Pulling it open took a lot of effort but they eventually succeeded and walked inside. Excitement built up in them but was extinguished soon after as the only thing they could see was an empty room.
"THE HELL?" a loud voice of two men reverberated across the room.
*****
A bright yellow car zoomed through the highway, overtaking many vehicles in front of it. A middle aged man sat inside the car with an expression that looked like someone stole his wife and a teenager sat beside him silently as he looked lost in thought.
It didn't take long to reach the orphanage as Senzo drove like he would die if he slowed down. Lucio looked at his phone screen "Its still 8 am….." Senzo gazed at the building near them what looked old but it stood tall and majestic.
It was built with stones unlike the modern buildings which were build with cement and bricks. "We have a meeting at night so I want go back and make sure everything is prepared." Lucio nodded at those words and got out of the car "Lets go."
Aged couple were sitting on a sofa as they watched their favourite reality show when they heard a knock at the door. "Mr and Mrs Brown, we have guests and they would like to meet you."
"Let them in." The man said and turned off the TV.
A young boy and a middle-aged man entered the room and looked inside. The whole house was beautifully decorated with the best furniture possible and the walled were adorned with some of the most expensive paintings one could find.
Lucio frowned when he saw this but quietly sat on down as the old couple gestured them to sit down. 'People who use donations money for their own personal interests..... fucking dogs.'
"May I know for what pleasure you have visited our orphanage, gentlemen?" Mr Brown asked as he smiled.
"We are here for this boy's sister. We got information that she was in your orphanage." Senzo said as he ran his hand through his hair, a habit of his whenever he was in important meetings.
"Do you have any information on this girl?"
"I don't think so." Senzo replied as he shook his head.
"Then we are sorry but we don't know how to find the gir-"
"Do you have admission records or the information on all the children that were brought here in the past 11 years?" Lucio interrupted him.
"Yes but we have to sear-"
"I want the files. And please do it fast as we have a lot of things to do for the day." Lucio interrupted him again but his tone was different from before as felt like he was giving a command to someone. Senzo watched the show with a smile on his face.
The old man frowned upon hearing Lucio and looked at his wife, "Go bring the files." Mrs Brown nodded and left the room.
It took a few minutes for the old lady to come back with a few workers holding a huge pile of files, placed them in front of the table and said "You can search for what you want in these files.". She turned on the TV and continued watching her show with a satisfied smile on her face. Lucio just shook his head and looked the workers "Do you know a girl with the surname Tiano?"
Most of the workers just shook their head but two women at the middle of the group looked at each other and said "Yes , we do know a girl with that surname."
Lucio's eyes lit up when he heard that. He didn't like the old couple's attitude and he was ready to destroy the whole orphanage, as he came to a speculation that most of the donation money went to the expensive furniture and art pieces in the house. Luckily, he got some good news.
"Can you tell me about her please?" Lucio asked the two ladies , but they frowned before answering him "Well …. She's not the only one with the surname. She has a twin brother and they are quite close." Lucio just stared at them for a few seconds with wide eyes before sighing "Tell me more."
One of them nodded and said "Well … Emilia is a quiet child. She mostly keeps to herself and doesn't trouble anyone." Lucio nodded as he heard that and the lady continued "But , Emiliano is … quite hyper active. He formed his own group when he was five and they all act like they are heroes from [It's morbin time]" Both Senzo and Lucio smiled when they heard that.
Lucio still remembered his embarrassing past but unlike others, he embraced it. He also impersonated characters from different action movies and cartoons when he was a kid.
Lucio was excited to see his siblings but he calmed himself down and muttered "I'm still 17…." And turned towards Senzo and Senzo quickly said "I'm not adopting anyone."
To which Lucio countered "I don't want a pervert adopting my siblings anyways."
Lucio turned towards the old man and asked "I can meet my siblings right?"
The old man looked at Lucio for a few seconds and replied "Sure but since you are their actual family, we are not obligated to keep them here anymore."
"But I'm not 18 yet."
"You don't have to be. The laws have changed long ago. The government will support you financially when you show them the adoption documents until you turn 18."
Lucio nodded at those words and turned towards the workers "Let's go."
In a huge room, consisting of a lot of children, sat a girl as she drew random stuff on the paper in front of her. Right beside her was a group of boys, who were discussing how to save earth from a huge monster that liked to eat human legs.
The door to the room opened and their 'mother' entered the room with two males. This was quite a common sight for the kids but they never saw two males together, They had only seen a pair of male and female coming over to adopt one of them.
Some were excited while some were anxious about this situation. "Emilia, Emiliano!! Come here quick." The kids were surprised. This never happened in the orphanage before. The 'parents' came in and selected the kid they wanted and left. Most of the times, the younger kids were taken away.
The girl stood up and silently walked to her 'mother' but halfway through, she noticed that her brother was still busy with his friends talking about some lame huge metal junk robots, the concept never interested her. She walked back to her brother. Lucio whispered to the lady standing in front of him "Why is she going back? Does she like staying here?" The lady just shook her head "No, she is the only one that Emiliano listens to, just observe."
*PAK* a small hand went flying towards Emiliano's head "OWW! Why did you hit me?!"
"Mother called us, so stop playing with those stupid toys and come." The girl replied, clearly irritated.
Emiliano stood up and walked with his sister. "Everyone thinks you're an angel but you are a demon. A scary demon." Emilia just walked towards her 'mother' as she continued ignoring her brother's mumblings. When she got near, she noticed two guys standing behind her 'mother' and frowned, but nonetheless stood in front of her 'mother' obediently.
Before the lady could open her mouth , Lucio said "I want to talk to them somewhere private. I'm not comfortable with so many eyes staring at me." The lady nodded and took them to another room which was empty with a few tables. "You can sit here. This is the staff's break room so you can use it." She said as she told the three siblings to sit and left with Senzo following right behind her.
There was silence in the room as Lucio didn't know how to start the conversation. Earlier he was excited but right now he only felt nervous.
"Are you here to take us away?" Emilia asked softly. There was helplessness in her voice which Lucio couldn't miss.
Emiliano looked at his sister with an expression full of shock but he turned to Lucio in a second and lashed out "I'M NOT GOING!!!! MY SISTER IS ALSO NOT GOING!!"
Lucio raised his eyebrows and replied calmly "Look at my face and tell me what you feel."
Both the kids looked at Lucio's face which did make him a bit uncomfortable as all they did was stare. A few seconds passed and Emilia opened her mouth "You … look like a prince in my fairy tale." Lucio felt like slapping himself for the question he asked.
He took out his wallet and showed them the photo that was kept inside. It took the kids a while to process the photo when Emiliano's eyes almost popped out "HEY!! That man looks just like you sis."
Emilia concentrated on the man in the photo and nodded "yes ….and who is this boy in the middle ….. is that you?" she asked as she looked up at Lucio.
Lucio put the wallet back in his pocket and smiled.