Janine nodded her head after hearing Roland's explanation. Although she knew that Roland was an orphan, it was only at this moment that she realized that he actually grew up in such a remote orphanage, away from the bustling Fore City.
"Are you sad that the orphanage that you grew up with is now gone? " Janine asked curiously, recalling Roland's melancholic smile earlier.
Roland chuckled, "You can say it that way. However, I think you're thinking from a different angle."
"You see, my life in the orphanage has never been a pleasant one." He continued.
"I was constantly bullied, not by the other orphans, but by the caretaker themselves."
"Well, not only me, but the other orphans were treated more or less the same. It's just that I have always been different than the rest of them and I have always realized the maltreatment that we were receiving, hence probably the reason why the caretakers would vent up their anger towards me, both to teach me a lesson and make an example out of me for the other orphans to see on what will happen if they also defy them. They would always beat me up and make me do all the heavy and difficult chores inside the orphanage." action
As he said that, Roland started walking back to the car. The orphanage that was already a wreck no longer concerned him. But things were far from over.
His experience from the orphanage before was quite tragic. He doesn't want things to end this way easily, especially now that he already has the capability for a comeback. He has never been a saint. In fact, he considers himself as quite vengeful. He would always remember the little grudges, and consider repaying them all in the future.
Janine followed behind Roland slowly, dumbstruck at what she just heard. She never imagined that Roland has this kind of past. It was different from the loving orphanage that she was imagining inside her head.
"Hmmp! It's a good thing that this place has been demolished then," Janine remarked, clearly pissed off for Roland to have experienced such a tragic orphanage life.
Roland's voice was calm as he recounted his past experience. However, Janine could feel the anger through that calm voice. Even she herself felt anger coursing through her veins at this moment as well.
"This must be retribution for what they have done to you and the other orphans. I can't imagine just how horrible what you guys experienced back then," She added.
Roland chuckled as he opened the driver seat for Janine. "Well, it's not that easy."
"In truth, the orphanage was actually run by a local gang. Back then, they would use us as a cover and sell illegal drugs. Some were even used to beg for money in Tree Town. While some become the look out for the local police's movements. Orphans? Heh, it's more appropriate to call us slaves at that point," He said.
Roland did not know what exactly happened here. But when he successfully escaped this hellish place back then, the first thing he wanted to do was to report everything to the police. However, that was when he realized that one of the officers was actually part of the gang as well. Roland's memory was very good. He immediately recognized that officer standing at the front desk back then.
Fortunately, he reacted swiftly and immediately left the police station. He hid around the Tree Town for quite some time before he sneaked away towards the city bravely.
"I know for a fact that the orphanage would not close that easily. Something must have happened, but I don't think it would cause the destruction of the place and the gang. At most, they might have just relocated to a better location." He added, boarding the car as well.
Janine turned on the car's engine as she started driving back to where they came from.
"Then we must not let them off the hook easily. These kinds of people should rot inside the jail for the rest of their life," Janine stated.
Roland nodded his head. However, he knew for a fact that going to jail was a light punishment for those kinds of people. They should rot in hell instead of inside of jail.
"Of course, they won't get away that easily." Roland said with a grin as he took out his phone.
If it was before Roland would surely need to investigate and start from scratch if he wanted to find out what exactly happened to the orphanage. However, it just so happened that he just got acquainted with someone earlier.
Not wasting any more time, he dialed Jalen's phone number as the Ronda Civic made its way back to Fore City slowly.
Not even a few seconds passed when Jalen answered the phone.
"Ehh, Roland? Is something wrong? You just left a few minutes ago and you're now calling back. Could it be that you have some business that you wanted to talk about? Or could it be that you left something here earlier?" Jalen answered the phone enthusiastically. It seemed that the previous incident no longer bothered him as he returned to his usual talkative self.
"Haha, it's nothing, it's nothing. I just called for a small matter this time. I just wanted to ask some trivial questions about something in Tree Town. After knowing that you are the son of Tree Town's chairman you must know a lot of information in Tree Town, right? I wonder if it's alright to ask you something that happened around like say for example, a few years ago?" Roland said, praising Jalen slightly in an attempt to lessen the latter's guard towards him so that he won't reject right away.
There was a slight pause before Jalen spoke accompanied with an awkward laugh, "Errr- Hehe, o-of course. It's not a problem, as long as it doesn't involve some core secrets, right?"
It seems that Roland's tactic worked this time, hearing Jalen's hesitant answer.
"Haha, of course, it's nothing like that. It's really just a small matter this time."
"Alright, I'll get to the point. In Tree Town, there was this orphanage called Sweet Angel Orphanage. We went to the location of the orphanage for some reason, but we realized that the place had already been demolished. I was just wondering what happened to the orphanage. And if they are still operating in a separate location?"
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