Raising My Wife novel Chapter 3

As he was deep in his thoughts, a rustling sound came from behind him. James whipped his head, alarmed by it. "Who is it?"

It couldn't be the two men. They had already gone out.

As James was staring at the place where the sound had come from, a board creaked to the side and light streamed through the hole.

Suddenly, a girl's head popped inside. It was a little girl with two ponytails. She looked smart. However, one step into the dark room, she was already a shivering mess.

"Hello?" The little girl took a deep breath and walked inside. He furrowed his eyebrows. Where did she come from? How did she break the board? Who was she? Could she save him?

She called him again, breaking him from his reverie, "Hello?"

"What?" It was not until then did he realize that she was calling him. He set his eyes on her.

"Did you meet any bad guys?" The little girl pouted her lips.

"What?" He furrowed his eyebrows, still trying to get over the fact that the young girl actually had the guts to sneak into this place.

"Well, you don't look like a bad guy." As she approached him, her gaze fell on his bleeding legs. She frowned. "You're injured. I'll go ask someone to save you." She was about to head to the door to find someone.

"No! Stop!" Just one look at the girl and he could tell she was around 8 or 9 years old. She was smart, given that she insisted to call for help. But wasn't she afraid? He didn't know if they set around men to guard the area, so he couldn't let her risk it.

"Why do you think I'm not a bad guy?" He could tell that this girl would help him, but from the looks of it, he still needed to gather his strength before he'd try to escape.

"I saw some people carrying you up the mountain. They're the ones who looked bad." She shrugged. "What should we do now?"

James motioned to a stone. "Pick it up." The girl picked it up immediately with no hesitation. "Cut off the rope on my feet with that. Don't be afraid," he comforted. Thinking of the wounds that wrapped around his legs, he was afraid that the girl would be scared off at the sight of the blood. However, it seemed that she only hesitated for a second before going through with the task.

"How did you find this place?" he asked. Although the rope was scraping through his wounds, he persevered, just to ease the tension in the girl's eyes.

"This place? It's been here for a long time." She struggled as she tried to cut off the rope.

"Why did you come here? Aren't you scared?"

"My teacher said that children who are willing to help are good children," she said seriously.

"And what if they found out? Have you ever thought about the consequences? You shouldn't believe other's words that easily," he lectured like a parent teaching a child.

The little girl nervously looked up at him, frowning.

One look at her eyes, James already felt like laughing. He didn't understand why he'd reason with a child who probably wouldn't understand him. "Nothing! Forget I said that."

The little girl shrugged her shoulders and continued.

Soon enough, the rope was finally broken. He bit back a groan as the pain in his legs grew even worse.

She didn't wait for him before she started to work on the rope around his wrists. Silence enveloped them as she continued to work.

The rope finally broke free. However, that meant that his support was gone. James doubled over on the ground, groaning.