The next morning, the workers and children of World Vision Orphanage in the northern suburbs all lined up in 2 rows near the orphanage’s entrance. Amidst the warm welcome from both sides, Alicia slowly walked toward the entrance of the orphanage after getting out of the car.
As Angie and Josephine followed closely after her, the endless applause from the crowd started to make Angie’s temples throb. She had been having a bad feeling about today since last night.
Even though their welcome seemed hearty, she knew that none of them were applauding for their arrival. After Alicia was guided by the orphanage director to his office, Angie held Josephine’s hand as they walked around the compound. It wasn’t long after when the orphanage’s workers started talking in hushed voices amongst themselves that Angie finally understood the star of today’s activities.
A mysterious wealthy person in Melrose City was willing to donate a huge amount of operational funds to World Vision Orphanage. If the donation proceeded as planned, that would mean that the orphanage had a chance to change its facilities into new ones, which would, in turn, bring about positive changes to the children’s living conditions. The other thing that they were most happy about was that the workers’ quarterly bonuses might double.
A plump woman waving a little red flag instructed the crowd who was cozy and sleepy from being under the warm sun, “They are here! Everyone, get ready!”
Angie stood by the entrance, and she craned her neck to peek at the silver sedan parked outside the orphanage’s gate. She caught sight of a middle-aged man with a balding head sitting in the sedan. With his sunglasses on, and a briefcase in his hand, he got out of the sedan and walked past the cheering crowd toward the director’s office.
“Is that the mysterious rich person?”
“Dummy, why would a mysterious person show themself so easily? He is a lawyer who has work to do here.”
“Does this mean that our double bonus is confirmed? Haha—”
Josephine was tired from hearing the chatter going on, so she clasped her hand around Angie’s mouth and started dragging her along into the orphanage.
Alicia would usually bring Josephine along to attend these charity events. Under the older woman’s constant influence, it became a habit for the young girl to lend a hand whenever she could. However, she did seem tired today. She even looked like she was anxious.
She pushed open a wonky wood-colored door that made a loud creaking noise, and she was immediately greeted by the sight of a skinny figure shaking behind the door. The person’s big eyes immediately shot up to look at the figures of a young girl and a young adult still standing outside the door.
Seeing him, Josephine couldn’t help but wonder why there was a boy hiding in the corner when everyone at the orphanage was supposed to be welcoming their guests at the entrance.
The dark-skinned boy had black, curly locks. He had a flat nose and there was a piece of gauze on his forehead. He was a strange sight to behold.
Josephine waved and politely greeted him. “Hello,” she said.
The boy was making a clay man before the girls had abruptly interrupted him. He was now holding the piece of clay that wasn’t shaped well in one hand, and a knife in the other. On closer look, the tip of the knife was stained with fresh blood that seemed to have come from an injury in the back of his left hand.
Josephine then took 2 steps closer toward the boy, but when she was still some distance away from him, the boy suddenly let out a grunt that sounded too annoyed not to be a rejection of her approach.
“I don’t think he wants to be disturbed. Let’s go to a different place.”
Josephine stopped moving forward then. She understood why the boy had reacted that way to her. Alicia had told her that children living in orphanages had gone through unhappy times and that she should be caring and tolerant toward those children.
Thinking about that, she took out a box of chocolate from her bag and put it on a table at the side.
The boy only let out an angrier grunt when he saw the chocolate. As his gaze showed an aggression impossible for a person his age, he ran over to her, and the next thing Josephine heard as she stood in the same spot was the sound of something falling.
The carefully packaged chocolate box went flying before it hit the leg of a table, and its content was all over the floor the next moment.
She was caught off guard as she stared at the boy’s fierce face. Immediately after that, he swung the knife at her, but Angie managed to pull Josephine back just in time.
In order to further defend themselves, Angie shoved the boy, making him fall to the floor with a thud. He continued to thrash around and howl even when he had fallen down. It was at that moment that Angie frowned from the sharp pain in her arm.
“Angie, you are hurt!” Josephine’s meek voice rang out from behind.
At this moment, the workers of the orphanage arrived as the girls helplessly watched the boy getting back on his feet just to stomp on those chocolates.
“Jackie, calm down!”
“Who gave him the knife?”
Even though the adults had arrived, no one dared to approach the boy. As they continued to play their game of Hawk and Chicken, Angie took the chance to bring Josephine out of the room, only for her to be pulled by the younger to go to the infirmary.
Josephine looked at the gash on Angie’s arm at her eye level, and a frown appeared on her gloomy face.
“Please disinfect and dress the wound, madam,” Josephine said to the doctor in the infirmary before turning to Angie. “It might get a little painful so hold on. I have something to do, so I will be stepping out for a bit.”
After she solemnly informed Angie, she went straight out of the infirmary. Angie couldn’t help but start to feel worried when the young girl still hadn’t returned after the wound had been dressed.
She quickly flung the curtain open and called out, “Jose— Owwwwww!”
Right after she opened the curtain, she bumped straight into what felt like a solid wall. It was so painful that tears started coming out of her eyes and she thought her nose was broken because of it.
“A-Angie…”
Hearing that choked-up voice utter her name, Angie immediately stepped away from the warm chest she had bumped into. After she raised her head to look at the person, her pupils dilated, and the look on her face hardened.
“A—Alex,” she stuttered.
He could hardly recognize the Angie that had reappeared in front of him. She was dressed in a simple white dress with no other accessories on her. Her dreadlocks, too, had been replaced with a neat ponytail. However, he knew that he still liked her from the bottom of his heart when she lifted her chin to look at him.
Seeing the unexpected flush on her cheeks made her feel like his hardships the past few days had been worth it.
Her embarrassment and inner conflict that first appeared were instantly swallowed up because of the shock.
“A little fairy told me. I like Otharian fairies. They are very hospitable,” Alex told her.
Angie instantly understood who this ‘little fairy’ was when Alex passed the phone in his hand to her. It turned out that Alex and Josephine had been in contact since yesterday! It was no wonder why Josephine hadn’t once left her phone today and didn’t even allow Angie to look at her phone.
‘Angie has a bad temper. She doesn’t like playing with us little fairies.’
‘It is fine. I like her.’
‘What if she is cold-blooded, heartless and unreasonable?’
‘I like that too.’
‘Okay, then. I will send you our location tomorrow.’
Angie’s face began to twitch after she read the exchange between Alex and Josephine.
Just as she bit her teeth and grumbled the young girl’s name in frustration, the phone made a short noise, and the darkened screen lit up again.
‘Please inform Angie that I will be heading home with Great-Aunt Alicia first.’
After Angie sent the message, she pulled Alicia, who had just left the director’s office, into the craft room. A few people had subdued the hysterical boy and tied him to a chair. There were tear stains and clay all over his face.
Alicia couldn’t help but frown at the heart-wrenching sight. He looks younger than Josie, she thought. He had struggled so much that his eyes had turned red, and he didn’t even attempt to hide the fear and despair on his dark face.
“Is this an orphanage or a slaughterhouse? How could you tie him up without consulting a professional first? Isn’t it odd how you showed such professionalism when we were discussing the donation—”
