Chapter 6: The Orphanage
~Never judge a book by its cover, many times we tend to.~
As Sarah stared at the exterior of the five-storey building, she couldn't help but marvel at how beautiful it was. One wouldn't expect an orphanage home to look that extraordinary-not that an orphanage couldn't look beautiful.
The driver, whom she now knew as Tom, stood by the car as instructed by Mr Snow.
They were ushered into the building by a lady who seemed to be in her late fifties. She was still very beautiful with her petite form and her kind smile. The interior was even more beautiful, to her utter astonishment.
"Mr Snow, it's very nice to see you again." The woman beamed at Mr Snow with a beautiful smile.
'Again?'
'He'd been here before?'
"I always enjoy the children's company and yours as well Mrs Jobs." He said politely.
"Of course." The elderly woman looked happy to see him.
"The children love you very much."
'What?'
"I'll take you to Miss Catherine's office." He nodded.
She wondered who that was.
As they passed through, they could hear children playing and laughing. Mrs Jobs turned to Mr Snow with a smile.
"They're having recess now.
Mr Snow nodded in response.
Sarah loved children, she couldn't wait to have one of her own. She wondered if Mr Snow loved children, would he ever want...children? She shook her head discretely, it wasn't any of her business. No, it wasn't.
Soon enough they reached the office and Mrs Jobs left them to attend to the kids.
Sarah saw a beautiful woman seated behind a nicely carved desk. She was wearing glasses and they rested firmly on her pointed nose.
Her office was medium-sized with various cabinets occupying the room, no doubt housing important documents. All in all, it was simple and tidy.
She stood to greet them both.
"Welcome Mr Snow, how are you this fine afternoon?" They shook hands briefly.
"I'm fine and you Miss Catherine?" His voice levelled, face-still stoic.
"Never been better." Her smile unwavering. She turned to Sarah, beaming.
"And you must be...?"
"She's my PA." He said before Sarah had the chance to answer.
Sarah nodded.
"Please, have a seat." She gestured to both of them. So they did.
She turned to Mr Snow, her grey eyes beaming.
"I've been expecting you, Mr Snow, I was starting to think you wouldn't be able to make it today, I understand you're a very busy man but I'm glad you were able to come."
Sarah felt guilty, she knew it was her fault they were late. She didn't dare look at her boss at that moment, so instead, she kept her head down.
This was her first day and she was nervous, she hoped she did things right.
"Thank you for your generous donations, sir, the children thank you as well." She continued, the smile never leaving her face.
"Thanks to you sir, the children can eat three square meals every day now and of course we express our deepest gratitude for the renovation of the entire building."
Sarah's eyes widened to the size of saucers. All that must have cost a great deal of money given the size of the building and the number of rooms it contained. There must be at least 250 children living there.
Her respect for her boss only kept growing.
"It's my pleasure Miss Catherine, I would like to see the children after we're through here if you don't mind." He said in his usual low voice.
"Of course Mr Snow, they would love to see you, you're their biggest fan."
"I would like to make another donation to the children. I'm aware they don't have access to quality health care." He removed a cheque from his suit pocket and handed it to her.
If it were possible, Miss Catherine's eyes would have fallen off and Sarah's own would have followed.
Miss Catherine stared at the cheque in her hands in utter shock then back at him completely speechless.
"And I would like a monthly update on the children's welfare if you don't mind." He said as his piercing eyes met hers.
"O-of course Mr Snow. We'll be delighted to. Thank you so much for your kindness, Mr Snow. May the good Lord bless you." The initial shock was gone, tears of gratitude beamed in her eyes.
A small frown etched itself on his face, he didn't respond.
He stood.
"Thank you for your time Miss Catherine." His hand extended out for a handshake.
She stood up surprised.
"No, thank you, Mr Snow, for everything." She said as they both shook hands.
"Would you still like to see the children?" She asked carefully.
"Of course." He said.
Sarah had been quiet throughout the conversation silently observing but she didn't fail to notice her boss' sudden change in demeanour, it was almost unnoticeable. She didn't know the cause though.
Sarah shook hands with her as well and they were both escorted to the children's playground.
The playground was wonderful and absolutely breathtaking. Beautiful trees, slides and swings were scattered around the wide grassed ground, children ran around, some played on the sides, some on the swings, the older ones formed small groups, chatting away.
Immediately the little ones spotted him, they all ran towards him and surrounded him like a swarm of bees and for the first time since she'd met him, he smiled.
"Aaron!!" They all clamoured happily around him.
"Did you bring candy for us today Aaron?" A little girl no older than five-spoke, it was incredibly cute the way she spoke, two of her upper teeth were already missing.
Aaron.
Sarah liked his name, it was a lovely name.
That was the first time she heard anyone address him by his first name.
He crouched in front of the little girl with a small smile.
"No, Ellie. I'm afraid not." Her face and the faces of the other children immediately fell.
"But I promise next time I visit, I'll bring some with me." He added, his dark hair getting in his eyes.
Her eyes lightened up like fireworks at that.
"Lots and lots of candy?" She asked eager, eyes wide and hopeful.
This time he laughed, no 'laugh' was an overstatement, more like a barely audible chuckle.
"More than you can eat."
"Pinky swear?" She brought out her little pinky finger.
He brought out his and linked it with her little one.
"Pinky swear."
"Yes!" She ran off no doubt to tell the other kids about the 'good news'.
"Who's she?" Sarah heard one of the children ask him, no doubt referring to her.
He stood back up.
All the while she had been observing her boss' interaction with the children and it would be a huge understatement if she said she was shocked.
He was so lively with the kids, smiling and chuckling. At work, he was always comported and stoic.
He was 'Mr Snow' at work but 'Aaron' here. Now that's something.
Of course, he knew the 'she' the kids were referring to.
He turned his attention to her but the smile was gone, his bottle-green eyes met her dark brown ones, his face stoic once again.
She wouldn't lie, he made her nervous sometimes, but as his eyes stared into hers she could see that there was much more to him than meets the eye. She could feel it in her spirit.
"She's my new PA," He said breaking eye contact with her.
"She's really pretty." One of the children said.
All the other kids chorused in agreement.
Sarah was embarrassed.
"T-thank you."
She saw a little boy of about six approach her.
"What's your name miss?" Sarah melted inside at how cute he was.
"My name's Sarah sweety."
"What's yours?"
"My name's Bryan." He said shyly.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Bryan." He smiled at her, almost all his upper front row teeth were gone.
Suddenly he grabbed her hand and began dragging her.
"Come and play with us, Sarah." He said excitedly.
"Oh, I don't know if I can." She said, worried her boss may disapprove.
She looked over her shoulder to see if he was alright with it.
He nodded and with that she was whisked away by the adorable children.
She played and played until she could play no more. She couldn't remember the last time she played that hard. When she and the children settled down on the grass they formed a fairly big circle while she sat in their midst.
"Ok, what should we do next?" Sarah asked the children excitedly.
"Oh, I know, I know! Let's tell stories." A girl said excitedly by her left.
"Okay, all in favour of stories, raise your hands."
All of them raised their hands excitedly. Sarah couldn't help but smile at that.
"Okay then, let's get started. Do anyone have a story they wanna share with us?"
She saw about five hands raised, she picked a little Asian girl.
"What's your name sweety?"
"Lucy."
"Ok Lucy, can you tell us your story?"
She nodded her head with great enthusiasm, then she started her story.
"Once upon a time, there lived a little girl in a poor village. At night she would always stare at the stars and would hope to see a shooting star, it was said that the shooting star could grant you a single wish, what you wanted the most."
The children awed at that.
"Did she see the shooting star, did she?" Ellie asked excitedly.
Little Lucy smiled, happy they seemed to like her story so she straightened, cleared her throat and continued.
"Yes she did but that fateful night it rained very heavily and the stars were almost covered by the dark clouds."
"Sad and cold, she was about to go home but right when she was about to leave, she saw it, as fast as a race car it raced through the dark sky." She made a swoosh sound with her mouth moving her hand to illustrate her point.
The children followed the movement of her hand, transfixed.
Lucy continued.
"She closed her eyes and quickly, she made her wish."
"What'd she wish for?!" The rest of the children chorused.
"Did she wish for a car?" Bryan asked eagerly.
"No silly, her wish was to be a fairy princess, right Lucy?" Ellie interjected strongly.
Sarah couldn't help but chuckle. Obviously, that would have been Ellie's wish.
Lucy shook her head at all their guesses all the while grinning at how much suspense she had them in.
"She wished for happiness and love. The shooting star granted her wish and from that day she lived happily all her life and everyone loved her. The end." She ended her story with a wide smile.
Ellie crossed her hands, sulking she didn't wish to be a fairy princess.
"Everyone give her a round of applause." They all did, well, except Ellie, she was still sulking.
"Thanks for the story Lucy, it was very lovely."
"Thank you, Sarah." She said with a huge smile on her face.
"Anyone wanna tell us another story?"
"Why don't you tell us a story, Sarah," Ellie said, apparently she wasn't sulking any more. She couldn't help but chuckle at that.
"Yeah Sarah, tell us a story." The children chorused.
Well, she couldn't say no so she thought of a story she could tell them. Luckily, she found one.
She got comfortable on the grass and then she began.
"Well the story goes like this, well it isn't just a story, this story I'm about to share with you really happened."
"Woah." The children chorused in awe, entranced.
"There was a man called Jesus-"
"Jesus? What sort of name is Jesus?" A boy with freckles interrupted scrunching up his nose.
"Well, Jesus is a Jewish name. It means Saviour."
"And as the name implies that was exactly what he came to do-to save the world."
"Save the world? From what?" Ellie asked.
"From our sins and to reconcile us back to God."
"You mean the big guy upstairs?" A boy who looked to be 13 spoke up for the first time.
Fully understanding what he meant, she chuckled.
"Yes, the big guy upstairs." She continued.
"Jesus is the only begotten son of God. He is the way, the truth and life and we can not come to God except through him."
"He did so many great things, performed so many miracles. There was power in every word he spoke and he taught the people in parables about the kingdom of God and how it may be attained. Plus, he loved little children. "
"But unfortunately, even with all these great things, even with the great number of people he healed, many still didn't believe him or his words, he was mocked and scorned and eventually they killed him even though he did nothing wrong."
"But why did they kill him?" Lucy asked.
"Even though many didn't believe him, several people actually believed him and their number kept increasing. They were threatened by Jesus because he seemed to have won the people over, they called him the 'King of the Jews.'"
"But in his death, we were reconciled back to God. His death was necessary for our salvation and redemption from our sins. He died so that you and I may live and now by his blood that was shed, we are forgiven and washed clean of our sins."
"He taught about holiness and purity and love, how we should all live in love, peace and harmony with one another."
"And it is only by accepting him into our lives that we can live this kind of life, one pleasing to God."
Sarah looked around and saw that they were all quiet.
Oh Lord, I know they're young but please make them understand.
"Does he get sad when Lucy and I fight?" Ellie asked.
"He does get sad when we do bad things."
"God doesn't like it when you fight with one another, besides, it's more fun to be friends, isn't it?"
"Yes." They all chorused.
"Ecclesiastes 4:10 says, if they fall, the one will lift his fellow but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he doesn't have another to help."
"What that means is you guys should be good friends to one another because you need each other, two heads are better than one you know."
"Yes, Sarah." Ellie turned to Lucy.
"I'm sorry Lucy for calling you horrible names." She was near tears.
"I'm sorry too for saying you have cobweb hair." Then the two little children hugged and made up.
"We should all learn to love one another as Jesus loves us." She told them.
The children all nodded their heads somberly.
Sarah was moved with compassion for the children as she watched them.
"Okay. Everyone come here, group hug." She said, her voice catching in her throat.
The children all ran and went to hug her.
She silently blessed them in her heart and prayed for them.
'Lord Jesus, please let this bear good, abundant fruits in each of their lives. Holy Spirit please be with them and guide them.'
'Dear father, bless your children for theirs is your kingdom, do not let them be snatched away by the darkness of this world.'
They all sat back down and watched as she stood up.
She only just realized her boss was still there. Her eyes sought him out and she found him casually seating on one of the chairs and it seemed his eyes had been on her the entire time.
He was silent as he observed her. His face was stoic as usual and his eyes gave nothing away as to what he was thinking. He stood up, breaking eye contact with her and turned to Miss Catherine.
"We'll be on our way now Miss Catherine, thank you for your time."
"I should be the one thanking you. Thank you so much for everything."
He only nodded.
He turned to Sarah.
"Miss Anderson, its time to go."
"Yes sir."
The children instantly surrounded them.
"Do you have to go?"
"I'm afraid so." They all began to sulk.
Sarah didn't want to go yet but she knew she didn't have a say in the matter.
"When will you visit us again Aaron?" Ellie asked, sulkily.
He crouched in front of her, a small smile adorning his features and, surprisingly, it didn't look forced.
"I promise I'll come to visit soon and if I can't make it, I'll send someone to bring you all your candy." Ellie's eyes widened in alarm at the possibility of him not coming next time.
"O-ok doesn't worry about the candy, just come, ok?"
"Promise?" She brought out her pinky finger.
He hesitated.
Sarah knew that being the CEO was no easy job and they must be very important to him for him to make such an amount of time for them.
"Promise?" She said again, hopeful.
He hesitated again for a split second before linking his pinky fingers with hers.
"I promise." That made them all very happy. They all said their goodbyes including Mrs Jobs and soon enough they were in the car.
The ride back was silent although she so desperately wanted to say something, anything, the silence was choking.
Taking a deep breath, she readied herself to speak but yet again he beat her to it.
"I still have a few things to sort out. Tom will take you home after I drop off at the office." Her eyes widened.
'This late in the evening?'
"Do you need my help, sir?" She knew he must be exhausted, she knew she was.
"I can manage by myself, be early tomorrow morning."
"Yes sir."
Soon, they were at the company building. She still couldn't believe she worked there now.
The driver quickly got down to open the door for Mr Snow but he was already halfway out of the car.
The driver closed the door.
"Take her home." He instructed.
"Yes sir." Tom hurried into the car.
Their eyes met for a brief second and her heart skipped a beat at what she saw in them.
Tom drove on and soon enough they were at her apartment.
She quickly got down before Tom's hand touched the door handle.
"Thank you, Tom. Have a nice night."
"Goodnight ma'am."
And with that he left, leaving her alone on the sidewalk.
...
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone