She's My Sleeping Pill

“Are we really going to an orphanage?” Chloe asked Justin while putting on her shoes. “Are we leaving grandma and grandpa?”

Justin crouched low to level his eyes with hers and caressed her hair gently. “Grandpa and grandma said that they will be leaving to go somewhere in the future and no one will be able to take care of all us. Ms. Yen said that we can go to the orphanage to learn a lot of things. We can even go to school in the future.”

“Are we going to live there?”

“In the future. It’s not going to happen this time. We will stay with grandpa and grandma for the time being.”

“Oh. Okay.” Chloe looked sad. Justin may have tried to coat his words, trying his best to cheer her up but Chloe knew what was going to the old people. She had seen a lot of people dying and she knows that their grandpa and grandma will also leave them for eternity. She just didn’t say anything.

Half an hour later, Luiz and Clarisse arrived accompanied with many bodyguards. He was driving the sports car that Cayenne lent to him while three company vans followed him. It was Stefan’s company vans that Luiz borrowed to bring the gifts and decorative materials to Justin’s home.

.....

“Good afternoon, sir Luiz.” Justin greeted them as he came out of the house.

“Are you all ready? My sister’s waiting for you all. The guards will be taking you to the venue.”

“Aren’t you coming with us?”

“No. I...uh...we still have something to do.” Luiz stated while leading the kids to the vacant van. “Don’t worry, someone will look after your grandparents. Just enjoy the party.”

The kids got inside the van one after another before the bodyguard closed it and bid farewell to Luiz. As soon as they left the house, Luiz breathed a sigh of relief and smiled to the two elderlies who were standing at the door to their home. “Do you mind if we come in?”

“No. Not at all.” They opened the door a little wider and Luiz came inside with Clarisse followed by the bodyguards who started taking out the gifts and decorations. Their task was to prepare an exclusive party for the children once they get back from the party at the orphanage. It was an early Christmas gift that Cayenne and her family decided to make.

At the Xavier’s Orphanage, Jade was surrounded by many kids. They were her friends when she was still at the orphanage. They were always eager to see her and to listen to her story because she didn’t sound bragging and she makes her story and experiences really interesting.

“You are very lucky to have them as your family, Jade.” One of the little children said and gave Jade a gentle pat on her head. “Make sure that you behave properly and don’t cause them trouble.”

“Hn. I will always be good.” Jade promised.

She played with the other children and her laughter can be heard clearly in the room. Watching her roam around happily, Jillyanna couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “My princess has grown.”

“Our princess.” Riley corrected her sister. Even though Jade wasn’t related to them by blood, she was loved by everyone because of her adorable and kind nature. She’s very mature for her age as well and she’s very considerate to others. “I wonder when Cayenne and Stefan have their own child? Mmmm. I wonder.”

“Stop wondering.” Cayenned snorted with a roll of her eyes. “Stefan won’t let me. I tricked him a few times but he always finds out. He’s paying attention to my period as well. He’s more knowledgeable about it than me. Can you imagine that? I can’t get pregnant because he said it’s not the time yet.”

“Well, I agree on him.” Jillyanna stated. “I mean, I’m not one to say this because I got pregnant really early but I wasn’t studying that time. I had stable income and I was ready for it. Stefan must be worried for your sake. You are still finishing your course and he hasn’t married you with.”

“We’re married.” Cayenne corried.

“Yeah. You registered your marriage but you haven’t had your wedding yet.”

“It doesn’t matter. I can live a life without the wedding.” Cayenne was exasperated as she whispered these words. “I don’t need the wedding. I’m okay without it.” Riley and Jillyanna looked at him with sympathetic gazes. “What now?”

Riley took a deep breath and pinched Cayenne’s face lightly. “You must be aware how much your husband dotted on you. Do you really think he would skip the wedding?”

“No.”

“There you have it. He wanted to take things step by step. And right now, I bet my whole savings that he wanted you to graduate first.”

Cayenne couldn’t find anything to refute that. She looked back to where the men stayed and pouted towards his husband.

Somehow, he felt a foreboding when he found his wife pouting at him. It felt like she was talking something really upsetting which involved him.

“Looking at them, your wife must have complained something about you.” Vincent commented when he observed the group of women. He had been focusing his gaze on his girlfriend who was playing with the children so he also noticed the women who was sitting beside Jackie. “I wonder what it was.”

“Hey. Stop with your joke. Don’t jinx me.” Stefan replied with a shiver down his spine.

As they continued to speak, one of the social worker staff came inside and following her were the children at Justin’s home. The children were shy and looked really meek while observing their surrounding and that’s when Jade found them.

“They’re here!” Jade exclaimed and brought her friends over to meet the new children. “They are auntie Yen’s little friends. They are here to join the party as well.”

“Sis Jade, are we really allowed to play here?” the little girl beside Chloe spoke in a soft voice, almost a whisper that they could barely here.

“Of course.” Jade responded cheerfully. “The children here are my friends and the big sisters and the teachers are very kind to us all. We can play today because it’s party time. Come over here.” Jade pulled them to the make-shift play ground that Stefan and Travis sponsored for them. It costs them a huge fortune but seeing the smiling faces of the children make the investment really worthy.

As for the adolescents, most of the boys were at the computer room, playing a game with Shein who was very fond of computer games as well. Anyone who can beat him in a game will receive a prize for him. They didn’t know what the prize was but they knew that Shein was a generous man. It should be something very useful in their life.

The girls were helping at the kitchen to finish the preparation. The party has not started yet but the guests just arrived early to watch the children. This year’s Christmas party has a lot of big wigs invited. Travis even made sure to invite couple who didn’t have children in hopes that one or two children will have a new family to call their own. He wanted the children to have a bright future and it will start by having new parents that can take care of them as if they were their own babies.

Sabrina also visited the city for this event. She came together with Erwin, wanting to help Travis and Jilyanna with their project for great cause.

There were many children at the orphanage plus the children that came from Justin’s home. So far, there was no problem with teenagers. Even if no one takes them, they are fine with it because they were able to go to school and they even have a part-time job at the companies that Travis owned. They didn’t feel poorly of themselves. They even thought that they were lucky enough to have been sent to the orphanage instead of getting thrown anywhere.

All over the world, thousands if not millions of children were thrown away by their parents. Some of them were sent to orphanages, others to church; and worst, some were thrown at the river, garbage dumps and many horrible places where children wouldn’t be able to survive. Yes, it’s cruel but that’s the truth.

Around six in the evening, many guests have arrived which really stunned the other children. Some of them knew Jade so when they saw the little girl playing happily with the others, they had a good impression of the place.

Half an hour later, the party finally started and they began with a doxology. It was their way of thanking God for giving them so much blessing by sending good people who aid them in crisis and look out for them to make sure they’re getting by just fine. They may be orphans but they felt really loved by so many people.

Watching them, Jillyanna teared up. With the sacrifice of her mother and father, the orphanage was operating fine. She just felt a little sad when she thought of her parents. They were both great people who were in love with each other but they couldn’t even get the happiness of a lifetime. Their relationship abruptly stopped when they were just getting fine.

“Your parents, if there’s another life, I’m sure that God has done his best to bring them back together. They both deserved to be happy.” Travis commented while pulling his wife in his embrace.

Cayenne also felt sad for Jillyanna. She learned that Jillyanna’s biological parents had a tragic love story that ended in death. She felt really bad thinking about it. She can only imagine the pain that Jillyanna went through after knowing this from the lawyer.

As soon as the doxology ended, Jillyanna wiped away her tears and tried her best to cheer up. As the daughter of the biggest benefactor, she has to give speech to the children and to the guests. She didn’t want to disappoint anyone. However, because of her mixed emotions, she didn’t talk much in front. She wanted everyone to just enjoy the day.

“Sis.” Shein walked towards her and pulled Jillyanna’s sleeves. “I have a favor.”

“What is it?”

Shein scratched her head awkwardly before turning his head to look at the kids behind him. “I lost a game.”

“And?”

“I promised them a prize.”

“And?”

“I didn’t bring my wallet and phone. I don’t have any prize either. I was confident I wouldn’t lose.”

“How did you lose the game anyway? I thought you are very good at it.”

“Well, apparently,” Shein looked towards Tristan and glowered at him. “That classmate of yours taught the boy how to play. You knew I’ve never won anything against that man. So hateful.”

“Hey. It’s not my problem if you don’t have the skill. Why are you blaming me?” Tristan retorted in defense. “It wasn’t in your condition that a helper isn’t allowed.”

Jillyanna flicked his brother’s forehead which made Shein grimaced in pain but he didn’t say anything to complain. “Here’s my card. Go buy a prize for that child.”

“Thanks sis. You are the best.” Riley looked back hearing the words and frowned at him. “I mean you are the best sister in the world.” Jackie looked at him and this made Shein stomped on his feet childishly. “Fine. You two are the best sister and sister-in-law in the whole world. Happy?”

Looking at their interaction, Cayenne couldn’t stop herself from laughing. Shein was just really cute even though he was already 20-years-old. He acted childish when he wanted to get what he wants and it didn’t look awkward coming from him because he looked really young as well. Also, Jillyanna and Jackie spoiled him very much. Plus, there’s Riley who will protect him at all cost. Taking the card from JIllyanna, Shein approached the boy to ask what he wanted for a prize.

Seeing that everyone’s busy, Tristan walked to Stefan and whispered something to him. There were no changes on his calm fa?ade but there was turbulent emotion swirling in his eyes.

“I received the analysis of the formula. It was a bunch of poisons.” This was what Tristan told him.