"Mom, I'm home." Christian dropped his work bag and sat down on the comfy sofa in the living room.  Stressed out and tired from the day's work, he was also famished.  A high school dropout, and labourer for a big construction firm in the city, Christian was frustrated.  After his father's untimely death late last year, and not being able to finish high school due to lack of sufficient funds, he was already the bread winner of the house.  His mom owned a provision store at the market just by the roadside, but the meagre earnings she made daily could not take care of him and his siblings, so he had decided to man up, drop schooling and assume the fatherly role at home.  Closing his eyes, he quickly remembered the pretty but quirky little girl he had met today on his way to work, and he smiled at the thought fondly.

"What are we doing in this store, miss?" Sara asked her friend, already getting impatient, after walking round the city all day in vain looking for jobs, it seemed all the stores, restaurant and bars were unwilling to hire 16 year old girls without a sure guarantor and reasonable resume.  She was famished, tired and stressed out from going round all day without any success, she just wanted to go back home to the shelter.  "Didn't you see the poster sign placed outside , where a job vacancy was advertised?" Ariel asked.  "If I hear you right, you said job vacancy right, and if I had read the poster correctly, it read job vacancy for just one person, and we don't even match the criteria, and requirements written down....it read and I quote, application for the post of an 18 year old sales boy/girl needed with at least an original high school certificate and recommendable surety that i

Christian was in a trance, he couldn't believe that he was actually talking to the girl of his dreams, the girl he had already mapped out his future with, he could already imagine their future together, her belly swollen with their kids, who were going to have his eyes and her beautiful caramel doused skin color.  'What was wrong with him?' He had never had this animal urge to protect someone or something so strongly as he felt now, the enthralling desire to marry her, put a ring on her cute fingers, mark her as he is, love her till eternity, spoil her with gifts and affection and treat her like a queen.  All this was just so foreign and strange to him, this was actually the first time he had thought about a girl like this, to the extent of even thinking of marriage at this young age.  "Man, you've already left this place, what are you thinking about?" Daniel asked waving at him.

An hour later, Sara and Ariel were back at the orphanage home after an eventful but stressful day, Sara had told her friend Ariel about the date, and that Christian had already been told her that she could start work, in 2 weeks time and she was delighted. After accepting the date invitation they had exchanged phone numbers, with Christian promising to call or text her the venue of the date. Still giddy and in euphoria, Sara could still not believe the event that led to them meeting that day. After they got back, they had gone straight to their rooms, showered, changed their clothes and had promised to meet each other up at the orphanage's garden for some late evening talks, to relax and to also read for their tests on Monday. Taking her bath, and putting on a white t-shirt and shorts knickers, Sara strolled down the hallway with her bags on cloud nine, as she kept thinking of Christian, and the even

Christian couldn't sleep, he had already gotten enough money to take Sara on a date, he had booked a fancy restaurant just outside of town, and he couldn't wait to tell her he had gotten a venue for their date. Everything was set, they were going to have a romantic candle lit dinner at a restaurant overlooking the beach, go sight seeing, and he had even rented a boat that he was going to ride with her that night, he had gone all out and all well, he wanted to make the night a memorable one, all that was left was to call her and tell her about it. He couldn't wait to see her lovely face again, but there was a minor problem, he had been trying her cell number since in the afternoon at work, but she hadn't been picking up, later having the thought that she might be at school, he stopped and resolved to call her in the evening. After unsuccessfully dialing her number, after taking his dinner without her picking up again, Chr