Liam instantly grabbed his sister and moved back a few paces as fast as he could. He didn't have to look up to see who was talking.
He already knew who it was. He was neither a stranger to that voice nor to these friendly faces, but to run into them here?
He quickly looked around and saw that there was a small alley to his right, just beside the apartment complex they were about to enter to take a look.
He grabbed Meilin's hand and ran over there. Of course, there was a burst of loud laughter and the group of young men followed him in excitement.
"He He. If I see trash on the road as a responsible person I need to deal with it."
The short and the fat one at the front dropped his empty soda can on the floor and kicked it, aiming for Liam's head.
However, it missed him and hit the wall behind him, or rather Liam dodged it.
It banged on the wall and fell down on the ground making a loud clanking noise, scaring Meilin, making the young girl shriek.
"Ha Ha. Would you look at that? Punching bag has a girlfriend!"
"Waaah! What a beauty!"
"Yes, you are right. If you ignore the shabby clothes, then her figure is not bad and her face is not bad too."
Meilin trembled on seeing the group of thug like people walk over and surround them. They were also talking weird things and behaving very rudely.
"Brother…" She clutched Liam's hands tightly in fear.
"Oh? Brother?"
"Now it makes sense! Ha ha ha. How could this trash have a girlfriend! Ha Ha ha"
"Hello, little girl, why don't you come here? I will buy for you whatever you want. In return, you just have to give me a kiss."
"What do you think about this deal? Not bad right?"
"Ha Ha Ha. Stop it, dude. She is too young."
"Hey punching bag, do you have another sister by any chance? Preferably one with bigger boobs. This one seems too flat for my taste. Ha ha ha."
Meilin trembled even more as the men in front of her kept on saying weird things. "Brother…" She looked up to see Liam, unusually quiet.
However, as soon as she did, she froze and let his hand go. For some reason, the man beside her terrified her more than the thugs standing in front of them.
"Ha Ha ha. Did you look at that? His own sister thinks that this bitch is useless. Ha ha ha."
"You have got a good head on kid. Why don't you run along and wait for your brother at home? He is going to play with us for a bit and only then come back. He He."
"Don't worry. We are just going to help him with homework. He missed school these couple of days right?"
"Hey! If you don't want to go, then feel free to stay back. He He. We can teach you about some things."
Meilin was not a frail young girl. Having somewhat recovered from her initial shock, she was able to look at everything more closely.
Especially when the thugs talked about school, she instantly understood that these were the people who had been beating and bullying her elder brother all this time.
All those countless times, she had helped him clean up his wounds!
All her fear immediately disappeared and she gritted her teeth angrily, bending down to pick up a stone from the ground.
However, before she could throw it, a hand grabbed hers and took the stone away from her, throwing it in her stead.
And as for the target of the stone… it was not one of the bullies.
It was rather a car parked on the street by the alley.
Crash!
The force with which the stone was thrown was enough to trigger the loud alarm and immediately the car started making an ungodly blaring noise attracting everyone's attention.
And since it was the middle of the day, a few people quickly walked over to that side.
"Fuck!"
"Let's just leave!"
Meilin dumbfoundedly watched as the people who had cornered them disappeared just like that!
"Brother… you…" She looked up at her brother again and this time, the scary expression on his face was long gone.
"Sorry. Are you alright?" Liam gently smiled. "They seem to have disappeared. Shall we check out our apartment?"
Meilin dumbly nodded and the two of them stepped out of the small alley and went into the apartment complex.
She still turned around to see if those people were following them, but it looked like they were really gone.
Only after the gate of the apartment complex closed behind them, she sighed in relief.
Things could have gotten really worse but her brother had acted in the nick of time and diffused it easily, but there was one thing that she still did not understand.
If he had not taken them both into the alley, then this wouldn't have happened?
And also… the look on his face!
She had never seen her brother look so angry…
"Why are you blanking out? We are here." Liam's voice snapped her out of her thoughts and the young girl looked ahead to see a nice spacious living room in front of her.
"Wahhh! So big!" She gulped and walked in. Too many things were happening and the young girl found herself at a loss for words.
Liam leaned against the door and patiently waited for his sister to take a tour. He also gave her some time to catch her breath.
Meilin walked around and took a look, but she also peaked at her brother every once in a while. Unlike her, whose heart was still pounding crazily, he seemed very calm and relaxed.
In fact, he was just like that for the entire time, as if they had just not been nearly assaulted by the bunch of bullies who had been terrorizing him for the major part of his life.
The young girl really could not make heads or tails of what was happening.