The regimented life at the Boys' Home wasn't one that Derick was accustomed to. The king of his house, had become sort of a slave in his new home. On top of the usual housekeeping, he had to carry out whatever additional tasks that were given to him, be it be washing up the common toilet or putting the laundry out to dry. It was indeed tough for a person who had never needed to lift a hand with the housework. Somehow, he managed to bear with the hardship and stayed out of trouble with the other boys. He was given a good report and was eventually released three months early. He vowed to turn over a new leaf and never to return to the place again.

His mother was elated to have Derick back in her life again. Though, still feeling that her boy had been wrongly accused, she was glad to see a toughened son in Derick who was able to take care of himself better than he used to. Derick was surprised to know of a new addition to the family - his niece. In fact, he seemed very enthusiastic about taking care of her, from changing her to bathing her. His mother was delighted with the 'positive' change in him while Trina wasn't really comfortable with the change. There was something in the way he handled her that made her uneasy but she wasn't able to pinpoint what was wrong. Thus, she would try to attend to her niece for as much as she could and keeping her out of his hands.

However, it wasn't easy to keep Derick away from her as he was spending more time at home. Derick didn't want to return to his previous school though the principal was ready to take him back. And with his kind of record, it wasn't easy to enrol in another school. Anyway, his mother was happy having him at home and staying out of trouble. Gradually, the search for a school was laid off and Derick's mind had more time to idle and fantasise.

After her scheme failed, Lena managed to get a part time job as a cashier at a departmental store. She had always loved money and being a cashier seemed like the perfect job for her. Her mother couldn't agree more and with Lena at the counter, she hatched another scheme. She would queue to pay for her purchases at Lena's lane, even when there were no queue at the other lanes. They would pretend not to know each other while Lena would conveniently miss scanning some of the items, mostly the more expensive ones, and packed them up with the scanned items. As such, it wasn't uncommon to see her mother paying less than $10 (through NETS of course, paying cash would have given the game away) for 2 or 3 bagfuls of stuffs. It was indeed a scheme better and much safer than placing the stolen items in her children's haversacks.