I Like Your Shoes | ✓

Chapter 29 | He Looks at You Differently

They were children, I noticed with shock. About twenty little kids, some strapped to the gurney, some moving around in a wheelchair.

Sick children.

"Marley, I see you're finally on your feet." Calum Achorn remarks, smiling at someone in the back of the room.

The spell is broken as the shock disappears. The moment Calum Achorn smiles, every child in the room starts screaming his name and jumping out of their beds to wrap him into a hug, or kill him, I don't know which. I take a few, quick steps back and watch as everyone of them, except the ones who couldn't walk, jump into Calum Achorn's arms and hug the life out of him.

And the fact which rendered me speechless was that Calum Achorn actually enjoyed their attention. He was laughing and smiling, hugging the little terrors back, ruffling their hairs and kissing them.

"Close your mouth. You don't want any flies to get in." A warm voice chides me and I turn away from the mayhem to look at an elderly woman of about fifty, smiling at me.

"I-I, umm. This is overwhelming." I admit, sighing heavily.

"He comes here almost every weekend. Spends time with the kids even though their parents don't. It helps the kids get better, ya know?"

"What's wrong with them?" I inquire, looking at the children. They looked happy, except their eyes seemed sad and forlorn.

"Everyone of them is sick, ya see. Some got bad legs, some got terminal disease. Parents leave them here, not bothering anymore. Not a good life, theirs." She mutters, looking morose.

"How did he find out this place?" I ask, staring at Calum Achorn as he talked to them. Each one of them stared at him with stars in their eyes, hanging onto every word that came out of his mouth.

"He just did. One day, he stumbled upon this place. The hospital was in pieces then. He rebuilt it, brought in new doctors, even made sure the bills were paid every month."

I was in awe. I'd never thought someone like Calum Achorn was capable of so much compassion. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all, maybe he just pretended to be closed off and unapproachable.

"You his girlfriend?" Paola, I read from her tag, asks, smirking.

"No! Why would you think so?" My face heats up and I duck my head to avoid her eyes.

"From the fact that he'd never brought any girl here before." She admits and excuses herself to check up on some patient.

I stare at Calum Achorn some more. There was something about him, a spark which he hid from the whole world, a spark I wass unaware of until now. Who was he really? The cold, chauvinistic billionaire or the warm, compassionate man who now stood before me?

And why would he try to hide his true, real personality from the world? Why would he choose to be so cold?

"Why are you sad?" A shy voice asks from beside me. I look down and see a little boy of probably seven, looking up at me wistfully.

"I'm not sad." I smile softly at him.

"Then why are you frowning?" He insists, the cute little furrow between his eyes deepening.

"Maybe I'm confused," I trail off, looking at Calum Achorn. I snap out of it and look at the little, beautiful child beside me. "What's your name?"

"Albus." He looks up at me with those huge, watery green eyes of his and sudden warmth swells up inside me.

"That's a nice name." I compliment honestly.

"My parents loved Harry Potter." He says with a small shrug.