Chapter 497: A joke

 "Ariana." 

Ariana looked at the faces of an unfamiliar man and woman who were hugging her childlike self. They looked at her with a loving expression as they caressed her little self. 

"Were you frightened? This is why I told you to not run around?" the woman said to her while rubbing the back of her head. "Now stop crying, you are alright." 

"That's right," said the man. "We will keep you safe from now on." 

"You nearly scared us. Disappearing like that, we thought we lost you, now don't go anywhere without telling us. If we are not with you, you will be bullied —we will keep you safe." 

"You will always be safe." 

'No,' thought Ariana as she looked at the happy family. 

She was never safe. 

At that moment, she was feeling relieved over having parents that never even existed. She was feeling happy over a childhood that never even existed. 

Holding onto someone whom she had never even met.