“What about a one-day break and I’ll see if I can…serve you…on the next day?” I suggested with a hopeful smile.
I couldn’t quite believe that we needed to have this sort of conversation. Was this normal?
Reiner didn’t seem to be against it, but he did seem quite thoughtful. I watched as he walked over with the food and began laying the plates down on the table in front of me.
“Do you…need to go to the hospital?” Reiner asked hesitantly but I could feel his concern as he peered down into my face.
“Oh no. It’s not that bad. Just…abstaining a little would already help…” I replied as I tried my best not to laugh at his over-the-top concern.
“Eat…” Reiner ordered.
I looked down at the small piece of pancake that he shoved in front of my face with a fork. Knowing that saying no wasn’t truly an option, I opened my mouth and ate the pancake. The way Reiner smiled a little proudly as I chewed on his homemade pancake was the best reward ever. Somehow, I’ll burn this out of my system…later…
“Actually, there’s a place that we should visit if you want to…” Reiner started saying.
“Really? Where?” I asked, truly interested.
“This isn’t my idea but it’s more like a favor that King asked for…” Reiner explained casually.
I wondered why Reiner seemed so hesitant about this and that just made me even more curious about this request from King. My eyes widened as I waited for him to give me more information.
“Actually, King runs an orphanage for children in need on this island. He hasn’t been here for a while and asked if we could help him check up on it,” Reiner explained in more detail.
“Was that one of the things he spoke to you about before we left?” I asked in amazement.
“Yup. Well, it’s our honeymoon so we don’t really need to do it if you don’t want to…” Reiner quickly said.
“I’d love to! Let’s go!” I cried out enthusiastically.
Reiner looked at me with a fully stunned face before his face relaxed into a smile. I didn’t know why he thought that I wouldn’t want to go when I was beyond excited to go.
“I didn’t know that King ran an orphanage. He’s so kind…” I complimented while feeling truly surprised.
“He is. He doesn’t look it, does he?” Reiner replied before grinning my way.
…
After quite a long drive, we arrived at what was supposed to be the orphanage that King runs to help children in need. Reiner helped me out of the car, and I found myself standing in front of a very large but very simple-looking building. The building was a five-story building that was painted in brown. There were many big trees around the building, a very large garden, and an even larger field of grass.
“I guess he takes this quite seriously just like everything else that he does,” I mumbled my thoughts to myself.
Unlike the images of orphanages that I had in my mind, this one was beyond my expectations. Instead of being small or a little run-down due to lack of public funding, this orphanage seemed very well maintained. The facility seemed very new as well. Since it was funded by King, I didn’t see any reason why the place would be short of funds, but it was still a pleasant surprise and I had to say that I was extremely impressed.
“Let’s go inside. I think the lady who runs the place is expecting us to turn up,” Reiner informed me when he opened the car door for me.
He offered me his hand and I took it willingly. We walked hand-in-hand through the neatly kept garden to the entrance of the building. I didn’t see anyone else around, so I wasn’t sure what we were supposed to do.
Do we just walk in? Do we ring the doorbell?
“Should we ring the bell?” I suggested as I pointed to the button next to the entrance.
“I guess…” Reiner mumbled before pressing the button to ring the bell.
A very short moment later, a middle-aged woman with a slightly round face and figure greeted us at the door. Her face was the exact definition of a motherly figure in my book. Her aura was friendly, loving, and she had a heartwarming smile.
“Oh, you must be Knight. King gave me a call already that you would be dropping by,” the woman said before turning to smile at me.
“This is Natalia, my wife. It’s a pleasure to meet you and sorry for dropping by so suddenly,” Reiner said with kindly.
“Nice to meet you both. My name is Celine. I’ve been here since this place started and I help to oversee this place. Of course, there are many people helping me out and the children here are lovely. You’ll see for yourself soon. Please come inside,” Celine said with a smile as she waved for us to follower her inside the building.
We followed her inside and I was immediately sucked in by how lively the building looked inside. Painted and decorated in bright colors, the interior seemed to truly cater to the taste of children. There were the standard study aids graphic on the walls full of number and ABC letters. I could see children-sized chairs and tables in neatly arranged rows and guessed that that was probably where the children gathered for meals during mealtime.
“Umm…how many children are here?” I asked out of curiosity.
“We have close to 200 now. The number has been growing. Hopefully we can all fit…” Celine replied with a smile.
“Can you take us around for a little tour?” Reiner requested.
“Of course. It would be great if you can put in a kind word for us to King too. Sorry for being straight forward about this but I’m truly hoping that he would continue to support us. You know, with more children coming in and all…” Celine said before beaming another smile at us.
I actually preferred that she was being straight forward about it. If more children were coming in then of course this place would need more support such as funding and maybe even new facilities.
–To be continued…