Tainted Rose

Foster Dad

'What does she mean by adopted by the week?' I thought as she smiled happily at me.

"Um, Ms. Adrieana, what do you mean by adopted by the week?" I asked lowly, avoiding her gaze.

"Promise, did you forget about the event that the orphanage is holding?" She asked curiously, I lowered my head and gripped the ends of my hoodie before nodding. She just chuckled a bit and grabbed my hand guiding me onto my bed, she sat there and so did I. "The orphanage is hosting a 'Be a Foster Parent for a Week' for people who want to adopt a child but aren't exactly sure if they want too." She said sweetly at me, I looked at the foreign man right in front of us, he was still smiling at me and I felt a little nervous; it seemed like Ms. Adrieana noticed because she reassured me. 

"Don't worry Promise, we did a full 10 year background check on each and every parent. No person that holds a criminal record for the past 10 years will be allowed to adopt a child for the week, nor anyone with weird or suspicious outings", she whispered into my ear; that made me feel a bit safer.

"Ok", I muttered lowly. The man crouched in front of me, a sweet innocent smile placed on his face, but there was something about his smile that felt a bit off to me. 

"Hello Promise, my name is James and I will be your foster parent for the week. I hope you will agree to be with me this week, if you do, I could assure you it will be lots of fun", he said. I nodded giving him a small smile, his gaze was so warm that I couldn't stop looking at him. His skin was a bit tanned, slicked back jet black hair, thick eyebrows, and his eyes were a mesmerizing piercing grey color; as I looked at him more, I could say he is a bit attractive.

"I will go, I just need to pack a few stuff first to take with me", I said to him. 

"Alright, I will wait downstairs then. But don't pack too much, I want to take you shopping tomorrow", he said giving a smile. I nodded slowly and saw him leave my room, Ms. Adrieana seemed a bit exciting too.

"Come on Promise, I will help you pack your bags", she said grabbing a few hangers of clothes from the closet. I rapidly stood up from my bed and grabbed my suitcase from under my bed, just because I thought I wouldn't get adopted didn't mean I wouldn't be prepared. 

"You sure have a lot of hoddies Promise, I hope James would buy you more girly clothing", she chuckled as she folded the hoodies into my suitcase. 

"What's wrong with hoodies? They're very comfortable", I assured her.

"I'm not saying they aren't comfortable, it's just I have only seen you in hoodies and long-sleeved shirts. Don't you ever get hot? You even wear hoodies in the summer", she said. 

"Thin hoodies in the summer", I said to her.

"Alright", she said and then closed my suitcase. "I'm really going to miss you this whole week", she said as she hugged me tightly, I tried not to flinch or yelp in pain. "Take good care of yourself, and please don't hurt yourself this week", she told me. I nodded before leaving the room, I was really going to miss her too.

As I walked down the stairs, I saw Mr. James sitting on a chair next to the door. He was waiting patiently on his phone, all the women who came to adopt for the week were watching him secretly, even the women who worked here. When I was walking towards him, I tripped on my feet and fell to the floor. My fall caused a loud thud that caught the attention of everyone there, before I tried to get up myself, Mr. James swiftly came towards me.

"Are you alright Promise?" He asked, his voice was filled with worry. I nodded as he helps me stand up straight, I flinched a bit in pain due to the fact I fell on one of my bruises again. "Are you sure you're okay? I can take you to the hospital", Mr. James said, I immediately shook my head.

"No, I'm really okay", I reassured him as I stood up completely straight. "I really am ok", I said again, a blush covering my face from the embarrassment.

"Alright, I will believe you then, no need to get worked up", he chuckled. "Come on, I will show you your new house for the week", he said grabbing my suitcase, I nodded. I didn't want to go to the hospital, then he and the doctor would see my old bruises, and I don't want what will come after.

Once we were outside, he walked up to a white Audi A7 and placed my suitcase into the back. I just stood there, mesmerized by the beautiful car that stood right in front of me. It seemed like the guy who was going to be my foster father was, indeed, rich.

"Promise, come in or I will leave without you!" Mr. James yelled from his car, I was ripped out of my thoughts and practically ran inside the car. I sat in the back and placed my seat belt on, he just looked at me.

"Why are you sitting all the way in the back? You're practically my daughter for the whole week, come sit in the front with your foster father", he said enthusiastically.

"Ok", I muttered. I walked to the front and placed on my seat belt, once I was done he gave me a smile and drove off.

"As I drive us to the house, why don't we tell things about each other", he said and I nodded. "Okay, I will go first. I'm 26 years old and I love baking", he said, he then glanced at me as if saying it was my turn.

"Um, I'm 13 years old and I love eating sweet things", I mumbled. "Can I ask you a question, Mr. James?" I asked him.

"Sure, and Promise you don't have to call me Mr. James; you could just call me by my name", he said.

"Ok, James I want to ask you why you want to adopt a kid? You're very young, and why adopt me of all the kids? There are a whole lot of kids that are better and younger than me, don't you think you would prefer a younger child than having a kid in their pre-teens", I said.

"Look, I want to have a kid because I want to feel what it's like to be a father. I'm single right now and I have no one to take care of at the moment, I'm very lonely", he said and made my eyes widen in horror; seems like he noticed my expression. "Not that type of lonely! Don't worry Promise, I'm not a pedophile and won't touch you inappropriately at all", he reassured, I let out a sigh of relief. "I chose you as my foster child because I thought I could really connect with you, you seemed very special from the rest of the kids. So don't ever think lowly of yourself", he told me and I nodded.

"Ok", I muttered with a small smile on my face. The idea of him thinking I was special than the rest really made me extremely happy.

"Would you promise me?" He said, and then began to laugh, I looked at him confused. "I just noticed what I did there, promise me Promise", he said and then chuckled. I knew what he meant, but I didn't think it would exactly be so funny.

"I promise", I said and he laughed again. "Why are you laughing?" I asked him, at this point I was beginning to become a bit annoyed.

"Your name, it's basically an agreement, an oath", he said.

"Yeah?" I said, I still didn`t get what was so funny.

"Nothing, I just have weird humor, don't mind me", he said. "If you don't mind me asking, why did your parents named you Promise?" He asked, I just lowered my head and looked at my seat.

"When I asked them, my mother told me it was because they promised to care for me forever and look out for me. Which is why they named me that, Promise, it meant as if their promise will be forever fulfilled. When they passed away, I was 6 years old, but I also promised them that I will be alright. My name is the proof that they will still be forever with me, even if it's not physically, they're still looking out for me in heaven", I said. I noticed I have been rambling and so my face heated up. 

"That's very beautiful how they did all of that", he said with a smile. "We're here", he said parking the car in front of a big house. My eyes widen from how big the house was, I can't believe I will be living here for a week.

"Come on", James said taking out my luggage and guiding me to my room. The room he had prepared for me was pretty basic, the walls were white and there was a dark brown wooded dresser with a mirror, and the bed had a light purple set on. "I hope you like it, I didn't want to decorate or anything because I didn't exactly know what you wanted", he said placing my luggage next to my bed.

"I like it very much, thank you", I told him.

"Ok, I'm going to whip us some dinner. Once you're done unpacking you can come downstairs and we could watch a movie together, sounds good?" He asked and I nodded. "Great", he said and headed downstairs.

I opened my drawer and placed all my clothes into it, I took out my jewelry box that only had a purple round sapphire necklace that my parents last gave me. I wear this as my good luck charm and it's very special to me, I would wear this all the time, but I fear that I might lose it or the kids might break it once they see me wearing it.

Once I was done packing, I headed downstairs to smell something very delicious. My stomach growled in hunger once I saw James serving a plate of steaming hot shrimp alfredo. I gulped seeing how big the shrimp were, I love seafood and shrimp is my top favorite foods.

"Here Promise, this your portion", he said handing me a plate. He then walked towards the living room and sat on a big couch, in front of the couch was a flat-screen tv. "Come Promise, what do you want to watch?" He asked me, once I sat next to him I took a bite of the pasta and my face lid up. "Delicious, right?" James asked with a smirk, I nodded repeatedly as I took another bite.

"This is so good", I said aloud. James only smiled as he took a bite of his food.

"Could have been better", he said, I only stared at him. "Come on, tell me what you want to watch", he said looking through the movies on the tv.

"I don't know, how about Fast & the Furious?" I asked.

"Which one", he said looking through the movies.

"You choose", I said. He only nodded and put on the second. We watched movies the whole day, and I have never felt so happy.

The week I spent with James was honestly one of the best weeks I have ever had after my parents passed away. We went shopping, to the aquarium, baked sweets together, etc; he was really my ideal foster father. He was perfect, everything I wished for; there was only one flaw, and that was his work. 

He would work at night and come back home very late, sometimes he would even come back home early in the morning. He also had the weirdest uniform, his clothes consisted of all black or other long clothing. He never came home with the same outfit, he would leave with one and come with a new one. I never asked what he did, even if I was curious, I didn't want to meddle; until today.

I was done packing my bags to go back to the orphanage, I was very sad about leaving too. James waited for me patiently downstairs, I really hoped he enjoyed being with me too; that meant he would adopt me. I took my luggage down the stairs and James waited for me with some lasagna ready. He had a somewhat sad smile on, and I could tell he also had fun this week.

"Did you have fun this week kiddo?" He asked as he took a bite of his food.

"Plenty, this was one of the best weeks of my life", I admitted.

"Mines too", he said with a smile. Once he was done, he placed his plate into the dishwasher and came towards me with a serious expression. "Promise, would you like me to adopt you?" He asked, my face lid up and a wide smile appeared on my lips.

"Yes, very much!" I yelled excitedly, it's finally happening.

"There's one thing you need to know about me before I can adopt you", he said in a serious tone, I couldn't help but question him.

"Is this about your job?" I said, his eyes widened in surprise. "I know you do something a bit shady, I noticed a while back", I said.

"Promise, I'm an assassin", he said. My lasagna slid off my fork and I stared at him wide-eyed in shock.

"A what?" I asked again, I didn't think I heard correctly.

"I'm an assassin, a killer", he said seriously.

"Oh", I muttered. My gaze went to the lasagna, I didn't know how to react, what am I supposed to say right now.

"Promise, listen, the real reason to why I brought you here was because the assassin agency I am in is looking for new recruits. I chose you because I knew you have potential, you have a very sharp intuition and you're very smart; we need that in our agency", he said. All of this was very hard to digest, me a killer? "I'm giving you a choice, would you or would you not like to become a killer?" He asked me seriously.

"I don't know", I muttered. I didn't think I have the guts to kill a person, I can't even look them in the eye without looking away.

"Promise, if you don't want to, I can give you something that will make you forget the whole week. You will continue to have a normal life, it would be as if nothing ever happened. But, If you decide to be a killer, the agency will help you become stronger and will always back you up", he said. "So, what's your answer?" He asked, I didn't know what to do. I don't want to hurt good people, but I don't want to forget this week either. 

"I don't want to kill good people", I muttered.

"Our agency doesn't kill good people, only bad ones", James reassured me. "If you choose to become a killer, I will be able to adopt you and train you; that's only if you're willing to become a killer", he said.

I wanted to become stronger, I was sick and tired of everyone bullying me. I want to show them that I too can become strong and protect myself, I also wanted to show my parents that I am doing fine without them. I looked at James, a splurge of confidence coursing in me, he smiled already knowing the answer I have chosen.

"I want to become stronger".