Pick The Second Male Lead

07.7 - Easton Zed

                The moment Maida made the decision to leave, she does it without reluctance. To show doubts would only hinder her resolve and let other sense something was off about her. So putting on her usual, carefree expression, Maida followed behind Uncle Nsia while he led her out the den and toward one of the many tank vehicles. The old man gave her a bag of money along with the grocery list he needed her to purchase. It took a lot of effort on Maida's part to maintain her smiling expression when Uncle Nsia gave her extra money so that she could buy something nice for herself. Resisting the urge to hug the old man goodbye, Maida beamed her dimple smiles with a small wave before entering the vehicle.

Several hours later, they arrived to the bustling city within Inops land. Maida quickly set forward her planned to escape by using the ploy of wanting to go to the clothing store. While the two men waited out front of the small dress shop, Maida went to the back in order to try on some of the clothes. Then without anyone detection, the girl slip out of the fitting room with a brown shawl covering her head and tiptoed out the back door. Once she entered the crowded street again, no one took notice of the little figure covered in an old unassuming shawl as she blends in with the mass.

No one notice the proud smile on Maida's face as she disappeared into the busy street.

Maida managed to keep herself under radar by steadily walking toward the edge of the city. Before the sun begins to set, she found an unmarked old inn to rent a small room for the night. Maida made sure to keep her head low and her face hidden while she handed a silver coin and a note to the inn keeper. Although her silence and cover-up was strange, the inn keeper did not dwell into her business since she was a paying guest. That night, Maida did not sleep as she sat in the hard surface bed to plan-out her next course of action.

Her plan?

Since the meeting between the second male lead and the protagonist is inevitable, Maida figured its best for her to find an alternative route to survive the game. Her plan had been simple. She would buy enough supplies to last for a while and make her way outside the main city, toward the rural - less populated land of Inops. Yes, the rural areas are also the poorest but the people there are not as risky as the people inside the city. Moreover, the city having a high level of sex trafficking and kidnapping, there are fewer chances for a young girl like herself to get capture if she was outside of it. Even though the living condition maybe hard, the soul within Maida was confident that she can find ways within the rural lands peacefully. Most importantly, there were no good men within the corrupted city. Maida figured she had better chances if she looked outside of it.

The "plan" had been solid up until Maida left the inn the following morning to see the story's leading lady in the middle of the street. Dressed in white with her golden hair loosely in a long ponytail, Rosie Zoua walked the street with an innocent smile on her lovely white face. The protagonist of the story was shining beautifully - completely ignorant to the invisible sign on her forehead that read "kidnap me". Her sparkling blue eyes took in the dirty, busy street with awe and wonder - utterly unaware to the fact that there is more than one man trailing not far from behind her. Frowning, Maida turned away from the scene, thinking to let the naive girl to her demise.

Maida had already taken one step forward and away from the scene, but then turned back around and rushed toward the gullible protagonist. The second when Maida grabbed Rosie Zoua's hand, she ran - literally pulling the taller girl with her. Rosie Zoua had been startled at first but then heard several shouting behind her. After seeing three men sneering perversely at her, Rosie Zoua paled at the realization that they were after her. Fortunately, Maida managed to swiftly find a crack in the trash-filled alley for them to hide in. Pulling Rosie Zoua down to her knees, Maida took out an extra shawl from her small bag and covered the girl's golden hair and beautiful face. Before Rosie Zoua could speak, Maida covered her mouth with a hand. Instantly, the men who were chasing them before rushed passed the dark alley.

"Where did they go?" The men rushed back the dark alley where Maida and Rosie Zoua hid among the trashes. "Do you think they went in there?"

"A beautiful girl like that wouldn't hide in a pile of trash, you idiot"

Even when the men were gone, Maida waited a few minutes before she pulled Rosie Zoua along with her. Once they were back in the street, Maida held onto Rosie Zoua's arm and guided her calmly through - seamlessly blending with the crowd. Even though Rosie Zoua was nervous and confused, she kept silent and followed Maida lead while they made their way into a rundown inn. Because the two were quiet and covered up, Maida knew the inn keeper's interest was piqued as he handed the room key. Seeing that their time was limited before they have to leave the city, Maida calmly took Rosie Zoua into the room to "talk".

"Who are you? Why did those men chased after us?"

Rosie Zoua immediately questioned as soon as they entered the room. Maida sighed softly and sat down in one of the three stools around the small wooden table in the middle of the small bedroom. Ignoring the nervous girl pacing back and forward, Maida removed the shawl around her head and face.

"Who are you?"

Rosie Zoua saw Maida's appearance for the first time and was surprised to see how young she was. Maida patted the seat beside her, gesturing Rosie Zoua to sit down. Once Rosie Zoua sat, Maida begin to use her index finger to write out invisible words on the table surface.

"You can't speak?" At once, Rosie Zoua realized Maida couldn't speak.

Maida shook her head and continued to write on the surface of the table. The process was long and tedious but since Rosie Zoua did not know sign language and Maida did not have any paper or pen to write with, she had no choice but to slowly air-write out each word.

"Can you contact your family?" Rosie Zoua slowly read out the words Maida wrote.

From the guilty look on Rosie Zoua's face, Maida sighed softly. In the current dying world, technology has become the things of the past. Things like satellite, internet, and phones no longer exist due to the lack of resources left in the world. Even cars are limited only to people within Harika or the powerful mafia groups of Malum since gas and oil are difficult and expensive to obtain. Still, Maida had hoped the protagonist was smart enough to bring some sort of signal device to get a hold of her family. Even a flare gun would have been sufficed.

"I... I didn't let anyone know where I went... Even now, my family thinks I'm at a friend's house..."

Maida figured that much and sighed again.

"I have my motorbike though" Rosie Zoua suddenly remembered. "I parked it right outside the_"

Maida shook her head - cutting off her next words. Rosie Zoua was confused until she read what Maida wanted to say.

"Your bike is gone."

Rosie Zoua hadn't believed it. How would it be gone?

"As soon as you left it, someone else have stolen it"

Startled, Rosie Zoua looked at Maida to see clear, honest eyes. She knew the girl before her was telling the truth. All of a sudden, Rosie Zoua felt hurt, lost, and afraid. She hadn't thought her choice in sneaking out to play was a horrible idea until now. All she wanted to do was explore the world outside Harika. She didn't realize how truly dangerous it was for her to go, and how people would try to kidnap her. She didn't know how fraudulent and shady the land of Inops was. For the crooked city, beautiful girls like Rosie Zoua would get eaten alive. Her family had always told her how treacherous it was outside of Harika, but she had thought it was their way in "scaring" her from leaving the fortress walls.

"What should I do?" Rosie Zoua asked nervously seeing that it was getting darker and the cheap room have no electrical lights - only a single short candle.

Before the candle went out, Maida wrote down one last comment to put the girl at ease.

"Don't worry; we'll head out the city tomorrow. Try to get some sleep."

"Ok..." Rosie Zoua could only comply.

That night - while the protagonist slept, Maida sat on the edge of the small bed and watched the locked doorway.