Chapter 3

After twisting the key into the lock, Elise gently pushed her door open and carried her messenger bag and a few bags of groceries into her apartment. After flicking on the lights, she entered the nearly sparse kitchen and put all the food and drinks away. Elise then opened her laptop on the kitchen table, and checked for emails and other notifications.

The first email she noticed was one from Kate, with the subject title of “Volunteer application~~ please open me!” Elise quickly scanned her email, and the edge of her lips curled up just slightly at the encouraging message her new friend sent her. In the email were three PDF forms, the general application with personal statement, the health form, and the recommendation page.

“This should be easy…but…” There was not much to complete. Writing was easy for her, so filling this form out should only take one night. But Elise faced the problem of finding someone to recommend her.

She did not go to school since middle school. Her boss is not particularly fond of her. Also, most people in her workplace find her too intimidating. Elise sighed as she pondered who she could ask. “Maybe I should ask her?” Elise dialed Kate on her cellphone, and soon enough the new friend picked up.

“Hello?”

“It’s me.”

“Elise? You finally called me! What’s up?”

Elise paused before continuing, “I need a recommender.”

“Oh yeah! That’s not the most important. You just don’t need a crappy one and that’s all.”

“I don’t know anyone.”

“You know me, right?” Elise could hear Kate pouting on the other end.

“You’re not… a boss…” Elise muttered.

“Well, I guess, since I’m your friend… You know what? I’ll talk to my aunt,” Kate continued with her chipper mood, “I’ll ask her if she really needs you to get a recommender.”

“Can you not tell her my history?” Elise asked quietly.

Kate smiled on the other end of the line. “Of course I won’t! What do you take me for? She scares me, but I should be able to convince her that you’ll be just peachy for the job! Besides, you’re accompanying me on this anyway, and she already signed me up for next week.”

Elise sighed. “Should be fine. When do you need this by?”

“Tomorrow okay? You could just email it to me so I can get it all ready for my aunt.”

“Sure.”

“Thanks, Elise! You’re the best!”

“Mmhm.”

There was a short pause on the other end. “So… I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yup,” Elise replied.

“’Kay! Bye!”

“Bye.” Elise hung up the phone and proceeded to complete the application.

~~~~~~~~

Three hours later, Elise still couldn’t finish the personal statement section of her application. No matter how she started, the statement didn’t seem to reflect her true thoughts. It was like what many people would write in order to just get a job, and there was no sense of desire for the job in what she wrote.

Elise groaned for the nth time that night as she cut out the entire paragraph in her Word document. “Why do I want to volunteer? Can’t just write that Kate asked me to…” She paused for a bit, and decided to give herself a little break to clear her head.

She made her way to the kitchen, white in color, and completely undecorated. She liked the simple things, and preferred the cleanliness of her home. It was such a stark contrast to where she lived in the past.

She shook her head of the memories after she took a good look around her kitchen and the rest of the little apartment. Everything was plain, and there was almost no color.  But everything was pure, void of everything dirty in the world.

Elise proceeded to pour herself a cup of hot chocolate, and she made her way back to her desk in the living room. She now had a direction to write in.

“I would like to help these orphans experience a life of less hardship, and if I can do that in any way, I would, and this is because I’ve experienced these challenges and gained a better life for myself. Yes, that’s it,” Elise mutters to herself before placing her fingers on the keyboard and rapidly typing away.

~~~~~~~~

Emily submitted her application soon after solving her dilemma, and head to work like always the next morning. The day started off rather well for her; the skies were blue, the air was fresh, and Elise somehow felt more alive than before.

As she entered the building complex, Elise once again attracted stares for her stoic expression as she walked to her office floor. After picking up a thick package of requests and re-edits from the secretary, she made her way to her cubicle, took a huge swig of her morning coffee, and settled to work on the stack for today.

Soon enough, however, Kate proceeded to visit Elise in the middle of work. “Yo, Elise?” Elise turned her attention to her with questioning eyes. “I got your application, and I just talked to my aunt, and she says you’re just fine for the job!” Elise’s lips curved up, just a little.

Kate shook her head, however. “But my aunt has something to say. It’s not exactly great news for you, though…”

Elise’s eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Well, my aunt says that there are many teenagers who are in need of volunteers, and she thought that you were better suited to work with them…” Kate murmured, genuinely afraid of Elise’s reaction.

The said girl was rather surprised, perhaps a little annoyed. “So, I’m with teenagers?” The shorter friend nodded. Elise just shrugged. “I guess that’s it then.”

Kate gave a confused expression as Elise returned to her laptop. “Wait, you’re okay with it?”

“I didn’t say I’m okay with it, but your aunt’s the boss,” was Emily’s quick reply.

Kate sighed. “I guess so, but I hope you won’t be too mad about it. She’s freaky, but she knows what’s good for them since she has been taking care of them since they were children.”

“Yeah?”

“Yup. They’re kind of indebted to her in a way. But then again, from what I know, almost everyone in the orphanage is scared of her, so…”

Elise waved her hand really quickly. “It’s fine. When do we start?”

Kate smiled. “Today!”

Elise’s eyes widened tremendously in surprise, or astonishment, even she didn’t know at that moment. “What?”

“Yup! We start after we get out at 2. We’re meeting the orphans at around 2:30 since it takes half an hour to get there.”

“But…” Elise started.

Kate shook her head. “It’s all settled, Elise. My aunt needed volunteers pretty badly, and since you and I sent them in, she thought we were good enough to handle the two groups of orphans. She’s giving you a bigger group than me though, but she didn’t tell me why.” Elise stared at her in alarm. “It’s okay! She knows what she’s doing!” Kate quickly spoke to try and alleviate Elise’s doubts.

“Are you sure?” Elise asked in hesitation.

“Completely,” Kate smiled. “You must have been seriously qualified for the position she’s giving you though. Twelve guys…” she trailed off.

Elise nearly had a heart attack even though her facial expression didn’t change. “Twelve?” she muttered.

Kate nodded in excitement. “Yup. You’ll meet them today!”

Elise could only hold her head in her hands in anticipation of the impending headache that she expected would come later in the day.

Hey readers!

Hope you all liked this chapter! I had a little more time this weekend before the workload picks up again, so it's slightly shorter than usual. 

I'm pasting the polls once again below, so please be sure to vote! I have three guys in EXO (which we could keep), or we could try and limit it to one! Also, in case you're confused, the location choosing (Capitol, Major City, and Suburban Town) is where the EXO guys are from. Up to you to choose an answer based on where they're from or on random! I guess you all have up until I update the next chapter... which could range anywhere from a week to two weeks :)

See you guys! Please subscribe and comment! Any ideas/what you'd like to see would be greatly appreciated! See you soon!

xoxo shadowonsapphire