"Twenty!" Leo's voice echoed through the garden as he finished counting against the enormous oak tree. He pressed his palm flat against the rough bark, his eyes still closed. "I'm coming."
The moment he took a step, the entire garden fell unusually quiet.
Well... almost quiet.
Tiny giggles kept escaping from every direction...behind bushes, under benches, from the branches of a low-hanging willow tree. The children were trying so hard to be silent but their excitement so High that they are trying to cantrol their little laughter.
Leo couldn't help smiling.
These little ones were terrible at hiding.
He deliberately walked in the wrong direction first, his footsteps slow and exaggerated. "Hmm... I wonder where everyone disappeared. It's so quiet..too quiet."
A pair of tiny sneakers was sticking out from behind a flower bush, the bright red laces giving away the hiding spot completely. Leo looked directly at them... then calmly walked away as if he hadn't noticed.
