Arriving at the hydrogen balloon vendor, Aunt Harper communicated with the peddler, asking which balloon Hope wanted.
The little girl looked up and casually pointed, "I want the pink Hello Kitty."
"Okay," Aunt Harper responded and then turned to the vendor, "We’ll take this one, how much is it?"
"Twenty."
Aunt Harper took out her phone to scan and make the paynt, while the vendor carefully searched for the Hello Kitty balloon among a bunch of thin strings.
Nobody noticed that the little girl standing beside them had quietly slipped away.
"Here you go, hold it tight, don’t let it fly away," the vendor handed over the balloon.
"Alright, thank you." Aunt Harper took it, turned smiling to her side, "Hope, co, let’s tie it to your hand—"
Her words cut off abruptly, her face changed color!
Where was the child’s figure beside her!
"Hope! Hope!"
Aunt Harper looked up, searching frantically, and began to call out loudly!
anwhile, the little girl, having not run far, heard the familiar shout behind her but instead of going back, she ran even faster.
Her running caught the attention of passersby, and soon soone called out to Aunt Harper, "Is that the child? The one in the khaki coat!"
Aunt Harper stood on tiptoes, and indeed it was her!
She hurried to chase after her!
"Hope! Don’t run, be good! Hope—"
Aunt Harper didn’t care about the balloon flying away, she chased the child while hastily calling Fuller on the phone.
Hope’s little face was tightly scrunched up, very panicked, very rushed.
She wanted to find her mother; she had to find her mother.
She didn’t want to get caught and taken back.
Otherwise, she would never get another chance to escape!
But what could she do?
She could hardly run anymore, she was so tired!
The little girl was in a complete panic, about to cross the road when she suddenly saw a traffic policeman standing by the roadside.
Quick-witted, she ran straight to the police officer and hugged his leg, "Officer, there’s a bad person chasing !"
The young officer was startled, looked down and saw a child, paused for a second, then imdiately knelt down.
"Little friend, where are your family? Did you get separated from them?"
Hope, not answering his question, said, "Officer, I need to find my mom! Can you help find her?"
Before the officer could answer, Aunt Harper arrived, panting.
"Hope... Hope, you can’t be naughty, if you get lost, how am I going to explain it to your dad!" Aunt Harper struggled to finish speaking, reaching forward, "Thank you officer, I will definitely take good care of her next ti."
Hope didn’t reach for Aunt Harper’s hand but instead imdiately hid behind the officer.
This prompted the officer to beco wary and he stared down Aunt Harper, mistaking her for a kidnapper.
"Who are you to the child?"
"I am... I am her family’s housekeeper, I’ve raised this child myself."
"Is that so?" the officer questioned, looking back at Hope, "Young lady, do you recognize her?"
Aunt Harper quickly said, "Of course she recognizes ! We ca out together, the child wanted to buy a balloon, and I took her out of the car to buy one."
Hope looked at Aunt Harper, silently apologizing over and over in her heart, then looked up and crisply said to the officer, "Officer, I don’t know her, please take to the police station!"
"Hope, you—"
It was just then that Fuller arrived.
"Aunt Harper, what happened?"
Aunt Harper, stomping her feet in frustration, said, "Miss Hope is trying to run away; she insists she doesn’t know ."
"Wait, don’t rush, I’ll call Mr. Hart."
"Okay."
Fuller quickly made the call, but Hope clung to the young officer’s neck, looking scared and frightened, "Officer, please take away! Quick, quick! It’ll be too late soon!"
Hope worried that once Fuller made the call, her dad would co imdiately, and she would have to go back with him.
The young officer, duty-bound, couldn’t leave casually, so he used his walkie-talkie to inform his colleagues, and soon a patrol car arrived on the scene.
On the other side, Fuller had already gotten through to Christopher Hart on the phone.
"Mr. Hart, Miss Hope said she wanted to buy a balloon on the way, and while Aunt Harper was buying her a balloon, she sneaked off. Now she’s with a traffic officer and insists she doesn’t know us and refuses to go with us."
As soon as Christopher heard that his daughter had run away, his face turned grim, "She’s alright, isn’t she?"
"She’s fine... it’s just that she insists she doesn’t know us, this—"
"I understand, where are you? I’m on my way."
"At the intersection of South Huai Road, in front of the International Trade Mall."
"Okay, I... wait a second!" Christopher was about to say "I’ll be there right away," but suddenly a light bulb went off in his head, and he changed his mind.
"Mr. Hart, what’s up?"
"You said, she’s with a police officer?"
"Now a patrol officer has arrived; I guess they’re going to take her to the station."
Christopher, holding his phone, fell silent, then smiled with a curl of his lips.
"Alright, you guys don’t need to worry about it, let the police take her."
Fuller, hearing him sounding like he was laughing, was instantly puzzled, "Mr. Hart, what—"
"You and Aunt Harper go ho. You don’t need to worry about what happens next."
"Well... okay then."
After hanging up the phone, Fuller looked at Aunt Harper, totally confused, "Mr. Hart said we don’t need to worry about it, and told us to go ho."
"What?"
On the other side, Christopher, who had hung up the phone, sat by himself for a while, the smile on his face growing more and more obvious.
This little girl!
No wonder she wouldn’t let him go back with her; she was plotting an "escape," wanting to go find her mother.
It was good that she ran away, she wouldn’t have any problems in the hands of the police.
He was just worrying about how to get in touch with that woman, and this little lady created an incident!
Benny Palr knocked on the door and ca in, seeing him sitting alone with a silly grin, and asked with wide eyes, "What’s with you? Broken-hearted madness?"
"You’re the one who’s mad!"
"So there’s good news, huh? Let’s hear it."
Christopher shared the whole story just as it had happened.
As Benny listened, he laughed as well, "Hope, that little girl, she would never expect that her own dad outsmarted her! She’s probably feeling triumphant, thinking she finally escaped!"
"Ha, it’s no wonder I dote on her, she actually ca in handy at the crucial mont."
Benny asked, "Aren’t you afraid that Alia will pick her up and the mother and daughter will head straight for the airport?"
Christopher’s face remained calm, "Why worry? I destroyed her passport and she doesn’t have Hope’s ID—what, are they going to smuggle themselves out of the country?"
After intercepting them at the airport the last ti, he had taken the opportunity to quietly tamper with her suitcase and ripped out the page with the entry information from her passport.
So—
Benny, upon hearing this, looked shocked, his face torn between praising and scolding, and after a long hesitation, he managed to blurt out, "If I were Alia, the mont I saw you... I’d also take a detour!"
"..."
————
At the station.
The policewoman, following the na given by Hope, searched for quite a while but couldn’t find the "Alia Garcia" she was looking for.
"Little girl, think again, do you know anyone else’s na? What about your dad’s?" the kind policewoman asked.
Hope snorted, "I don’t want dad to pick up! Hmm... well then, auntie, could you please look up Snow Fitch?"
"Snow Fitch..." The officer typed in the na and a multitude of nas with the sa pronunciation appeared.
Then, one by one, they opened them up for Hope to confirm.
After looking at seven or eight of them, Hope suddenly pointed her finger, "That’s the one!"
The officer imdiately brought up Snow Fitch’s phone number and called.
"Hello?"
"Hello, this is the police station, and a young child wants to speak to you."
The phone was handed to Hope, and the little girl excitedly shouted, "Aunt Snow Fitch, it’s Hope! I’m lost, you have to get my mom to co pick up, quick!"
On the other end, Snow Fitch, who was at work, was startled by the voice and jumped up abruptly, "Hope? You... you-you-you—"
The phone was returned to the officer, and after so explanation, Snow Fitch understood and quickly said, "Alright alright, I got it! We’ll be there right away!"
As soon as she hung up, Snow Fitch imdiately called Alia Garcia, "Dear, don’t ask anything, just hurry to the Southern Borough Station to pick up Hope, quick!"
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