The Alpha Next Door

Chapter 7 ⦔ Moonflower

AN: If you wanna see something cool search moonflower blooming on Youtube. It has zero relation to the story but it's really pretty and interesting.

Clara was exhausted. Clara had a lot of potential when she was younger but when she became a single parent after her husband's death she had to settle in the first job she could. That job was as a computer systems administrator. It was boring and tedious but she did it to provide for her daughter. 

Yet however hard Clara tried her daughter still seemed sad. Clara blamed boy troubles. She knew her daughter was having issues with her mate and while she tried to be there for her daughter the girl wasn't really telling her much. 

Recently though something was happening to her daughter. She had gained confidence. Some woman was buying her clothes and helping her gain confidence. Somehow her daughter was doing better than she ever had since her father had died. 

"Laila, can I get the phone number of the woman you are often hanging out with?" Said Clara to her daughter as they sat across from each other at the dining room table eating dinner.

"Mum her name is Adelia and why do you want her number?" Replied Laila as she looked at her Mother with a suspicious glare.

"I would just like to meet her. You spend a lot of time with her and I would like to know her." 

"Okay, I'll text her number to you." Shrugged Adelia and the two went back to eating their dinner pleasantly talking about their days. 

Adelia was painting when she got a text. It was decently late at night and she was curious as to who would be texting her. It was an unknown number and the message read "Hi Adelia this is Laila's mum Clara. I was wondering if maybe we could get together for lunch?" Adelia smiled and quickly replied to the text before getting back to painting. 

Two days later Adelia was sitting in a small local cafe waiting for her friend's mother. She had a coffee in front of her and she was happily replying to business emails on her phone. 

"Hello are you Adelia?" asked a pretty but plain woman who was slightly puffed and dressed in business clothes. 

"Yes, you must be Clara, Laila's mother. It's so great to meet you." Adelia stood up and shook the woman's hand and Clara took a seat.

"I am so sorry I'm late I just got caught up at work."

"Oh, it's fine. Now tell me a bit about yourself. Of course, Laila talks about you occasionally but I would love to get to know you." Smiled Adelia before a waitress came over and they both ordered.  As they ate they made simple small talk before moving onto more serious topics.

"Honestly I'm just happy that Laila has someone. I'm always so busy at work."

"Don't worry of course she knows that you are just trying to provide for her. I can't be easy being a single parent."

"Yeah and I remember my husband going into the military so the government would pay for his college but he died. I would just hate for Laila to ever go through that so I'm trying my best to pay for her University so she doesn't have to deal with that."

"Let me help." Said Adelia as she took a sip of her drink. 

"What?" 

"Let me donate to the fund. Let me help you."

"No, I couldn't possibly ask you to do that."

"I want to help. You're not asking I am offering." 

"No, I can't do that."

Adelia pulled out her checkbook while Clara watched in shook. When Adelia handed Clara the check Clara's eyes bulged out of her head. 

"No no no, I cannot accept this."

"You don't have to cash the cheque. Think of it as a donation for Laila."

"This is 50,000 dollars. I can't accept this." 

"Why not?"

"This is some people's yearly salary."

"Look the world is unfair. My father and his father and his father fucked over many people to get this money. I am just evening out the scoreboard. The gap between poor and rich in the country is fucking appalling. I intend to give much more money than that to charity by the end of this year. Do not worry about it. Please just take the check. If you want to cash it then you can and if you don't then leave it sitting in a drawer just in case." 

"Thank you, Adelia. You are an amazing person." Clara wiped away tears that began to well up in her eyes. 

"Hardly, now tell me what you do in your free time."

The two talked and ate until Clara had to rush back to work as her lunch break was ending. Adelia made her way home hoping that Clara would cash the cheque. She knew that if Clara was less stressed about funding her daughter's college then she would spend more time with her daughter. 

When Laila got home from school she went straight to her neighbor and friend's house to see Adelia. She knew that her mother and her friend were meeting for lunch that day and she was nervous about what had happened. She found Adelia making cookies in her kitchen while singing along to music in the background.

"So how was lunch with my Mum?" Asked Laila as she grabbed one of the cookies on the counter before taking a bite. 

"It was lovely. She is a very sweet woman."

"What did you talk about?"

"Just our jobs and our lives. You know just pretty standard conversations." Laila breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the conversation was normal and that the woman were friends.

"Oh okay. So do you have another date with Breen tonight?" 

"Yup, we are going to go watch some kind of sports game at his house with some of his friends. Apparently, everyone brings a snack hense why I am making the cookies."

"Ohh have fun."

"Shush. I made you some cookies though that you can take back to your house."

"Thank you. Have I ever told you that you're my favorite." Both Adelia and Laila laughed as Laila took the cookies and they went upstairs to help Adelia pick out something to wear for her date.