章 3: Ch 3. New Beginning
"New Beginning Orphan Home."
That's what the sign read that was placed next to the cracked pavement leading to the steps of the entrance of the main building.
The orphanage was a three-story building with rows of windows on each floor, vines had overgrown and climbed up the walls, and some long branches could be seen dangling over like an outstretched hand from the ledges of the building. Another similar looking building was next to a courtyard that was shared with the building Kai was about to enter.
Once he and the woman had arrived in front of the door, the woman turned her head to look at him intently before signaling with her eyes that she wanted him to open the door. Kai opened the door, surprised to find that it was harder to push it since he had forgotten that he was no longer in his adult body, and walked inside first, noticing the scowl that appeared on the woman's face when he had intercepted her.
"Oh, you guys are back!" An older lady that was sweeping the floor of what looked to be a reception area, looked up. She exclaimed delightedly, "Kai, you look so much better already," as she began to walk to him and crouched down to look at him at his eye level.
She had a warm look in her eyes and her features were soft and sweet, despite the wrinkles that reflected her age. Her head was a mixture of streaks of dark and white hair that was pulled back into a low bun. Once Kai saw her, he felt a warm feeling envelop his body gently that had flowed from his chest and the ends of his lips stretched upwards unintentionally.
Kai realized that this child's body recognized the older lady and with how he had reacted, he figured that this woman was probably safe to be around so he could figure out his situation. She was different from the woman that had picked him up from the hospital who treated him as someone beneath her.
The older woman patted his arms gently before standing up to ask the other woman, "What did the doctor say?"
"He said that Kai had such a high fever that he has temporarily lost his memories," the mean-looking woman said.
"What?!" the old lady cried. "What do you mean? Kai, do you remember me?"
He didn't even know her so Kai shook his head no. That caused the old lady to start tearing up as she began to scold the other woman.
"This is why I told you to take him to the hospital, Maisy! These children are under our protection and should be kept well! You say that you want to take over the orphanage but you don't even protect them or care for them at all!"
"But, mom-"
"Just leave," the older lady dismissed her with a deep sigh as she turned to look away from her daughter.
Kai saw as the mean-looking woman- who was surprisingly also this older woman's daughter- angrily turned on her heels and with a lot of force pulled open the door before slamming it shut behind her.
"I'm sorry, Kai," she apologized once it was just the two of them, "I should've come rushing back when I heard you weren't feeling well." She hesitated for a moment and then asked, "Despite not remembering me, can you trust me?"
Kai had already decided to listen to this lady as she seemed to deeply care for him, so he nodded, "Yes."
"Thank you, Kai," she warmly smiled. "I don't know when you're memories are going to come back but let me introduce myself to you once more." Kai smiled, having a mixture of feelings that leaned towards affection due to her resembling a motherly figure that belonged to the original child Kai. On the other hand, there were some that leaned towards calculative feelings as the current adult Kai, that had found himself to be in an orphan boy's body, felt grateful that he wouldn't have to waste his time figuring out the older lady's intentions and could just use her to survive in the meantime while he planned to leave.
"My name is Emma Davis and I am your guardian and the person in charge of this orphanage. It is called, 'New Beginning Orphan Home," she said as she held out her palm for him to place his hand on top. "Now, let me show you the place, again."
***
It had been a week since Kai had woken up in a different body, more specifically, he had woken up in a random boy's body. Mrs. Emma had shown him around the building, where he had discovered that this orphan home operated as both an orphanage and a school, although it was only for kids eleven and younger. The second building that he had seen the first time he had arrived was actually connected with this building. The main entrance building was for the boys and the other identical building was for the girls, a cafeteria connected the two which made the entire building shaped like a U. The open area was where the kids could play football or draw with chalk on the pavement.
Kai, being ten, only had little left before he would have to attend the public middle school of the town. This place reminded him of the town he had grew up with his sister before they had left for the city in his past life. It was poor and run-down.
He had also found out that this boy had a few friends, that he still wasn't sure on what to do with them since mentally he was an adult and he found it a bit strange to be friends with children.
It was the time of lunch and as Kai sat next to his "friends" while munching on an apple, he quietly listened to what the boys were saying.
"This bread is a bit hard, feels like I'm about to crack my teeth," the chubbier of the three, Owen, complained in a joking manner.
"Hah, you wouldn't be eating such if you went with me out to Aunt Billie's place to get food the other day," a very pale boy with light brown hair said as he ate cookies from a bag that he would hide in his shirt after taking them out one by one.
"Yeah, but I don't want to be like you cleaning the toilets after getting caught," Owen responded after forcefully swallowing down the bread. "Speaking of, Jake, don't you have to help out with the dishes tomorrow as well because that was the second time you had sneaked out last week?"
The boy who had been savoring the sweet taste of his chocolate chip cookies pouted when he heard his friend's words. "Shoot, and I was planning on sneaking out tomorrow."
The last boy of the friend group, Tyler, having finished his lunch asked, "Why do you need to go out and risk getting caught and punished again? I personally think that's stupid."
Jake clicked his tongue. "Ah, you guys don't know anything."
"What?" Owen asked. "What don't we know?" He leaned towards his friend, and Tyler as hard as he tried to not show it, couldn't resist giving his friend a curious look.
Jake was amused seeing how quickly this had caught his friends' interests but when he glanced at Kai who was quiet as usual, he asked, "Kai, do you also wanna know the latest gossip of the country?"
Kai had been half listening and half thinking but when he heard the question directed at him, he responded, "Sure."
"Ok, guys come closer," Jake said as he waved Kai over while swinging his left arm around Owen's shoulders. Seeing as how they leaned their heads in to hear what Jake wanted to say, Kai had no choice but to scoot and lean closer to them. Once everyone's attention was on him, Jake said, "You guys know the Lysander family? You know... the big, rich family that owns the largest company of furniture?"
Tyler and Owen nodded, while Kai stiffened which made Jake think that he now definitely had his attention. So he continued, "Apparently, sometime last year their oldest son was kidnapped and went missing. Recently, the authorities found a body that they think is the boy and there was an investigation that ended last week so they're going to announce what they found this week." He sighed as he shook his head.
"Wait," Tyler frowned as he pointed out, "how do you know it's tomorrow?"
"Because," Jake drawled, "the police said that they had the Lysander's permission to show the public the results 'next week' and do you know what day it is? It's Sunday therefore it has to be tomorrow."
"Oh," Tyler and Owen nodded and while they didn't know what to make with this information, Kai unexpectedly spoke up.
"So you're still going out tomorrow?" he asked and Jake hummed a yes as he stood up to stretch. "Then, I'll be going with you."
"What?!" All three boys exclaimed in surprise and Jake nearly fell, as Kai's words had taken them by surprise.
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