Chapter 126: A Date

"I see. I think I know just the place…" Hayden said.

The way his face lit up made me knew that an idea just popped into his head. As to if the idea was a good one or not, I was about to find out. After a while of driving in his car, we arrived at the destination that Hayden had in mind.

This place looks like a zoo but not really…

"What is this place?" I asked curiously.

"A tiger preservatory," Hayden replied as took my hand and helped me out of his car.

"A tiger preservatory?" I said in disbelief.

This big place is a tiger farm? I never knew such a place existed. I was half expecting that he would take me to the zoo based on my input of liking fluffy animals. A tiger preservatory was indeed beyond my expectations.

"I guess you’ve never been to one before. They’re not that common…I guess…" Hayden said as he started pulling me along with him.

"What are we going to do here, exactly?" I asked.

The place was very quiet and apart from Hayden and me, there was no one else around. The place was surrounded by very high walls and looked like a prison from the outside. There’s a lot of security. The owner is probably scared of the tigers escaping and rightfully so.

"You’ll see…" Hayden said as he brought me inside the venue.

The inside of the building seemed normal. There wasn’t anything outstanding apart from photographs of various tigers and their cubs. There was no one inside as well.

"Should we call for someone? We’re supposed to buy entry tickets, right?" I asked.

"No. This place isn’t open to the public and they don’t allow visitors. It’s private," Hayden explained.

Wait. Then why are we here?

"Should we be here, then?" I asked.

"One of the boss’s friends owns this place. It’s all good. I’ve been here before," Hayden said calmly.

Just when he finished his sentence, a balding old man walked into the room. Immediately when he saw Hayden, the man broke out in a smile before he started hugging Hayden.

"Welcome! You haven’t been here for a long time…" the old man said.

"We’re here to play with the cats," Hayden said without any further delays.

"I see. Your girl here is going to be ok?" the old man asked as he eyed me up and down.

"Sure," Hayden replied without consulting me.

"Wait…we’re going to play with the tigers?" I asked in shock.

I knew that some tigers were trained to entertain people in zoos and such. I’ve seen people take photos with them, but I have never done that before. To be honest, I was more scared than excited about the idea. However, this place didn’t seem like type of place.

"Come along," Hayden said as he guided me further into the building.

Thankfully, I didn’t see any tigers in sight. I felt very nervous and on edge. Why couldn’t we have gone to a place that was more normal?

"This place is preservatory. The owner helps tigers. He buys them from zoos and circus and the like. For rare breeds, he breeds them," Hayden started to explain.

"Wow. That’s pretty cool. Tigers are supposed to be rare, right? Some have gone extinct…" I replied.

Hayden led me further into the back and finally I could see the tigers. Wow, there’s so many of them. Thankfully, the tigers seemed well detained. They’re so big. Those beasts look so deadly; however, they were also graceful creatures. Playing with them was a different matter all together though.

"Let’s see if you’re lucky…" Hayden said mischievously.

I continued to follow after him and it seemed like Hayden had a destination in mind. Finally, we arrived at an enclosed area with large metal doors. Hayden stopped in front of the door before pressing a button to ring the bell. After a short while of waiting, the door slowly creaked opened as someone had apparently opened it from the inside.

"Oh…Hayden…" a sweet voice said as a pair of very bright blue eyes greeted us through the crack in the door.

"How are you?" Hayden asked in greeting.

"Great! Come in. Oh…we have a special guest," the young woman said as she smiled at me.

"Nice to meet you. I’m Malissa," I said as I stuck out my hand.

The woman laughed before taking my hand in a tight squeeze.

"I’m Daniella. My father runs this place. I’m helping him now too," she quickly introduced herself as she beckoned us to follow her inside.

"Seems like you’re one lucky girl…" Hayden whispered in my ear.

For the first time, I understood what he meant by that. My eyes opened and I mouthed the word ’wow’ as I looked around. Fluffy animals indeed!

"So many tiger cubs! Wow! Oh…Wow!" I exclaimed.

Hayden started laughing a little at my reaction. My eyes were focused on the many tiger cubs that were playing around in the facility. Apart from Daniella, there were other staffs there to take care of the cubs. It was like a nursery and the staffs were like babysitters to the cute little cubs.

"You’re quite lucky indeed. We happen to have so many cubs in the nursery right now. Some time, it’s almost empty, unfortunately. It’s not easy to breed tigers…" Daniella explained.

"You can pet them," Hayden said as he invited me to approach one of the cubs.

"Yup, you can. The smaller ones are easier to approach. The bigger cubs are already naughty and playful. Be careful, they can scratch you," Daniella warned.

"Look at this cute little guy…" Hayden said as he scooped a small tiger cub into his arms and held it.

He carried the cub to my side so that I could see the cub up close. So cute. Just super cute! I couldn’t stop staring down at the cute little cub and his super innocent expression. Slowly, I reached out my hand and stroked the top of the cub’s head. His baby fur was so soft.

"It’s a girl by the way…" Daniella corrected with a small laugh.

"Oh…baby girl…" I said adoringly.

--To be continued…

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