The Orphan

//That was my life, several weeks back- me being traded like a prized mule, mostly because my parent wanted to add to his burgeoning business. I'd stuck to my wayward ways and pulled a Chesire cat on them, for the second time no less. Now sit tight and you'll slowly know the mess called Caleigh Darwin's life and about that jerk called Favio Fitzgerald as well. Here's rewinding some more, where it all started with an obsession of mine.//

A little bit about me and my life in general before everything else:

I belonged to the house of Darwin; no, I ain't Charles Darwin's descendant, I would have danced naked in the rain if I'd been. These Darwins are known for their empire created out of mining diamonds, so yes my dad was something close to a Plutocrat if not a Naturalist; I am extremely saddened by this... Dad's the chief manager of D.O.G~ Diamonds off Grib; Grib is a mine in Russia. I grant you the acronym makes the younger generation like me crack up, and since this diamond mine was a recently discovered one, it was currently being prepped up for production, a new branch had been opened, which is personally overseen by my dad. So when people ask me who my dad is I say, "He's the manager of DOG." It's a pleasure to watch the flabbergasted expressions of the people who don't know the Darwins.

That was family background, so now a personal profile. The Darwins have one too many kids. The previous generation mostly, it's so bad a case of overpopulation that if you put me and my cousins in a room, the parents would have a tough time picking out their kids. The parents were that busy to have a look at their kid's faces. Mine included.

Also, another reason I could practise my current hobby. Oh, I forgot to mention I am blissfully disowned by my family and now lived like the general population of Rome since I ran off the second time from my wedding. I get by small jobs and the careful investments I had made in the past; it came with being a Darwin- being money conscious.

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THE ORPHANAGE

"Valerie?" I look up from the journal I'd been going through and call out to my partner.

"Here you go." I take the sheet of paper she was holding out to me. She was learning the a, b, c's of keeping an account-keeping. I was teaching her how stuff worked around here since she was a habitual Chesire cat.

"Got it ingrained?" I ask looking over my glasses; they were zero power glasses, it helped me hide.

"More or less." She replies absently. She had been going through it like one would read a storybook meant for infants.

I jointly own this orphanage with Valerie Luekovia and it is called Arcobaleno which means rainbow; it's an apt name if you ask me, given that the kids were drastically diverse in their behaviour. As much as I'd like to say I worked crazy hard to co-own the orphanage I didn't. The old lady who used to run the orphanage mentioned me in her will. I used to visit and do the accounting for her back in high school when I could get away from home. When the lawyer had read out the will in the presence of Valerie and her brothers, it had proved very difficult for me to contain my hysterical laughter.

The lady had shared the ownership of the orphanage between her niece and me. Valerie was reckless and was extremely wayward, maybe that's why... who am I judging? It wasn't like I was any better! I loved that wrinkly old woman too much to chuck off my duty and the bonus was, I could feed my theories to the kids.

Valerie wouldn't have cared if the will hadn't stipulated that she be actively involved in the working of the orphanage till she'd be twenty-five, which was a few months away from now. She'd get her inheritance by then. I'm faintly worried about the orphanage, what would happen to it if she chooses to ditch her duties? How would I prowl about looking for fresh meat if she decides to ditch her babysitting duties?

"So basically an orphan running an orphanage." She comments as I was talking to myself.

"Now that you mention it... it oddly fits!" I exclaim, connecting the two and two in my head.

"So, you never liked your family because they drive you crazy or they are crazy?" she asks briefly looking at me as she painted her toenails a hideous green.

"Yeah, somewhat, a little of both," I was crazier one, they were simply too serious to be true, "that's the reason I studied like a possessed person, so I could go away for my graduation."

"Hey Vin, Jackson." Valerie greets looking over my shoulder. These were the name of some of the kids we looked after. "Hi, Cally!" Jackson beams like a cheerleader as he enters the room, his school uniform sticking to his skin.

"Hi," Vin replies a bit stiffly as she looks at me. I direct a smile at her, a little more poking around was required, she'll come to soften sooner than later. She looks away and trailed after Jackson towards their rooms.

I hopped to my feet as the kids disappear from my sight, giddy with anticipation. I pick up the clothes I had folded earlier and quickly arrange them in the wardrobe and shut it tight. "I'll leave you to it, Valerie see you later!" I sing as I fish for my belongings around the room.

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