Chapter 210: Chapter 210

Suzie took a step back as Shelby nodded at her, "Thank you, Suzie."

Shelby turned her attention back to the children who had crowded around them.

She smiled. "Of course, I brought the gifts. They are just right over there and behind you. I know you already saw them." Shelby bent down and ran her index finger across the nose of the little girl who had asked.

"Madam Ruby will hand it to you later." then she turned to all of them,

"Yes, I kept my promise and came back. I always do, don’t I?"

"YES! YOU DO!" the children shouted.

Shelby went on her knees and hugged a couple of them.

"I am so proud that you stayed good!"

Shelby stayed in that position and patiently answered all the eager questions from the small voices thrown at her, her smile never faltering.

Suzie and Ruby watched on in the back.

"Miss is really good with them!" Suzie sighed while Ruby nodded.

"She has always been the best with them,"

One little girl leaned in Shelby’s embrace; her gaze trained on her face. Anyone looking at the little girl could only read marvel and astonishment on her face. Shelby turned and kissed her cheeks. Ingrid had been somehow pushed out from Shelby’s side during that short time. She bowed her head and stayed away from the crowd.

She held that girl’s hand and reached out through the little bodies for Ingrid’s hands as well. With the girls on either of her side, Shelby walked back onto an open field right by the main building. Gabriel was already there and running wildly on the field with some other enthusiastic kids.

Shelby approached the canvas and immediately started her work. The little girl and Ingrid stood back and watched as Shelby started drawing random-looking lines on the canvas.

Scattered all around Shelby were similar-looking canvasses and little bodies standing by them in excitement.

"Do you remember what we did last time?"

The few children nodded vigorously.

"Remember that it’s all about perspectives! Communicate with your mind’s eye and connect with your pencils. There is nothing like bad art. Just do your best and feel the emotions through your strokes!"

Some of the kids squeezed their faces, wondering what that meant, but they enjoyed working with their big sister, Shelby, and therefore, they started working exactly as they had been shown previously.

Shelby’s hand did not pause even as she spoke to them. Her gaze was struck by the view right ahead of her.

The orphanage stood atop a hill and overlooked a beautiful water landscape, which she liked the most about the place. It consisted of a simple detached house and smaller buildings serving other purposes that had been beautifully fenced off. The children were also schooled there.

It was this view that attracted Shelby all the time. She just loved the breeze and the place perched atop the hill. In the past, she would just come, sit on the grass and stare out with a faraway look. Shelby did not remember her father much, but she remembered the warm embrace of a man who had been there for her before everything went awry.

However, a sense of calmness always washed over her whenever she was at the place looking out at sea. Sometimes, Shelby felt a strong urge just to go down and be one with the sea, whatever that meant to her.

Despite all these, she still had a little inherent fear, maybe stemming from her childhood memories, but it was not enough to deter her from coming to the sea, especially when she felt like she wanted to talk to her dead father.

Shelby’s hands moved decisively over her canvas, and the scenery took shape on her canvas.

Ingrid still stayed close to Shelby. Her head was lowered, but she did not miss a thing.

She noticed the little girl on the other side of her mother, shivering a little. The girl was in a pretty little dress, but it had been worn down to barely anything. In fact, all the children around looked as happy as possible; they were neatly dressed, too, but it was obvious that all their clothes were worn out to their last.

Ingrid looked at her very new dress and felt a little distress in her heart. The weather had started to get cooler, and they were in a place with abundant sea breeze as well. She removed her small coat and then walked around Shelby’s back to the girl.

"Here, take it," Ingrid whispered.

The girl who was so engrossed in Shelby’s drawing was very surprised at the gesture, but they had been trained not to accept such things.

She smiled, "It’s okay. I am not col-" Ingrid dumped the coat on her shoulders and then returned to Shelby’s other side.

She never let the girl finish her sentence, and she was gone before the little girl could react. The girl held the coat in place so that it did not fall and marvelled at how warm it was.

She looked around and met the eyes of one of their matrons. The woman smiled at her, and the girl sighed in relief, clutching the coat tightly around her. She was almost the same build as Ingrid, so it fit perfectly on her.

She ran to Ingrid’s side and smiled widely, "Thank you so much! It is so warm, but won’t you get cold?"

Ingrid frowned. She did not do that so that the girl would be overly friendly, but then Ingrid remembered when Shelby had talked to her about her relations some time back.

"I-t’s o-kay. I have this." Ingrid whispered and touched the shawl around her neck.

The girl nodded, "Well, thank you!"

The girl moved even closer, "My name is Sara, what’s yours?"

"It’s Ingrid." She whispered.

Ingrid felt that she had said enough, so no matter what the other girl said, she only nodded and never said a word. Her eyes were hooked on her mother’s activities.

After a while, Shelby stopped, noticing what Ingrid had done, she said,

"It looks good on you!" The little girl beamed and replied,

Then she turned to Ingrid, "That was so generous of you. Well done!" Shelby rubbed Ingrid’s head and then asked, "Are you okay? Do you want to sit for a while?" Ingrid shook her head, and a rare smile bloomed on her.

Reassured with Ingrid’s smile, Shelby stepped around her canvas to where the other kids were busy trying to mimic her actions.

Ingrid gazed at the rough sketch of the sea’s horizon that her mother had just done and her heart got caught in her throat.

Ingrid stepped forward and reached out her hand to touch it. Shelby had done it so effortlessly that anyone would think it was nothing, but to all who looked at it, it was as if they were being called into the splashing ripples of the water that Shelby had portrayed on the paper.

Suzie and the others gazed on in amazement because every one of the people there was not a stranger to Shelby’s artwork, but she still managed to surprise them each and every time.

Shelby walked slowly from one child to the next, correcting things and giving useful advice. Her praises were not scant at all.

"This is beautiful! If you continue , you will be the next most sought-after artist!"

"Oh my! I need to hang this in my room!"

"Would you look at that! Amazing!"

She would pause, bend over, and say encouraging words to them; she gasped and gushed, making the few kids around them smile so much that their cheeks hurt!

After visiting the canvas of each and every child, Shelby returned to hers only to realize that her two children had disappeared.

"Where are they, Suzie?"

"Miss, Gabriel pulled Ingrid and that girl towards the indoor pool area." Even though the sea was just within reach, the orphanage was within reason to bar the children from going there unsupervised. Therefore, they had an indoor pool area. However, this was also supposed to be supervised.

Shelby raised her brow in surprise.

"I’ll check on them for a while and then return. I want to stretch my legs anyway."

"Yes, Miss Shelby." Suzie replied reluctantly. She knew exactly what had happened the last time Shelby had gone off on her own.

Shelby walked briskly, and Suzie started following her,

"Don’t worry Suzie, just check on these kids for me-"

"It’s just a poolside; what could possibly happen? I’ll be right back!"

Without waiting for an answer, Shelby turned swiftly and headed to one of the isolated buildings.

Immediately Shelby entered this building, she frowned. ’Why is the place so quiet? Where are they?’

She scanned the serene pool area.

"Gabriel? Ingrid? Sara?"

The pool house was very large and very warm. After walking around the shallow parts of the pool, where she had expected them to be, she still saw no signs of the three children. Shelby walked to the very end of the pool, which had been reserved for adults because of its depths. She stood for a while, and then something flashed at the corner of her eye.

"Are they playing hide-and-seek?" she laughed and then inched closer to the pool. Shelby took one step and then another, and then she felt a pulling sensation, but she took a quick step back or instinctively jumped back.

"Ah!" She screamed and scrambled back. Something was moving and swimming very fast in the depths of the pool!

"What the hell!" She shouted, and her eyes widened as whatever was swimming that fast came into focus. Shelby had no words except that her heart thundered so fast that she thought that she would get a heart attack.

However, her terror turned to surprise, then amazement and then confusion, all in a few seconds! ... and not in that order, though!

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