A Bitter Girl

Her blue eyes stared at Lia with an innocent look. The girl was pretty with her two braids dancing whenever she moved her head or the two dimples on her cheeks when she smiled.

"Ah! I told him that I will manage but he did not listen to me. I think Mr. Clifford worries easily." the young girl nodded as she walked in.

She sat on the ground with her legs folded as she picked up the parchments and started arranging them.

"I am Irene. I have done this before so you need not worry. I can be a good help." Lia felt the girl was different from others as she replied curtly and didn't pay much attention to Lia after that.

But she didn't linger on that thought. Her eyes stared at the file in her hands.

She flipped pages thanking god that Irene did not check the file in the hands of Lia.

After flipping seventy pages and giving up hope, Lia finally found Mike written on the second last page.

There was a small sketch of a young child. It had faced and did not like it was made by a painter but by kids working here.

There was his basic detail like the day he was found on the steps of the orphanage and how that day was announced as his birthday.

How he had an affinity for swords from the start and how he stole forks from the kitchen to fight. How he practices fighting and all.

When he was thirteen, he was adopted by a couple. After that, Mike never returned but the couples had come a few times to give donations. They assured the head of the orphanage that Mike is having a good life.

It had an elaborate record of the diseases the child suffered when he was young and how he had never come back when all the kids returned to festivals to celebrate it with their old friends.

Lia frowned as she remembered Mike telling her that he was never adopted. He had spent most of his time in the orphanage and only left when he was selected as a knight.

He always gives credit to the street fights, he had fought as an orphan poor child. And how he had often suffered because he had no help.

But reading the details, she felt the person writing it had missed Mike and wanted him to return even if it was only for a brief moment.

"That file is old. I am sure it is already arranged." Lia paused and met the girl's eyes.

She was looking at Lia with knitted brows and then at the file in her hands.

"Is it?" Lia smiled, "But the file is on the ground so I thought it is part of the work." she lied through her teeth as she sat beside Irene.

"But I found this fascinating. How lucky he was to get adopted by a rich and loving family. But is it not strange that he never returned?" Lia stared at the sketch of Mike and shook her head.

"There are men like that. Whenever a child is adopted by a rich family, they do not return to this poor and gloomy place. Mr. Clifford only said that it was for the benefit of the child.

And I do not care if they return or not. If I am selected one day, I will not return either." the girl shrugged her shoulders and snatched the book from Lia's hands.

She arranged it back on the shelf and started working on the parchments when Lia followed. But her mind was still stuck on the details she had read.

She wished to read more about Mike and about the family who had adopted him. If he was taken by a rich family, why was he suffering so much and why was he trying to get wealth and power from them?

"Irene? Do you like working here?" Lia asked as she packed another set of parchments together and put it on the shelf.

"I have no place to go. They offered two warm meals and a warm bed to sleep in. What else can I carve as an orphan?" she shook her head as if it was blasphemy to even think about it when Lia nodded.

Her eyes filled with worry.

"What about the sponsorship program?" Lia pressed though it had nothing to do with the task she had come for.

"I failed last year. My sister was selected. Since then I had not heard about it but I am sure she is enjoying her life there." there was bitterness in the voice of the girl when Lia sighed.

They started working on the files again in silence. Lia wanted to ask more but the girl was not in the mood of gossip.

She worked silently until Mr. Clifford returned. He smiled at the girl who nodded and left the room.

"Aah! All the files had been arranged." Lia nodded, she had increased her pace since she had already torn the paper which contained Mike's information and she did not need to be here anymore.

She would rather go and look for his parents.

"Did Irene misbehave?" asked the man taking a seat and offering another to Lia.

Lia hesitated for a second before sitting beside the old man. His face was warm despite the lines around his forehead and eyes.

His smile was warm and Lia felt a tinge of guilt while lying.

"No, she is a smart girl with good skills. I am just surprised that she was not selected for the sponsorship program." the man sighed, his vice coming strained and distant.

"She was selected." that surprised Lia as she looked at the man questioningly. "But her sister was sick and needed treatment. Since they offer medical expenses. The girl lied and told her sister's name when she sat in the exam.

So, Isolde was selected instead and left the orphanage. Irene waited lng t hear back from her sister but no reply ever came. That had left a deep mark n her heart.``