Is this destiny?

Noah took Chloe to the Youth Center in the Boyle Heights neighborhood.

In the entry hall, two staff members were sitting behind the welcoming counter and when they saw Noah, both of them shoot to their feet and stood in attention. Noah waved with his hand, gesturing for two people to relax and sit.

Chloe smiled a little because this situation reminded her how Noah reacted when Sarah and Aiden showed up unannounced in the office.

"What are we doing here?", Chloe asked in a half-whisper.

She asked him a few times where they are going, but he said that she will find out when they get there. Well, now that they reached their destination, she still didn't know what Noah's plan was.

Youth Centers in neighborhoods are what their name implies, centers where youth (mostly teens) gathers for various activities. Normally, there is a program coordinator who decides what events will be provided in the center, and that can range from physical exercise to learning various skills or doing schoolwork. Chloe wondered why Noah brought her here.

"Hold that question for ten seconds. It's better to show you than to explain with words.", Noah said while leading the way down the hallway.

It's not that Noah wanted to keep this a secret, but he knew that bringing Chloe here to see with her own eyes will be much better than telling her about it.

Why did he bring her here? Noah was aware that Chloe was planning to leave this neighborhood (and probably the city as well), and he wanted to show her how amazing this place is, starting from the youth center where he usually spends his weekends if there is no important mission scheduled.

They stopped next to the big window that was providing a view of the large hall that was on the right. It looked like a basketball court with sparkly light brown wooden floors.

The hall had more than twenty teenagers inside, who were standing in several rows and practicing punching moves under the guidance of two women wearing black uniforms. The door was ajar, and they could hear teenagers shouting 'hoo-haa' while punching the air in unison.

Chloe looked at the teens. It was a mix of girls and boys, between thirteen and eighteen years old. They were doing their practice with serious expressions on their faces.

Two women moved between teens and corrected their postures when needed.

Chloe's eyebrows shoot up when she recognized two women as Lizzie and Scarlet. Those two were intimidating before, but now that Chloe confirmed how they can fight, Lizzie and Scarlet turned into absolutely terrifying existences. Chloe was glad that she will resign from the Blanc because working with Lizzie and Scarlet will be nerve-wracking.

Noah saw that Chloe was getting anxious and he decided to show her something else.

Without a word, Noah took Chloe's hand into his and tugged her to follow him further down the hallway.

He was happy that she didn't pull her hand away, and after a few steps, his lips lifted into a smile when he felt her fingers curling around his hand, holding onto him. Yup, he is making great progress.

Chloe was startled when he held her hand, but she didn't want to let go because it felt good, almost like her hand belonged in his. His hand was big and warm and solid and it made her want to do all kinds of things, but letting go was not one of them.

They stopped on the left side of the hallway, next to a large window. The room inside was spacious and carpeted. It had desks and chairs and a lot of kids sitting in silence. There were more than fifty kids, some were reading, and some were writing, and there was a group of six kids in the far right corner who were discussing something while pointing at laptops like they were doing a group project. The wall on the left had one long table with fifteen computers, each with a kid in front of it.

The whole space looked like a big classroom. Most of the kids appeared to be in their teens, but a few were as young as eight years old, while some were in their early twenties.

Several people in black uniforms moved about and stopped next to the kid who had his (or her) arm raised. They were obviously helping kids, like tutors.

"Do kids do their make-up work here for school?", Chloe voiced her thoughts. She heard that youth centers in neighborhoods offer tutoring lessons at low cost.

"This is not make-up. For a big majority of kids present, this is their school.", Noah said.

Chloe didn't understand. This is a youth center, not a school. And also, it's a weekend, so schools should be closed. "It's Saturday. Shouldn't they be playing?"

"Most of these kids don't go to regular school. They study here and take online classes."

Chloe was familiar with the concept of distance learning, but she had no idea that there would be so many kids who don't go to school in a traditional sense. "Is there a reason why so many kids don't go to regular school?"

Noah guessed the reason behind Chloe's confusion, so he decided to explain.

"This is not only a youth center. These kids live here.", Noah said, and he saw that Chloe's curiosity was piqued. "It's not all of them. Some live in the area and they came only for supplemental classes. However, many of these kids were picked up from the streets of Los Angeles. They lived in bad conditions that put them in the system, but the system failed them, and they ran away from foster families or were abandoned. Some of them had addicts for parents who put their addiction in front of caring for their children, and in order to survive, kids were stealing or begging on the streets. We took them in. They get a place to sleep, three meals a day, and they also get to finish education."

"Are martial arts part of the program?"

Noah confirmed. "It's good for kids to know how to defend themselves. Even if they are never in a fight, having skills will give them confidence and it's a good exercise. It also teaches discipline and the value of hard work."

"Who pays for this?"

"This belongs to Blanc.", Noah said. "Most of the tutors volunteer, and kids don't pay anything."

Chloe thought how all that was hard to believe. "You are telling me that kids get a roof over their head, food, and education for free while Blanc covers the costs? The expenses should also include clothes, food, toiletries, and all kinds of other things."

Noah was not surprised to hear Chloe's questions. That disbelief was common for outsiders and he didn't want Chloe to be one. "Blanc is not a company. It's a community. A family. Sarah came in and she transformed a neighborhood with the highest crime rate in the County into one where people want to move in. Everyone who lives in the Boyle Heights neighborhood gets an option to contribute a percentage of their paycheck in exchanges for benefits, and any expenses on top of that are covered by Blanc. We encourage these kids to stick to their education with a promise that if they do well, they will be offered a job at Blanc. But there are no strings attached. Once they finish school, we help them find jobs, and until that happens, they are welcome to stay here."

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