Chapter 18: chapter 18

While the man was on his own thoughts, Bee looked around a bit, the forest was dark and full of greenery. There were tall trees of oak and pine and many more which were not in her knowledge but she loved watching them. She started to take minute steps away from the training area; seeing that she was straying away the man got off his seat and trailed her lest she hurt herself.This was the first time when the girl had seen so many trees at one place; in the past four years she had no memory of seeing anything so wonderful. Her world was limited within the street where her club stood and to her forest was that abandoned park on the next lane. Looking around and lost in herself her legs took her to the bushes behind the backyard.She didn’t realize till she stopped on her tracks to find herself covered in woods; looking around she could not find the trace of the bungalow which moments ago was still visible to her. Her face dropped pale as she awkwardly hugged herself and murmured, “I... I am sure I am not lost. I can say this!”The forest was dead silent and alien to her; she hugged herself gingerly and tried to keep her fading smile intact, “Little Bee is brave! Little Bee can never.... Woaaaahhhhhh!” A bird flew past her fluttering its wings, the sound of the flapping echoed in the forest haunting the lonely girl. Realizing that her ‘brave’ self got haunted out by a little bird the girl pulled a face catching up her breath. She dusted out God knows what off her dress and innocently kneaded her little hands, “I was not afraid, I am sure I did it to keep the bird’s heart. Yes... That’s it!”She looked up at the dark trees, finding it not healthy to stall the girl turned around and hastened her feet back. On her way back her little brain was getting occupied by her wild imaginations; she clearly remembered that she didn’t have to take a lot of steps to go into the forest but what was she still not able to reach back home?Now, she was getting anxious; what was she gonna do if she fails to get back home. What was she gonna eat? What was she gonna do here all alone, she won’t even go to the washroom alone at night! Was she gonna end up here?She vigorously nodded her head to shoo away her thoughts, “I can’t die young! I have yet not seen the Disney park...” The forest was devoid of human interaction, other than hooting owls and rusting of the trees she couldn’t hear anything.With the passing time she started to panic; she thought about yelling for help but stopped immediately, what if an animal showed up and ate her. No... No! Bad idea. Really bad idea.She was running out of ideas when she suddenly recalled something she saw not too long ago. There was this episode of Doremon where it was mentioned about forest spirit and she was foolish enough to believe it was true. The girl dropped on her knees and folded her hands; closing her eyes she started talking to the unknown, “Dearest forest spirit, I am sorry I trespassed but Little Bee is innocent, she didn’t mean to do it. Can you please send me back home... I am not even 16 yet, there are two more months to go. Please be merciful and let me go, I swear I won’t ever come back to mess around...”“You are stupid, aren’t you?” Ryan leaned on the tree not too far away and looked down at the girl. He had been following and watching over her from the very start; when she was murmuring to herself about getting lost and was doing all goofy stuffs he was right there laughing to himself. He wanted to see how lunatic this girl can be but little did he know was she was down to Earth stupid; seeing her like this the man couldn’t hold himself back and came out.The girl opened her eyes and turned her head around to look at the owner of that familiar voice. “Prince Charming?” she chirped before closing her eyes again smiling wide, “Oh My God, forest goddess you are really merciful. Thank you for sending me a savior!”“...” Ryan was unable to say anything; was this girl really this naive. He helplessly nodded before walking up to her, he held her right arm and forced her to stand up, “Come with me, fool! I can’t believe you got lost in the backyard and you were so smart that you walked in the opposite direction, moving away from the house.”“That’s why I couldn’t find the house.” The girl stretched out, it turned out she was walking away from the bungalow. She was getting dragged away by the poker faced man; the man looked so handsome to her, “Prince Ryan, how did you find me?”“I was there the whole time because I know you are stupid and would end up doing something utterly stupid.” The man replied silently while striding his way to the bungalow. The girl clutched his t-shirt and pulled him slightly making him stop on his tracks. She smiled hesitantly before asking, "Since you are here does it mean I can explore the trees a bit."The man asked, "Aren't you afraid that I will leave you here alone, left to be eaten up by the snakes and creeps?" Little Bee giggled before pointing out, "Prince Charming even gets scared when I am missing from my room, let alone leaving me all by myself in some forest.""You trust me?" The man asked seriously but Little Bee hardly cared about it. She ran around this time keeping in mind not to stray off on her own. Her attention was grabbed by a white wild flower which was hidden among the shrubs; she playfully ran up to it and squinted on her knees, carefully plucking it. She replied out of the blue, "Of course I trust you!" Saying this she walked up to the man and showed him the little flower, "This is for you... For being so good to me."The man looked down at the flower and then at the girl's face; her eyes were round and cheerful with a tint of brown in them. Ryan had no thoughts in his mind else than that he had to protect her no matter what.