LORENZO NIKHOLAI'S POV

"Hey! Watch your step boy!"

I snapped my head directly to the man whose face is as red as a tomato right now. Pure rage is evident in his face as I accidentally bumped into him that caused his supplies to scattered in the street. With eyebrows meet, he clenched his jaw and raised his arm- ready to hit me. Without further ado, I run and run; clutching tightly the pouch I am holding.

"I can do this. I can do this." The mantra I've been repeating on my mind as I passed by the busy crowd of Ozamiz city.

I can even hear his faint calling as I run. I stopped in an alley for a while to steady my uneven breathing. Looking around, all I could see are the busy people, hurrying to and fro. Too busy to notice my existence. Well, who am I anyway? I'm no one. I'm just a peck of a dust in this fast pacing world.

I was about to head back home, when panic shot through my system the moment I felt my hand empty.

"Damnit! The pouch!" I snapped my head back to where I pass through when I escaped the man, retracing back the place where the pouch might fall off from my hand.

I went back in the hope to find the pouch. Frustration got the best of me when I couldn't find the pouch. I even look into the trash bins, the disgusting duct and even asking random people.

As I approach them, their happy faces slowly turn into a scowl- showing so much distaste of my presence. I balled my hands 'til it turned white, my mouth's chattering from raw anger as I watch those people happily talking and laughing.

' The world's too fucked up and unfair.' They have an ample time wasting food and burn cash for nothing while there are people who struggles so much to survive everyday.

I close my eyes and took a deep breath. 'I can't do this here. Not in the middle of the street, not in the broad daylight.' I said to myself.

A couple of deep breaths and I'm good to go. I opened my eyes and the blinding light from the four o'clock afternoon made my eyes turn to slits. Everything's the same. Busy people. Crowded streets. Noisy surroundings. Just a real chaos in a day to day city life. Everything's the same yet my eyes got blurry from the tears threatening to spill. I slap my face once to awaken myself.

'There's no room for crying when I still need to find the pouch.' With new determination, I look ahead to look for the missing pouch. A pouch that in the first place, is not mine at all...

I sat in the sidewalk. Minutes passed by and I could feel the crumbling of my stomach and the dryness of my throat. A couple went by with the girl munching a burger. I salivated just the sight of how juicy and tender the burger is. I bit my lip as I remembered the reason why I'm here. I bet they were hungry too.

' If I can't find that freakingpouch then might as well find an alternative.'

A shiny sleek black car stopped across the street. A woman in her middle thirty's descend on the car. Even with the distance, her aura shouts luxury and grandeur. With a change of mind, I stand up from where I was sitting and a new plan formed in my mind.

" I can pull this off; all I need is timing, a perfect one at that." I murmured under my breath.

I blend in the crowd of students as they walked across the street. The crumblings of my stomach remind me so much to do this thing. I halt and hide in a corner and look closely to the woman.

She was busy talking to the phone with her bodyguards prowling. With her bodyguards lurking which are heavily armed with a high caliber hand gun in a holster shows she must be an important person. I gulped, feeling the chills as I could feel the bullet that would pierce eventually in my body if I would pursue this. Yet, the jewelries dangling from her wrist promises me the otherwise.

The sun's slowly setting down as the moments pass by. After an hour of pondering on what ifs, I decided to go home empty handed. There's no use in trying my luck on that woman anyway. Maybe, I can find another prospect tomorrow. She's still on her phone when I decided to leave.

I heave a deep breath as another night would pass without munching even a bit of food... And they would be too. I shook my head in disappointment.

I'm on the half way of the road when a screeching shout cut through the rowdy street. I halt on my tracks and look back to the sophisticated woman,now hysterical. Amidst the chaos, a girl in brunette locks are running hastily in the southern direction where the woman's bodyguards are tailing.

The woman was frantically searching in her bag that some of her things fall off- including a rectangular purse. She's too caught up with whatever she's doing that she didn't notice a man approaching. In a blink of an eye, the man snatch the woman's belongings. The man had even the audacity to come back and pick up the purse.

Unable to move and talk, the man got away with the woman left in pure shock and astonishment. The incident got some onlookers to stop by while some immediately went to the woman.

I don't know what got into me but my feet started to walk to where the culprit went.

The mere walk turn to run as I spotted the man turned into a secluded alley of which I know very well. Foul smell of smoke, booze and nauseating air welcome me. I went further, passing by a group of men smoking and drinking a cheap liquor. I passed them quietly to cause no further delay on my business, which in fact not my business at all.

'Why would I risk my life going into this place, the heart of the squatters area in this city, where dangerous men in all sorts lived in here?!' I bit my lower and shake off whatever thoughts running on my mind. The faster I can find the snatcher, the better.

I turned left as I saw the man's jacket flapping. I fasten my pace and took a rusty pole. Holding the pole firmly, I strode over the dark alley where the man turned, only to find a vacant lot with the bag ripped open.

The place is deserted without any trace of the man I was after. I took a step closer to the bag and saw the rectangular purse that minutes ago was in the woman's hand. I don't know why I was doing this but something's telling me to take a little closer, closer and closer until I've got the purse in my hand.

The purse is now empty. There's nothing in there that'll be useful to me anyway. I was about to throw the purse away when something caught my attention. Pique by what it is, I took it from the purse which was folded into two. Oxygen left me as I looked into the picture.

She's... Beyond the word beautiful. I was dumbstruck as I drink in the angel like features of an eleven year old girl. Her bluish pair of orbs, luscious pink lips and a cute pointed nose, can be mistaken as an angel's. Her smile's an innocent yet the twinkle in her eyes shadows mischief. I was trapped in my own trance when the vacant lot is not so vacant anymore.

"Put your hands above your head"!

I tore off my sight on the picture and look into the direction of the voice. In just a split of seconds, I was knocked off the ground and all I could feel is the cold, sharp handcuffs that bound my hands.