Michael let his armor down the moment Carmen told him sweetly, “Here, Daddy, I’ll blow on the mosquito bites for you.” He had planned to sneak out at midnight so that he could secretly return all her newfound pets to their rightful owners, but he was so moved by his daughter’s warm gestures that he found himself relenting instead.
Michael certainly had not expected Carmen to bring a lamb into the courtyard while he was doing the dishes.
“Daddy, can I—”
Michael faltered and screamed inwardly, No, you can’t. You can’t!
Once again, Michael was at a loss for words.
By the end of the day, two baby lambs were added to Carmen’s collection of farm animals and Michael let out a dry sob as he heard the lambs bleating in the yard.
But the moment he turned to see his little girl snuggled up against him, he felt all his resentment and frustration dissipate into nothing.
It had been a long day. Flipping over, Michael pulled his sweetheart into his arms and fell asleep shortly after.
At midnight, a few people showed up outside of Michael’s house.
“Alright; Dan has already led the guards away. Wait for me here. I’ll be back before you know it!” Sophia instructed quietly as she went over to where Dimon and the others were standing. There was a large bag slung over her shoulder.
Dimon watched as she dashed over to the courtyard, looking clumsy with the heavy bag in tow.
Sophia had scoped out the landscape during the day and had taken note of the camera that was positioned by the front entrance. She avoided it and headed over to a hidden part of the courtyard, where she knew the dog hole would be.
When she came upon this dog hole during her stake out earlier that day, Sophia had made sure that she would be able to squeeze through it without being captured by the camera.
Dimon watched as Sophia found the hole and crawled through it. Once she had managed that, she reached out an arm and said, “Dimon, give me the bag.”
Cringing, he handed the bag over to her.
He thought about how Cooper’s actions had forced Michael into crawling through a dog hole once upon a time.
How the tables had turned since, seeing as Sophia was now doing the exact same thing.
After she had infiltrated the courtyard, Sophia slung the bag over her shoulder and sneaked into the kitchen.
She had observed that the camera in the kitchen would be switched off during the night, but the same would not apply to the one in the courtyard. She carefully navigated her way around the latter and made her way toward the kitchen, thereafter locating the cellar in which Michael stored the food.
The temperature in the village was cool by nightfall and instead of using refrigerators, the villagers would store their food in a little cellar built into the ground.
Sophia shone her torchlight down at the meager supply that had been stored into the cellar. There was nothing left but a quarter of a lotus root, a couple of eggs, tomatoes, and a lonely cob of corn; the melons were gone and Carmen had fed the piglet whatever was left of the vegetables.
Hmm… Michael cooked that corn… I’ll take it!
Sophia munched on the cob of corn as she placed her torchlight down on the floor next to her. She made sure that it still cast its light into the cellar while she rummaged through her bag and began to gingerly stock up the food in the cellar.
She brought tomatoes, eggs, strips of pork belly and potatoes—all of which she deemed as essential food items. She had also brought lollipops, jellies, chocolates, a packet of cigarettes and chewing gum. Then, she lowered a sealed pack of ready-made chicken drumsticks and pig trotters into the cellar before finally putting in the fruits, which included grapes, peaches and pears.
Sophia had picked the fruits after sunset so they would be fresh enough for consumption tomorrow morning.
The massive bag that had been filled with food items was now deflated as Sophia emptied its contents into the cellar. As she did so, she felt relieved knowing that Michael and Carmen wouldn’t starve tomorrow.
She was so distracted with her own task that she hadn’t even noticed when, at some point, a figure appeared behind her. He stayed hidden in the shadows as he watched her every move.
Sophia remained unaware as she happily piled junk food into the cellar.
Michael kept quiet as he watched her stock up the cellar, which was already running out of space.
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