Chapter Ten: Bathing
Hicks carried Anno into the second-floor bathroom, placed her on a stool, and found a bathtub to fill with hot water for her. Seeing Huo Yin follow, he looked at his messy hair and the grime on his face, and pushed him inside, saying, "You should take a shower too."
Huo Yin glanced at the bathroom and realized that Hicks was bringing Anno up to take a shower. He pursed his lips, hesitated for a moment, and then began to take off his clothes.
Anno watched as Hicks skillfully filled the bathtub with water, tested the water temperature with his hand, and then added some medicinal powder or something similar.
She looked at Hicks and saw that although he had a kind of decadent feeling, his appearance was very outstanding. He looked to be only about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old. Could it be that he was already married and had children?
Otherwise, how could she feel that he was so adept at taking care of children, not only hers, but also the other children, and that he acted like a patriarch when interacting with them?
Huo Yin took off his clothes and stood there watching them.
Hicks led him to the innermost shower stall and turned on the shower for him.
After Hicks got ready, he lifted Anno off the stool and reached out to help her take off her clothes, but Anno took two steps back to avoid his hand.
Seeing her resistance, Hicks pointed to Huo Yin, who was standing naked in the shower, and said, "I'm going to give you a bath now. After you're done, you can have a good night's sleep."
The most important thing was to wash away the smell of the culture medium from her body and to cover up the smell of her spark with medicine powder, but Hicks felt that she wouldn't understand if he told such a small spark cub.
Anno knew she was only two or three years old, but her past life experiences made her subconsciously resistant to male touch. She thought for a moment, walked up to Hicks, nudged him, and then pointed to the door, indicating that she could wash herself.
Hicks looked at the cub with some surprise at her actions. How could a two- or three-year-old cub understand the concept of shame?
The seven or eight-year-old beast cub behind her was already naked and taking a bath inside. He tried again to go forward and take off her clothes to bathe her, but she still took two steps back and repeated the same action.
Hicks was somewhat surprised, but stopped insisting and called up the eldest girl among the beast cubs.
"Tuka, after you've bathed the baby, apply this medicine powder to her body."
Tuka was twelve years old. She was a beast-type creature and the girl Hicks had rescued from the underground arena. She nodded to him and said, "I understand, Hicks."
Hicks reached out and ruffled Anno's hair. Seeing Huo Yin standing blankly under the showerhead, he went into the shower room, pulled the curtain closed, and went to help the beast cub take a bath.
Anno saw that Hicks had put up a curtain before taking off his clothes with Tuka's help and getting into the bathtub.
In the shower, Huo Yin stood straight, letting Hicks rub his head and wash his somewhat tangled hair.
His entire attention was focused on Anno outside, his ears practically perked up to listen to any sounds coming from outside.
Hicks laughed and said, "Don't worry, it can't escape."
Huo Yin lifted a corner of the curtain and saw only the back of the cub's head emerging from the bathtub. The light strip behind her ear was swaying unconsciously. He smiled slightly and lowered the curtain.
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