MAYYA (Eng ver.)

Chapter 8: Mysterious Man

Knock-knock, Zena knocked on the door of the house, but there was no response from the occupants.

"Try knocking harder," Mayya suggested. Zena knocked again, but still, there was no answer.

"Let me try," Lara said. She reached for the door handle and found that it was unlocked.

"They don't even lock their door."

"Should we try going in?" Lyra asked.

"Hm... I'll join," Mayya replied, followed by nods from Lara and Zena.

Lyra finally decided to enter the house. Inside, they found various high-quality furniture rarely seen in the village.

"Wow, this house is amazing," Lyra continued walking towards the kitchen. There, they saw some fruits on the dining table.

"I want to try," Lyra said, reaching for the fruit.

But her hand was stopped by Mayya. "Don't! We don't know if those fruits are still good or not!"

"Good point."

"Look! What about going upstairs?" Lara pointed out after noticing a staircase in the house.

"Sure, let's go," Mayya agreed.

The four of them left the kitchen and walked towards the staircase. But as they were about to climb it, they saw foot descending the stairs.

The four girls were startled and afraid. "W-who is it?"

The person continued down the stairs, revealing his face. It was a man wearing a mask and a cowboy hat.

"Why did you enter my house?" the owner of the house asked from the middle of the stairs, his voice polite and not stern.

"S-Sorry, sir, we knocked, but there was no answer, so we had to enter," Mayya explained what happened.

"You look hungry, come with me," the man invited them politely, continuing down the stairs. The four girls gave him way.

They followed the man from behind to the kitchen. "Let's sit!" he invited politely.

The four women just nodded and began to sit at the dining table.

"So, where are you all from? Who are you?" the man asked, taking some food from the cupboard.

"I'm Mayya, this is Lyra, and they are Lara and Zena. We were just kidnapped by some people at the livestock barn over there," Mayya introduced everyone.

"Sorry for that. Nice to meet you all, I'm Javid, I work as a farmer. No I mean, a seller," the man corrected himself.

"Nice to meet you too, Javid," Lara said with a smile.

But Mayya, hearing the word 'farmer', became suspicious. Who is this man?

Javid finished his work and came bringing some food for the girls. "Let's eat! This is the favorite food in this village!"

Mayya, full of suspicion, just smiled. She warned Lyra by touching her shoulder.

"We better not eat this and just leave," she whispered quietly.

Lyra nodded in agreement. When Lara and Zena wanted to taste the food because they were hungry, Lyra warned them by calling their names.

"Lara, Zena. How about we leave? My parents are looking for me."

"Why? We just wanted to taste the food," Zena replied, her hand hesitating to take the food.

"It's okay. I just want to go home. Right, Mayya?"

Mayya nodded, and she and Lyra stood up from their seats, grabbing Lara and Zena's hands to lead them out.

"Thank you, Javid, for the food, but we think we should go home now."

Javid approached them with a suspicious smile, "Are you sure you don't want to try the food?"

"It's okay," Lyra replied, walking towards the closed door.

"Come on, try the food," the man said as he continued to approach them.

Lyra grabbed the door handle and opened the door to escape from the house.

However, what they suspected was true. Outside the door, there were two guards who kidnapped them before blocking their way. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Run!" Lyra shouted, swinging her hand towards the stomach of one of the guards. The one she hit held his stomach in pain. Seeing that, Lyra managed to escape from there, and Mayya followed her from behind.

However, Lara and Zena, who were lagging behind, were blocked and captured by one guard who wasn't hit by Lyra.

"Mayya, Lyra, help!" Lara shouted, while Mayya and Lyra watched them from afar.

Mayya wanted to run to help them, but Lyra stopped her. "There's no need, it's too dangerous, Mayya."

The man named Javid stared at them sharply from the doorway of his house as he closed the door. Lara and Zena had already been taken inside by the two men.

---

"Let me go!" Lara and Zena shouted after their hands were tied with rope, and they were seated on chairs.

"Shut up!" Javid snapped.

"Jack, Hadad, slap them!" Javid ordered.

The two guards named Jack and Hadad stepped forward and slapped their cheeks. Lara and Zena felt the pain.

"What are you going to do to us?" Lara asked angrily.

"Oh, relax. We won't harm you!" Jack replied with a wicked smile.

"You just slapped us, and you say you won't harm us!?" Zena retorted defiantly.

"Oh, sweetheart, that's not harm. We just touched you a little."

"You're evil!" Lara shouted, but Hadad came again and slapped them hard, silencing them.

"Tomorrow, you'll go for a walk with us," Javid said, circling around the two bound girls.

"We don't want to!"

"Oh, come on, darling, we're going on a boat tomorrow. You like walks, don't you?"

"No, we don't!"

"I'm not forcing you, but you two will come with me tomorrow."

"No..." Lara's words were cut off by Jack, who gagged them with cloth so they couldn't speak much anymore.

"Take them to the upstairs room!" Javid ordered his henchmen.

So Jack and Hadad untied them, forced them to stand up, and tied their hands again.

The henchmen grabbed their hands and pushed them upstairs.

Upon arriving upstairs, they were taken to a room and pushed inside. When they were inside, Jack and Hadad untied their hands and removed the cloth from their mouths.

Then, they left the room and locked them inside.

"What are we going to do, Lara?" Zena asked sadly.

"I don't know, Zena, this room has no windows. We can't escape at all," Lara replied despairingly.

"Looks like all we can do is wait for them to come back to this room."

"It seems so," Lara agreed.

Lara and Zena lay down on the bed and slept because they didn't know what else to do.