Forest fire and wild beast

"System, what happened?" Ali asked as he looked at the chain of notifications and not understanding any of them.

[Host's Authority level is not enough to know any details on the chosen target.]

[Host is advised to not use appraisal on this person again. Or the cooldown time might be higher.]

"Who is she? She is normal, right?" Ali asked again, not even sure what to think about a girl whom the system refuses to identify.

[...] (-silence)

'Is she a heroine, or is her mom one?' Ali thought in his mind, but then shook his head, while saying 'But I've scanned heroines before. And nothing happened.'

"The only thing similar to this could be Aliya's question mark future trait but even she didn't have her whole page locked down. Not to mention this penalty if I use appraisal again." Ali thought and instead of feeling sad or surprised, he smiled happily, as he felt even more curious to learn about this little devil's background now than ever before.

"Well, if the system's useless and suppose Shashi didn't just pop out of nowhere in my car, there should still be some traces of her somewhere out there. If not in this city and state, then somewhere else on earth." He said as he sent a photo of Shashi to Ghost along with a message asking her to find every little thing she can about this girl and inform him as soon as possible.

"Let's see what makes her so special." Ali said and stood up to get ready for the shopping with this kid. Maybe if she's happy and sees something familiar while roaming around, she could tell him about it.

…

After a short warm bath and the average light breakfast that ended with him taking a few pills with bitter taste and druggy smell that Emily's been carrying around in her pockets it seems, Ali was finally feeling ready to go out shopping, when another surprise awaited him at the hallway.

"Liv, what're you doing here?" Ali said, looking at Olivia with all her perfection and beauty just sitting there, talking with Aliya, who unlike everyone else was still wearing her flowery pajamas and an oversized T-shirt.

"Aliya invited me." Liv said with a smile and then added, "She's not feeling well, so I'll help you with the shopping for Shashi."

"She looks fine to me." Ali said turning towards his sister, who was about to yawn, but seeing his gaze, just changed it into the 'fakest cough' he ever heard in his life.

Before realizing it herself and then standing up and leaving without saying anything.

"Bring me something too." She said loudly, once she safely crossed the stairs and walked towards her room where no one could see her.

"She's going to sleep, isn't she?" Ali said, as he heard the running footsteps and then the loud door closing noise.

"She just came back from her studies, she needs her sleep." Liv said in a serious tone, while fixing Shashi's flying hair in a plastic headband.

"I didn't know you could do that?" Ali asked as he sat beside them and pulled the phone from Shashi's hands.

"You don't know a lot of things." Liv replied, and gave Shashi her phone, so she'd stop moving around.

"Yeah, like what?" He said, waving his hand in the air, blocking Shashi's view.

"Like this." Liv replied and hit his hand with her fist. Causing Ali to wince and move back, as he could literally see a red mark over his skin from the sharp diamond etched into her golden ring.

"Tsk." Ali clicked his tongue as he watched as the little devil poke her tongue out as if taunting him, before getting busy watching her videos again.

"How du I loot?" Shashi said, as she stood up and waved around, after Liv fixed her hair up perfectly.

Shashi was wearing a loose black pants and a short sleeve red t-shirt with a V-neck. Her shoulder length hair parted from the middle were fixed in place by the flower pattern headband. Her tiny hands holding the mobile, while her small feet covered in black shoes.

(A dress Emily arranged last night.)

"Perfect, just like a princess." Ali said as he held her head and stopped her in place, before Liv came and took Shashi away, as Ali was simply messing with the hairstyle she spent the last ten minutes on.

"And me?" She said in a serious tone, waiting for the praise that should've come before her asking, considering how much effort she put in thinking to start right, now that this idiot was finally out of that witch's control.

Ali looked at her carefully and took a moment to appreciate that she really did look pretty. Even more so than she did last night, or the time before that.

'Was she always this pretty?' He couldn't help but wonder in his heart.

She was wearing a long black skirt which had a slit near her knees. And with each her step the black cloth would move just like a curtain allowing sun rays inside to show her perfect skin and feet.

A gray top and an open white coat covered her upper body. Hiding all of her skin except her open neck and the flawless hands. A slim leaf design earring fixed in one of her ears, grazing her neck with every movement, where a matching golden necklace highlighted her style and beauty. A silver bracelet on her wrist and a black metal purse in her hands.

As she turned around in a circle just like Shashi, Ali gulped subconsciously as his eyes followed her movements like capturing it in slow motion. Her perfect S shaped figure with the charming smile she had on her face, made her look just like an evil seductress succubus.

Finally as she turned back, the thumping sound of her high heels touching the floor synced with his heart beat, and he finally felt like waking up from a trance.

'She really is a villainess.' Ali thought in his heart, as he started shaking his head to clear out all the thoughts popping up one by one.

Liv looked at his reaction and gave a subtle smile to herself, while thinking she should really tease this guy more in future for all the time he ignored her and made her wait.

But she didn't want to do it all at once. Since it was a new beginning for them as he said it yesterday night, then just let him take it slow. After all, she already said she loves him, she just needed to make him say it. And without that bitchy witch coming in between them, it was a clear road to victory in Liv's mind.

"So where are we going?" She asked, changing the topic.

(She already got her praise with how speechless he became.)

"I don't know." Ali replied innocently, feeling glad she didn't continue with her previous question, or he might end up stuttering or blabbering something else. "I thought since it's shopping, Aliya would make a long list of everything already."

"Seriously?" Liv said, looking at him with a deadpan expression.

"Well, I know nothing about what girls shop or like these days? You know half my stuff is either bought by you or by Em. And the rest are just nice gifts from others." Ali spoke, opening the door of the car for Liv and Shashi.

"You know sometimes you're a real disappointment." Liv said jokingly before taking her phone and sending a message to Emily sitting in the driver's seat.

Well what can she say, she already expected it from this fool.

Ali just shrugged his shoulders over the insult and entered the car too.

"I heard something fun happened at the Career high, your doing?" Liv asked after placing Shashi to the side, as she kept moving up and down trying to get the window view.

Hearing Liv's question Ali looked at Shashi nearby and hesitated to answer, thinking if his actions like that should be discussed in front of a little kid like her or not. But seeing that Shashi was too busy counting trees on her fingers, or waving at moving cars nearby, Ali decided to answer and nodded his head.

(A/N - Yes, shashi is a genius who can count all the way till ten, ... Well maybe nine.)

But Liv not having it, asked another question. "If you just want to take it slow and make him lose, this isn't going to work." She said and continued "Public rumors are like wild fires, it'll die down on its own in a day or two."

"Unless someone keeps adding fuel to it. Then it won't stop until it burns the whole forest down." Ali replied with a smirk, as if trying to show off that he already thought of these things.

Liv looked at his smile and sneered openly. "If the forest's gone, the animals either find a new shelter or they turn wild, in both cases, now it's hard to control and harder to keep track of."

At the end of her sentence she gave the same smirk as him, showing off that he was still a newb in front of her.

"Well, necessary sacrifice. Since I need the forest clean of wild beasts for my little bunny." Ali said with a helpless tone while shrugging his shoulder.

It took a moment for Liv to understand what he meant, and when she did, she nodded her head too. After all, how can she allow a trash like that around her best friend.

"And I already know all the shelters the beast could end up in." Ali said, thinking about the heroines he had found till now. Knowing already, that a protagonist in trouble always finds the right solution near some heroine. "He's on my leash." He proudly said.

"A leash can be broken, avoided or dragged away too. Why not put a tracker on it as a failsafe." Liv replied, showing hand signs where she cut her hand and sutured it up again.

'Guess you didn't think of doing this one huh, my idiot.' She said in her heart, as she watched Ali's silent face, and smiled proudly.

"Don't be sad, it's a newbie mistake." She said, as she patted his shoulder, bringing him back to his senses.

"Should I be worried that you sound experienced?" Ali said and for a second wondered if this villainess fit a tracker into his body.

"You should." Liv said with a mysterious smile, before turning around and slapping Shashi's hand which was slowly sliding over the button where she learned she could play with the window.

"Is she really a 4 year old?" Liv asked, looking at Ali, who pulled Shashi to his side, before she started 'crying'.

"Beats me. I have doubts too." Ali said, wiping away the nonexistent tears over the acting child in his arms.

"I m por." Shashi said and raised her three fingers up and pointed at Liv, as if answering her, who in turn just grabbed her tiny hand and opened her pinky finger too. "This is four." Liv said in correction, as she pinched Shashi's face till it turned red, and she started squirming away.

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A/N - This book just signed a contract today. And thus as congratulations why don't you send all your well wishes in the review and comment section. And if you're a rich young master, you can be the first gift giver of this story, and make ur name immortalized in my memory.

(My first book had the first gift by an author friend C2, which was an inspiration capsule if I recall correctly. Let's hope to match that or do even better.)

++ drop a praying emoji in comment section if not gift lol. Maybe God would listen to u lot, faster than me, the devil