Chapter 2: CHAPTER 2: THE ANDREWS

"It was the start of the year when we first met him, a black-haired boy with peculiar silver eyes, we thought he was blind, but he quickly denied it and said he was born with it, what a nice boy he was, his mind was a bit older than a normal 5-year-old child, more mature, more sharp."

-Annalise Andrews talking about her first-time meeting Edgart Aldrich

 

Winter came, it was Christmas, the mood is at an all-time high in the orphanage, Ed who has a cup of hot chocolate in his hand, is looking outside the window beside him, while his friends play with their toys from the gift box their neighbors gave them.        

"Ed! Come here" shouted Mrs. Phillips.

"Coming Mrs. Phillips!" he shouted back.

Ed then put his cup down and walked towards Mrs. Phillips.

Mrs. Phillips then looked at him, smiled, and said "Here." While handing a present and a note, "From Richard." She spoke.

Ed then took the present, said thank you to Mrs. Phillips. He then opened the present, showing a book titled 'Neuromancer' written by William Gibson, he looked at the book and flipped a couple of pages, then smiled. He read the note that came with it and one sentence came to his view, 'Happy Christmas Brother'. He put the note down and read the book comfortably.

Time passed by, and it was now the 1st of January, the mood is still high because of Christmas, Ed is reading the book Richard gave him for the 5th time. Suddenly a knock is heard from the door, "Come in" Ed said. The door opened and he saw Mrs. Phillips standing at the door.

"Ed, come with me, someone wants to meet you." She said while smiling.

Ed just nodded, put the book down and walked behind Mrs. Phillips.

"Who is it?" he asked           

"An old couple, they came using a fairly expensive car from the looks of it, they have a driver as well, a good family."

"Does that mean I'm going to get adopted?”        

Mrs. Phillips just smiled at him, and said "Come on, don't keep them waiting." 

She then opened the door to a room that is usually used as a place where the adoptee and the adopted meet for the first time.

Ed then entered the room, and saw a man and a woman, both in their fifties, the brown-haired man already has gray hair, a sign of old age, and the woman who is blonde, smiled at Ed, showing her wrinkles.   

"Hello" Ed greeted the old couple.

"Hello Ed." The man said, a small smile appeared on his face.          

Ed then sat opposite of the couple.

The woman stared at Ed for a few seconds and saw his eyes, then she said:

“You've got peculiar eyes you know.", while pointing at her own eyes.           

"Oh that, I was born with it, it's quite cool in my opinion, there's nobody that I know of have silver eyes as well, but sometimes people stared at me, with their faces showing a look of pity, they thought I was blind or something, it's quite annoying to be honest."

"Are you?" the man asked.

"Of course not." Ed answered. 

Before the couple could ask other questions, Ed asked a question.

"So, are you here to adopt me?"

The couple smiled at him. 

"It depends on you Ed, we come here to talk to you, we asked an agency about adoption, and we gave them a criteria about what kind of child we'd like to adopt, and they pointed us to you, so yes, we're here to adopt you, but the question is would you like to be adopted by us?" the woman said while still smiling.

"Okay, what are your names, I forgot to ask." Ed said, looking embarrassed at his own carelessness.

"Oh right, our names are Roger and Annalise Andrews, we came from London." The woman, or Annalise, said.

Ed nodded then said, "I can't help to think that both of you are quite old, do you have children, as in blood related children?"

Annalise smiled sadly and said "No Ed, we do not have blood related children, Roger here has been sterile since birth, and can't have a child."   

"I'm sorry." Said Ed.

"It's fine Ed, we already accept it." Roger said.

Ed nodded and said, "So I'm the first child you want to adopt?"

"Yes, it's our first time adopting, so we hope you accept us as foster parents."

"But, why now? No offense but you are both quite old from the looks of it, you could have adopted a child ten years ago, assuming you've been married that long."

"None taken Ed, and a good point, we simply didn't have time to raise a child while we were young, you see we run a business in London, construction business."

"And from the looks of it, it's quite successful." Ed said while smiling.

"Yes, when we were young, we worked hard for this business, now we are quite old, the company itself is already self-running, we can rest now."

"So now that you want to retire, you have free time, but I think you want to adopt a child not only because you just have free time, right? But you want to continue your legacy, and you want to train the child to be a successor." Ed guessed.

Roger nodded and said, "They were not lying when they said you are a smart boy, you've got a sharp brain in that head of yours."

"So, would you agree if we adopt you?" Annalise said while looking at him with hopeful eyes.

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"Can I keep my last name? They are the only thing that reminded me of my biological parents, there's also a suitcase and a letter but Mrs. Phillips said that I can't open it until I'm 11 years old." He asked.

The couple looked at each other for a few seconds and said "Of course Ed, it's your name after all."

"Then thank you for accepting me to your family, Roger, Anna."

The couple smiled at Ed and hugged him.

"Welcome to the family kid." Roger said.

The newly formed family then exited the room, and talked to Mrs. Phillips about the adoption. Mrs. Phillips smiled at Ed, and told him to pack up, she then brought the old couple to her office to finalize the adoption.

An hour later, when Ed has already packed up and said his goodbyes to his friends in the orphanage, he stood at the entrance of the orphanage, waiting for Mrs. Phillips and his new foster parents. Then they came out of the building, Roger with a suitcase in one of his hands, and the letter in the other.       

"Ah, there you are! Mrs. Phillips told me about your situation, rest assured you will open this letter at the right time." Roger said.

"It's not like I can open it, I tried, but the wax won't budge." Ed said.

"Really?" Roger asked. Then he tried to open the letter, but it wouldn't open.

"Huh… Curious" Roger mumbled, then shrugged.       

"Alright then, it's time to go, Ashbey!" He called the driver.

"Yes sir, is there anything you need?" the driver, or Ashbey answered the call.

"Ashbey, this is Edgart Aldrich, he's going to be my son from now on, treat him well." He introduced Ed to Ashby.

"Ed, this is Ashbey Paige, he's our butler back home, if you need anything, just ask him." Roger said. 

"A pleasure to serve you master Edgart." The butler greeted Ed with a smile on his face.

"A pleasure to meet you as well, and just call me Ed please." Ed said politely. The butler just smiled and nodded.  

"Right, Ashbey, put Ed's things in the car, oh and this suitcase as well." He said to Ashby.

"Right away sir." He then takes Ed's trunks and the suitcase to his hand and puts it in the car.

"Ed, say goodbye to Mrs. Phillips and your friends, then we will leave." Anna said, ruffing up Ed's black hair. The couple then moved to the car and entered it.

           

"So, I guess this is it." Ed said to Mrs. Phillips. "Thank you for everything Mrs. Phillips." He then moved closer to Mrs. Phillips and hugged her. Mrs. Phillips, who's trying to hold back her tears, said, "Goodbye Ed, be good now, you are always my favorite child here."

"Thank you, Mrs. Phillips, you will always be family to me, if you need anything just contact me, okay?" Ed said while smiling sadly.

Mrs. Phillips just smiled and kissed his forehead one last time. Then he turned around and walked towards the car, Ashbey opened the car door then Ed entered the car.

He then sat on one of the empty seats and asked the couple. "So, what exactly will I learn as the 'successor', is it just management?"

The couple just smiled and said, "You will soon know, not only you need to learn about how to manage the company, but you also need to learn how to socialize, etiquettes, musical instruments, all that stuff."

Ed just nodded and looked outside the window, he saw all kinds of buildings, from small to gigantic, from afar he can see the big ben, the London eye, and the bridge.

"I've never been this far from the orphanage before." He mumbled to himself. The old couple heard him and just smiled at him.

Half an hour later, he arrived at a big mansion, the mansion itself is white, the front door's roof is supported by four marble pillars, the left side of the door is the garage, that have 3 doors, while the right side of the door is a beautiful garden, and a fountain in the middle.

"Wow, I know your business is quite successful, but I didn't know it's this kind of successful." He said to the couple while exiting the car.

Roger smiled and said, "Well, this is your home from today and onwards, best get used to it kid." He ruffed Ed's hair and continued to walk to the front door.

He then opened the door and said, "Welcome, to Andrews Manor."

Ed then entered the mansion and entered the living room, he saw a couple of white sofas, beautiful decorations, and a black and white piano in the room.

"Quite cool" Ed whispered. Anna laughed softly and said to Ashbey, "Ashbey, bring Ed to the prepared room."

"Right away ma'am." He spoke politely.

He then turned to Ed then said, "Come this way master Ed, I'll show you your room."

Ed just nodded and followed Ashbey to his room.

A couple minutes of walking and he arrived at the front door of his room, Ashbey opened the door and Ed entered the room, he saw a king-size bed in the middle of the room, a big drawer probably for clothes, and two doors one on the right and one on the left. he looks around and said, "it's quite big" he whispered.

"To your left is the bathroom, and the right is your study room, we didn't know your preference of decoration so let us know if you want to change something, if you need anything let me know master Ed, for now, enjoy your rest." The butler said while smiling.

Ed nodded while the butler closed the door.   

Ed then toured the room, he touched the bed sheet, "soft" he whispered, then walked towards the big drawer and opened it, he started to fill the drawer with his clothes. After he finished, he observed the drawer and whispered, "it's still half empty" . He shook his head and continued to the bathroom, where he saw a shower, a bath, a toilet seat, and all the things a bathroom needs. "It's as big as my room before, '' he whispered. Then he continues to the study room and sees a desk, a study lamp, a leather chair, and a couple of shelves, with all the books in it. He took one of the books and saw that the book was about math, he put the book back and went back to the bedroom.

He lay on the bed and whispered, "this is going to be quite a journey." And closed his eyes, drifting to the land of dreams.

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