After Zaria explained the situation with Laia to Desmond, he hurried back to the country. He was yet to finish his business but it was more urgent to deal with the Qins before they got any intel of Laia's current location. He set up a meeting with Leo who was coincidentally on his way to pick up his wife from work, so the three of them met up at a restaurant.

Seeing as the couple was not in their best mood, he did not beat around the bush. "I know where your daughter is."

"Laia? Where is she? Where is my baby?" Shera who had been quiet the whole time looked as though she was ready to jump and strangle him if he did not provide sufficient information.

"Mrs. Qin, please calm down." He sipped his tea and directed his gaze at Leo. "Your daughter is safe. You can be rest assured that she is in trustworthy hands and I will return her to you in one piece, but there is a condition."

"You bastard!" Leo exploded as soon as he heard his last piece. He stood furiously. "I trusted you!"

Desmond dodged his punch. "Are you going to kill me before I tell you where she is?"

At his words, Leo and Shera forcefully calmed down slightly.

"Just so we are clear, I did not kidnap your daughter. I have no use for a little girl."

"Then why are you trying to set conditions to bring her back?" Shera interjected. If the man before her was not Desmond Fort, she would have probably ordered for his death already.

"Setting a condition doesn't mean I kidnapped her. I could have rescued her in which case I would be a benefactor, don't you think?" He asked humoredly. Because his words made sense, they waited for him to state his condition.

"Before you find the real culprit behind your daughter's disappearance, don't blame my girlfriend. All she did was find the girl." He explained briefly.

"You expect us to believe you." Shera huffed, clearly treating his words as a joke.

"Do you have a choice?" Desmond laughed even though it was the most inappropriate thing to do right now. "My girlfriend is the only one who knows where your daughter is. If you scare her, she will be too timid to reveal the little princess' location." He deliberately warned, the underlying meaning of his words evident. If they threatened Zaria, she might just hold back the information from them.

Seeing Leo's skeptical look, he took another sip of his tea and smiled slightly." I don't want us to end up fighting before the truth is out. Save your anger for later. Of course, the key priority here is my girlfriend's safety. I heard that your close friend, Kara, paid her an 'extra special visit'."

"We do not suspect her for no reason." Shera defended her friend's move.

Desmond knew this, but he was certain that Zaria was innocent. She could have been set up. Someone could have altered all the evidence to lead the Qins to suspect her, and sent the girl to her villa to make her appear guilty. But no matter how much he trusted her, he couldn't say the same about the enraged couple before him.

"If you really prove that my girlfriend personally took your daughter from the restroom or directly instructed anyone to do it, you can do whatever you want with her. But until then, you are not allowed to lay a finger on her." This was the only compromise he could reach.

Seeing as he was willing to let them punish Zaria as long as they had sufficient evidence, the Qin couple could only take a step back as well. It would be unreasonable to continue picking a fight. Besides, nothing good would come out of them fighting so they decided to hold back until the investigation was over.

" I still have a bad feeling about the Williams. " Shera muttered under her breath, not caring that Desmond could still hear them.

"Laia is more important." Leo reassured her.

…

In the evening, Zaria was playing with Laia who had woken up after a long sleep. Since Zaria had taken good care of her, giving her food and snacks, she was more relaxed around her and was willing to play.

It was only later that Zaria realized just how active the girl actually was. She curiously looked at everything, blinking her beautiful eyes to ask for permission to touch whatever she found interesting. After practically touching everything in the room, she grabbed Des' coat out of boredom and violently tugged it, making the puppy whine in shock and pain.

Zaria was startled. She reached for her little hand and gently pulled it away. "Don't pull his coat."

"Why?" Laia seemed confused.

"Puppies have feelings too. If you hit him and pull his coat, the pain will make him sad and he won't want to play with you anymore." She patiently explained, thinking that the girl greatly took after her mother. They both enjoyed violence.

"But I want to play with him." Laia was startled when she learnt that the puppy might dislike her. She reached over to clumsily pet the scared puppy. "I'm sorry, Des. Can we play?"

It seemed as though Des had forgotten about what she did just now, it rubbed its head against her belly, making her laugh at the ticklish sensation.

"Zaria, can I keep him?" She asked out of the blue.

Zaria was speechless. She wanted her Des now?

She had to disappoint the girl even though she was looking up at her with adorable eyes. "I'm sorry darling. He is my pet, I can't permanently give him to you. But if you want to come back and play with him for a while, you can come as long as your mommy and daddy let you."

Although disappointed, Laia was placated by the second part so she nodded. The two continued to play with Des and when Laia yawned, Zaria put her in bed before grabbing a blanket to place on the couch. Because she was afraid that the girl might not be used to sharing a bed with anyone, she prepared to sleep on the couch just like the night before.

As soon as she turned off the light, she heard a soft alarmed gasp. Through the little light that seeped in through the curtains from the street lights, Zaria saw the girl grab onto the covers and curl into a ball at the top corner of the bed.

She patiently went over and hugged her. "Why are you sad? Are you afraid of the dark?"

It took a while before Laia finally responded pitifully. "I'm not a little girl anymore. Mommy says that brave girls are not scared of the dark. But when I'm scared, mommy and daddy will sing me a song."

Zaria felt her heart clench. She was so much like her own little version. When she was little, her friends once pranked her by throwing a rubber snake at her. After that, she would feel it crawling up her skin as soon as she closed her eyes.

Back then, Theodore would hold her in his arms while Lucy told her to be a little braver. They would then sing her a lullaby together.

She jolted out of her thoughts with a smile. She wanted to sing to Laia but was afraid of making her miss her parents. "We can sleep with some light on." She said and turned on the bedside lamp.

"Thank you, Zaria."

She was yet to completely fall asleep when she woke up to a phone call.

"The Qins want Laia back right away." Desmond said over the phone.

She was puzzled. "That's sooner than I thought." Sure enough, she heard the screeching of tires in the next few seconds and when she peeked out, she saw a fleet of cars stop in front of the villa and Leo and Shera got out, leading a large group of bodyguards.

"They had missed their daughter after all." Desmond explained. "Don't worry, I made a deal with them so they will not cause you any trouble."

"Mmh." Zaria was reassured. She patted the girl awake. When she didn't wake up, she thought about it and carried her downstairs.

The tension in the air woke Laia, who was surprised to see her parents as soon as she opened her eyes. "Mommy, daddy!" She jumped onto them in surprise.

Shera looked her daughter over and when she was certain that she was alright, she patted her husband and took a step back. "We will take our leave now. Thank you for finding our daughter, Miss Williams."

She deliberately emphasized 'finding', indicating that she didn't trust her yet.

Laia looked over her father's shoulder and waved at Zaria and the puppy beside her leg. "Goodbye Zaria. Bye Des. I will miss you."

"Goodbye." She smiled at the girl and lifted Des' front limb to help him wave his paw.

It was only when the commotion died down that she noticed Theodore who was behind her all along.

_______

Not so fun fact: Zaria is not the only one T_T

I'm terrified of snakes too… so much that sometimes I randomly wonder whether they are in my neighborhood and if they can climb stairs to get to my room.