Chapter 696 - Dinner on the beach with kids

The evening was approaching, and a wonderful sunset painted the sky in red hues.

All kids (and Jesse) finished their academic tests, and they went to relax before dinner.

Sarah and Aiden decided to stay one more day in order to go over the results in detail and come up with a plan for each kid before heading back to Los Angeles. They will also conduct physical tests in the morning after breakfast, because they want to gauge current state of the kids.

Sarah and Aiden didn't know what to expect from the academic test results and were pleased to see that every kid passed elementary school level knowledge, and they knew English very well. Few boys stood out with results above average, and others were almost in line as if they attended schools in United States.

"The orphanage made sure to educate children. That is commendable." Sarah sighed while thinking how it's a pity that the orphanage got destroyed. Based on academic results and overall good behavior of the boys, the orphanage took care of the kids well.

Sarah was looking at the results from Jesse's academics tests. He completed the same tests as the rest of the kids and questions were focused on knowledge up to high school. Sarah expected Jesse to have better knowledge than the rest of the kids, but she found his results to be inconsistent.

"Look at this… and this…" Sarah showed Jesse's results to Aiden. "These are contradictory. How can he solve this problem which is challenging for eleventh grade, yet fail this one from seventh grade which is indirectly a subset from previous question? If I don't know better, I would think that he is trying to fool us.", she smirked.

"You think he wants to hide how much he knows?" Aiden frowned.

Sarah smiled and placed her index finger between Aiden's eyebrows, smoothening his creases and making him relax his face. "That is the only explanation. We already know that he is hiding something… and the fact that he is trying to conceal his academic knowledge also, confirms that he wants to stay low key. The only thing we need to know is why. I'm not getting any malicious intent from him but the fact that he is not honest with us is making me uncomfortable."

After short talk about Jesse, Sarah and Aiden joined their kids outside.

Since they don't have a dining room which can accommodate thirty people (twenty nine to be exact), they decided to have a barbeque on the beach. Luckily, the weather is still warm and the evening breeze from the ocean is pleasant, so an outdoor dinner in a party-like atmosphere is just right.

Aiden already called Cash and instructed him to include large dining area when he builds additional sleeping quarters, and he was happy to hear from Cash that construction will start within next few days and it will not take more than two weeks.

Back to present…

At the beach, three staff members are grilling hamburgers, hot dogs and variety of meats and vegetables and kids are enjoying while sitting on the soft sand around bonfire, each with a large plate filled with food and a glass of beverage on the side.

As usually, Ade is the star of the evening. He started with his favorite story: how Sarah and Aiden found and rescued them. Everyone laughed at Ade's impersonation of Sarah when she found out that some of them are not girls. 

"Can you believe that Boss has mistaken ME for a girl?", Ade flexed his muscles, indicating how manly he is and that made everyone burst into laugh even more.

Ade is the shortest of the original group of seven kids, and definitely the skinniest. His display of 'manly muscles' was comical, but he doesn't care. No matter how he looks, he is the swiftest one and his improvement is the fastest. He is confident that if he keeps up at this rate, he will be the first one promoted to the rank of a Boss's personal bodyguard.

Shortly after, Imani and Jamari joined Ade and three of them spoke about the variety of training regimes they are subjected to since deciding to follow Sarah and Aiden. All kids were excited to listen about variety of combat techniques, and demonstrations given by Ade and Jamari elicited a lot of 'Ahhs' and 'Ohhs' which were followed by enthusiastic claps.

Nala talked about driving and horse riding lessons they had in New Mexico, and Masika and Zula were more than happy to cover topics related to weapons and first aid.

The enthusiasm was contagious, and it spread on other kids as well.

Sarah and Aiden listened to the stories with smiles on their faces while enjoying their dinner on the beach. It was nice to know that their seven kids are so happy and proud to be with them. For Sarah and Aiden, it was an acknowledgement that they are doing the right thing by having these kids under their wings.

Sarah wished that kids talk about academics as well, and Aiden reminded her that those talks are not very… exciting. As much as she hoped that kids don't treat all this like a boot camp which will lead them toward a bodyguard profession, it seems that kids are drifting that way no matter what she says.

Aiden was happy that Ade stopped calling him 'Boss's husband' , and addressed him as 'Boss Aiden' in his storytelling. For Aiden, it means that in Ade's eyes, he finally got out of Sarah's shadow and earned himself an independent 'Boss' title.

Newcomers were mesmerized with everything and their eyes sparkled with desire to start the training as soon as possible. The more stories they heard, the more they respected Sarah and Aiden. Teenage boys already cast away any doubts if it was a good idea or not to leave the mine and come to this place. All kids brimmed with motivation to do their best, hoping to impress everyone and become highly respectable bodyguards for their Bosses.

Jesse listened to the stories from the side, and he could not prevent himself being moved by the overall atmosphere.

Jesse was startled when Sarah's hand landed on his shoulder and he heard her say: "Jesse, join us in the study, please."