Bands of the Unpaid Dowry

Chapter 15

"He did not just do something that idiotic. Jace! Stop running!" She groaned with disbelief. But as she turned to see him two blocks ahead still running with the dog chasing her, she couldn't help but buckle at her knees and double over in laughter.

"Millicent!" Jace's frightened voice called her when he ran around her for the second time. She could hear his heavy breath, but she could not stop her laughter. Jace's agitated voice called out when he reached her, and she could hear the dog bark quite ferociously. "This is not funny little M."

She coughed and tried to stand. "Oh– I'm- I'm sorry." Her last giggle bubbled, and she jogged to his side motioning him to stay calm as the dog leaped around him. "I think it's tired now too. Look, it just wants to play."

"You call this playing? He obviously wants a piece of my meaty flesh." The dog barked wildly in the night.

"Young lady, won't you help the man?" A passerby called in their local language as she took careful steps to the pole that Jace was currently climbing with the dog barking up. Luckily, he was the only one who saw what was happening.

"I'm helping." The scene reminded her of Tom and Jerry and that erupted a random set of giggles from her. She grabbed a stick from the side of the wall of the house they stood by and stood in front of the pole. She shoved it in front of the dog. After three attempts of frightening it, it turned and trotted on another path. Tossing the stick away, she turned to see he had slid down.

"Have you never been warned not to run from a strange dog?" Her humorous statement had him frowning.

"I think it bit me." Millicent startled. She grabbed his leg that he had turned to check and saw a faint red mark on his left leg. Patting his blue shots, she stood again.

"Looks like a scratch. Come, Ella's house is two blocks up. Let's go and disinfect it." Jace immediately grabbed onto her hand, starting another set of laughter.

"Shut it, little M." But that made her howl louder. Even he could not deny the humor in the perilous situation. "How would I know that the dogs in this part of the world are this, I don't know, fierce."

"Their primary purpose in most homes is to safeguard it, and for some reason they seem to know. So, they're pretty much aggressive to people they don't know. We don't adopt them as children because we kind of respect their species for who they are and what they do. No offense." Millicent quickly added when she saw his mouth open to argue. "I mean they are cute, but we leave them to their own doings. Also, they're free to walk around and form friends with other dogs around. It gets scary, sometimes, how they act more human than humans."

Jace grumbled understanding what she was saying. "Someone needs to let them know that they could be nicer." Millicent giggled and they stopped in front of Manuela's house which was two streets from hers. In an attempt to visit her friend, she suggested that they stop by.

Millicent lifted her hand to hit the doorbell, but it was grabbed by the man who was with her. She faced him at her side with an interrogative look and her eyes narrowed.

"Just saying, little M, doorbells are overrated for Manu." With that he ignored the doorbell and banged the door.

Jace was always succumbing to being a teenager around his family and close friends, so his cousin was not surprised to find him as the culprit. Manuela stepped down to hug her friend, bumping Jace away. "I was just about to call you for something exciting! But why is this raccoon with you?" She noticed the mirth in Millicent's eyes as she watched Jace who seemed to be pleading with his eyes.

"I'll tell you one day. He needs to clean up a wound." Manuela opened the door so they could enter.

"What happened to you now?" Jace sauntered past her into the house with his head high, ignoring her to avoid recounting the embarrassing moment. Manuela raised a brow at Millicent to which she just shook her head with a suggestive stretch of her lips.