Chapter 6

"And those are the benefits you'll be getting Mr. Adam," the spokesperson of the representatives of 'Linka Company' concluded as he wrapped up his speech.

Adam nodded, impressed.

"I'd like to use this opportunity to introduce to everyone here the latest designs made by Wil Hunt Glass Company," Adam said proudly as he looked round those present in the room.

He stood up from his seat which was at the head of the polished mahogany table and headed to where the package had been left by his head security, James Ronald.

His attendant handed him a pen knife and he used it to start opening the sealed package.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Adam calls this project 'the next big thing,'" One of Adam's assistants said.

An applause went round the table.

Adam's smile gradually faded as he beheld what was in the package.

He closed and opened the package again, as if it would make what he was seeing disappear.

"Are you having trouble opening the package Mr. Adam?" One of the representatives of Linka company asked in a worried tone.

A sweat broke out on Adam's forehead.

"Could we please have a water break?" Adam asked, trying so hard to hide his embarrassment.

Everyone in the room looked at him with uncertainty.

"Mr. Adam, due to the fact you were tardy I don't think it's advisable to--" His secretary came to whisper to him but he turned to her and hissed under his breath, speaking with clenched teeth.

"Water break. Now!" he ordered in a harsh whisper.

"We'll be having a ten minutes water break, sorry for the inconvenience everyone," the secretary said in a stiff, polite voice.

Not too long after, the room was emptied leaving only Adam and few of his employees.

Adam paced about furiously.

The securities that had brought the package were also present.

"In all my life I've never been so embarrassed!" Adam fumed.

"Mr. Adam if you'll please--" One of his attendants was saying but Adam cut him off.

"I'm still talking!" Adam snarled at him.

The attendant stepped back fearfully.

Everyone glanced again at the small girl that didn't seem fazed by the tension in the room and was still smiling widely.

She sat on one of the chairs at the table while Adam and his employees stood some feet away.

"How did that kid get into my package?!" Adam demanded as he glared at the security men. "And where is the prototype of the project that I've been working on for two weeks?!" he asked furiously.

Adam's workers all shifted uncomfortably.

James had no reply for Adam. His voice faltered as he tried to come up with an answer.

"What do you expect me to tell those representatives out there?!" Adam exploded again.

The small girl was playing with her hands. She rested her head on the table, a bit tired. She yawned loudly attracting lots of stares from everyone in the room and a glare from Adam.

She stood up and walked casually to Adam and tugged at his clothes.

"I wanna go potty," she said and pouted at him.

Adam's eye twitched.

The tension in the room grew higher.

"You wanna go potty..." he repeated slowly in disbelief.

"Uh-un," she replied and nodded innocently as she twisted her fingers.

Adam gradually turned red. It was just going to be a little while before angry smoke started coming out of his ears as well.

Just then his cousin, who was also his manager, entered the room.

"Adam, what's the situation?" he asked and sighted the small girl standing beside Adam.

He frowned a bit and walked towards the duo.

"What's a kid doing here?" he asked as he looked curiously at Adam.

"That's what I want to know!" Adam fumed. Tyson chuckled and bent to the girl's height.

"Hey sweetie, what's your name?" he asked with a really nice smile.

"I'm Scarlett!" the little girl said as she beamed at Tyson.

"Well Scarlett, wanna tell me how you got here?" Tyson questioned further.

Scarlett pointed at the box.

"I came through that."

Yeah, like we didn't know that already. Adam thought and rolled his eyes. He glanced at his wristwatch. The ten minutes break was almost up.

"Look, Scarlett, you've got to go now," he interrupted their conversation practically growling out her name.

"Where're your parents?" Tyson asked the little girl.

She shrugged. "Dunno."

Adam gripped her hand. "Come along now, Tyson will drop you off at my place, okay? I'll sort you out later." Adam told her.

"Why your place?" Tyson asked him as he followed Adam who was already heading out.

"She'll stay there!" Adam snapped at his cousin in irritation.

"Really?" Scarlett looked up at Adam in amazement.

"Yeah, now bye," Adam handed her over to Tyson and turned back.

Tyson hesitated then turned. "You sure you want her to stay at your place Adam? I can--" he was still saying but Adam's glare cut him off.

"I'll just go," Tyson hurried away with the little girl clutching on to him tightly.

Adam re-entered the meeting room.

The representatives from Linka company had already settled down.

"Okay, where were we?" Adam asked as he took his seat.

~~~

Adam drove tiredly out of the company's parking lot.

He sighed as he made his way back to his country home.

Not too long after he drove into his estate. The securities at the gate greeted him warmly as he made his way inside.

He increased the speed of his car a bit as his house came into view.

Adam parked in the garage and got out.

He packed all his files and made his way inside the villa.

As he approached the main entrance a nice smell of baked beans wafted out to welcome him. He smiled as he used his key to unlock the door.

Mrs. Mann always liked to lock the door for security purpose. So she was still around afterall.

He had forgotten about getting her a temporary replacement; maybe she had changed her mind about leaving.

"Mrs. Mann, I'm home!" he announced as he unlocked the door and pushed it open.

"Mrs. Mann?" he called again when he didn't get any reply.

A clang was heard coming from the kitchen.

He narrowed his eyes. That's not Mrs. Mann! He thought in alarm. His eyes quickly roamed around and he grabbed a thick dictionary from the shelf as he passed by in a stealth mode.

He cautiously walked towards the kitchen.

He had barely reached the open entrance when a yell was heard from upstairs.

Shortly after voices started arguing.

He became rather tense.

Upstairs too? He frowned and grabbed his phone.

He started dialing the emergency number, 711 as he made his way into the kitchen.

The call had barely gotten connected when a brown haired girl suddenly emerged from a wing of the kitchen, heading towards where he stood by the counter.

She halted as she looked at him with wide, startled eyes.

"Ahh!" Adam screamed, startled as he dropped his phone.

It fell and crashed upon connecting with the floor.

"Ahhh!" The girl also was startled.

She held her racing heart and laughed. "So sorry Mr. Adam, I didn't hear you come in. I was quite startled," she explained.

Adam's mind raced around as he tried to pin point who she was.

Lucy saw his confused expression.

"I'm Lucy!" she reminded him.

The confusion left Adam instantly. "You're the girl from the restaurant?" Adam asked in disbelief.

She smiled at him and nodded. "Yes sir."

Adam's face started growing red as he was about to explode. "What in the world are you doing in my house?!" he demanded, trying to put a rein on his emotions.

As she was about to respond, a dark- haired boy waltzed in.

"Yo, Lucy, are we eating dinner or what? I'm quite starved!" Reece complained as he entered the kitchen. He then grinned widely as he sighted Adam.

"Welcome home, man!"

Adam held the nearby counter for support.

"You're the kid with the broken skateboard," he said, his heart racing in his chest.

"Rightio!" Reece laughed and walked past Lucy as he headed to where a steaming pot sat on the fire.

"What's cooking, Miss dudette?" Reece tried to peep into the pot but Lucy hurried to his side and prevented him. She shot him a glare.

"Behave, Reece!" Lucy hissed at him under her breath.

Lucy looked up at Adam who was staring at them like they had just arrived from space.

Adam was still trying to convince himself that what he was seeing wasn't really happening: two strange kids in his kitchen.

Lucy at once understood that there had been a misunderstanding somewhere along the line.

"Mr. Adam actually you said--" she started but was cut off as yet another boy entered the kitchen.

Adam blinked hard twice.

"Lucy, the small ones are hungry, is the food ready yet?" Caleb asked as he strolled into the kitchen.

Adam gripped the counter more tightly.

"Who're you?!" Adam demanded sharply as his gaze shifts to Caleb.

That was when Caleb noticed him and turned to him. "Mr. Adam?" he called.

"Sister Lucy, should we set the table?" Matt asked as he also entered. Adam turned to look at him swiftly.

This one too? Adam thought. Why are all the children I bumped into today all here?! He thought, his mind racing wildly as it searched for answers.

Scarlett skipped inside.

She headed towards Adam once she sighted him. She went to hug one of his legs.

"I missed you." She giggled as she cuddled his leg. Adam struggled to shake his leg loose.

"Let go of me! Don't make me lose my temper on you!" Adam threatened.

Lucy quickly grabbed Scarlett and yanked her away.

"That's enough, Scarlett," she murmured softly as Scarlett started to whimper.

"All of you! Sitting room! Now!" Adam ordered in a tone that left no room for any argument.

The all filed out except Lucy who went into a wing of the kitchen to put off the gas.

Adam shot her a stern look as she walked out of the kitchen quite calmly.

Adam made sure there were no more children hiding anywhere. He even checked the closed cupboards to be sure. Once he had confirmed that they were the only ones, he walked back to the sitting room with a mind to give those children a stern talking to about breaking into other people's homes.

They were all seated on the black settee except Reece who sat on the expensive dark blue designer carpet. The center black rug was also masterfully crafted.

Their eyes followed all of Adam's movements.

He first paced in front of them, both hands on his hips, deep in thought. He then looked up at the chandelier that hung above before continuing to pace about.

Reece shifted a bit.

He was hungry and he didn't like the uncomfortable silence. He changed his sitting position and Lucy gave him a stern look that said 'stay put'.

Scarlett yawned and kept her head on one of the small, neatly sown fluffy black pillows that was kept on the settees.

Matt adjusted his glasses.

Caleb rubbed his palms together; the chill he was feeling wasn't from the grand airconditioners kept at some strategic locations in the sitting room but from deep down inside him.

He knew what Adam wanted to say already.

Adam walked towards the 34-inch flat screen 3-D television. Underneath it was a stylishly made cupboard made purely out of glass. Inside it was a classic decoder and some neat looking remotes. There was also a one-of-its-kind DVD and stacks of CDs.

The interior was well decorated by small, artificial flowers in baskets.

Two gigantic loudspeakers stood on each side.

Adam grabbed a phone that was kept on the glass cupboard.

He shot them a bad look as he dialed a number.

"Tyson," he said venomously then he backed the children.

"What's up Adam? And before you say anything else don't pull a trick like you did again, everything happened because you came late," Tyson said in a casual tone.

"What did you do to the little girl I kept under your care?" Adam asked after he glanced at Scarlett.

Her blonde hair was scattered as she slept. Her head was now on Lucy's lap. Lucy brushed away a lock of hair from Scarlett's face.

Adam turned to face the light blue painted wall again.

Pity she's so cute. He thought inwardly.

What am I saying?! He scolded himself sternly.

"What do you mean under my care?" Tyson asked.

"The young girl that--" Adam tried to explain but his cousin cut him off.

"Yeah, I know who you're talking about, but you also told me to drop her off at your place, that she would stay there. You do remember, don't you, hmm?" Tyson said, interrupting Adam.

Adam unconsciously berated himself. He was getting quite frustrated.

"That's not what I meant!" he protested. "I didn't mean she would live here with me!" he snapped angrily at his cousin.

He knew Tyson shrugged at that particular moment.

"Hey, I tried to let you know what you were saying but you didn't want to listen. Look man, we'll talk later. Bye." Tyson said and hung up.

"No, no! Wait--!" Adam hissed in consternation but Tyson had long gone. "He hung up on me," Adam muttered to himself in disbelief.

Matt brought out a book to read.

This might take a while.