Camilla finished washing the last dish, soon noticing that all her co-workers had already left. She then changed her clothes and grabbed her purse. She left through the front door, saying goodbye to the guard, and headed home. The next day, she went back to business as usual but noticed that all her co-workers were looking at her suspiciously. Suddenly, an employee named Leah told her that money had been lost yesterday, but not only that, she immediately blamed Camilla for what happened.
“Camilla constantly brings that back, surely there she hides what she steals,” she told everyone. “No, that’s not true! I’m not a thief. Why are you blaming me, Leah? You know perfectly well that I would not be able to take something that’s not mine,” said Camilla, the dishwasher.
“Well, explain that to the boss,” Leah did not stop and continued blaming her. “Better yet, I think we should call the police,” she added.
“No need to call the police,” Camilla said in a panic. Suddenly, the head of the restaurant, named Emmanuel, appeared, and everyone was silent. He looked at everyone present with disgust and then ordered Camilla and Leah to follow him.
Once in his office, he asked Leah, “Have you seen her taking money? Why are you blaming Camilla?”
“I’ve been watching her for a long time, boss, and I’m sure she’s capable of stealing,” Camilla said. “What are you saying in your defense? Why are you keeping quiet?” Emmanuel asked her.
“I didn’t steal the money, sir. I have nothing more to say,” she replied.
“Fine, go to your jobs, but the conversation is not over yet,” Emmanuel said.
At that instant, the boss’s girlfriend, Sarah, entered the office. “I don’t understand, Emmanuel, just throw them both out and that’s it.”
“I can’t, they’re both hard workers,” Camilla turned to the boss. “Please don’t fire me, sir. It’s hard to find a job, and I need the money.”
“Sarah said she told you to your face she needs the money. If I were you, I would fire her right now,” Emmanuel just looked at his girlfriend, but she didn’t answer him.
You see, Emmanuel was only 26 years old. He always had it all; he grew up in a wealthy family. For many years, he lived carefree until he grew up. His parents understood that it was not good to give him everything, so they gave him a condition: either you do something for life or you simply run out of inheritance. Well, it wasn’t that hard to choose, so he opted for the first option.
He was thinking that it was time to have responsibilities, so he asked his parents to help him make a restaurant. It seems so easy and simple. Finally, he was able to realize that dream. It was a big step for his life, and now he felt bad for not knowing how to control the situation as much as he thought. And thought about who the thief or thieves would be, he couldn’t find any answers.
The bride hugged the pence of Emmanuel. “Honey, you work all the time. We’d better go and rest. It’s all overwhelming. You’ve done too much already. We’re getting married in only four weeks, so it’s good to be relaxed.”
“You’re right, dear, but really, I got to let go of this. If I can’t know who it was, then I’m no good as a boss. My father was right that it was better to work for his company. Being a boss is not my thing.” And it was actually his grandfather who supported me. You see, the restaurant was not entirely Emmanuel’s. The great part belonged to his grandfather. His parents did not support him because they thought he would be a bad boss. So, his grandfather, who trusted him, intervened, and only on the day he was not there, it would all belong to his grandson. But Emmanuel always had to prove that he would be able to win him over.
The young man suddenly said to his girlfriend, “You better go out and relax with your friends. I need to get some things done.”
“Well, honey, if that’s what you want, I’ll listen to you. Only, could you give me some money?” Sarah said, smiling at him.
Emmanuel burst out laughing, pulling out of his wallet. “Okay, here.” The girl tenderly kissed the groom, took the money, and walked out the door. The young man watched her go, sign, and went back to his business.
Back at home, late at night, he could not sleep. “But who is stealing from us? This is bad for the other employees. I don’t think Camilla would be able to do this. What are you thinking, grandson?” Grandfather asked Emmanuel, finding him in the kitchen with a cup of coffee.
“Is business worrying you?”
“Hello, grandfather. Yes, a little,” the boy confessed. It turns out that he always told all his things to the old man and was never afraid that he would laugh or simply scold him. That older man listened to him carefully and shook his head.
“Listen, grandson, how about we solve my problems first, and then yours? I need to go to the capital for about 14 days, but I also need to finish some business abroad. How about you travel in my place? It’ll only be for six days. Plus, it’s not a bad thing to hang out in another country. Can you take my place?”
“What about the restaurant?” asked Emmanuel.
“Why don’t you ask your mother? Let her stay in charge.”
“No, I wouldn’t want to bother her. She has her own business.”
“Then ask Sarah to help you. She can take your place. She’s a smart girl.”
“Well, maybe you’re right, Grandpa.”
The next day, Sarah was jumping for joy knowing she would be taking over the restaurant. “How wonderful, honey! I’ve always dreamed of being a restaurant manager, at least for a few days. Thank you!”
“Don’t worry, it was my grandfather who gave me the idea,” Emmanuel replied, smiling. Sarah, upon hearing his words, said, “Well, give your grandfather a thousand thanks for me. Even though I only met him a couple of times, I immediately realized that he is an amazing man. I love him already.”
She was so excited. You see, Emmanuel and Sarah had been dating for a little over six months. In fact, it was she who asked him to marry her. The boy accepted, and before long, they were both dreaming of getting married.
Finally, the day of the trip arrived. But before leaving, Emmanuel gathered all his employees and announced that his girlfriend Sarah would take his place while he was away. And then he called Camilla.
“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to find yourself a new job. The team thinks it’s you, and I can’t risk everything for one person. I don’t know why, but I can’t find any more suspects. There started to be thefts since you started working more than two months ago. But don’t worry, I won’t throw you out right away. I’ll give you 10 days to find a job. The truth is I’m very disappointed.
I thought better things of Camilla.”
But I didn’t take that money,” the girl said quietly and with a puzzled look on her face, barely holding back her tears. She ran out the back door of the restaurant, where she burst into tears of resentment and injustice. But Camilla did not realize that nearby there was someone listening to her, a homeless man who, hearing her lament, approached her.
“Can I help you, girl?” Camilla smiled sadly. “I think you should make room for me soon. I will surely be by your side,” he replied.
“But why are you talking like that, girl? It’s not nice to say that life isn’t easy when you’re here,” the dirty and unkempt old man answered her. “I know we all have our own problems. I had a home too and was happy until I lost everything. It just happened that way. My wife died; his son had bad joints, went to jail; when he came back, he moved into our apartment and threw me out. People often treat me badly. I didn’t ask for this. I have no children of my own; now I live on the street. I stand with my hand out, and when I’m hungry, I check the garbage cans. If I’m lucky, I’ll find something decent to eat. No offense anymore, grandpa. I didn’t mean it,” the girl replied.
“That’s life, daughter.” Suddenly, the homeless man was surprised by the woman’s kind gesture. “Surely you must be hungry. I’ll bring you some food. Wait for me here, will you?”
But at that moment, the girl stood thinking for a few seconds. “Hey, what happened, girl?”
“Nothing, I just have to be cautious. They have me in their sights,” she smiled.
“Are you having trouble with the boss?” asked the homeless man.
“Mr. Emmanuel? No, he’s a very good man. Only now he will go away on a trip, and in his place will stay Sarah, his future wife. She’s so different from him; she’s conceited and always sees her employees as a little thing. But I’ll be right back. Just don’t go.”
“I won’t go, daughter. I won’t go.”
Camilla returned after a few minutes and handed the old man a bag. “Here’s food and a couple of snacks. There’s nothing else. Sorry.”
“Oh, come on, you’ve done enough for a poor. You have a kind soul, daughter,” the old man spoke delightedly, then thanked her infinitely. [Music]
“But tell me, why did you cry? We haven’t told nothing, Grandpa.”
“Everything will pass, everything will be all right someday,” Camilla smiled sweetly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go back to work. If you wish, come tomorrow; I’ll feed you again,” the old man nodded and cheerfully accepted the invitation.
To his surprise, the next day when Camilla saw him, she immediately brought out hot soup in a bowl, in a large bag, in which contained a warm coat, boots, and gloves, even a scarf.
“But why, daughter?” the old man was surprised.
“It’s already winter, Grandfather,” said Camilla. “Your clothes are not ideal; you can catch a cold. Besides, they’re my older brother Victor’s things; they are warm and good. He won’t scold you.”
“No, grandpa, he won’t. Last winter, my brother had a car accident and died. That’s very unfortunate,” the old man shook his head.
“Well, thank you, honey. The truth is, no one cared that much about me,” suddenly, the back door of the restaurant opened slightly, and Leah appeared in the doorway. When she saw Camilla with the homeless man, she raised her hands to her head and shouted, “Have you gone crazy? Are you being paid to talk to homeless people? I’ll go right now and tell Mrs. Sarah all about it.”
“Quickly, but what’s the matter? Why are you shouting, Leah?”
“Would it be easier for you if this old man froze to death or starved to death?” asked Camilla.
Leah replied, “Oh, now you are Saint Camilla, the one who helps the needy, the one who feels sorry for everyone. You better feel sorry for yourself, Camilla; you show no good by standing next to this filthy bum.” Leia turned abruptly and walked into the restaurant.
The old man, meanwhile, had already put on what Camilla brought him and finished his meal. “Thank you, daughter, but I’d better go. You’re already in trouble because of me.”
“Grandfather, where will you spend the night?” the girl asked.
“Anywhere, daughter,” he answered.
“Then she said to him, “You know, I live nearby. My house is small, but I can make room for you. Why don’t you better wait for me? I’ll be off work soon. There you will have a bath and sleep well; they say this week will be the coldest. At least you can stay until the winter is over.”
“Really?” the old man was delighted. “Thank you, daughter,” the man said wholeheartedly. He even let out a few tears. “We are people; why should we treat each other differently?”
Camilla didn’t have time to leave when suddenly Leah appeared again, but this time next to her was Sarah. “I warned you, Camilla,” Leah said. “Come on, get out of here, you beggar,” shouted Sarah, who was wearing an expensive fur coat, to the old man. “I don’t want to see you around here again. You’re here shaking your lice; you’re not going to keep eating from my restaurant. You’d better go and keep rummaging through the garbage cans. I don’t want to see you.”
“And you, my dear Sarah,” turned to Camilla. “You can take your things too. I don’t want to see you.”
“But Mr. Emmanuel told me I could stay 10 days,” Camilla commented.
“Do you even see Emmanuel around? In case you’ve forgotten, he’s my boyfriend, and he does whatever I say. Even in case you didn’t know, he promised to give me this restaurant after the wedding that is in less than a month. And you want me to put up with you, silly dishwasher,” Sarah shivered from the cold and hurried into the restaurant. Leah, raising her head, went behind her.
Camilla wanted to cry but held back, gave the old man a smile, and asked him to wait for her. He went back to the restaurant to get his belongings. It was clear that she had been fired. The homeless man stood still for a while, thinking, talking about who knows what. Then he went behind a dumpster in the front parking lot of the restaurant, where he had some blankets, so he fell asleep.
Suddenly, he heard someone; it was a female voice. “You’ve gone crazy, Daniel. I can’t come now. Why don’t we meet as usual at the hotel? I know you miss me; I miss you too,” the woman’s manner of speaking was becoming more and more passionate. “I think you’re taking advantage of my weakness.”
“Yes, I want to be together with you too
. What, you want me to lend you money to pay the car payment? But I gave you a few days ago. Why do you need more? Do you know that last time I almost got caught? That stupid dishwasher wouldn’t budge. But it’s okay; I’m going to the hotel right now.”
The old man wanted to lean out to hear more, but he made a noise. Sarah heard him and turned to him, “You filthy bum, what are you doing here? I told you to leave,” the woman pushed him into the street, telling him to get out. The poor man fell to the ground; somehow, the unfortunate bum managed to get out of there and staggered away, but he couldn’t go very far. He simply wasn’t strong enough; he leaned against a wall. It was here that Camilla found him when she found out what happened.
She was very angry, but she helped him walk and managed to take him home. In half an hour, they arrived, and as soon as the door was open from inside the rooms came the voice of a child, “Auntie, is that you?”
“Yes, yes, Christian, I have a guest. We will now come to you to greet you,” she turned to the old man. “Here’s my nephew; he was bedridden after that accident. Come on, I’ll introduce him to you, and then you’ll go take a bath.”
“Hello,” said the six-year-old boy to the old man lying on the bed, “my name is Christian. How are you?”
“Hello, I’m Grandpa Samuel. Do you know how to play cards? Dad and I always played.”
“If you like, Christian,” Camilla interjected, “the master needs to bathe, eat, and rest; play with him later, okay?” The boy nodded. “Wow, did you bring something tasty, Auntie?”
“Yes, I bought for us to eat with our guest,” replied the excited old man. “That’s how he spent a wonderful dinner, talking with Camilla and little Christian. The old man also learned that Camilla and her older brother lost their parents when they were very young and were raised in an orphanage. As they grew up, the older brother got married, made his home; everything was going well until he had an accident.
Victor, his older brother, and his wife died; little Christian was the only survivor, but he was seriously injured and was now bedridden. Camilla sold her house to pay for his treatment, debts, and bought a small apartment with what she had left, to live with her nephew. The saddest thing is that the treatment did not work; the only thing that could help her nephew was a very expensive operation abroad, but the young woman had run out of money.
She was lucky enough to get a job in a restaurant where she was well paid. The money was spent mainly on Christian’s medication, and while she worked, a neighbor came to take care of him; she paid for everything. Camilla told the old man. He watched as the young woman fed his nephew; he was so happy, eating what he liked the most. The girl wanted to cry; she knew everything would be harder without a job, but then she restrained herself. Finally, she took the old man to sleep in her bed; the man couldn’t believe it; he was planning to sleep on some furniture, but she insisted. “You need to rest well; you are an old person.”
For two days, the old man lived with Camilla, and on the third day, he said goodbye to her. “I can’t stay here anymore, girl; I’m just another mouth, and you can barely make ends meet,” so no matter how much Camilla asked him to stay, he left; she never saw him again.
More than 10 days passed; Emmanuel stayed longer than expected abroad, and when he came back, he found out that his girlfriend had fired Camilla early. He was so angry with Sarah, but she tearfully told him, “This rude girl insulted me in front of everyone; I had to fire her.”
“But don’t worry, Leah’s cousin, the waitress, works at Camilla’s place; she’s a hard-working girl; please don’t scold me anymore,” said Sarah.
“Yeah, don’t cry, love; it’s okay. I will respect your decision; calm down,” Emmanuel told her, who, in turn, commented, “Listen, honey; tomorrow we have a banquet; my grandfather is coming from doing some business. I want to get the whole family together,” the young man told her.
“Good,” replied Sarah. “I’ll invite my family too. Do you think so?”
“Sure, I like to see my in-laws,” Emmanuel commented with a smile.
Already, the next evening, Emmanuel and Sarah’s family gathered at the restaurant, but one more guest was missing. Emmanuel tried several times to call him, but nothing; he was already starting to get worried when suddenly a beggar came through the door. Sarah screamed in indignation, recognizing him immediately. It was the same homeless man she had seen a few days ago; everyone looked at this man with surprise, and only Emmanuel laughed, turning to him.
“Grandfather, what are you doing? Do you want to ruin our dinner?” But the old man did not smile and turned to Sarah. “Do you want to throw me out again? I don’t think so, sweetie. In case you didn’t know, I’m the majority owner of all this; not my grandson; he just manages all my affairs. He comes dressed like this because I have to speak in front of everyone,” the old man began to take off his rags, false beard, and wig; now a respectable older man stood before everyone and was very angry. Sarah said nothing, and then Emmanuel’s father got up from the table.
“God, explain to us at once what’s going on.”
“Well, here it goes; when the trouble started at the restaurant, I realized right away that someone was trying to cheat on Emmanuel. I wanted to see everything from the outside and came up with the idea of posing as a bump. I spent only a few days around my own establishment; I learned many interesting things. Well, one of them is that our dear Sarah meets almost every day in a hotel with one of the restaurant guards who works in the morning. I overheard them talking on the phone, and then I wanted to know more, so I put on an investigator; she would periodically steal the money and then spend it on him,” Emmanuel stepped back from the girl whom he was holding by the hand.
“Is what my grandfather says true, Sarah?” she was bewildered and suddenly ran out of the restaurant; her embarrassed relatives also ran out after her; everyone was stunned. Emmanuel sat stunned in a chair, and Grandpa continued.
“Camilla was never guilty, dear grandson; she’s the best girl I have ever met; she is kind and nice and really needs help. So you and I will go with her now; she has a lot of problems on the way,” the grandfather told him everything that had happened in his absence.
When they arrived, Camilla looked at the old man with astonished eyes, and Emmanuel witnessed what was happening. The old man told Camilla that he would like to support her; he wanted to take his nephew Christian abroad so that he could achieve
a better life. The truth is that the old man also had a hard life; he had problems with his son and grandson, but he did not have anyone else; he wanted to have a family, to have grandchildren. That’s why he decided to help Camilla, whom he thought was the perfect wife for his grandson.
Camilla was silent, only crying; she didn’t know what to say. She had dreamed of getting her nephew operated on, but she had no money, and she didn’t know how to get it. And here was a way out.
“Camilla, dear,” the old man took her hands, “we’ll go together; we’ll pay for the operation; we’ll give you a good life. But under one condition; you marry my grandson.”
“Grandfather, you can’t be serious!” exclaimed Emmanuel.
“Yes, I am, grandson; I trust this girl with all my heart. I’m not getting any younger, and I don’t want to die without seeing a wedding,” the old man smiled and then turned to Camilla. “What do you say, girl?”
“I don’t know, sir,” replied Camilla.
“Let me do it,” Emmanuel stood before her, kneeling. “Please, Camilla, marry me; I promise to make you happy, to give you everything you want.”
But the girl had already made her decision, “I accept, sir,” she said, looking at the old man, “I will marry your grandson.”
And that’s how it all turned out. Camilla got married, and her nephew went abroad; the operation was successful, and he was now walking. But not only that; Sarah was arrested for theft and collusion with the guard; they were both fired. Emmanuel took over his grandfather’s business; the old man, in turn, died a few days after the wedding. But he left his grandson a huge fortune. Camilla gave birth to two daughters, and Emmanuel loved her more than anything.
