The man stood against the broken sunlight, his entire figure glowing faintly, as if the sun itself bent its light to touch him. His white hair, soft and bright like fallen snow, swayed gently in the breeze, brushing against his forehead with a lazy grace that sohow made him seem even more otherworldly.
Every movent of his seed to stir the air around him, as though even the wind hesitated to disturb him. His tall, lean body fit so perfectly with his chiseled face that it hurt to look at him for too long. He looked detached, distant from the shattered world around them, like he did not belong to this place—or to any place at all.
Eli’s heart squeezed painfully. He had longed to see his daddy again, but now that he stood there before him, fear curled around Eli’s chest. His fists clenched tightly, nails digging into his palms. He bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from crying.
Because he had run away from ho again. Disobeyed his daddy’s words again. Daddy had warned him so many tis, and yet he had still done it. All because he wanted to find his pretty sister, the girl who had smiled at him with such warmth when no one else did and who had loved him even more than his stingy daddy.
Eli could only manage a strained, crooked smile toward the man gazing at him—one that looked more like he was angry or about to cry. Maybe, just maybe, if he helped save his sister first, Daddy would forget about his mistakes. Maybe he could still fix it later.
The man’s sharp, unfathomable gaze lingered on him for a long mont, so heavy that Eli felt it press down on his very soul. But he said nothing. Instead, he turned his head slowly toward the fallen girl lying in the dirt.
With a soft click, the door of the vehicle swung open on its own, as if the battered tal had suddenly rembered how to obey. Eli jumped out without thinking, his small legs moving faster than his mind, and he dashed across the blood-soaked ground toward Liora.
The man crouched down beside her without a sound, his movents so fluid and effortless it was as if the world itself moved to make way for him. He reached out and brushed aside the bloodied strands of Liora’s hair from her face, his fingers unnaturally gentle against her battered skin.
His thumb paused for a mont on her bruised cheek. His smile, when it ca, was filled with disdain.
"Tsk," he clicked his tongue, his voice low and dripping with contempt. "You have only beco weaker in the years I have not seen you..." The man stopped for a few seconds, then completed his sentence. "Little sister..." In the end, even he did not notice that his disdainful voice had turned into a gentler one when he called her little sister.
The words were said softly, almost fondly. His smile deepened into sothing that was not quite soft. He looked down at Liora’s broken body the way a lion might look down at a wounded cub—disappointed, pitying, and a little bit amused.
Eli stumbled to Liora’s side and dropped to his knees, tears slipping from his eyes unchecked. He clutched at her torn sleeve with shaking hands. Her body was so cold that it hurt him to even see her like this.
"Please," he choked out, voice cracking, "please help her..."
The man gave him a slow, sideways glance, as if only just rembering that Eli existed. For a long mont, he said nothing. Then he sighed, a sound so soft it was almost a whisper.
"You," he said with an amused tone, "still do not know your place."
Eli flinched, bowing his head, but did not let go of Liora’s sleeve. How could he not understand his daddy? He was simply a wicked man in the guise of a gentleman.
The man straightened slowly, cradling Liora’s limp body in his arms with surprising care. Her blood sared against the pristine white of his clothes, but he did not seem to notice. He simply looked down at her, studying her face as if searching for sothing he had lost a long ti ago.
"I warned you, Eli," he said, his voice dropping lower with each syllable. "You have made many mistakes, and if you continue like this, you can see your future..." He pointed at Liora’s body with utter disappointnt.
Eli’s breath caught. His lips trembled as he realized what his dad ant...
"But," the man said, glancing back at him, "this one... I will overlook. Just this once."
Hope flickered weakly in Eli’s chest. He wiped his dirty face with the back of his hand, sniffling.
The man looked away again, his sharp blue eyes turning distant. As he gazed into the broken horizon, the dying light behind him cast a long, golden shadow on the cracked earth.
"After all," he whispered, almost to himself, "she needed to learn her lesson and stop being too arrogant."
The air around them seed to freeze as his words fell into the silence.
"Daddy... how could you say sothing like that about pretty sister..." Eli voiced out his dissatisfaction.
The man turned toward him and gently flicked his forehead.
"She is your aunt, not your pretty sister," he corrected with a small smirk.
Eli closed his mouth just as another argunt was about to escape. He suddenly rembered they needed his daddy’s help. He could not afford to anger him. If his daddy suddenly decided to abandon both him and his aunt, then nothing could stop him.
And he knew his heartless dad was fully capable of abandoning them.
The white-haired man looked down at Liora and chuckled.
"You owe a big favor this ti, little sister," he said with a crooked smile that made Eli shudder.
Because when Daddy smiled like that—
It never, ever ant sothing good.
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