Leila's POV

After wearing my sandals, I walked out of the bedroom and went to the kitchen. The smell of scrambled eggs made my stomach growl and I smiled, knowing that I was about to be fed. Waltzing in, I began to sing 'good morning!' like an opera singer, when I was suddenly hit in the face with a table cloth.

"Lei, not so early in the morning."

I sat down, smiling at my best friend whose hair was in disarray with a Minnie Mouse night gown on, evidence that she was not ready yet.

"Why aren't you ready for church?"

She turned to look at me, a small smile playing at her lips.

"I don't take long. Unlike some people....."

Gasping in shock, I pointed my finger at her in accusation.

"Hey! I don't spend that much time in the bathroom anymore. I know that I'd spend about thirty minutes in there, but my mother ended up complaining that I was finishing all the hot water before others could get a chance."

"That served you right. Now, eat up. I don't eat in the morning. Still makes me nauseous."

My face screwed up, remembering what happened for me to know that she didn't eat in the morning. We had had a sleepover at my house and she'd eaten breakfast out of courtesy, since she hadn't told my mother. On the bus to school, I could see that she was not fine. She suddenly stood up, ran to the driver to stop the bus when she ran out and puked all that she had eaten. That was not how I wanted to know that my best friend wasn't a breakfast person.

There was a sudden knock on the door, and Tori began to run upstairs, telling me to let Gabriel in. I laughed to myself, realizing that she did not want to be seen in such a messy state.

If she was going to be with him forever, shouldn't she just let him see her like that?

I opened the door, and he was standing with a bouquet of flowers, Tori's favourite, daisies.

"Good morning, Gabriel. Tori's upstairs getting ready. Come in."

He smiled and came in, and put the flowers in a vase just by the door, after adding water in it.

"Let's have some breakfast."

He shook his head.

"No, thank you, I'm okay. I usually eat at home, knowing Tori and all...."

I nodded, then turned towards the kitchen to eat. The eggs were delicious, the bread had been toasted to perfection with a nice steaming cup of coffee on the side. Way to spoil a friend.
I did the dishes when I was done, and went to sit next to Gabriel on the couch, watching an animal channel I'd never seen before.

We began to talk about a lot of different things, the animals on the TV, his profession as a surgeon, faith and belief, and I realized that he was the best man for her. I knew that they hadn't come for blessings yet, but I had already blessed their marriage. The love he had for her was evident in the way his eyes twinkled when he talked about her. He was absolutely smitten.

A couple of minutes later, Tori came down the stairs, looking at glamorous as ever in a white long sleeve shirt with a red skirt paired by black block heels, her hair in an elegant bun. Gabriel's eyes widened as he stood up, acting like he'd just seeing her for the first time.

"Tori......you look.......... beautiful."

She smiled warmly at him.

"Thank you so much, Gabe. You don't look so bad yourself."

He blushed slightly, looking at his suit.

"Oh, this little old thing......"

She laughed and kissed his cheek. Oddly feeling like a third wheel there, I decided to get up and go drink some water.

"C'mon, Lei! Let's go!!"

Quickly putting the cup down, I ran out of the house to go with them.

•°•°•°•°•°

The church was one of the biggest churches I'd ever been to, state of the art infrastructural material had been used to build it, as far as I could tell from its design. When we got in, there were a lot of rows, and a lot of people were already present, but we got to get a seat at the front.

After singing two hymns, the pastor came to teach. From the moment he let out a word, I was hooked. He was very energetic, loud and seemed full of wisdom. I could see that the people in the room were as transfixed as I was because he could easily get people's attention. The sermon was about love, how Jesus had died, so that we could get eternal life. How he had loved us up to the point of going through ridicule, pain and death for us, even though we didn't deserve it.

He called out for people to be baptized, and a girl who was sitting next to me stood up and went to the front. I praised the Lord, happy because someone else had been brought to Him. At the end of the call, four people were upfront and they went to be baptized.

After the service, I went to the lavatory, needing to relieve myself. I suddenly bumped into a little girl who had just come out of the room.

"I'm so sorry, little one. Are you okay?"

She looked up and her eyes widened. I was somewhat shocked for a second. Did I have something on my face?

"Your hair........ it's so curly."

Laughing, I touched my hair, which I'd just washed this morning.

"Thank you, but if you'll excuse me, I have to use the toilet real quick."

I got in and relieved myself. After washing my hands, I got out to see the little girl with a man, talking together. As I was about to pass them, I heard the little girl's voice.

"Hey, lady! Wait!"

I turned and looked at her, wondering what the problem was.

"What is your name?"

I smiled down at her, surprised about how open and nice she seemed compared to the little girls I'd seen before.

"Leila."

Her eyes shone brightly, little golden flecks in the grey eyes, mesmerising me with their beauty.

"I'm Emilia. And-"

"I see that you've made a friend."

I looked up to see the man who had been talking to Emilia not a few seconds ago, now in front of us. He bore no resemblance, whatsoever, with her, so I just came to the conclusion that he might have adopted her.

"Yes, Uncle James. This is Leila. Leila, this is my father's friend, Uncle James."

Uncle?!

What if I had said something before the introductions, I would have been so embarrassed. She turned to look at him.

"Where's Aunt Anna?"

He smiled at her and ruffled her hair.

"She's with the other women talking."

He looked at me, a little bit longer than normal, making me uncomfortable. I looked down and decided to talk.

"Um....."

He laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.

"Sorry for making you feel uncomfortable. I was thinking about something. Actually...........I have a friend of mine who is in need of a nanny. I was wondering if you knew anyone who could be interested?"

My eyes widened in surprise. I had just been praying for a job while I was in church. I had to make a living for myself, but I hadn't been able to go to university after high school due to some financial challenges. So, a job literally coming on a silver platter made me happy.

Thank you, Lord!

"Yes, I do know someone, and that someone is me. I really am good at this. I took care of some kids in the neighborhood."

The man scratched his chin, seemingly deep in thought. Maybe he'd changed his mind, since he wasn't the one in need of my assistance or anything.

"Come with me."

Gleeful, I began to follow him, but stopped abruptly when I thought of Tori. I had to go tell her.

"Can I go see someone real quick? I have to tell a friend that I'm going somewhere."

He smiled and nodded

"Sure. Meet me at the front of the church in five minutes."

After finding Tori, I told her what had happened and how I was so close to getting a job. She squealed in happiness, almost breaking my fingers in her tight grasp.

"Who is he?"

"All I know is that his name's James and he has a wife named Anna. They have with them a little blonde girl called Emilia."

Her eyes twinkled with mirth.

"I know them! They are very nice people from good backgrounds. I'm pretty sure that you are going to get a really fancy girl to take care of."

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

Tori wasn't kidding when she talked about fanciness. The house we had gotten to was literally a mansion, with a lot of rooms to count at the front. I wondered how many were at the back. It was a three storey mansion with climbers growing at its sides, almost covering the walls. A water fountain at the front had marble mermaids releasing water from their mouths into the pond.

The car stopped at the front door, and a man came to take the car whilst we went inside. The house was as beautiful on the inside as it was in the outside. Green walls in the sitting room clashed beautifully with the black furniture and red couches. I almost didn't want to sit on them, fearing that I'd mess them up somehow and I did NOT have the money to fix them up.

"Can you stay here for a while as I go and look for him?"

"Of course you can go look for him. I'll be here."

The man left the room, and Emilia had not come with us, saying that she was going to sleepover at a friend's place. After sitting there for about five minutes, I was bored out of my wits since I'd forgotten my phone in Gabriel's car. I got up and went to a table where I saw photos of Emilia and a woman, smiling affectionately at each other. So much love oozed out of the picture.

That must be Emilia's mother.

Blue eyes, blonde hair.......... simply beautiful. After setting the picture down, I was about to pick another one up when I suddenly heard voices getting louder, coming closer to the room. I quickly went back to sit down, trying to act like I hadn't been snooping around. As I was picking at my fingernails, the men came in.

"Leila, this is Adam Carter, Emilia's father. He's the one in need of a nanny."