With all the questions she was asking and the manner in which she spoke, he felt like she was mocking him somehow but was going to ignore that fact. She wasn’t worthy of his worries or time.

“I really do appreciate what you did by sending me all the details I need at the moment about my real mum but it will be best if you mind your business and stop meddling in our family business. I do appreciate but mind your busin-”

“If I minded my business like you are saying, would you have ever known that you were adopted because your parents didn’t want you?” she interrupted him and he paused.

He can’t be sure that his parents didn’t want him but it seemed like that presently so he had nothing solid to argue about and hoped that when he meets with his mum, she was wrong about him not being needed by his parents.

He ignored that and repeated what he was saying earlier “As I said, I do appreciate so stay out of our business or Dimitri will have to know why you know this if you didn’t get it from my parents, and don’t worry, your crocodile tears wouldn’t work this time” he said and was about to hang up when something crossed his mind.

He was positive that he wouldn’t get a straight answer or wouldn’t even get an answer to it but he decided to ask anyways. “How did you get this information? Who filled you in?” he asked and she hissed.

“As you told me, it's none of your business,” she said angrily and disconnected the call.

Well, now he was sure that she wouldn’t be excited to talk to him anytime soon.

“I just wonder how she found my brother in the first place” he muttered and closed his eyes due to the pending headache forming at the back of his head.

…

He walked up to the counter to see a bulky man preparing drinks as some of the waitresses came to pick them up and serve their customers. The tavern was not something he expected if he was being honest.

It was very wide, with tables, chairs, and booths spreading in different places of the building. The counter that the barman stayed behind was quite large and long with different kinds of drinks sitting on the large shelf behind him.

He expected it to be a bit of a mess and disorganized due to the environment it was located in, it was in fact noisy as expected but well organized, from the waitresses’ uniform to the barmen's cooperate wear.

This was going to be an executive kind of tavern and he nods in amusement.

When he was seated on one of the stools by the counter, the barman came closer to him and asked what he wanted.

“Oh, I don’t drink,” he said and the man gave him a weird kind of look because he came to a tavern, was seated on the stool, and said he didn’t drink.

“What do you want kid?” he asked with a small furrow on his brow.

“Oh, I came here for someone. Name is Lexi, heard she’s the head waitress here” he said while drumming the counter with his fingers. “Do you know if she is around?” he asked the man who looked down at his drumming fingers irritably before looking up at him.

“First, stop that drumming kid, it's annoying” he pointed “And yeah, Lexi is more of our boss here, what do you want with her?” he asked.

“I have some personal business with her” he responded.

The man leaned his elbow on the counter and stared at Cade for some seconds “What kind of business?”

“It's personal, please I really need to speak with her” he pleaded.

The barman was going to say something when a feminine voice spoke from behind him.

“Relex, I will talk to him” Relex looked behind Cade and nodded then went back to his work while Cade turned around to look at the middle-aged woman standing there with her arms crossed as she stared at him.

“Lexi?” he asked to confirm and she gestured for him to follow her as she walked to the other end of the tavern and then settled down on one of the booths there. “I am glad to meet you Lexi,” he said when he settled in front of her.

“Why are you here?” she asked him and he was quite taken aback by her response but decided to let it slide.

“I came to look for you, I wanted to know who my real parents were when I came to know of you” he explains, and could see the change in her face when he stated his reasons.

“Just that? Thought you were in some kind of danger” she hissed and he frowned.

“You would have wanted to see me if I was endangered?”

“That isn’t the case here so it doesn’t matter. You shouldn’t be here or even know about this in the first place, it's even more risky for you now that you have come to this knowledge” her tone was harsh and he felt bad for wanting to meet with his mum.

Was it now a crime to know who your real parents were?

“Why do you detest me so much? Why don’t you even want to talk or see me? I know you should have your reasons but I want to know what they are, I want to know why my parents left me” he told her not looking pleased with how she was behaving with him.

“Are they tired of you? What did they say to you? What did Patricia say about me to you?” she ignored his question.

“You really didn’t want to see me, even when you called you never wanted anything with me, to begin with? Why? Just give me a reason”

“Because I had to, I just needed to do so. I needed a life better than I was living then and since I couldn’t get you off at the pregnancy stage, I decided to give you to my very good friend, who will take care of you like you should be taken care of”

He could see that her eyes held sadness while she told him that but were masked when she noticed him looking intently at her.

“I told you all that you need to know, now, you will leave here and never come back, you don’t know about your real mother and have never met her. Don’t call me mum or ask about your dad, don’t even try to locate him, it isn’t worth all the troubles that would follow” she stood up and walked away from the table.

…

“Cade? Cade?” he heard his name being called and turned to the sound of the voice but couldn’t see who that was because his eyes were closed, “Don’t tell me you’ve been sleeping like this all day?” the woman’s voice sounded and he groaned a bit then opened his eyes slowly.

A frown creased his brows and he looked around his room then to the woman standing in front of him with her hands resting on her hips as she stared and him with a shake of her head.

‘Oh, it was a dream’ he thought as he referred to what he just saw now.

Now, he isn’t sure if he should go ahead with his plan of seeing his mum, it might turn out to be like how he dreamed it or even worse which he really doesn’t want.

‘What if it turns out okay? Where’s the positive Cade always giving the cheers and positive vibes?’ he decided to brush it away and hoped that it goes out as he wanted it to.

“It's just a dream, nothing to worry about” he muttered under his breath and sat up.

“What did you say?” Michelle asked as she sits beside him then touched his face and ran her fingers through his hair.

“Oh, it's nothing” he offered her a smile which she returned “How was work? I am sure that you are tired by now and hungry” he kissed her cheeks and stood up to get her something to drink.