The light turned green and the man ran back to the sidewalk with gratitude. Emma Jean watched him, curious about why he did that. “Aren’t you worried that he will use it to buy drugs or alcohol?”
Without missing a beat, he answered. “Not at all. What he does with it is his choice. I gave because I don’t know his story so it’s not my place to judge him.”
She bit the bottom of her lip. Slowly she was coming to terms about the world she grew up in and the world around her. The two didn’t seem so far away anymore. Kenji kept glancing back at her to see how she was doing. He could see the wrinkle in her brow.
A few minutes they arrived in front of brick building. It was a few stories high. Kenji got out of the car and went to open the door for Emma Jean. She looked at him skeptically. “Come with me.”
“What is this place?” She looked around seeing the signs of wear on the building. Her first thoughts were to assume he wanted to hurt her. But a little kid ca
Mrs. Jackson turned around and hobbled out of the foyer. “Come on it’s time to prepare dinner. We’re gonna put you to work.” Emma jean followed behind her but could feel the eyes of the women on her. It felt as if they held animosity towards her. Kenji took that chance to try and slip out to play with the children. Mrs. Jackson was a smart woman. She called out to Kenji. “Come help lift these boxes for me. We have a lot to make. The men’s homeless shelter is having a hard time with funding. They barely have enough for food and supplies.” Hearing that Emma Jean wanted to do more for them. Kenji inwardly groaned, his plan to help both shelters was slipping through his fingers. He plastered on a smile. “Anything for you Mrs. Jackson. Put me to work.” Emma Jean and the other women were packed tightly in the modest kitchen. It wasn’t just the outside in shambles, the inside of the building showed it’s age. Something more should be done to help them outside of givi
Kenji had went searching for her, to find her in the living room on a call. He could only hear her side of the conversation but he already knew who it was she as on the phone with. He leaned against the door frame with his arms over his chest when he spoke to her. “Sounds like this was a good idea.” She turned to see him there, her hand went to her chest feeling how rapidly her heart was beating. “You scared me.” “Well, you did sneak off and haven’t helped in the kitchen.” “I wasn’t going to be gone for long.” “Yeah, but it would seem your call lasted longer than you thought it would. Did you mean what you said?” “You heard that? All if it?” “Just your side and only from when you said you wanted to open the park for free on the day of the gala.” “Sounds like you heard almost all of it.” “I didn’t if I’m being truthful. What made you decided to do that?” She scratched the back of her head. “Hearing how hard you’v
Emma Jean pretended to call for him to come back. “No, come back. We have work to do.” She laughed when he looked back at her with a raised eyebrow.The other women joined in on their laughter except the one that threatened her. She clicked her tongue and stormed off. Kenji went out to the backyard where the children were playing. It appeared they were in the middle of freeze tag. He announced his presence with a question. “So, who do I have to stay away from in order to win?”All the kids surrounded him giving him a big group hug. Alexia was the one to chime in and answer his question. “Yourself. Wouldn’t be fair if you ran from us. Come on lets all run from Kenji.” The soon ran off in different directions to keep him from freezing them in place. Kenji roared as he chased after them.Kieran had gotten Sam to take him to the location Emma Jean’s phone was resting at. He had all the information and documents that sh
Emma Jean knew she was right. Taking a deep breath she got in her social media account. There were tons of mean and spiteful comments. Many calling for the park to be shut down, others telling her to kill herself. It’s the first time in her life she ever felt hated by something she said. She was about to close out of her account when Kenji took her phone away from her.“You can do this.” He started a live feed pointing the camera at himself. He gave her a chance to calm down and get her bearings. “Listen up you trolls. Calling for someone to kill themselves for making an unconscious statement is just as bad if not worse than what Emma said. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Just as she didn’t know what other people went through doesn’t mean you know what she went through either.”People that started watching the feed were sending hateful remarks. Emma Jean didn’t want him to get gated on too. She took her phone away fr
“I’m Shannon. I take it you’re the brains of the whole operations? She doesn’t seem too bright.”Kieran didn’t like anyone to talk badly about Emma Jean but for a brief moment he liked the notion that he was considered the one in charge. “I’m just the assistant. And she is my best friend so you may want to watch what you say about her in front of me.”Shannon looked up at him with a sly smile. “Sure, I won’t say anything bad about her to your face.”“I’d much rather you not say anything bad about her at all.” He started to walk away from her but stopped. He turned around to hand her his card that he pulled out from his inner jacket pocket. “Call me when you can.” He took the opportunity to leave this time.Shannon held the card up in her hand as she gave him a salute. She turned her attentions back to Emma Jean and Kenji. As if she could feel eyes on her,
Shannon watched as Emma Jean headed out of the house, finally away from them and Kenji. She didn’t want to reveal herself to be his classmate just yet. It’s not like she was embarrassed of her current state, more so she would rather he not look upon her with pity. Kenji stayed at the shelter a little longer helping out with the kids.Kieran had waited for her out in the car with Sam. The two men sat in silence until Emma Jean emerged from the inside. Kieran watched as she walked towards them with her head held high. He had been going over their social media account since she did the apology video. The comments were favorable for the company. More people commented on how the two of them looked wonderful together. He hated those comments. Same exited the car to open the door for her. Kieran stayed rooted to his spot when she slides inside.“Kieran, did you finish getting everything prepared for the gala? Is there something else that needs to be done?&rd
“You wouldn’t hit me anyway.” He opened the front door to allow her to go through. “Besides, you love me and violence is never the answer.”“She clicked her tongue. “Stop spouting off the truth.”He laughed at her. Kieran loved this side of Emma Jean. This was the woman he knew, not the person she was pretending to be. “Help me choose a color?”“Why not just go with the standard black?”“Or I could match with you?”She tilted her head to the right, confused by what he had said. “Match? With me? Why? We aren’t dating.”“We could be by then.”“No, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t be. Listen instead of worrying about dating me why don’t you focus on work. You wanted to get back to work. So focus on that instead of romancing your best friend that just so happens to be your boss too.”“So i
Sam realized a little too late he let his true feeling out. Emma Jean knew he had reservations of his relationship but not to this extent. She couldn’t say anything to him, knowing he didn’t want sympathy she changed the subject. “So, I asked Kenji to come to the Gala.”He was grateful for the change in subject. “You asked him to be your date?”“Not really. I asked him to meet me there.”He sighed. “What if he doesn’t show up?”“If he doesn’t show up, he doesn’t show up.”“I may have only worked with you for a little while, but even I can tell that you would be brokenhearted if he don’t show up.”“Hush. Let me pretend to be strong when I want to be.”Sam pulled her in for a sideways hug. At that time Kieran came out of the store with his suit in his hand. He narrowed his eyes seeing the two of them in that position.