Intrigue

Chapter 142

Sean's POV 

"Hi! You must be Sean."

No sooner had I set foot in the parapet of the orphanage that I heard someone greeting me. I looked up and there was this tall, attractive twenty-something year old guy, with cropped dark brown hair and light brown eyes. He had fine facial features and a strong jaw and full lips, and was wearing a denim jacket on top of a cream sweater and jeans and white Adidas sneakers. Funnily enough he also wore a long necklace, which seemed to be some sort of black beads or something. Quite a statement piece.

I forced a smile, feeling nervous. "Yeah," I muttered.

"Cool! I'm Isaac. I've been waiting for you. I'll take you to reception so you can register and then I can show you around and introduce you to the children we have."

I blinked. He talked a lot and was a bit more enthusiastic than I was used to. I nodded my assent and he flashed me a toothy smile. He was attractive, I realised now. I smiled back and followed him inside, realising that he hadn't told me what his job there was.

We walked along the surprisingly well-kept lawn and up the stairs leading to the orphanage. It was an old and slightly derelict, yet somewhat beautiful house, with ornate woodwork and wooden floorboards.

"The house was donated by a wealthy old woman before she passed away. It's old, but it's all we have and we love it. Hopefully we will have someone offering some refurbishments in the future," Isaac told me when he saw me looking around. I nodded silently, heart beating wildly. It felt wrong of me to have so much money, not to mention three homes I could live in, when these children only had a shabby house. Maybe I needed to donate money, not just my time, here.

Isaac bypassed a couple of children running about, giving each of them an affectionate squeeze on the shoulder, and then stopped in front of what seemed to be the reception. An elderly woman was sitting there.

"Linda!" Isaac said cheerfully. He seemed to speak merely in exclamation marks. "This is Sean, he's here for his placement."

Linda looked up at me, and unlike Isaac, she didn't seem too happy to see me. Her mouth turned down in distaste. "You're Michigan?" she asked me. Even the way she said my surname made me cringe. Evidently we weren't going to get on, because she already disliked me.

"Yes. I'm here for my placement," I said in a low voice.

She huffed as she took out a large file and opened it. "You'll be here for twenty hours a week, for six weeks, it's up to you which times you choose to be here. Since it's community service and you're on probation and effectively a criminal we're going to assign someone to oversee your work, if there's anything suspicious or malicious from your end we'll have to file a report and ban you from ever setting foot in-"

"Linda." Isaac's tone was sharp, but his voice was jolly. I felt my heart thud as he met my eyes and smiled at me. "I can be your case officer for the first couple of weeks, then I'm sure we can let you fend off on your own."

Although Linda glared at him, her face softened when he spoke to her. It seemed to me that she was quite fond of him. "All six weeks, Isaac, you know the rules."

He chuckled as he looked over at me. "No problem at all." He emphasised the last part of the sentence as he gave me a once-over, then smiled at me. I smiled back in relief.

"Isaac is a social worker and is currently studying to become a child psychologist. He works here as a case officer full-time." To my surprise, Linda offered this information to me before turning to Isaac and arching an eyebrow at him. I turned to meet his gaze, impressed.

"Wow, that's amazing," I said. Isaac just smiled, before reaching for a sheaf of papers from the reception and pinning them under his arm. He grabbed a pen as well, then gestured me towards the inside of the house.

"Let's read through the contract before you sign it, and then I will show you around," he told me. I nodded, and started following him, avoiding the judgemental gaze of Linda.

Isaac turned to me abruptly. I stopped just short of bumping into him. I felt my face flame. He just smiled.

"Oh, by the way. I was reading through your file."

My facial expression dropped at this. I knew he knew about my past - everyone did - but I didn't want him to query or comment about it. It was bad enough that Linda was giving me the evil eye. Because I'd had my fair share of people judging me based on my past actions and my conviction, but it had been a while since it had come from someone who mattered. What saddened me most was that she didn't seem to trust me with the children I'd been instructed to take care of.

But I'd thought Isaac was nice.

He carried on, oblivious to my discomfort. "I saw your birth date and apparently it's your birthday tomorrow!"

Oh. I exhaled in relief, before smiling in embarrassment. I could feel Linda's burning eyes on my back. "Um, yeah," I managed to croak.

"Amazing! How many years?"

I looked back at him curiously. He could have seen the year I was born in, if he'd seen the date. "Thirty," I answered.

"You look younger." With the look Isaac gave me, I could tell that he'd known from before how old I was. I found his inquisitiveness funny. "You're just over five years older than me, then. I'm twenty-five in May."

Malcolm's age. I nodded.

"We must get you some cupcakes to share with the kids for the occasion, and then I'll take you out for a drink," Isaac said nonchalantly, as if he knew I wasn't going to oppose.

I opened my mouth to say that I didn't drink, and that I'd be willing to get cupcakes or a cake for the children, but I wouldn't be taking any myself. But I decided to shut up instead. "Good idea," I said in a low voice. "I hope I do well here."

He heard me. "You'll fit right in." And he carried on walking towards the office. I followed him.

It's not too bad, I thought. There was a ray of sunshine in here. Isaac was nice. And I was going to prove Linda wrong and give it my all.