When The Obstinate Billionaire Meets The Lovely Orphan

Leticia

In 1995, on a rainy and cold afternoon in Curitiba, Mr. Bartolomeu and Mrs. Cintia abandoned a newborn child at the door of the city’s orphanage and fled without looking back. One of the sisters found the girl wrapped in a blanket, crying from cold or hunger, or possibly both. They took her inside, fed her, and put her up for adoption. Many said she was a beautiful child, with clear eyes and her hair shone like the sun, but no one showed up to adopt her for five years. The orphanage was a good and lonely place. Among the sisters, there was always the most demanding and authoritative one, who sometimes even beat the poor children. The real evil came from the other orphans, who, affected by family love, took out their fears and frustrations about other children. She grew up watching the other orphans being adopted while they left behind her. Until one day, on a hot afternoon, a man named João accompanied by his wife Magdalena entered the mansion and when they saw the girl, they were sure at that very moment that she would be their future daughter. In a short time, they took the little orphan girl from there, already five years old, and named her Letícia.

The cell phone woke up. It was six in the morning and exactly that day; I didn’t want to have to go to work. I grimaced when I remembered what would happen at the orphanage that day. Things like that had never happened since I went to work there. Having to help a criminal re-socialize was too much for me to handle. What if he was too dangerous? If you wanted to do something bad for the children? And if I only knew the crime he committed, maybe it would be easier to deal with the whole situation, but I felt blind.

I got up dragging. I performed the entire morning rite without any enthusiasm. Not only that, but I left, not in a hurry, and my father was already awake.

“Why are you up at this hour? His apparent willingness amazed me”.

“Insomnia”, he said, while having a newspaper over his face.

“It’s Maria who won’t like this at all,” I commented, knowing he would be furious.

“Maria doesn’t have to comment on anything.” she lowered the newspaper and looked at me over her glasses. "You seem to be late”.

“Didn’t want to have to go to work today.” I grabbed a cup and filled it with coffee.

“Was it because of the new co-worker? “he asked, looking down at the paper again.

“Co-worker?” I asked. “they are shoving it down my throat”.

“It can’t be that bad, Leticia”.

“Dad,” I called him, but he didn’t look at me. "He’s a criminal. Who knows what he can do to us”.

“You don’t know what crime he committed,” she continued defending. Besides, you, as a good Christian, shouldn’t express prejudice.

His comment took aback me.

“I completely disagree with you, my father, but I’m too tired to argue about it right now”.

“And, by the looks of it, late too”.

I took the last sip of coffee, looking at him one last time. I walked towards him and kissed his already bald head.

“Behave,” I warned, and he grunted, “have a good day.”

“For you too.” His words came out harsh, but I didn’t care. I left the house amused by how much he liked to tease Maria.

I widowed my father at the age of fifty-eight. Since that day, he has been living in isolation, without many friends or many adventures. Five years after my adoptive mother died, he fell ill. We found out that he had the most severe type of diabetes. Our lives have completely changed since that day. I was still too young to understand what happened, but I learned to be strong to take care of him and also of myself. It wasn’t that hard. For a girl who grew up in an orphanage, life forces you to be strong. I had few memories of the times I lived there, but most were bad. Unfair punishments meted out, the other orphans always mocking and mistreating me. I had no one to lean on, no one to trust. From a very early age, I had to learn to lick my own wounds. And it was no different from today.

As I walked towards the orphanage, I kept thinking that despite the things I went through there; I felt an immense affection for that place. When I decided to go to work there, I went with the intention of being the support that I sought for so many years and did not have. I would help those children through this very difficult time in their lives. Therefore, I would not allow anyone to harm them.

As soon as I arrived at the orphanage gate, my heart froze. Was the man already there? How would he be, old, young? I was afraid of what I would find in there. I took a deep breath and entered. Sister Adelina was at the reception, but there was no one with her. I observed the environment and everything seemed normal.

“Good morning,” I said, but she didn’t look at me. “has the man arrived yet?

Adelina looked up and looked at me over her glasses. The impression I got is that she didn’t like the way I referred to her new employee.

“The man you’re referring to hasn’t arrived yet,” he paused, making me swallow hard, “and I really hope you’re not so impolite when he arrives”.

It was just what I needed, for me to be delicate with a criminal.

“May I at least know his name?” I asked, “so I don’t call him a man, not to offend him.

“Jonathan Campos,” he replied, and I was sure he didn’t know him, “and don’t give me ironies first thing in the morning, Letícia”.

Sister Adelina was a typical grumpy woman. She never smiled, at least not that I remember. She always took things very seriously, and there was no sense of humor about her. His heart was almost impenetrable, at least I had that feeling. I thought of asking him if I should stay there to wait for the host, but I didn’t have time. The door to the mansion opened right behind me and a man with an enormous belly wearing a suit walked in. But my eyes did turn to the man who came close behind.

Damn it! I know him. Soon he. It’s the boy I met at Ravi’s party.

Our eyes collided, and the expression on his face was one of pure dissatisfaction at the sight of me. The world is tiny, or maybe it’s life playing a nice trick on me.

“Good morning,” the man in the suit said, addressing Sister Adelina. “I’ve brought Jonathan to start work.

His eyes seemed glued to me, and I knew the expression on my face indicated I was short on friends.

I watched as Adelina hurried over to Jonathan and offered a handshake, unsmiling of course, and he shook it less than enthusiastic.

“Welcome,” she said and directed her gaze towards me. “This is Letícia, and she will be responsible for supervising you. It will teach you how the orphanage works and what your services will be here”.

I watched Jonathan let out a smirk. I wanted to punch him in the face, but I also noticed that Sister Adelina was looking at me as if she expected my reaction to him.

“Give the boy a compliment, Leticia,” she said.

I snorted with no intention of disguising it.

“Hi” I didn’t mean to be nice to him and that was all I managed to say.

“We already know each other,” he said, with his gaze directed to Adelina “unfortunately”.

I even opened my mouth to answer him, but the man in the suit spoke before me.

“Since we’re among acquaintances, I’ll be on my way” he smiled as if everything was fine “don’t forget what we talked about” he directed the speech towards Jonathan “and don’t forget your schedules, especially with your father”.

Jonathan didn’t answer the man, but his expression remained closed. His life certainly wasn’t going to be easy, but why should I care? He, in addition to being arrogant, was a criminal. I watched the man leave and the next thing I knew I had my attention on him again, knowing that from that moment on he would be the most constant company I would have from then on.

Unfortunately!