“Firstly, please rest assure that King fully intends to continue supporting and even expanding this orphanage. There are no plans to shut this place down or cease operations. Secondly, we will be working with King to put in place a new manager and management team as soon as possible. Thirdly, a lot of help is needed from everyone of you here. The worst outcome that we want to avoid at all costs is for this disruption to impact the lives of the children living here and their classes and studies. So please, I need all of you here to continue teaching and doing what is best for the children while we quickly sort things out to ensure smooth operations for this place,” Reiner continued to explain as calmly as before.
The teachers watched Reiner with intense concentration as they nodded their head along in agreement with his words. After Reiner’s clear and reassuring explanations, all the teachers seemed calmer than before. Not only that, but they also all seemed motivated to continue teaching and ensuring that the students are not affected by this unfortunate change in the adult world. After all, it was as Reiner had said, the children shouldn’t be burdened by any of this. We as adults should continue to provide the students with the right environment for them to concentrate and excel in their studies.
It wasn’t often that I get to observe Reiner having a way with words, so it came as a very pleasant surprise for me. Regardless, the impact of Reiner’s little speech was more than I could ever expect. It was exactly what was needed to keep the morale of the people together while we work to figure out the next steps on how to manage this orphanage.
After sharing some other reassuring words and addressing some basic questions of the concerned teachers, we left the teacher’s office and decided to get in contact with King as soon as possible.
“This is so shocking…” I muttered as I reached up to run my fingers through my hair in frustration.
“She must have escaped last night which just proves that she’s guilty of fraud…” Reiner said without any surprise as if he had expected something like this.
“What is going to happen to the orphanage now?” I asked for the uncountable time.
“I’ll let King know and he’ll probably find someone new to manage it, you don’t have to worry,” Reiner replied before wrapping his arm around my shoulder and leaning his head on top of mine to comfort me.
“Will you call him?” I asked softly as I leaned into his warmth and let him comfort me with his body in addition to his actions.
“Yeah, I’ll give him a call right now. Try to calm down for now and don’t stress yourself out,” Reiner replied as he took his phone out of his pocket with his other hand.
It was easy for him to say but I felt myself feeling so sick with worry. Suddenly, there is no one to manage and run things for the orphanage. Thankfully, the teachers were still here so the children could study and attend classes like normal but without anyone to run the place, this place would be in a mess soon enough.
What can I do in a situation like this? How can I be most of use? Isn’t there something more that I can do to help the children on top of just reporting back to King?
“Can we stay here until King can find a new replacement?” I proposed the first idea that came to my mind.
Reiner gave me a look of surprise, but he did seem to consider my suggestion. If we don’t stay here and Celine and her team is no longer here, then who will manage the place? Only the working staff are left with no one to manage them. Then there are just the teachers and the children who know nothing about the procedures of managing and running the place.
“I’ll tell King that we’ll stay to take care of the place for now until he sends someone else, ok?” Reiner finally agreed after a while of thinking it through.
“Thank you. I think this will be best for the children,” I replied as I nodded my head slightly at him.
This is for the best. Together, we can hold the fort until the new team arrives. Hopefully that would be soon.
…
**Two Weeks Later**
My expectations that help would be arriving within a few days was way off. After Reiner got off the phone with King, the conclusion that we got was that there wasn’t anyone readily available to take over Celine and her team’s position. After a second thought, that shouldn’t be that surprising. I guess there weren’t that many people who were keen on managing an orphanage on a private island in the middle of nowhere.
What that meant for Reiner and me was that we had to sort things out until someone could turn up to help us. For the first week, it was just Reiner and me working at trying to manage the orphanage along with the teachers and operational staff that were left. Everything was very new for us, and I had a very hard time with everything at the start.
“Let’s make sure that the important things still function. Those things are probably, food, lessons, and basic cleaning. The other things we can probably sort out later,” Reiner surmised as we both stared at a computer screen together.
Without any help coming anytime soon, we had to make do with what we had. Reiner was probably right. As long as the children are fed and had regular lessons like usual, they probably won’t know that something is wrong. On top of that, we had to keep the building decently clean. If we can get all of that done, then from an external perspective everything would appear to be fine.
“Let’s make sure that we have all the staff to cover those duties. I’ll talk to the kitchen staff and the cleaners so can you talk to the teachers again, please?” I requested.
–To be continued…