A Thousand-Year Old Prophecy

89: Fated Encounter 2

"Eh?"

As soon as they walked out the restaurant, Nyssa stopped.

"Anong problema mo?" Toby asked her.

"My coin purse." Nyssa said.

Agad namang napatingin sa may bewang niya ang apat na lalaki.

They all saw her tying it carefully kanina bago sila lumabas.

"Eh??? Wag mong sabihing nanakawan ka?" Exaggerated na sabi ni Khalil.

She just nodded at him.

"Ana, you are such a dullhead. Nakatali na sa katawan mo ay nahablot pa sayo. Saan natin ngayon hahanapin yan?"

Nyssa could no longer kept her fake concern expression. Her lips lifted up in playful smile.

"I will retrieve it back. Mauna na kayo."

She turned around and was about to go. Pero bago pa man siya tuluyang makalayo, Toby was already holding the back of her dress.

"Where do you think you are going?"

"Sinabi ko na ah. Kukunin ko yung coin purse ko."

"So you know where it is?"

"I have an idea who took it."

"Ana, don't play with me. You know no one from this place."

"Trust me, Toby."

Matagal na nagsukatan ng tingin ang dalawa.

After minutes, Toby finally gave up.

"I'll go with you then. You three, bring these things back home, okay?"

Yun lang at binitbit na niya si Nyssa palayo. Ni hindi man lang niya hinintay na may makaangal pa sa kanila.

Napailing na lang si Nyssa.

Wala talaga siyang kawala kay Toby.

Anyway, nang tuluyan na silang makalayo mula sa restaurant, Toby stopped walking and dragging her.

"So? Nakanino ang coin purse mo?"

"Follow me."

Pumasok silang dalawa sa isang eskenita.

Agad namang naalerto si Toby. The place looked like a dangerous one.

Napatingin siya kay Nyssa na nangunguna sa paglalakad. She didn't seem think the same as him though. Besides, why did it seem like, alam na alam niya ang lugar na ito?

***

On the same alley, two kids hid behind some big unused boxes and looked at the coin purses they were able to steal.

"Nakailan tayo?" The older girl asked the little boy na kasama niya.

"Lima, Ate."

"Let's see if they have enough for everyone?"

Inisa isa ng dalawang bata ang mga coin purses. Until the older girl picked up that red one.

Pero bago pa man niya mabuksan iyon, they heard a voice.

"Hey, kiddo. Don't you know that you shouldn't be opening coin purses na hindi inyo?"

There were two people nearby them. A lady and a lad.

The little boy quickly hid behind her. Habang siya naman ay mabilis na dinampot ang mga purses.

She and her brother recognized the lady.

She was the owner of the red pouch.

"Finders keepers." She said kasunod noon ay ang pagtakbo nilang dalawang magkapatid. They went into different directions.

Hindi siya naniniwalang hindi nila matatakasan ang dalawa. This alley were their territory.

They knew every nook and crook of this place.

Imposibleng hindi nila mailigaw ang dalawa gaya ng iba pang mga tao na nagtangka na humabol sa kanila noon.

***

"Aren't we going to run after them?" Toby asked ng pinanood lamang ni Nyssa na tumakbo ang dalawang bata.

Toby was actually a little bit flustered dahil akala niya talaga ay nagloloko lang ang dalaga kanina ng sinabi nito na nanakaw ang purse niya.

But he saw it clearly habang hawak hawak ng batang babae.

However, di naman talaga masisisi si Toby if he thought of that. Who in the right mind na nanakawan na nga pero nakuha pang ngumiti?

Only Nyssa would...

"Nope. We shouldn't chase them. Mapapagod lang tayo. Let's go directly at their headquarters."

"What???"

"Headquarters, Toby."

"That's dangerous! Paano kung may mga sindikato na humahawak sa mga batang yun? Their headquarters would definitely not a good place to go then."

"Trust me, okay? Those were just kids. I can assure you that they are working alone and no grown ups involve with them."

Toby opened his mouth to speak. He actually had a lot of problem with this thing na gustong gawin ni Nyssa.

He really thought she was being reckless. Isa pa, how could she really know na walang matatanda ang involve sa mga batang ito? It is one thing na she could direct them through this maze-like alley but for her to actually know the headquarter of theirs...

However, she said trust her.

This is the second time this day na sinabi ito ng dalaga sa kanya.

Although he had some reservations, but he couldn't not trust Nyssa when she already asked him to.

He sighed deeply then.

"Are we going then?" Nyssa asked him.

"Go then go. Just make sure you will not, in anyway, be in danger once we get there. And if I am right, we will go back quickly, okay?"

Nyssa gave him a huge smile and nodded at him. Then like a very excited kid, she led him deeply to the alley towards the headquarter of these kids.

***

After running around the alley for a while and figuring out that those lady and lad wasn't running after her, Sophia finally decided to just go to their headquarter.

Doon na lang niya bibilangin ang laman nitong pulang coin purse.

A smirk appeared on her face while looking at it though.

No wonder that lady had to follow her. This coin purse had lots of money in it. Hindi man niya nabibilang ay alam na niya. Kumpara naman sa bigat nito at noong iba pang mga coin purse na nakuha din niya, this one is really heavy.

"Mukhang nakajackpot kami ngayon ah."

She then excitedly went to the headquarter kung nasaan ang iba pang mga batang kasamahan niya.

Yes, they were all kids.

Abandoned kids, actually...

They had no parents to take care of them. And because these people in this city were not really sympathetic towards them and instead, tinataboy pa sila ng mga ito, they had just decided to steal from them.

Money...

If they have enough money, they can buy food everyday and clothes for the new kids.

Sophia and her brother, Sonny, were scheduled today to do the stealing. Kaya naman hanggang maaari, they wanted to bring enough money today.

Out of her expectation though, a surprise awaited her once she reached the headquarters.

***