Arrange Marriage To A Billionaire

Alison

Landon's P.O.V

I caught Evelyn as she fell gracefully in my arms. The atmosphere had changed completely from a worrisome one to a sad and heartbreaking one. I picked Evelyn up in the bridal style and the blonde girl who was inside hugging Evelyn came down shortly after our departure from that child's room and signaled me to a room where I could put Evelyn down.

Evelyn looked tired, weak and helpless in my arms. I could tell without any hint of doubt that Evelyn was emotionally really attached to that little boy. I wish I could do something to help that little boy and alleviate Evelyn's pain but I already knew the doctors and trust their treatment. They were the best doctors I knew and I even had the chance of working with them but that is another story.

I deposited Evelyn down on a cold bed in the room and she whimpered, tightening her grip on my coat, pulling me closer to her. Slowly, she opened her eyes that had too soon became teary. I hadn't realize how beautiful and profound her eyes were until now. I stared deep in her eyes and saw so many emotions, mostly sadness and pain dominating the other emotions. These were the emotions that I kept at bay for so many years. These were the emotions that could weaken any human being. Away from all these emotions, I was able to change myself into a more practical and logical businessman. Everything and everyone then became my puppets, either to use or to throw away. I became unstoppable.

Evelyn released her grip on my coat and adjusted herself in a sitting position, thinking hard about something and then bolted towards the door. She tripped after her first few steps and I successfully caught her.

"I have to see Lance. He must be waiting for me." She looked at me, her eyes wide and her eyebrows furrowed.

"Fine but only if you let me help you." I offered my hand for support and she took it without uttering anything.

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Evelyn's P.O.V

I felt so numb yet I could feel so many emotions tormenting my mind and my body. I felt so weak but I felt strong enough to slap my hands numerous times on the wall to let out my anger for failing to allow Lance more years to live. I was sad but a part of me was happy because Lance was a beautiful soul who didn't deserve to live this kind of life. He deserved much more than I could ever gave him. I was confused, furious, hurt. I wanted to shout at God for being so unfair towards Lance. All these thoughts depleted almost all my energy and I felt a little bit drowsy..

I was walking down the hall with Landon to Lance's room. The orphanage was chirpy as usual with the other kids around, oblivious of the upcoming tragedy. This was the first time that someone was departing from my orphanage like that and I didn't like the feeling of it at all. Lance was among the major reasons behind this orphanage. I still couldn't believe he was going to leave me like this.

We arrived in front of Lance's room.

I was scared. Really scared. I didn't know how to react in front of him. I knew he got a limited amount of time and I should make most of it better by supporting him and being by his side. But it was so hard. It was really hard to do that and not burst into tears. My heart was still in so much pain. I still couldn't breathe properly. My head was aching.

Landon opened the door. Before us, Lance was resting peacefully on his bed. Landon led me to his bedside and made me sit. I slowly took Lance's hand into mine and caressed it.

He opened his eyes and a small smile crept up to his cheeks.

"Hi baby." I caressed his pink cheek. I tried hard to hold up my tears and put on a smile for him. I gulped. I felt Landon take my hand into his and gave it a little squeeze, making me aware that I was not alone in this situation. I really appreciated this gesture.

"Hello Lance." Landon smiled at Lance and Lance immediately returned the smile. "How are you doing, little man ?" His tone was much more relaxed and friendly.

Lance fluttered his lashes, letting Landon's words sink in and processing them. Landon waited patiently for his reply.

"I....I'm...fine. Tha..thank you." Lance replied.

I lifted my head from Lance and saw all the machines connected to one small body. The heart rate monitor showed that Lance's heart was beating slowly. A bag of IV fluids was connected to his veins. Nothing gave me the least amount of hope. I decided to stop looking at them.

"Evie." Lance called me. " I..wanna..to go...out..side." He pointed toward the window, at the playground where some children were playing.

Just as I was going to answer him, there was a knock at the door.

I half turned and spoke: "Come in."

The door opened and Saige came inside. She hurried by Lance's side. She smiled at him and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Lance wants to go outside and maybe play with the other children." I told Saige. "I'll get a wheelchair for him."

But Lance was already getting up from his bed. He detached the IV tube that was connected to his body not caring if he could hurt himself in the process. He stood on his own bare feet, ready to leave his room.

"Lance. Wait. You have to sit on the wheelchair, honey." I stopped him in his tracks. He was weaker than he thought he was and I didn't want him to spend too much of his energy.

He looked at the wheelchair for a moment and muttered a "No."

Lance was very stubborn for a child. He only did things that he liked and was usually very picky with almost everything.

Landon got down to his knees and whispered something slowly in Lance's ear. You could tell that whatever Landon said to Lance interested the latter as Lance's eyes lighted up and his face showed much excitement. Then Landon took his hand and led him to the wheelchair. He sat quietly, beaming at Landon.

Landon directed the wheelchair out of the room while Saige showed him the easy path to the playground. I felt suddenly out of place. Strangely, I felt jealous of Landon. He has met Lance only a few minutes ago and he could handle Lance better than I could.

I followed them quietly to the playground. Lance's room was very near the playground. So we were there in only a few seconds. Upon reaching there, Landon told Saige to take Lance further as he had to make a call.

The playground had around thirty children and some attendants playing around. There was ten pairs of swings, some colorful giant balloons, and a variety of small and giant toys for children. There was even three big toy houses with different cartoons themes on the playground. I made sure that every child in my orphanage had almost everything that other children having their set own parents could possibly have.

Some of Lance's friends started to approach us bringing their toys alongside.

"Hello Evie !" All the children cried out and surrounded us.

"Hello sweethearts." I said to them, ruffling Blake's hair who started to insist that I took him up in my arms. I wasn't sure if I had enough energy to take him up in my arms but I accepted defeat at the end. He wrapped his short arms around my neck and pulled my head closer to his face and whispered: "You know, Allison said some bad words when you were not here. She even pulled my hair and said if I will tell you about her dirty behavior, she would pull my hair so hard that I won't have any hair left on my head !" He made a sad face after he released his death grip around my neck. Blake was four years old. He was here since some social worker found him in a small dirty old house in some abandoned place with his dead mother who died out of drug overdose when he was one year old.

Sadly, almost every child here kinda share the same story and the same dark background. However I made it into my mission to not let their dark past have any kind of effect on them while they were growing.

Allison, unfortunately had known too much of the dark side of poverty and violence. Her alcoholic parents almost sold her into prostitution, had she not run away and have a road accident. She had build solid walls around her heart. She was thirteen years old. When she got into the accident, she refused to tell the nurses or the police officers the whereabouts of her parents. Eventually, she told everything to one lady officer who was patient enough to put up with her tantrums and social workers took her case to the court. During the process, when she was asked if she want to go to a foster house, she refused and gave my orphanage's address to the judge which shocked both the latter and me. A social worker, also a friend of mine who was telling me about Allison was also handling the latter's case. Allison justified her decision to the judge by saying that when she was once running some errands for her parents, she saw how free and happy the other children were at the orphanage and how much she wanted to be one of them. Nonetheless, when she arrived here, she kept her distance from the attendants, the children, the child psychologists, the counselors and from me. Till now she kept her distance and never let her guard down even for a minute. She would not even mingle with the other children or play. She was a tough nut to crack.

I even planned to spend some time with Allison alone once I've completed some very important modeling projects in Los Angeles, New York, London and a charity event in Africa. I had a pretty tight schedule for the next three to four weeks. Maybe I'll even take her on a trip to Kansas to loosen her up a little bit and let her find her peace of mind. Nevertheless, everything has gone upside down with Lance's health. My mind was refusing to acknowledge that Lance is no more going to live with us, among us.

Landon made his way back toward Lance who was already down on the grass, playing with his friends and said something to him that left the latter beaming with happiness and excitement again.

Landon then made his way to Saige and start talking to her. After some moments, Saige went inside.

I saw Allison at the corner of my eye, also making her way inside the orphanage.

"Really ? Then I will have to talk to her and tell her to stop using bad words. And don't worry, she will not pull your hair ever again but you will have to promise me that you will not annoy her. Have I made myself clear enough, Blake ?" I questioned him.

"But I was not annoying her. I just wanted to play with her and she wasn't playing with me." Blake made his sad face again, pushing his lower lip further and looking down.

"Blake, honey you have so many friends and so many toys here. You can play with anyone and with any toys you want. Allison must not be feeling very well, that is maybe why she did not want to play with you. Why don't you give her sometime to get well and then I will tell her myself to play with you ? Is that good sweetheart ?"

He just nodded before I set him down and told him to go find his friends and I went to find Lance with a heavy heart.