- Caden -
It wasn't what I expected. Maybe I've watched too many movies and expected an orphanage to look like a slaughterhouse but no.
This place was beautiful and felt so homely.
I drove Rose to the orphanage with her directions. She insisted on driving but hell I wanted to drive her.
"This is it," she smiled as we drove through the gates.
"This?"
"Yeah."
"It looks like a cottage, just, well, bigger."
She giggled and the doors to the 'cottage' opened.
Three kids ran out screaming for Rose and she jumped out the moment I stopped the car.
She hugged all three girls together and fell down from the impact of them running towards her.
They were all laughing and giggling their heads off though.
I shut the engine and stepped out of the car, arms crossed, watching this little scene in front of me.
I couldn't help smiling, my Rose was so happy.
"Oh my goodness I missed you girls so much!" Rose squealed and the girls giggled.
"Cassidy we have to show you our tests! Miss Wendy gave us a pop quiz and we all did really well!" The girl that seemed the oldest told Rose.
Her blonde hair was up to her shoulders, She seemed to be 12 years old. She was skinny and pale but full of energy.
Another girl who looked slightly younger, maybe 10 years old. Brown locks till past her shoulders, she just kept smiling without even saying anything. Her small face and rather tall height reminded me of Rose.
The youngest, probably 7 years old, was excitedly running around. Orange-red hair that was crazy curly and she kept grabbing onto Rose.
I cleared my throat and they looked up at me, Rose was beaming, her cheeks were rosy and her eyes were bright.
Oh man I love this girl.
Rose stood up, "Girls, this is Caden. He's my friend and he accompanied me here today to play with you guys."
The girls watched me with wide eyes, then the youngest one yelled, "Cassidy is he your boyfriend?! He looks handsome."
The oldest one smacked her hand on the youngest girl's mouth to shush her while Rose and I laughed.
I walked over to them, "Hello girls, my name is Caden. I'm Cassidy's boyfriend though she only wants me as her friend-"
"Caden!" Rose interjected and I chuckled.
The youngest one put her hand out, "Hi I am Maia. I will be 8 years old this year and I like you, you seem nice."
Rose smiled while I shook Maia's hand, "Well I like you too Maia." She hugged me and I almost stumbled backwards, "Wow you're strong huh."
She giggled and grabbed Rose's hand, "Come on come on we have to show you our new room!"
Maia pulled Rose inside and I was left with the other two girls.
The oldest one stepped forward, "Don't worry about Maia, she's hyperactive. She's super excited about her birthday coming next month that's why she introduces herself by emphasising her age. I'm Anastasia by the way." She held her hand out and I shook it.
"I'm Caden, I suppose you're the oldest?"
She nodded, "Yeah I am. I'm 12."
Hah, nailed it.
Anastasia gestured for the other girl to come forward, "Come on, introduce yourself."
She looked so unbelievably shy, "H-Hi, I'm Chloe."
I smiled, she had a sweet voice, "Hey, I'm Caden. I guess you're the middle one?"
Anastasia nodded eagerly, "Yes, Chloe is 10. Let's go inside, Maia must be telling Cassidy everything that we've done!"
They ran inside and I ran after.
The inside felt like a school, you know in 'X-Men'? Professor Xavier's school for special kids or something like that? Yeah, it looked like that.
I could hear Maia talking so loudly and the two girls ran after her voice, "Maia! Show Cassidy the toys we got!"
I laughed and followed them.
Anastasia had her own phone and I guessed she was old enough to handle one. She was recording a video of us running.
We reached the bedroom and there were three beds. Obviously this was their room.
"Cassidy look we got new toys from the drive last week!" Maia was showing their collections of toys and Rose was smiling and acknowledging each of them.
"Cassidy look, they gave me a phone on my birthday. Remember their policy? We'll get one on our 12th birthday."
"Cassidy look at our pop quiz, we got full marks for it," Chloe quietly showed Rose her paper and Rose patted her head.
"Gosh you girls have grown so much, I'm so proud of all of you," She hugged them and I felt my heart swell.
She was beautiful. How many times have I said it?
We heard a knock on the door and a lady let herself in, she looked to be in her fifties and her wrinkles were showing a little.
"Hi Miss Rose, it's nice to have you with us again," she turned to me and nodded in my direction, "And this is?"
I strode over to her and held a hand out, "Hi I'm Caden Jones, I'm here with Miss Rose today."
"Ah I heard the news but I didn't expect it to be true," she smiled. "Miss Rose, Mr Jones here seems like a nice man for you."
Rose's face turned red and the three girls giggled.
"Anyway, I am Miss Wendy, the caretaker for this orphanage. Apparently, the rest of the kids have a field trip today but these cheeky three somehow found out about Miss Rose coming today and refused to go on the trip."
The three girls huddled close to Rose and I couldn't help laughing, "Well I'm actually glad I got to meet these three girls and you today Miss Wendy."
She smiled, "It's my pleasure, if you require anything please let me know. I'll be happy to assist you. For Anastasia, Chloe and Maia, I expect you three to be good girls and to take care of one another."
"Yes Miss Wendy," they chirped at the same time and Miss Wendy left the room with a smile on her face.
"So, what do you girls want to do today?" Rose asked them.
"We actually wanted a girls day out but we might have to change it a little for Caden," Anastasia mumbled.
I laughed, "Don't worry about me, I shall be your driver for today."
Rose sent me a thankful glance and I winked at her.
I'll do anything to make her happy.
***
- Cassidy -
It really was a girls day. I gave each of them a hundred dollars to buy whatever they wanted.
It wasn't a lot to me but it was a lot to them. The part that made me melt was when they bought something for the rest of their friends at the orphanage.
Barely even thinking about themselves.
"Anna look at that teddy bear! Josie would love that!" Maia called out to Anastasia at the toy store and I stood aside, watching them run around.
Anastasia was the oldest child we had at the orphanage, and she was entering her teenage years.
I was proud of her for many things, one being that she was very good at taking care of the younger ones.
Caden came up from behind me, an arm around my shoulder, "They're so excited."
I nodded, "They're beautiful."
He chuckled and kissed my cheek, "You're beautiful too."
I smiled and shook my head, "Thank you for driving us around Caden. I really appreciate it. I'm actually surprised they can buy that many things with a hundred dollars each."
He leaned his head on mine, "Yeah my car is gonna be full. Anyway, where else are you bringing them?"
"Since it's a girls day I wanted to bring them for a manicure and pedicure. Shop for some clothes as well, but I don't want to leave you alone."
"I'm fine."
"It's boring for a guy to follow us girls around isn't it?"
"No it's not, I'm okay with it."
"But you know, being the only guy and tagging along with us girls must be tiring."
"Rose-"
"Plus waiting around for us and being on standby-"
He kissed me and I froze, his arms snaking around me. I felt myself melt and kiss him back.
He pulled away, forehead against mine, "As long as I can have you around me, I'm fine following you girls, wherever you want to go. Got it?"
I smiled and nodded, "Thank you."
He smirked, "Well I still am your best girl friend, I can have the privilege to do a manicure if I like to."
"You won't let this matter rest until I officially announce you as my boyfriend huh?"
"Damn right I won't."
I laughed and ran my hand through his hair, "If you keep this up I'll fall head over heels for you Mister."
He kneeled down, "Don't worry, I'll be here to catch you."
I laughed again and pulled him up, "Stop being a drama king. Come on, the girls are paying for their things."
After they paid for their things themselves, Caden drove us to a nail parlour that I frequent.
It was nice being able to chill with my girls.
We did our nails and Caden would walk around outside and come back to read a magazine before going out again.
He was restless it was obvious.
When he was finally back to the parlour again he had a drink in his hand.
"Caden."
He looked up at me, "Rose."
"You alright?"
He nodded, "I got hungry, you girls want anything?"
"Caden you'll have to feed us! Our nails are still wet and gooey!" Maia yelled and we laughed, "Maia sit down, you scared the nice lady."
Maia giggled and sat back down for the staff to finish her toenails.
"We can eat later, but Caden, can you get a new phone? I tried calling you the other day and a lady picked up."
His eyes widened, "Ah that was why I couldn't find my phone. Who picked up?"
"I don't know, she didn't say," I mumbled and Caden grumbled.
"Ugh getting a new phone will be better than getting weird calls from strange girls huh?"
I raised an eyebrow, "About that, what other dirty names are in there?"
He watched me, his eyes unbelievably cheeky, "Well-"
"Cassidy, dirty names are like rubbish and sewage isn't it?" Chloe whispered next to me and I giggled, whispering back, "Yes Chloe those are dirty names."
Caden scoffed and eyed me playfully, "I'll go buy a new phone. It's been awfully inconvenient but I thought it was somewhere in my room."
"Alright, come back in half an hour alright?"
"Okay my princess."
The three girls looked at him eagerly and I eye signalled Caden.
"Ah I mean, okay my princesses." He did a dramatic bow and we laughed.
He was so charming and gorgeous. He appeared like a protective older brother to the girls.
I was surprised that they were quite comfortable with Caden though they'd only met for a few hours.
Thinking about it, I've only been with him for a week and we've kissed, he seemed to have that kind of casual air about him.
Oh well, Caden didn't judge me based on my past, I will not judge him on his too.
But really, big boobs? What other kinds of nicknames did he give those girls?
"Cassidy, I think the kids are back from the field trip, can we go back after this? Oh and can we get some pizza back? Everyone will love it," Anastasia asked me.
"Of course we can. By the way, I'll not be around from tomorrow onwards for about a week. I'll be in Korea for a business trip. You girls take care of one another alright?"
They nodded, "Yes Cassidy, we promise to be good."
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