Forever And Always (Part Two)

Eleven

Alexa's POV

"Oh dear! Come and sit." Betty, the old lady from diner said as I entered the NGO, Little Hearts. I smiled and nodded, taking a seat. "Do you need anything to drink? Water? Coffee?"

"No, Betty. I'm fine." I smiled. She nodded.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Excited to meet all the kids." I said with a giggle. She chuckled too.

"Just fill the paperwork and then you can meet them all." She said. I agreed and filled all the papers. She then handed me the schedule of the kids.

"You homeschool all of them here?" I asked. She shook her head with a chuckle.

"No, my dear. Only those who need. Like kids above 5 years of age. But yes, all of the kids are taught how to behave properly when in an audience and all of them are taught value education." She said.

"Who teaches them?" I asked.

"My son's girlfriend. What was her name again? I forgot, sorry." She giggled.

"No problem."

"One thing you need to know is, all of the kids call themselves little hearts. So if someone says that they are a little heart, don't get confused." Betty said. I nodded. "Let's meet all of them now. I'll give you a tour on our way."

"When did you start this place?" I asked, curiously. She smiled.

"A year after my husband died." She chuckled.

"Oh, I'm sorry." I muttered softly. She shook her head.

"Don't be. Plus, his death gave me lots of money to open this place." She winked, playfully but I could see the sadness behind those eyes. "This is our library. Kids used to have storytime here."

"Used to?"

"Yeah. A few months ago my doctor told me rest more often so now I can't tell them stories. My eyes have weakened too." She said. We walked a little futher and came to a play room which was all yellow.

"Why yellow? Most play rooms are pink or blue, right?" I asked. She chuckled.

"When boys were told that it's gonna be pink, they all refused and said to make it blue. When girls were told that that it will be blue now, they all refused too and said it to be pink again. We therefore settled for yellow." She said with a laugh. I giggled too, thinking about little kids pouting and arguing. "Anyways, kids must have finished their lunch. Let's go meet them."

"Sure." I said and followed her.

We reached a huge hall, where all the girls and boys were sitting quietly, whispering things to each other.

"Kiddos!" Betty squealed. Smiles popped on everyone's face as they all screamed in unison.

"MUMMA!"

They all ran to Betty and hugged her. Betty too shared equal love and affection for each of them. They all started to tell her about stuff they probably did today.

After lots of cute babbling, Betty made the kids sit down in silence.

"Babies, this is Ms Alexa and she will be taking care of you all from now. Say hi everyone." Betty smiled.

"Hi, Ms Alexa." Everyone said in unison.

"I'll leave you with them for now." Betty gave me a pat on back before walking out. Kids waved at her and she waved back.

"Ms Alexa, would you help me with making an aeroplane?" A boy came up to me, holding a yellow craft paper in his hand. I smiled and nodded.

"Sure." I made him the aeroplane and when it flew, it went straight across the room, making all of them gasp and awe in amusement.

"I want one too!" Other few girls and boys came up, holding different coloured craft papers.

After lots of folding papers and cheering and squealing, the papers finished. I thought everyone had there own planes but then, one girl started crying.

I rushed to her and saw it was none other than Sarah I met in park that day.

"Why are you crying Sarah? What happened?" I asked in a soft tone.

"I...don't have a plane like everyone one." She said while sniffling. She was holding a white coloured paper.

"Do you know what's even better than a plane?" She shook her head. "A swan. Come, I'll teach you. Don't cry." I held her hand walked to my bag. She sat beside me, carefully looking at what I was doing. When I was done, I showed her the beautiful swan. A grin spread on her face for a second before it turned into a frown.

"It doesn't have eyes. How will it see me?" She asked. I chuckled and pulled out a pen from my bag. I drew two dots as eyes and then handed it to her again.

"Now?"

"It's beautiful. Thank you, Ms Alexa." She said and ran away. I could see her trying to play with Julian but he was as usual being mean to her.

Fortunately, she didn't cry and started playing by herself.

_

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"Bye bye, Ms Alexa." All kids sang in chorus. I smiled and waved at them as I left.

I pulled out my phone from my bag to see if there are any messages or phone calls.

52 missed calls from Mr Hotty.

25 messages from Mr Hotty.

2 missed calls from dad.

1 message from Emily.

I frowned.

Why did he call me so many time? Did something happen?

I called him, but this time he didn't pick up. I shrugged and walked home.

The sun was already down and it was getting darker slowly. The streetlights lit up. All this time I was walking, I couldn't help but feel like someone's following me. I felt like I was hearing footsteps of someone else, along with mine.

No, no, Alexa. Don't think like that. No one is following you. Nothing's there behind you.

Suddenly I stopped. I heard two footsteps after I had stop and that just confirmed, someone is following me.

I quickened my steps, calling Felix.

Pick up. Pick up. Pick up. Pick up.

He didn't.

I just clenched my hands tight and walked faster to my house.

When I reached the building, there was a security guard. I stopped near his desk.

"Sir, please. Would you check along this street? I feel like someone has been following me." I tell him. He looked at me, head to toe before nodding.

"Yeah. Please sit. You look exhausted." He said and got up, walking the way I had come from. A few minutes later he came back and shook his head. "No, miss. I didn't see anyone." He said. I sighed and nodded.

"Thank you." I said and walked into the elevator. I pressed the button to my floor and leaned back.

I opened the door with my key and gasped at the scene in front of me.

Felix was laying on the floor near couch, his lip bleeding and he had an bruised eye and bruised knuckles.

"F-Felix..."