A/n: Daveed's POV is his side of what happened in the last chapter.

Daveed's pov
We got a break and I decided to go and check out a few places I could go and get a drink. I found a cute little shop not too far from my office, I walked and ordered a cappuccino. As I waited for my coffee, I looked around and took in the cozy environment.

"David?" I sighed, they always mispronounce my name like that, I collect my drink and go and sit at an empty table. I relaxed in the comfy seats they had and took a sip of the incredibly good coffee. I was sat there for about 10 minutes when someone approached me, she was definitely not a stranger. It's Jalene my ex, I sighed, already done with whatever she was doing.

I felt someone staring at me but I shrugged it off when Jalene sat in the seat in front of me. I looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "Hey Dave, I saw you sitting so I thought we could talk about..." she said. I rolled my eyes and asked, "About what?".

"Well us-" I laughed, hell no she did not just say that. "What?! You broke up with me, remember? Cause I was 'cheating' on you" there was no anger in my voice, I had no emotions left for this woman. If it weren't for Lin, I would've gone back to her almost instantly.

"That, Dave, that was a mistake, I- I love you" she touched my hands, and then my arms. She was leaning in and I couldn't help but start laughing. She was lying to my face, and we both knew it.

"Don't give me that bullshit Jalene, just leave" there was a smile on my face cause this was kinda like closure for me. She huffed and left the shop, I sighed and took a big sip of my coffee. It was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders, I looked out the window for a second and decided to leave. I got up and threw my empty cup on the way out.

I walked into my office to be greeted by my annoying coworker Suzanne, she always follows me its creepy. I just went straight to work but it was hard for me to get Emmy out of my head.

Lin's POV (from where we ended last time)
We both sat in the car, she handed me the warm box and started the car again. The ride to our final destination was filled with fun music and singing our little hearts out. Her voice was so pretty, she would be a great musical theatre actress or just a solo artist, cause her voice was just so heavenly and sweet.

Once we reached, we both got out of the car and I was amazed at how big the orphanage was. We walked into the decorated halls, small children running everywhere. I looked into a random room to see two kids kissing, I looked at Pippa and asked "Hey... are they supposed to be doing that?". She looked at the two girls and groaned "Sophia, Aurel get off each other and stop kissing, Ria and Maryann, keep an eye on them".

I laughed at the fact that those two are the ones that Pip told me about. "How you doin, good lookin?" Asked a little girl, she had dark curls framing her chubby little face, I looked at her with a raised eyebrow "I'm Maryann, I am 10 years old" she said with a little grin.

I chuckled "I'm Lin, and I'm doing good, how about you?" She looked a bit stunned, but then said "I like you" with a small smile on her face. Pippa looked at her and told her to go back to playing with Ria.

"Sorry about her, she... can be a little out of control at times,"  she said with a chuckle, I just smiled at her. I didn't mind, I love hanging out and playing with kids. It makes you get out of adult mode for some time and just have some technology-free fun. Pippa led me to her locker room and told me to sit while she just stuffed something in her locker.

Pippa's POV
After I placed my bag and my phone in the locker, I looked back to see Lin talking to some of my coworkers. I called out to him so he could meet the kids.

I carried the cookie box outside to see Ria pulling Aurel off of Sophia, those two are definitely something. I kept the box on the counter near the entrance of the room. Lin seemed to be playing with the kids already, you could tell a lot about a person by how they treat kids, and Lin seemed incredibly good with them.

"Hey, Pippy.... it is my birthday!!" Sophia said as she tapped on my leg, I smiled at her and crouched to her level "I know Soph, you are now older than Rel! How does that feel?". "Good! I feel like I'm more mature now that I'm 7" she replied with a huge grin, I chuckled at how adorable she was being.

"If you're mature now, does that mean you will stop kissing Aurel every second you two are alone?" I asked in a teasing manner. "Sorry Pippy, no promises" she giggled and ran away. I sighed, I looked up to see Lin making his way to me, so I stood up and waited.

"Hey, who's that?" He asked pointing to Jonah, "Oh that's Jonah, he doesn't talk to anyone, I've tried." The first few months he was here I made it my goal to make him open up to me, but it didn't work, and I started to try less. "Why's that?" He asked, genuinely curious, I explain his situation and how much I've tried but failed to help him, Lin said he wanted to talk to him. I told him to go ahead, cause what could go wrong?

Lin's POV

A/n: that's Jonah^
I walked over to the small boy, he looked vulnerable. He had forest green eyes and honey brown hair, he was adorable, but he had blotchy red cheeks, I assume its from crying, and had slight eye bags as well, which worried me, he's only 6.

I go ahead and sit in the empty seat next to him, he looks at me and almost instantly curls up, backing away from me. "Hey, hey, I'm not gonna hurt you" my words seemed to calm him the tiniest of bit, "I'm Lin, I'm just a visitor but you look a bit lonely here bud.". His green eyes looked at me but not as scared this time, "Do you not like anybody here?" He shook his head no, "Oh yeah? Who's this special someone you like?" He looked at his feet for a few seconds and then pointed to Pippa, I smiled.

"I like her too, she's really sweet isn't she?" He nodded a small smile forming on his face, "Why aren't you playing with the other kids?" I asked him gently. I watched as he visibly shrunk, I guess it was a hard question, I also just realized that he might not be able to speak.

I'm guessing he has gone with the method of being completely mute for coping with his loss and trauma, he probably knows words but isn't too used to speaking.

"Ok forget I asked that." As I said that I saw him relax a bit, "Do you know who's birthday it is?" He nodded slightly and pointed to Sophia who was face down on the floor with Aurel laying on top of her. I saw him smile a bit, when he looked at them, I could tell he liked the place but he probably just felt unheard or that he was a burden.

"Do you want a cookie?" I asked him because I saw him stare at the other kids munching on them. He looked into my eyes and then looked at the ground, I could tell he wanted one "Come on, let's go ask Pippa for one". His eyes showed reluctance but also a little excitement, he's happy about the cookie or the attention, I'm not sure. "But, you have to say thank you to Pippa. Ok?" He looked unsure, but it looked like something clicked in his head and let him stand up from the chair.

We started to walk but he occasionally looked back to see if I was following him, I didn't dare touch him, knowing its way to early for that. He would only freak out.

We reached the place where Pip was standing, I looked at her "Hey Pip, can you give him a cookie?" She looked down at Jonah and smiled at him. You could see how much she cared for him, it made me smile.

She handed him a cookie, "Here you go bud, enjoy!" She said, he grabbed it and was slowly backing away. "Jonah... come on" I whispered, gently. "H- Th- Thank y-you" he stuttered and then ran back to his chair.

I was proud of him, I watched him run back, once he was seated he glanced back at me with a small smile. When I turned to look back at Pippa, she looked like she was frozen in time, tears in her eyes, when she noticed me looking at her she came to me and wrapped her arms around my torso.

My arms stuck out, they took time to realize that they should hug back. Hugging her was amazing, maybe a lot of people never really think hugs can make you feel things but they do. I held her gently before she pulled away and asked "How did you do that? How did you get him to say that? H-he never speaks".

"I know but we made a promise, and guess what?", she looked at me with a sparkle in her eyes. "What?" She asked confused but intrigued, "He said you were his favorite" her eyes lit up, her grin grew and it looked like her face was gonna split in two. "Really? Oh my god, I'm so happy right now!!! I need to tell Steven!!!" She exclaimed, Steven? Who's Steven?.

She looked so happy, who was this guy that made her so happy? I had a feeling that he might be her boyfriend, but I didn't want it to be true. I mean I like her, and if she has a boyfriend then I had no chance, but then again I'm not sure.

After that I felt a little down, knowing she probably has a boyfriend but I still had hopes. I ended up sitting with Jonah for more time, I could tell he liked my company. Every so often I'd look up and see Maryann wink at me, I rolled my eyes at the small girl, she's cute and all but she's a little young for me. (😂 sorry I had too)

"Mister Lin?" I looked up from the lego bricks Jonah and I were playing with. "Yeah? What's up Ria?" She smiled at me and replied with "Pippa is calling you, I think you have to leave" I nodded, I felt a little sad, I didn't want to leave. Before I got up I felt a tiny hand on mine, I looked to see Jonah holding my hand.

I didn't say anything we just stared at our hands, after about 5 minutes he looked up at me and smiled, I realized that as my cue to leave. I smiled back and left, he was not ready for anything more and I'm determined to help him out of this.

As I made my way to Pippa many of the little ones gave me hugs, I loved this feeling. I felt wanted.

"Hey Pips! Ready to leave?" She nods with a big smile on her face, we made our way to her car and I turned her radio on. We talked about random stuff, and also decided that we should all have diner together after I'm back from work.

We made it home, I said goodbye and left to go complete my shift but something was still bugging me, Steven...

~~~~after Lins shift~~~~

Daveed's POV
The four of us were just chilling in the girls' apartment, it was fun but there was some tension between Emmy and I. I had no idea why, we were fine this morning, did I do something wrong?

We had ordered some Indian food, cause why not burn our guts? They said it would take about an hour, cause we ordered hella food.The bell rang, but it had only been 10 minutes since we ordered so we were all confused. Emmy decided to go and open the door, she rolled her eyes when she saw who it was. I wonder who-

"Steven!!!!!" Pippa yelled running to him, kissing his lips. Oh no this can't be good, I looked at Lin, and I didn't think this was possible until now but, I swear I saw his eyes lose all of its life and his heart drop...

A/n: there are so many POV changes, don't mind me going crazy. Also, I'm so sorry for updating so late, but I really couldn't get myself in the right headspace to write, so I didn't.

But I'm back and with hopefully more regular updates??? Idk, let's all hope. I hope you liked that chapter, cause it took me like 2 months to write😂.

Anyways, have a g' morning or g' night wherever you are... love you guys...
Byeee🥰💙❤️