While the children were having their bath, she finished preparing dinner but her attention remained in the bathroom some steps away. When she came back, she noticed that Joié and her funny faces had finally managed to make her brother smile again. The girl had spread the bubbly foam on her little face and Yuriko silently thanked humanity for the invention of non-stinging foam once more.

“Okay, time to come out, you two. You’re looking really wrinkled already! Dinner is almost done and then we’ll call Daddy, okay?”

Once again, Joié threw her hands into the air and jumped up at the same time. Somehow, she missed the small rubber animals on the bottom of the bathtub that were supposed to prevent the kids from slipping. With a splash, she went under and both Yuriko and Aiden were quick to grab and pull her up again.

Joié coughed hard and started crying immediately. Without thinking about wetting her clothes, Yuriko lifted her out of the bathtub and into her arms. She quickly wrapped her daughter into a towel so she wouldn’t be cold. “Calm down, Jo, I’ve got you. And Aiden helped as well.”

The little boy stood behind Yuriko, who sat down on the edge of the bathtub and put her daughter onto her lap. “I told you to be careful when getting up from the tub so often, Jo.”

When she had calmed down a little, Joié looked at her with big eyes filled with tears.

“Be a little more careful next time, okay honey?“, Yuriko said and kissed the top of her daughter’s head. She was rewarded with a small nod before Joié cuddled close once more.

Holding her girl in her arms, Yuriko used her free hand to help Aiden out of the tub and handed him his towel. “Good job, Aiden. Thank you for helping. Now, make sure to dry your feet so you won’t slip, okay?”

She quickly dried off her daughter and helped her into her pyjamas before doing the same for Aiden. She loved his dinosaur outfit and smiled down at him while drying his hair. Jo had already left the bathroom after having her hair combed by her mum. They could hear her talking to her stuffed otter, telling it what had just happened in the bathroom.

Aiden was looking at her calmly while Yuriko was carefully drying his hair and she raised her eyebrows to urge him to speak his mind. 

He took a deep breath and thought about speaking for another moment. “Daddy is definitely going to come back, right Mummy? Or was John right about him?” His voice was no more than a whisper.

“Aiden…”, Yuriko said with a sigh and lowered her hands to look at him. “I’m more than sure that Daddy is going to do everything he can to come back soon. And I bet John meant no harm when he said what he said. After all, he’s your friend, right?”

“But Daddy hasn’t called since he left. Just that one time and I was asleep then. That’s so unfair!” Aiden shrugged a little and took a step back when his mother tried to comb her fingers through his hair once more.

Yuriko nodded since she knew about Aiden’s feelings. She got up from the tub’s edge and knelt down in front of her son. “I know. That’s why we’re going to try and call him tonight, so you can talk to him as well. Okay? But we’ll have dinner first.” 

Before Aiden could answer, they both heard Chief barking but neither of them were able to see him. Aiden left the bathroom and Yuriko quickly folded the towel before following her son into the open living area.

Both Chief and Joié were standing in front of the patio door and looked into the garden but Chief was growling deeply. He was agitated and the growling got louder and louder.

“Jo, is everything okay?”, Yuriko asked as she approached the two and knelt between them. Chief calmed down immediately and started wagging his tail.

Joié, who was still cuddling her otter toy, nodded and pointed towards the dark garden outside. “Chief just chased off the monster! It came back!”

Aiden came a little closer as well and basically pressed his nose against the window to be able to see a little better. However, as it had started raining and was already dark outside, it was close to impossible to spot anything. 

“I bet it was just a cat, Jo. You know Chief doesn’t like them”, he said and petted the dog. “Can we eat now? I am hungry!”

“In a minute, Aiden. Can you please go upstairs and get your socks first?” Yuriko heard her son’s annoyed groan but watched him as he walked towards the stairs before turning back to Joié. She was still looking out the window with wide eyes. 

“Sweetie, what did you see exactly?”, she asked her daughter anxiously.

“Well, the monster!” Joié’s voice was a little louder than necessary. “It ran through the garden and looked at me. And then it went like this.” 

She lifted her small finger and put it in front of her lips as if she was asking her mother to stay silent. “And then Chief came and barked and the monster ran into the forest.”

Taking her daughter into her arms, Yuriko hugged her for a moment. She told herself to remain calm so she wouldn’t scare Joié. Still, she started doubting that everything that happened was a coincidence. 

Not only did she feel like she was being watched since a couple of days. Two days ago she had also received an envelope with photographs that told a different story. 

She was shivering slightly and looked outside once more. “But the monster’s gone now, right?” Running her hand down her daughter’s back, she smiled down at her again. “Let’s send Chief outside again so he can really chase it away, okay? And while he does that we’ll have dinner and call Daddy.”

Yuriko got up and opened the patio door to let Chief out into the garden. She knew he would be safe and come back in a few minutes. Closing the door again, Yuriko watched the dog vanish into the darkness before the kitchen timer started beeping.

He was quickly running through the forest. Every now and then, he looked over his shoulder to keep track if he was being followed. One hand in his pocket, he searched for the small glass bottle he had stored in there before. When he finally found it, he came to a stop next to a huge tree.

He cursed under his breath because the clouds covered the moon and hindered his vision in the dark forest but he still managed to fill the syringe with a dose of narcotic agent. The next moment, he heard feet running on the wet leaves on the forest ground and a quiet snooping noise that slowly turned into a growl.

Using just a few, quick movements, he climbed a tree and looked down from the branch he was sitting on now. The slender body of a dog appeared just below him. Soon, the dog started scratching the wet ground with its paws.

He tightened the grip around the small cylinder-shaped syringe in his hand, ready to jump down and ram the needle into the animal’s neck and finally put an end to its snooping. He knew it would probably ruin his plan but he did not know what else to do.

When the low male voice reached his ears through the noise of the rain, he could stop himself in the last second.

“Chief, boy, what are you doing outside in this weather?”

The old man had pulled up his hood so it covered his head completely. He stopped next to the dog and petted its back. The animal looked up at him and started wagging its tail. It knew the man, obviously.

Carefully and without making any noise, he stood closer to the trunk of the tree so he was no longer visible from down below thanks to the leaves and the darkness surrounding him.

“C’mon, let’s go home, ‘lright? Otherwise, we’ll be sick tomorrow.”

‘He’s talking to the dog as if it’s a child,' he thought scornfully. Still, he was glad that he did not have to use the syringe just yet. 

He had to be more careful from now on.

Still, it definitely had been too tempting to look at her.

‘If only those brats weren’t there,’ he thought to himself while he watched the old man taking the dog at its collar and back with him to the small village.

Little brats he had to get rid of when it was time.