Flower

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Flowers

The next morning, Linton and his companions bid farewell to their hosts.

On the road, Bella, having rested, was noticeably more energetic than the previous night.

"Big brother, look," she said, pointing to the treetops. "That bird is so pretty."

Linton looked up.

It was a small bird, entirely snow-white, not large, similar to a sparrow. Its small eyes darted around, and it wasn't shy upon seeing Linton and the others, chirping away.

"It truly is beautiful."

The girl, receiving a response, smiled even more happily. She wanted to share everything she encountered on the road with Linton.

"Look, this flower is pretty too!"

"Here, here!"

They had originally planned to follow the path the man had indicated yesterday to Bella's home. However, after turning left and right, by the time they reached their destination, much more time had passed than they had budgeted for.

Iris looked at the girl, who was excitedly running left and right, and couldn't help but remark, "Why do I feel like… a parent taking their child on a spring outing?"

"Yeah," Linton teased. "A well-behaved older daughter, a mischievous younger daughter, and an old father with creaky joints."

"Get lost, get lost," Iris pouted. "You're just thinking of taking advantage of me, aren't you?"

"Alright, two mischievous daughters then."

Seeing Iris make a move as if to hit him, he quickly changed the subject and called out to Bella.

"We're going in!"

"Coming, coming!"

Bella tiptoed back to Linton's side, skillfully slipping her hand into his.

Bella's home was similar to other houses in the village, built with adobe bricks. Due to a lack of maintenance over time, cracks covered the walls. Compared to others, they also had a small yard enclosed by a wooden fence. Inside, just as Bella had described, many beautifully blooming flowers were neatly planted.

Wait, blooming flowers?

Iris's pretty brow furrowed slightly. "If I recall correctly, didn't that guy yesterday say Bella's parents… ahem, haven't been back for a long time?"

Linton also found it a bit strange.

This scene didn't look like a place that had been abandoned.

Had they taken a wrong turn?

But Bella suddenly became excited, pointing at the flowers and saying.

"This is my home! I remember them!"

As her words fell, a crisp tinkling sound reached Linton's ears simultaneously.

The girl hadn't lied.

"Let's go in and take a look."

After they easily crossed the wooden fence, Bella ran around the yard joyfully, while Iris cautiously observed their surroundings. Linton, however, walked directly towards the main house. Just as he was about to knock, he noticed that the dilapidated wooden door wasn't fully closed, only ajar.

Gently pushing the door open, a smell of dust and damp rot hit him.

Looking up, the inside of the house was dark and grimy. The stove had long been abandoned, and almost all the furniture was beyond repair.

"It's true that no one has lived here for a very long time,"

Linton concluded, but his confusion remained.

"What's the deal with those flowers? Their neat appearance clearly indicates they've been tended to regularly."

"Big brother, big brother!" Bella suddenly ran in, holding two flowers.

She handed the one with blue and white flowers to Linton. "This is for you! This is my favorite flower!"

"Thank you!" Linton accepted the flower, feeling flattered.

He had almost forgotten that the girl had made such a promise to him.

Bella scratched her head, chuckled, and ran out again.

Linton followed behind her and discovered that the other flower was actually for Iris.

"Sister, this one is for you."

Compared to the generosity and cheerfulness with which she gifted Linton, Bella was noticeably quieter this time, but she still held her little head high and offered it.

Iris was astonished by the girl's actions.

She pointed at herself and said, "I'm a bad person, and you want to give me a flower?"

"Why can't I give a flower to a bad person?" Bella asked, confused by Iris's surprise, and timidly said, "Even though sister is a bad person, I don't dislike sister! And sister was just playing with me…"

"Accept it, Iris," Linton said with a smile from behind. "Don't disappoint her intentions."

"Thank you."

The girl accepted the flower with mixed feelings, then moved closer to Linton and whispered, "Didn't you say her mind was full of… malice?"

Linton didn't answer her, but instead looked at the girl askance. "Weren't you suspecting her before? How did a single flower buy you over?"

"Anyone would have been suspicious in that situation!" Iris said irritably. "It was my fault before, I was too suspicious, alright!"

"Stop messing around."

Linton waved his hand helplessly, pondering, "My intuition won't be wrong. The only explanation is that she lost something in time, including the concept of 'bad guys'."

"Although she still uses 'bad guys' as an adjective, it doesn't actually carry any meaning – just like we say an apple is red."

Iris nodded, as if she understood but not quite.

Just then, she suddenly heard a burst of laughter.

"Hahaha—"

"What are you laughing at?"

"It's not me, it's those little guys." Linton spread his hands innocently and pointed outside. "Perhaps I know why the flowers here grow so well."

Iris looked up and saw several boys, around fifteen or sixteen years old, walking towards them with watering cans, scissors, and other tools. They looked somewhat surprised to see them in the yard.

The boy leading the group asked first, "Who are you? Why are you in Bella's house?"

"See? See!" Bella excitedly tugged on Linton's sleeve. "This is my home! I didn't lie to you!"

"I know." Linton smiled at the girl, then looked back at the children, not answering their question but asking in return, "Have you guys been taking care of these flowers all along?"

The group on the other side was stunned by his question, which seemed to take over the conversation. After a moment, they replied, "We have."

"Thank you, thank you!" Bella exclaimed excitedly, but when she realized they couldn't hear her, she tugged Linton again and blinked her eyes.

Linton patted her little head and said to the young boys, "Bella says thank you."

"Are you Bella's friend too?" The leader's eyes lit up. "Me too, my name is Caven, what's yours?"

"Linton."

"Linton. I haven't heard of you. Bella never told us she had a new friend." Caven looked a bit troubled, then resigned. "Ah, it must have been too rushed. If she could come back, she would have introduced you to us, and then we could look for a way out together. You're so tall, you can definitely see further."

Iris quietly muttered, seeing how easily they were fooled by even the most flimsy lies, "These kids are really so innocent."

Linton ignored Iris and asked with a frown, "You said you were looking for a way out together?"

"Yeah!" Caven said. "Bella pulled us along and said there were many fun places outside, and she wanted to take us to see them!"

"And then?"

"Then we set off together! Unfortunately, we hadn't gone far when Bella suddenly said there were bad guys not far ahead and told us to go back and find her parents to help her fight the bad guys."

"So you went back to find them?"

"What else?" Caven asked, confused. "We couldn't beat the bad guys, so we had to find adults to help, right?"

Linton's brow furrowed tighter and tighter. "Did you look for Bella's parents first?"

"Yes, we did." Caven, not sensing Linton's abnormality, answered everything without reservation. "After we called Bella's parents, they immediately rushed out to look for people. We went back to find our own parents, but we searched for a long time and couldn't find them."

Caven's expression suddenly turned a bit self-reproachful. "Bella must have discovered the bad guys and held them off herself to let us escape, but... we couldn't save her."

After he finished speaking, not only his face but also the faces of the children behind him darkened.

"So you take care of these flowers..."

"These flowers?" Caven looked up slightly and said, "These flowers were originally planted by Bella's parents, and Bella loved picking them the most. We thought if she came back and saw the flowers had all withered and she couldn't pick them, she would be very sad. So we come to look after them every day, hoping that Bella will be happy when she returns and can pick them to her heart's content."

"Hoo—"

Linton let out a long breath and sighed, "Although it's not good to think this way, Iris, I have a very bad feeling."

Iris looked at the girl who had suddenly started to tremble and also sighed.

"Unfortunately, so do I."