"I have secured a chance," Alia excitedly said as she walked into Daniella’s office. "I spoke with Matteo and my grandfather about this, and they’ve agreed to sponsor the kids’ college education if they’re able to et a certain set of standards."
It had been longer than Alia had planned before she next stepped into the orphanage. Originally, she had planned on working for the Hope for Scholars Foundation right after she had returned. However, Matteo had insisted she stay ho and rest before jumping in to do work.
Since then, she had been rotting at ho all day. A week was more than enough for most of her already-fading bruises to disappear, and by the ti that week ended, Alia wasn’t willing to stay ho and do nothing any longer.
"College education?" Daniella repeated as she looked up from her laptop screen. Then, her eyes lit up. "That’s wonderful!"
"Isn’t it?" Alia grinned.
It wasn’t hard work― those two people were very easy to convince and were more than eager to help. She just had to beg her grandfather not to let Emline and her parents know about this, lest they try to sabotage things again.
"They will be sending people to their high schools soti next month," Alia said. "There’s a soccer competition happening, isn’t there?"
Daniella nodded. "Jason will be participating," she said. "To be frank, there will be coaches there from various leading colleges as well. They’re scouting for fresh blood, and if he performs well, he could get chosen by them."
Then, her face fell.
"I am sensing a ’but’," Alia said, her heart falling as well.
"Well, the boys aren’t planning to attend college," Daniella admitted. "They are almost eighteen― when they reach the age, they will be sent out of the orphanage. At that ti, college tuition wouldn’t be sothing they can afford to think about."
"I’ve read the docunts," Alia said, frowning. "The funds from Hope for Scholars were supposed to at least fund their first sester of college. Just enough for them to get on their own two feet."
"That’s only if there was money in the funds," Daniella said with a sigh. "The resources have been running dry, and in an attempt to keep the children in the lower grades afloat, the older ones eventually have been cut from funding. Most of them don’t show up for classes anyway, and they were eventually dropped from college even before funding ceased."
She continued, "Hope for Scholars initially started so that the children could get the chance to go to school and establish so useful hobbies that could help them later in life. It gets difficult when no one here wants to go to school after the way they were treated when they tried to better themselves."
Those words rested heavily in Alia’s chest even as she left the orphanage. She had sorted out so details of a possible scholarship, but without the children showing determination to perform well, it would be difficult to convince the investors to put in more money.
Alia bit her lip. Emline had taken a dump in this place and left the remains for her to clean up. No wonder she had been so eager to pass off this charity organization to Alia― it was in shambles! There was nothing to save if the people didn’t want to be saved.
Shaking her head, Alia walked out and onto the streets. She needed to think of a better way to gather money for the foundation without depending on her grandfather or Matteo’s funds.
Right as she was deep in her thoughts, Alia bumped shoulders with soone, causing her to stumble back due to the impact.
"I’m sorry―"
"You’re Alia Kentwood, aren’t you?" the man asked, causing Alia’s eyebrows to imdiately furrow. Then, she winced, squinting at the man before she recognized him.
"Don’t you rember ?" he asked. "I saw you just last week! At your father’s place!"
The man eagerly reached forward and held Alia’s hands, gripping them so tightly that she couldn’t shake him off.
"Wait a minute―" she tried to say, but was talked over by the man.
"I’ve been trying to et with your father, but he has refused to see all those tis I visited," the man continued. Malice tainted his words, causing Alia to take a step back in fright, but the man rely walked with her whenever she tried to back off. "It’s truly different to be rich. I didn’t realize he could afford to have security personnel now."
"Excuse , but―" With a sharp tug, Alia yanked her hands out of the man’s grip. The ring she wore — an engagent ring from Matteo — sliced his palm from the sharp movent, causing him to hiss out in pain. "Do I know you?"
The man cradled his injured palm, but after seeing how Alia seed more keen in entertaining him than her father did, he all but forgot about the small bleeding slit in his palm. Instead, he stepped forward again, making a move of wanting to hold Alia’s hands, only to grasp onto nothing when she continued to keep a distance between them.
"You don’t know ?" the man asked. "Well," he then rolled his eyes, "I suppose Michael would be less than willing to tell his daughter about after all that has happened."
"You’re related to my father," Alia said.
It was more of an observation than what she knew for a fact, considering how her father refused to tell her anything. Over the last week, whatever she asked related to this man was imdiately shot down. In the end, Alia was forced to draw her own conclusions.
"I am Michael’s younger brother, Joshua," the man said, providing the last puzzle piece Alia needed to complete the picture. "That makes your uncle."
"I have no uncle," Alia said, frowning. If her father refused so vehently to tell her about his family, then it had to be for good reason. While she didn’t know what those reasons were, she was told to stay away.
She reached into her purse and pulled out a small band-aid and alcohol swipe she carried with her at all tis. Pressing it into the man’s uninjured hand, she said, "So sorry about the cut. Please take this."
Then, Alia sidestepped him and prepared to leave.
The man eagerly looked down at his hands, but when his gaze landed on the first aid items, his face fell.
"Wait!" he yelled after her. Then, Joshua’s hand latched onto Alia’s arm, holding her in place. "We’re not done talking!"
Reviews
All reviews (0)