Moment of Truth (2)

Almost Twenty ago...

One late afternoon, a black stately car pulled up outside a rundown building on whose walls, yellow paint coating was already peeling off. The edges of wooden roof had a chunk of it torn off, the white paint had become a dirty grey. No tree grew around, neither was there a playground with swing or anything a child could play hide and seek or swing down from, but there was one thing that stood in place, to entertain them and that was pile and pile of brown grainy sand on the ground. Weeds grew around the big bungalow, made of ten rooms and two bathrooms. Outside the building read the sign "Baby Angels" in yellow.

The driver who appeared to be twenty something, dressed in corporate black, stepped out to open the backseat door for the man sitting at the back.

On stepping out of the car, the man looked to be thirty something, he had a look that one would not call handsome, but neither would he be seen as ugly. His clean cut hair, and sharp dark corporate suit and shoes all of name brand, gave him the appearance of a person loaded with a lot of cash.

He stopped to look around him, his dark lashes descended over his eyes as he tilted his head back to take in the crisp air, from his surrounding. The driver by then had shut the door, secured it and was waiting by his side for further instructions.

It wasn't long, after that the man pulled his head back, opening his dark eyes, and shrugged his shoulders off, as though trying to get rid of some invisible load.

He began walking towards a faded white picket fence that surrounded the building. His driver was a step ahead, pushing the gate open for him to enter in, closely following behind him, as the gate remained open.

There were few children playing outside, some running about, others kicking and playing in the sand. Two middle aged women dressed in a pink-gown uniform of the establishment, sat on an aging brown bench very close to the main door.

When they saw the men that walked in, one of them got up, her face was bare of any makeup and jewelry, she had her dark hair pulled back. Her feet was covered in a white sneakers, with no nail polish per policy.

"Good afternoon, my name is Jia Daiyu, what brings you to Baby Angels?"

Zhang Tianyu looked at the woman that addressed them, she was of average statue, he slowly looked at her from head to toe. Wondering how she could stand in front of him, looking the way she was, unattractive as hell! He took his time before opening his mouth to give her a response.

"I'm Zhang Tianyu from Zhang Corporation, can I speak to the owner of this place?!"

His voice dripped with barely suppressed disdain, watching in fascination as he saw her struggle to get her bearing on hearing who he was.

Rushing to push open the brown door that led inside, almost stumbling as she ushered them in. The right wing was where the rooms, kitchen and bathrooms were, while the left wing was the administrative side of the establishment. Walking pass three doors to the left, they stood in front of a brown door with the gold name plate "Cao Meilin Director", knocking twice on the door, a voice from inside replied, "Come in!"

The woman that brought Zhang Tianyu and his driver, began making introduction, blushing and almost stuttering as she spoke, after she was done, she handed them over to the Director of Baby Angles before curtsying and shutting the door behind her.

After an exchange of firm handshake across the director's desk, Zhang Tianyu sat across from her, with his driver standing on his feet behind him. In a warm voice the Director of Baby Angels spoke.

"Mr Zhang, please tell me why you are here at Baby Angels. Although, I want to assume you came to sponsor our humble residence. I still want to hear from you why you are here."

The owner of the establishment was a good looking woman in her late fifties, she was in a long sleeved blue top and white flowing skirt. Her graying hair was in a bob cut, she had no makeup nor jewelry or nail polish on.

All these did not slip pass Zhang Tianyu, when it came to women as long as they were not in their young vibrant years, he didn't care how they looked like. His father never made him forget to pay special respect to the elderly, so as he stood in front of her, feeling as though she had his hands tied up.

Clearing his throat, Zhang Tianyu said, "I'm aware that this is an orphanage and would like to adopt a child of my own. Of course I will make a yearly donation, to show my support to the child's former home."

The woman had a surprised look on her face, most people that came in for adoption, brought their spouse with them. There was not much on his face, so it made it difficult for her to determine if he would be a good parent or not, one thing was certain. A child taken under Zhang Corporation would most likely not suffer and have their daily needs met.

When he saw the woman had a thoughtful look on, as she met his gaze, it was as if she hadn't reached a decision. That was when he decided to make an offer that she could not refuse.

"How about, I bring the child over for quarterly visits and you could see for yourself if he is in the right home or not. Also, every month the orphanage will receive 50.000 Yuan in cash, no need to go through the hassle of cashing out a check from the bank."

When the woman heard it, her eyes almost popped out, she looked almost like a fish gasping for breath. Zhang Tianyu watched as she was trying to take in all that he said to her.

It took only a few minutes, but once she had her emotion under control. She asked if he had a child in mind.

To which, he told her he already knew who he was going to be bringing home with him. Astonished by his response, she asked if he could show her the child in question.

Standing up, they both left the office, heading outside, to see who had caught his attention.

Sitting all alone by the corner, twiddling together fingers covered in dirt, as he watched the rest of the children play, the child had faded orange shirt and brown shorts, his bare feet had blisters that was beginning to heal, dark wind blown hair lay tangled on his head.

"That would be him! The boy in orange!"

Surprised by his choice, the woman told Zhang Tianyu that the boy he wanted, had been abandoned at the front door of the orphanage as a baby and no one knew whose child he was. She told Zhang Tianyu that the child was a bit slow, but he still held on to his decision that it was him or no one else.

Unable to deter him, the woman grudgingly agreed. Together they walked in to sign the papers for the adoption of Wen Shu, turning to his driver, Zhang Tianyu signaled with his eye for him to pull out the money to give her.

Reaching into the inner pocket of his coat, Guo Ru handed Cao Meilin the money. Afterwards, Zhang Tianyu got up together with his driver to shake hands. Both leaving the office of the Director of Baby Angels who still had a baffled look on her face.

Outside, Guo Ru went over to greet the little child, carrying him to where Zhang Tianyu was, before dropping him gently to the floor.

Reaching a hand to hold the child by the hand, that was when he spoke," From today henceforth, your name is now Yang Lin and you will be under my care, following everything I ask of you."

The little child of almost eight years of age, did not fully understand what that meant, but nodded in agreement. Together, hand in hand they walked out of the orphanage into a world of deception and greed.