.
He was learning sign language, but Nina was still a long way from communicating with it, so all Vicente could do was write to her.
‘It will be all right. Big sister is talented and will one day find her way back to us.’ He wrote to her, showing confidence.
Nina was easy to fool, so she soon accepted her brother’s lie, believing that they would just have to wait for Lauren and one day she would return.
Thinking how much better this was compared to the situation of her mother, who would never return, she felt quite relieved.
Vicente left his little sister in her room and put on a shirt before going in search of his father.
As he came out of his room, he ran into one of the two guards hired by Andrew.
That man had a terrible expression on his face while the other guard was facing the door to Andrew’s room, where some people Vicente didn’t know were.
“Soren, what’s wrong? Who are these people?” He asked as he looked strangely at his old man’s room.
Soren clenched his fists and avoided looking into this child’s eyes. ‘How do I tell him that?” He wondered.
“Sigh… Vicente, I’m sorry. Your father became ill after we returned from the Awakening Temple. We called a doctor, but…”
Gulp!
Vicente rushed to the door of his father’s room amid Soren’s speech. He quickly saw the doctor who attended to Andrew gathering his things.
Meanwhile, Andrew’s body lay stiff on his bed, his skin already with a coloration that indicated that he was no longer alive.
Andrew had died!
“… But he couldn’t take it. I’m sorry, but your father is already dead.” Soren finished saying, feeling sorry for this boy and the girl in that room.
Vicente’s eyes fluttered as he understood what had happened, and he fell to his knees on the floor, not understanding how this was possible.
The doctor saw the son of that man and said. “Boy, I am sorry for your loss. Your father was very weakened and could not withstand the heart attack he had.
Unfortunately, his will to live was no longer there, and he didn’t try to fight.”
With those words, this man stopped in front of Vicente and massaged this young man’s head, wishing him good luck before he left.
When everyone had left, only Andrew’s guards and Vicente, besides Nina, remained inside that apartment.
“What do we do now?” Wesley asked in a low voice to Soren.
Soren stood up from where he was and walked over to where Vicente was still kneeling in silence.
“Vicente, your father paid us to take you back to Martell Village… So you need to decide what you will do from now on.” Soren said. “We will abide by what was agreed to with Andrew if you want, but we can do something else too. It’s up to you.
However, when our contract work days end, we will leave. So think carefully about what you are going to do.”
Vicente was very confused at the moment, so he said. “Can you give me 1 hour to think about it? I’m not feeling well right now.”
“Of course. We’ll wait outside.” Soren said before calling Wesley and leaving Vicente alone in that room.
…
“Hey, what are you doing? Andrew hadn’t paid us for this yet.” Wesley asked his companion, not understanding what Soren had in mind.
Soren sighed and asked. “How long have we known Andrew, ten years? Maybe more?”
“Around that.”
“Well, we earned quite a bit working for him. He also paid all our expenses from the beginning of the trip, and now these two children are alone… Let’s give them a chance and get them to the village.” Soren said, looking in the direction of where Vicente should be.
Wesley heard this and agreed.
He liked his coins, but after everything that had happened and his history of service to Andrew, he couldn’t help but think that simply abandoning these two children would be wrong.
“But why did you say Andrew left this paid for? We could just tell the boy that we were going to return to the village anyway and bring them with us.”
Soren expressed. “I don’t want him to think he owes us anything. Let’s just give it to them without informing them, and then we’ll leave. What happens from then on will have no bearing on us.
If he gets over this difficult time, who knows what might happen? We will avoid too much closeness with him by pretending to do one last service while keeping doors open for future business with him.
If everything goes wrong, he won’t see us as a friend who can take trouble. But if everything goes well, he might hire us knowing we keep our agreements.”
“Oh? That makes sense!” Wesley agreed. 𝚘𝚟𝚕．ｔ
Soon Vicente would make up his mind and call the two.
“All right, I’ve given it enough thought. I want to go back to Martell Village. I hope you two can escort my sister and me there safely.” Vicente said seriously, thinking about taking over his old man’s position and starting his life alongside Nina in a place he already knew.