June, 1996.A tall, lean man stood beneath a tree, looking up at it with hard, grey eyes. His hair was plastered to his forehead and he was sweating profusely. He had rolled back the sleeves of his neat, white shirt and stood barefoot.
The heat was scorching, with the sun shining directly overhead. His feet now had blisters on them, the only relief to them coming from the fact that he was standing on gra.s.s instead of sand. The man took out a handkerchief from the pocket of his light brown trousers, and wiped the sweat off his forehead.
Then with another deep breath, he launched himself at the tree.
He kept one leg on the lowest branch, trying to keep steady as he held onto the bark. Then wounding one leg around the bark, he tried to grasp onto the branch overhead when the branch below clacked.
It broke.
The man was quick to wrap his other leg around the bark too. He couldn"t repeat the mistake he had made last time. He had fallen on his b.u.t.t because of it. This time though, another unexpected force attacked him.
It wasn"t easy to keep hugging the trunk of a tree without any support from below. Gravity played its game, and he landed back on his a.s.s anyway.
"d.a.m.n!"
He cursed out loud.
Simon Hunter had not estimated correctly again.
This was the first time he had failed at anything thirty times straight.
He got up, dusted his pants, looked around to make sure no one was nearby and began to grab onto a branch once more.
Just then, he heard a slight rustling of leaves.
His heart leapt to his throat. The dreadful idea of the Chairman of the Hunter Corporation being caught in such a filthy state fixated in his head, and he turned around rapidly.
The place was a forest on the outskirts of the Village Lang. And as far as he knew, n.o.body entered too deep into this area, because the vegetation was quite heavy, and the forest wasn"t consisting of many food or commercial trees.
Could it be a wild animal then?
Simon Hunter watched as a shrub in front of him quivered. He frowned. He had been informed of no wild animals being here too. What was it then?
Impatient, he called out, "Come out! Else I"ll approach you myself!"
Well… even if it was another person, Simon was sure he could easily deal with the rat.
The Chairman was ready to face a spying shepherd of some sort. He was taken aback at what he saw though.
What came out of the bushes was a child.
A small girl dropped out of the shrub almost immediately after Simon had said the words. She stood rooted to the spot, near the shrub, her eyes fixed on the gra.s.s below.
Simon was surprised.
What was a child doing so far off from the village?
The girl was rather small, someone barely four or five years old. She looked like one of the villagers, she was dressed in a cheap brown frock. She had the most weird hair colour, a brown that resembled the colour of mud. And she stood before the Chairman, twiddling with her thumbs.
Simon understood she had been watching him.
That was embarra.s.sing for him, but she was so small, the girl was barely a threat.
Clearing his throat, Simon Hunter said, "What are you doing so far away from the village?" His voice was stern.
The girl looked up at him immediately, and worry flashed across her features.
She had a tiny face, but rather beautiful eyes. They were a striking green.
Simon frowned.
The girl pressed her lips, and then looked at the giant man. She trembled all over, but then she spoke hesitantly, "I-I"m sorry."
The Chairman"s frown deepened at that.
"For what?" His voice was still firm.
The girl looked like she was ready to cry now.
He saw her clench her fists determinedly though, and she breathed in harshly, before visibly mustering her courage and saying, "F-For l-looking. I s-saw you, sir, c-climbing the tree."
Oh. So she had seen.
Was she spying for someone?
"Why are you here?" The Chairman said tonelessly.
The girl shivered under his glare, but stammered, "I-I h-had a fight."
"With?"
"T-The village boys."
Simon a.s.sessed the kid, and decided she was telling the truth. The girl indeed looked like she had cried.
So nodding curtly, he turned around and said dismissively, "Go back. And not a word to anyone on what you saw. Or I"ll throw you to the bottom of the sea."
The girl paled at the threat, and her throat clenched. Her eyes welled, and she was about to turn around and run away, when she saw Simon Hunter go at the tree again.
She stopped in her tracks, as the scary man tried to grab on another frail branch.
He was going to fall again!
Her reaction was instant.
"N-Not that one!" she said, in the loudest voice that she could manage, "P-Please hold the branch on right!"
Simon looked at the child, just when the branch below him clacked again. It broke, but he took the girl"s advice and held the branch to his right instinctively. This time, even though the branch below broke, Simon Hunter did not fall down.
He dangled oddly from the tree, but landed on his feet once he let go.
The child breathed a sigh of relief, whereas Simon was struck.
She was about to turn around and run away, when he called out, "Wait!"
The girl stopped.
Amazed, the Chairman approached her with soft steps. His feet were ready to bleed at this point, but he ignored the pain.
He was stunned by the performance of the child.
The girl slowly turned to look at him, and matched the much older man"s eyes.
Simon looked at the kid.
"Do you know how to climb a tree?"
His tone was much softer this time.
The girl looked at the man, then nodded slightly. His voice wasn"t scary anymore.
"What am I doing wrong then?"
The girl pressed her lips again, and then looked at Simon, and then at the tree. Softly, she mumbled, "Y-You"re stepping on light branches."
"But they"re the strongest ones within approach."
Simon"s answer was obvious.
The girl looked at him nervously.
"Don"t stand on the branch, s-sir. Try the trunk. It"s split."
The answer took Chairman Hunter with surprise and he looked back at the tree. Indeed, it was split from the centre, and had deep grooves drawn in the trunk. He didn"t wait for the girl to finish. Launching himself at the tree again, he held onto the trunk, and tried to support his thumb against the grooves.
The girl ran worriedly behind him.
"The weak branch," she instructed hurriedly, "On the left, s-sir. Hold it, and then put your feet in the splits of the trunk to –"
Simon frowned at the girl, but followed what she said. Several times, he felt like a fool for taking orders from a child, but when he had successfully climbed at least a meter of the tree, he sat on one of the branches which the girl a.s.sured him was strong.
Then he looked down at the tree in awe.
Three hours, he had been trying to do what this kid had helped him with in three minutes.
The child looked visibly relieved when she saw the man seated safely too.
Simon Hunter"s lips curled unexpectedly. Very slowly, he smiled.
"Child," he called out from above, "What"s your name?"
The girl looked at the man worriedly, then twiddled her thumbs again. After a second of thought, she mumbled in a small, but barely loud voice,
"M-Miya, sir."
The Chairman nodded.