"Ms. Andrea. It's been a long time."
Andrea was met with little children and they all hugged her. She smiled at the sight of them and hugged them all back.
"I'm back, sweethearts. I brought some snacks and food for you." Andrea holds up the bag she's carrying and she can see the excited expression from the children's faces.
"Ms. Andrea, carry me. I am big now and I also became strong." a little boy said while spreading his arms wide, waiting for Andrea to carry him.
Andrea carried the little boy and kissed his forehead.
"You've gotten bigger and heavier, Ethan." Little Ethan hugged her neck and kissed her cheek.
Xeno's heart was overwhelmed with warmth when he saw Andrea surrounded by children.
How can this pure soul have experienced cruelty before? He thought to himself.
The other children seemed jealous of Ethan and complained for her to carry them too.
"I can't possibly carry you all. Now, let's go inside and eat these snacks, how's that sound?" She puts Ethan down. She then tapped each of their heads and messed with their hair gently.
"Yes! Let's eat. Come Ms. Andrea, join us." The other children grabbed both of Andrea's hands and wanted to drag her inside.
"Now, children. Don't drag Ms. Dreng harshly, she just got here. Give her some space, you all." Sister Ruby said when she saw Andrea is struggling from the children's action.
"By the way, where's Suzie? Is she inside?" Andrea asked the children when suddenly a little girl's voice was heard in front of them.
"Ms. Andrea, is that you?" Said by the little girl who was assisted by her friends to walk. She's blind.
Andrea bends her knees and opens both of her arms. The little girl walked slowly towards her and reached out for Andrea's arms.
"I am here, Suzie. Long time no see, my dear sweetheart." When Suzie reached Andrea's hand, they both hugged each other like they hadn't seen each other for so long.
Suzie cried in her arms and buried her face in Andrea's neck.
"I thought you wouldn't come after all this time. I'm so glad you visited us today." Andrea caressed Suzie's hair gently.
In all of the children in the orphanage, Suzie is the closest to her. Of course she loves all of the children but Suzie is the first one she got close to when she first visited the orphanage house. Although she's blind, she's still kind to all of the children and she got along with them so well.
"Of course, I won't forget all of you here. I'm so glad you are all fine and you all got bigger and healthier." Andrea loosened up the hug and turned her gaze to Sister Ruby. She mouthed 'Thank you' to her and Sister Ruby replied to her with a nod and a smile.
Andrea turned her gaze once again to the children surrounding her and smiled.
"Okay! Let's go inside and eat your snacks. I bought all of your favorites." She said while she carried Suzie in her arms.
"Yehey! Snack!"
"There's so much food that Ms. Andrea brought. It all looks delicious."
Xeno didn't even think of bothering Andrea and he carried the bags that Andrea left by himself.
All of them entered the entrance and he looked around the house. It's a big house and the decorations inside are simple. There are also some hanging paper flowers and there are also some shapes that he assumed were made by the children. He smiled while following all of them.
When they all reached the backyard. Xeno saw a big vertical rectangular table in the middle. It must have been set up by the children. It's a fine late afternoon so it's fine to eat outside.
He immediately puts the two big plastic bags on the table and the children are all looking at him. After putting the bags in the center, he looked around and he could see the children were now sitting next to each other. The other end of the table, there sits Sister Ruby while on the other end of the table, there sits Suzie.
Andrea sits on the right side of Suzie. Andrea noticed that Xeno was having trouble on where to sit so she pulled a chair beside her and tapped it. Xeno noticed what she did and smiled at her before walking beside her.
The children remained silent, still watching Xeno's movement.
"Now, Ethan and Alyssa. Please open the bags and distribute the food fairly, okay?" Sister Ruby said to the two children sitting in the center.
"Yes, Sister Ruby." The two little children carefully opened the plastic bags and their eyes sparkled once they saw a bunch of snacks inside.
They both distribute the food to all of the children including Sister Ruby, Xeno and Andrea.
"Alyssa, please hand me the apples." Andrea said.
"Of course, Ms. Andrea." Since there's only two packs of apples. The children knew that it was Suzie's favorite. There are also just less children who like apples so she didn't buy many.
Once she received a pack of apples, she distributed it to those who liked apples and the remaining one, she gave it to Suzie.
Suzie happily accepted it.
"Before we eat, let us pray for this food." Sister Ruby said before holding the hands of the children beside her, left and right.
They all hold hands with the person beside them including Xeno and Andrea who hesitated for a minute but still held hands to him.
After praying, the children happily eat the food on their plate.
However, on the other hand, Xeno refused to let go of Andrea's hand. She hid it below the table.
"What are you doing? Get your hands off me." She whispered while trying to pull her hands.
"Never." He whispered back while he tightly held her hands below.
"You..." She's secretly pissed by him.
"By the way, Ms. Andrea, I just smelled a man's perfume earlier. Do we have a man visitor?" Suzie asked her while slowly eating her apple.
"Ahmm--" She couldn't finish her sentence when the kid asked them as well.
"Ms. Andrea, is the man beside you, your boyfriend?"
"Who are you, Mister? and why are you with Ms. Andrea?" Ethan asked them while eating a big portion of a biscuit.
"Are you trying to take her away from me? She's gonna marry me soon." Ethan added while pouting.
Andrea almost spit out the food in her mouth when she heard Ethan's remarks.
"Ethan, aren't you being a bit rude? Besides, she won't marry you. You're still a little boy while she's an adult now." Sister Ruby said.
"I'm sorry, Sister Ruby." Ethan said while he lowered his head down, feeling ashamed.
"It's okay, Sister Ruby. And Ethan, I'm not trying to take her away from you guys. I'm just accompanying her so that bad guys will not hurt her, don't worry." Xeno said to Ethan while smiling. Ethan's face brightened up when he heard Xeno's voice.
"Really? Okay but you should really protect her or I will beat you up."
"Ethan, watch your mouth." Sister Ruby said.
Xeno agreed to him and squeezed Andrea's hand below the table.
After they're done eating, Andrea and Xeno play with the children until the sun sets and the dark slowly creeps in. The children are beginning to grow fond of his presence and they treated him like how they treated Andrea.
It was 6 pm already when Andrea decided to go home.
"You're gonna visit us again, right? Bring Mister handsome with you next time." Suzie said while standing in front of the gate and holding Sister Ruby's hands.
"Okay, I will visit again soon and I'll bring him here as well." Andrea hugged them all and Xeno also entered the hugging group.
"Bye bye, Ms. Andrea and Mr. Xeno." The children said in chorus.
The children waved their hands as they watched Xeno and Andrea leaving with a car.
"I didn't know you're that close to children. They are all like little Angels." he said to Andrea while smiling.
"Yeah, I've been visiting them for a year now." She said.
Thinking of something, she lowered her head sadly. Xeno noticed it and looked at her worriedly.
"What's wrong, Darling."
"It's just that I remember myself to them, although they don't actually relate to what happened to me but I still feel sad while knowing that someone abandoned them. So the love that I've always wished for, I just gave it to them. They deserved to be loved, not to be abandoned."
Xeno held her hand and squeezed it gently.
"You really are the kindest person I have ever met in my entire life." He said while looking at her sad eyes.
"Thank you."
It was already dark when they reached Andrea's condominium. She got out and bid goodbye to Xeno before going into her room.
She ate less for dinner and prepared to sleep. She kept on thinking about this day before she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
.....
3 days have already passed and Xeno just keeps on contacting her everyday through her phone. Although she doesn't know where he knew her number, she just let him be.
In those 3 days, she just stayed in her condo and did some work. A thought came over her mind.
Maybe Xeno's not quite bad after all.