There’s got to be another way, right?“I’ll do it. If you’ll let me, I’ll like to move to manage the orphanage full time,” I blurted out before I could stop myself. I’m sorry, Reiner, but I just can’t think of another solution that it better than this. If no one else is going to take it on, will you please let me do this? King’s emotionless face transformed into a look of frank surprise while I felt Reiner stiffen next to me as he turned to glare at my face. After saying that so boldly, I had no other options left but to hold my ground. I am not going to back out of my words. Although my idea was crazy at best, I didn’t regret my proposal at all. “Will you…allow it, please?” I asked King when he failed to give me a response. “Interesting. Very interesting…” King commented as he rubbed his chin in thought.“I cannot allow it. We’ll find another way,” Reiner spoke up before King could come to a conclusion.My head whipped around to face Reiner as my mouth hung open. What did he just
“I’m sorry for proposing something crazy like that without consulting you or getting your permission first but I didn’t have any other choice. You heard what King said about shutting down the place and moving the children to other places…” I explained. Reiner didn’t reply and that confused me even more. What more am I supposed to say? “Can you please say something…?” I begged against his back. Reiner was silent for moment but then I heard him let out a long sigh. Maybe just like me, he had been figuring out what he wanted to say. I felt his hands on my wrists before he began gently removing my arms from around his body. I let him do what he wanted and soon he turned around to face me. His face was solemn, and I knew that I wasn’t really going to like what he was going to say. However, I was prepared to compromise so that we could both move on happily with our lives. “Do you even understand what your proposal means?” Reiner asked accusingly. “I’m not sure what you’re trying to ge
Reiner went completely silent as his blue eyes stared deeply into mine. He’s so tall and the way he stared down at me made me feel so intimidated…but not this time…“If I told you that this might be my dream, would you still stand in my way?” I asked although I knew that I was being unfair. Please answer me before I start crying right in front of you.Instead of replying to me, Reiner reached out and grabbed my wrist firmly before he tugged on my arm and pulled me into his arms. “R…” I whispered his name in surprise as I felt the familiar warmth of his embrace surround me.His arms tightened around my body before his large hand held the back of my head and pressed my face closer against his chest. I could feel the strong beat of his heartbeat against my ear and before I knew it, I had wrapped my arms securely around his naked upper body. “I can’t let you go…” Reiner muttered softly, and his arms tightened again around my body. “Then…can you find a way to come with me?” I asked bef
Life at the orphanage was a rocky ride right from the start. It truly helped to have more people on the team who could help on all fronts of the work. Nick and another staff that Reiner had recruited over from the company handled most of the administrative work along with me while Kat and the other staff focused on overseeing and helping out with operations. Kat turned out to be a big help and the fact that I could trust her to get things done flawlessly truly helped me to focus on solving the problems in front of me. Within three months, the orphanage was off to a better start, and we were able to welcome our first new batch of children without having to increase costs at all thanks to optimizing some processes and writing off expenses from Celine’s fraud case. Now that I thought of it, I never got around to finding out what happened to Celine and her team. When I asked Reiner, he just smiled and told me that I could consider them ‘gone for good’. The way he smiled so coldly at me
It was clear that Reiner was their favorite and not me and I had gotten very used to that fact. It didn’t bother me at all, but I did find it funny and always entertaining to watch Reiner play with the children. Whenever work got busy for Reiner or whenever he returned from a trip away to the main island, the children were always super excited to see him. “Look at this, Knight…” A boy waved a handmade figure of clay at Reiner. “Did you make this? It looks cool!” Reiner complimented as he bent down to get a closer look at what the boy was holding. It was amazing how a little reaction of interest from Reiner brought so much joy to the boy’s facial features. The boy couldn’t stop beaming proudly up at Reiner as he explained what his inspiration behind the figure was.At times, I couldn’t help but wonder if Reiner was really happy living with me on this random island with the children as a way to be with me while I worked hard on the mission that I had chosen for myself. I didn’t have
“I just…didn’t know how to bring it up. I feel so bad…so guilty…” I confessed honestly. “There’s nothing for you to feel bad about. You’re over thinking things, Natalia. I’ve very happy living here with you. I’ll be happy wherever as long as we’re together,” Reiner said comfortingly. “But things are so hard on you. You have to work so much harder…” I whimpered in between my sobs.“That’s true but I’m willing to work a little harder so we don’t have to live apart. I know you’re working hard too and you’re trying your best,” Reiner said calmly as his large hand continued stroking my back.“I’m sorry…” I apologized again because I didn’t know what else to say.Even if he told me that he was happy and fine with being here, I still felt responsible for the additional hardship that I put him through. “We’ll make it through this as well as everything else. So, please stop crying, Natalia,” Reiner whispered lovingly before he placed a soft kiss on my forehead. Now that we were talking abo
“Of course,” Reiner replied without hesitation as his arms tightened a little around my body. “After we settle things here, let’s head back home. I know that we can’t keep on living like this, so we’ll have to find a way to operate this orphanage remotely. Once we figure that out, we can operate the other orphanages remotely too just like this one,” I proposed the idea that I had thought of before. “We’ll need strong team members and managers in place to do that. It’ll take time but it’s not impossible…” Reiner replied encouragingly. “Thank you…you’re such a wonderful husband. One day, I’m going to be less selfish and less stubborn, I promise,” I declared passionately. “Don’t worry about me and just focus on getting your act together, Natalia,” Reiner said with a hint of warning in his voice. Despite his tone, I could feel how supportive he was. It had always been that way. Reiner always wanted what was best for me and had always looked out for me in his own way. I couldn’t have
A week later, Reiner and I decided to go back home for a short visit with our main objective to discuss our plan with King. To my utmost surprise our meeting with King went by very smoothly. It gave me a feeling that King was satisfied with whatever outcome and his mind wasn’t on this issue at all. I thought back then that it must have been because the orphanage wasn’t truly part of the money-making part of the company’s business.Regardless of the cause, I was thrilled that King agreed to our proposal. He told us that he was happy that someone from the family wanted to take care of it. “I wish you good luck because this isn’t an easy job. Plus, I agree on quickly trying to find a way for you to manage things remotely. I can’t have Knight absent from this island for much longer than this,” King told us passionlessly. A few days later, I found out that King’s reaction to our proposal wasn’t the only shocking thing that was waiting for us back home. …**A few days later**After enjoy