Filed to story: A Second Chance with My Billionaire Love
“Lei, don’t go!” Flossie cautioned. She looked around carefully, worried, and remained standing at the same spot.
‘It’s fine, Flossie. He’s just a child. I’m sure he finds us interesting since we’re new here. He wants to take us to some fun place. I’ll be right back after I check it out,” Leia said casually.
At that, Flossie could only stand where she was and wait.
That pregnant woman and the children around her kept staring at her strangely. At the same time, they also kept gesticulating and grinning, making her uneasy.
After a while, Flossie heard Leia’s excited voice. “Flossie, come here! There’s something nice!”
Flossie, uneasy staying where she was and being stared at by the others, felt that it might be better if she checked out what Leia was doing. At the very least, it would alleviate her worries. She followed the sound and walked over.
Leia wasn’t far from her, only a few fences apart. Behind the fences was an orchard full of tropical plants like durians, bananas, and coconuts.
“Lei?” Flossie called.
The large leaves shielded the sun and sky, making the orchard look like a mini maze. Flossie looked around for a long time, but failed to find Leia and so started calling her.
‘I’m here! Look up!” Leia’s hearty laughter came from above.
Flossie looked up, only to find that Leia had climbed a durian tree. The tree was tall, more than 65 feet. The durians were piled high in bunches at the top; they looked particularly tempting.
“You love durians, right? These are found in Southeast Aeos. They’re small, but they have sweet and soft flesh. It’s great! Let me pick some for you so for a quick energy boost.”
Leia, sweating profusely while hugging the branch, tried to pick a ripe durian not far from her.
“How did you get up there? Be careful!” Flossie watched from below, terrified. The durian tree was very tall; if Leia fell, she might break her limbs. The danger was palpable.
Flossie had no idea how Leia managed to climb such a huge, tall tree. She never knew that Leia could do such a thing.
“The boy let me use a rope ladder that they usually use for picking durians. I climbed the tree using it. The boy’s so nice. I guess he wants us to have the best things!” Leia said loudly as she tried to pick the durians.
“Is that so? Where’s the rope ladder and the boy?” Flossie asked.
“It’s broken. The boy went to look for a new one…”
Leia was unconcerned, her focus on the durian. A yellow durian hung some distance away from her. It was slightly open, revealing yellow flesh. She stretched forward and tried to pick it.
For a young lady who grew up in a rich family, durians were nothing new. However, she had never picked them herself. Filled with enthusiasm, she refused to stop.
“Stay there! You have nothing to hold onto. Be careful. Don’t fall!” Flossie said.
She was deathly worried; she looked around and wondered when the bay would come back with the rope ladder. If this kept on, something would happen to Leia.
‘Don’t worry! I won’t fall. I’m clinging tightly to this tree!” Leia assured confidently.
Leia grinned, optimistic.
Finally, she got the yellow durian and screamed at Flossie excitedly. “Flossie, I got it! Get away, it might fall on you.”
“Uh, what are you doing?” Flossie asked.
“I’m throwing it down, duh! I can’t keep carrying it since there are so many thorns on it!”
“Didn’t you just pick it? That’s not very nice, right?”
“What’s wrong? We’ll pay them later. This orchard should belong to the Jenkinses. I’ll make my brother pay for it. Given his status among the Jenkinses, I think it’s fine for us to take the durian.”
“Okay, be careful,” Flossie said, finding found Leia’s words reasonable.
Leia was the playful sort who wouldn’t stop even if she couldn’t get the durian. Flossie stepped aside to let her enjoy her fun.
The durian dropped from a height of more than sixty feet. Luckily, it just cracked a little when it fell on the ground and didn’t get ruined.
“Okay, you got the durian. Can you get down now?” Flossie said, trying to coax Leia to get down from the tree the way she often did to her children.
‘Mm, I want to get down too. The problem is… the rope ladder isn’t here yet. I can’t get down.”
Having experienced how it felt to pick a durian, Leia’s excitement vanished. The experience was just so-so. She began to wonder how she should climb down the tree, but without the ladder, she was too frightened to move. “Now you know how troublesome it is?’ Flossie watched Leia as she clung to the tree tightly, amused. “Wait a minute, I’ll get someone.”
She picked up the durian that Leia had picked and walked off, intending to get Liam to borrow a ladder.
At that moment, the boy from before suddenly appeared out of nowhere and pushed Flossie hard. He pointed at the durian in her hand and kept rambling in agitation.
“Hey, here you are. Where’s your ladder?” Flossie tried to talk to the boy nicely despite her confusion.
However, the boy wasn’t as innocent and kind as he had been before. He was aggressive and hostile, acting as if he would attack at any time. From the few things he said, Flossie could hear many bad words-thieves, bad guys, and his desire to beat them up.
“Hey, boy, Be sensible. You brought my friend here. Why did you accuse us as thieves?” Flossie shot back.
She tried to explain to the boy in his language, but her attempts were ineffective. Instead, it made the boy even more agitated. He started hitting and kicking her crazily.
*Stop that! If you keep acting like this, I won’t go easy on you! I’m going to spank you!” Flossie threatened loudly, furious. She had never met such an unreasonable boy.
“Flossie, is he out of his mind? Don’t go easy on him! You need to teach him a lesson!” Leia shouted from above, clinging to the tree as she watched the boy yell at and beat Flossie. She couldn’t do anything else, so she was worried.
Flossie calmed herself down and tried to talk to him nicely.
“Hey, boy! You-
Suddenly, he took out a gun…
“No!”
Flossie’s heart skipped a beat. She pounced on the boy without hesitation.
The laws at The Triangle were imperfect, with various forces trying to grab power from each other. Many places were full of soldiers and armed civilians. Child soldiers were common as well.
The gun in the boy’s hand was most probably authentic. When Flossie saw him aim the gun at Leia, who was on the top of the tree, she couldn’t take the risk.
The boy suddenly started crying.
Flossie exerted herself when she pounced on the boy, pushing him to the ground roughly. Coincidentally, there was a rock there. It injured the boy’s forehead, which started bleeding.
“What are you doing?! Why did you take out a gun? Do you know what’ll happen if you fired that?” Flossie rebuked him solemnly, ignoring his bleeding forehead. She snatched his gun.
‘Thieves! Robbers! I’m going to shoot and kill you!” the boy cried profusely. His voice seemed to echo in the whole fort as he kicked Flossie and tried to beat her up. He was out of control.
The pregnant lady from before led a few children and two to three guards over, surrounding Flossie and Leia. They pointed at Flossie and rambled in an unknown language.
One of the guards approached her, intending to subdue her without hesitation. Naturally, she refused to bow down and fought him.
The guard could fight well and was armed, with people next to him cheering him on. On the other hand, Flossie was in a tight spot.
“Can’t we talk it out? I don’t want to fight you guys!” Flossie tried to reason.