Chapter Two

Jackson's POV

I wake up to the sound of my alarm. I turn it off and roll up the mat, standing it against the wall. I dress up for the day and walk out of my room. I carry my bucket and go on my way to collect water from the borehole. After collecting enough water, I start doing my chores which are mopping, cleaning the plates and washing dirty things. It doesn't take me long to get done with everything. It mostly takes me one and a half hours to do it all. I do this every day so I got used to it.

"Wake up, guys." I say while shaking my nephews. They both groan but wake up nonetheless. They know by now how I don't take no for an answer, so they don't argue but do as I say.

I've been living with my nephews, Devin and David who are twins, since they were born. At that time, I had just got here where I was supposed to live with my aunt and his husband. It was after the death of my parents and I was only 10 years old. When the twins were 5, their parents disappeared. I asked around the whereabouts of my aunt and his husband but no one saw them. It has been five years now since they went missing and I have been looking after the twins.

"We are ready to go, Uncle Jack!" David shouts after they are done washing up. I carry my bag and we walk out of the house together. I lock the door and take off going to the orphanage.

We go there every morning since I discovered it. When the twins parents left, I struggled on how and what to feed the kids. I tried my best working for other people just so they could provide us with food for that day.

One day I went out looking for food, I met Mistress Minerva on the road. I was desperately in need that day, that I asked her if she had anything to give me. She had asked me to follow her and that's how I came to the orphanage. She gave me food and I ran back home to feed my nephews. A few days later, I went back to her and took my brothers with me. At that time they were seven and Minerva asked me to stay with her but I declined. I didn't want to live in the orphanage because I had my own place to live in.

Deep down in my heart, I still hoped that my aunt would come back and I wanted her to find us home not gone. After sometime, she stopped asking and since then, I have been going with my nephews to the orphanage. She became a mother figure to us during the past years and I've been helping around the orphanage as payment for everything even though she told me never to repay her for what she does.

We reach the orphanage and the twins run to their friends who are playing while I make my way to the kitchen. It's the first place where I help out when I get here. I greet the cooks who are Stella, Frank and Nelly. Together we prepare porridge and I help sharing it among the kids when we are done. I eat mine then start washing the dirty dishes.

"Mistress is calling you in her office." Dorothy who also works here, tells me. I dry my hands on the apron I'm wearing and run up to Minerva's office. I knock before entering and I sit on the visitor’s chair.

"Good morning Jack," she greets after looking up from what she was doing on the desk.

"Good morning Minerva."

"Did you notice that people stopped working here?" She asks and I nod. "Aren't you curious why?"

"Not exactly, but I heard it was because of the decrease in their payments." I reply what I heard from Nelly the other day. Many workers have been dropping out in almost a year now. I also heard the decrease was due to the lack of help from the royal family or Alphas from the packs, I don't tell her that though.

"Yes that's true. Unfortunately with them leaving, means the work around here is getting harder to deal with-"

"Don't worry, Minerva. I will be working harder and help the ones remaining." I cut her off immediately. I don't have any problem working here and I will even work harder.

"That's not what I called you up here, Jackson." I look at her curiously, wondering what she might have called me up for. "I want you to start working in the garden."

I scoff, "As if Watson will let me near 'his' garden. Even if the flowers are dying, he still refuses if I offer to help."

"Watson dropped out yesterday, so the job is yours for taking. I know you love flowers and I know you will bring that garden back to life." She says with a smile and I smile back. I can't believe I will be working in the garden after trying so much to do so.

I go back to cleaning the dishes after talking with Minerva. I think about what she said I had to do in order to take the job. She once again proposed I start living here with the twins. Only this time, she was successful in convincing me to live here. Since I will be working as a gardener plus helping out so much around here, I won't be having enough time to go home and then back again each day. So I have to stay here and do my job.

I walk away after cleaning the dishes, in search for the twins. I have to tell them of the discussion I had with Minerva. I have to know if they want to live here or not. If they refuse, I will try my best and will be travelling from home to work in early hours.

“Sonia, why are you crying?" I ask a little girl that I come upon while looking for the twins.

"No one wants to play with me. They don't like me." She sobs and I stand her up and kneel in front of her. She looks at me and I smile, wiping the tears off her face.

"Do you want to play with me Sonia?" I ask and she nods repeatedly. I chuckle and hold her hand in mine, continuing my search with her in toll.

"There Jacks! The twins are over there!" Sonia shouts happily.

"It's a race Sonia." I say and she runs off in the twins direction giggling as I follow behind her laughing. We reach the twins and we sit down as I begin telling them the news.

"Are you kidding? We'd love living here Jacky."

"Devin! Don't call me Jacky."

"Sorry, Uncle Jack."

I sigh and look at my nephews. If they are okay with staying here, then it is decided. I leave Sonia with them and wonder around the orphanage, ending up in the dying garden.

Sometimes I wonder if my aunt is alive or dead. She was the only relative my mother had. I was the only child my parents had. They died in a rogue attack when they went to hunt one day. The next day when I heard about their deaths, I was sent to live with my aunt. They were poor than my parents but I adapted fast to my new way of living.

I was born a dominant not an omega but many people assumes I'm an omega. I never denied that because it was shameful for a dominant to look like an omega. Not that being an omega was wrong or shameful but I was born a dominant not an omega, so it was shameful to me. When I was 18, I waited to receive a mate call like how all dominants get but it never happened. I concluded that my mate must be dead, so I forgot all about it and lived to look after my nephews.

I sigh getting up from the ground I sat. I don't have to keep thinking about the past because it always brings me down. I wish I had a mate and maybe things would have been different from what is now. I wonder how they would look like and how they would make me smile each time I shed tears. But unlucky me, I will never know how it feels like to have a mate.

"Uncle Jack!" I hear the twins shouting and I run in the direction of their voices. When they see me, they run to me and I embrace them. We stay like that for some time and then I release them.

"Are you okay now?" Devin asks and I nod with a smile.

"Good. Now let's go have lunch." David says and we hold hands and walk back to the house. The twins and I, have a special bond. Each time my emotions becomes too much, they feel my distress and come to me immediately. It’s how I've managed to get through everything, knowing they will always be here for me.

I spend the rest of the day helping the other workers as much as I can, since I will start my garden work from tomorrow. Later in the day, I leave the orphanage and head back home. I plan to pack up things that we will need while living away from home. I will spend the night there and come back early in the morning to start working.

***

Unlike the other days, I wake up very early today. I pack everything we need as I take what I can for now. I will always be coming back here, so I will take the rest another day. I leave the house after making sure everything is secured.

I arrive in our room that Minerva gave us. I set down everything that I brought with me. The twins are still sleeping, so I leave quietly and head out to the garden. I picked up some tools on the way here so I start working right away.

The sound of a car has me looking up in that direction. I wonder who is visiting the orphanage but I brush it off and continue working. I hear Minerva talking to the guest and feel eyes on me. I look up in their direction when I hear my name. My eyes set on a tall man at the height 6'7 I think. He looks strong and I believe he's a dominant. An elder man is beside him and by the look of things; I think the tall man must be the older man's guardian.

I look away when they disappear inside the house and I go back to work. I take a break when it's time for breakfast and I meet up with the twins.

"Jacks!" Sonia shouts giggling as she hugs my arm. "I heard there are visitors in today. I hope they will be kind enough to play with me."

"I'm hurt that you want to replace me." I say faking tears and she panics.

"No! Jacks I didn't replace you."

"I know you didn't." I smile at her and she smiles back. "I will be busy so you should play with the visitors today." She nods and run off.

I go back in the garden and continue working. I stop when I see Nelly about to leave the compound. I ask where she's going and when I know it's to the market, I offer to escort her. I've done so much already in the garden and I know it won't matter if I take the day off. So I clean up fast and escort Nelly to the market. It is a long distance to go and come back, so by the time we head back home, the car is gone which means the visitors are gone as well. We have supper and go to our room to rest for the night.

"Uncle Jack," I look up to Devin as I'm folding the clothes they wore today. "The visitor, Jason, he was very kind to us all. He even played with Sonia when she asked."

"Yeah," David agrees with his brother. "He also looked a lot in the garden. I think he likes flowers too."

I put them to bed and then do so myself. I guess the tall man is named Jason. I wonder if they will visit the orphanage again and I hope I will be around that time. If he likes flowers then maybe I may show him some in my garden.

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A/N: Keep in mind, EJ means Eldon Jason; The middle name being Jason.

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