Life at the orphanage was a rocky ride right from the start. It truly helped to have more people on the team who could help on all fronts of the work. Nick and another staff that Reiner had recruited over from the company handled most of the administrative work along with me while Kat and the other staff focused on overseeing and helping out with operations.
Kat turned out to be a big help and the fact that I could trust her to get things done flawlessly truly helped me to focus on solving the problems in front of me. Within three months, the orphanage was off to a better start, and we were able to welcome our first new batch of children without having to increase costs at all thanks to optimizing some processes and writing off expenses from Celine’s fraud case.
Now that I thought of it, I never got around to finding out what happened to Celine and her team. When I asked Reiner, he just smiled and told me that I could consider them ‘gone for good’. The way he smiled so coldly at me told me that I shouldn’t delve into any more details.
I stood in front of the orphanage with my small management team and a few teachers and staffs who could make time while we waited eagerly for the arrival of our first new batch of children since we had taken over this place. Because of the issue with Celine, this batch of intake was delayed from her time until now.
Regretfully, it took much longer than I had hoped for us to be ready to welcome these children, but now that they could be arriving at any moment, I couldn’t contain my excitement. The arrival of these children would serve as the first important milestone in my journey of managing this orphanage.
“They’re here! They’re here, Natalia!” Kat exclaimed happily before she turned to throw her arms around my shoulders to hug me tight.
I felt tears swimming in my eyes as I watched a bus approaching our orphanage. The children are finally here. Although this batch only had around ten children, if we could deal with them well, it would be a sure sign that we could welcome more children very soon in the future.
The door to the bus opened and many small children were escorted down from the bus. Kat and the others literally ran forward to support the children while I stood where I was and looked on at the fulfilling and touching scene unfolding in front of me. These children, just like the others, were victims of conflicts and wars that they knew absolutely nothing about. They have lost everything that they had including everyone in their family, so hopefully, they will somehow find happiness, a new family, and friends in this place.
“The kids are so cute!” Kat cried out cheerfully as she lifted a small girl into her arms.
I couldn’t help but smile and giggle a little as a warmth that was quite unfamiliar filled my chest. While I watch the other staff lead the children into the orphanage where they would be taken care off according to their age range, I couldn’t help feeling a little lonely inside. The space next to me was empty and it had been that way for a while now without Reiner by my side.
With his busy work schedule, Reiner spent a lot of time working in his office while I focused on my own work. In a sense, we have become more independent of each other and perhaps that was good in some ways but challenging in others. The only comfort that I had for myself is the thought that other married couples don’t normally spend their every waking and sleeping hours together and perhaps this was what was normal.
We were still close when we got off work and of course, we had our weekends to ourselves now that things have settled down some what at this orphanage. The real battle will begin soon when I start looking into the other orphanages as agreed with King.
…
“We’re having a little party to celebrate the arrival of the new kids later today,” I told Reiner when we sat down to have lunch together.
Lunchtime was a great time for me to spend some alone time with him. Although that meant that I couldn’t chill out with my colleagues, I didn’t mind at all. Nothing beat spending time over a peaceful meal with my husband.
“Sounds like it’s going to be fun. Let me know when it ends, I’ll wait for you so we can go back together,” Reiner replied casually.
“Don’t you want to join in? I’m sure the kids will be so happy if you do. They’re all looking forward to playing with you,” I suggested invitingly.
Given his work and now that we were working separately, Reiner didn’t have that much time to spend with the children and I found that unfortunate. He had gotten better at dealing with children and he seemed much more comfortable with them than before. Sometimes we would spend some time during the weekend or after work with the children if Reiner was free.
“Do you want me to?” he asked.
“If you won’t hate it…” I replied with a small smile.
I didn’t want to push him, but I would feel much better if he was there with me.
“I don’t hate it,” Reiner replied without hesitation.
“Great. So, I’ll be seeing you?” I surmised gleefully.
“Yeah…” he replied before smiling back at me.
Just like I had predicted, the children were very excited to see Reiner. I didn’t personally think that Reiner had any ‘daddy vibes’ about him but the children seemed to have a very different opinion about that. They probably saw him as a father figure from the limited options of hunky male material in the orphanage.
“Knight!”
“Oh…Knight is here!”
Many children exclaimed as they immediately formed a ring around Reiner when he made his entrance next to me. While Reiner returned the children’s warm smiles with his own, I smiled a little to myself as I stood to the side.
–To be continued…