Chapter 4

Adam hissed under his breath as his car sped off in the not so busy road. He hadn't reached the main roads yet hence there were no traffic jams yet.

As he drove by, he glanced out of his window and managed to spot a small, neat looking café.

'Reds' Breakfast Café'. The signpost read.

Just then his stomach churned at the thought of food. He had left his breakfast barely untouched when he heard that his mother wanted to see him. He sighed. I should have known it was about the kids issue. He thought inwardly.

He bit his lips as he drove past the café, he was pondering on whether or not he could swing by to order a 'to go' food package or head on to the office for his appointment, which he was late for by the way.

Luckily his hunger won over his urgent need to move on.

Adam glanced at his wristwatch as he made the U-turn back to the fast food establishment. It won't hurt if I run some few minutes late. He reasoned within himself.

He hurriedly parked beside the small building and got out.

He passed by a pot-bellied short man talking sternly to a brown headed teenage girl as he rushed inside the café.

He waved off an oncoming waiter and headed towards the counter himself. The pot-bellied man's voice could be heard from inside. Of course he was bellowing from outside.

"JUST ONE MISTAKE!! MAKE JUST ONE AND YOU'RE FIRED! I NEVER LIKED TO HIRE TEENAGERS ANYWAY BUT I'LL GIVE YOU A TRY. NEXT TIME TRY TO DRESS SMARTLY AND DON'T WEAR RAGS, ALSO APPLY SOME NICE PERFUME, I CAN'T HAVE MY WORKER SMELLING LIKE A DEAD FISH!!"

Lucy inwardly rolled her eyes.

She wondered if his tone couldn't be reduced. At this rate everyone will know she was seeking employment. Also there was nothing wrong with the way she had dressed.

But she managed to give him an attentive look and a small smile.

"Hey...Morning, you think I could have three burgers and a latte cup to go?" Adam asked the lady behind the counter.

"Sure thing sir," she beamed a smile at him. "Er...are you...You're...er...um...you're Adam Hunt!" she said trying to suppress her excitement.

"Yeah yeah," Adam murmured hastily.

She squealed and cleared her throat and finally managed to compose herself.

"Could you um...could you please sign this?" She brought out her cloth hand fan.

"Sure," he said without a hint of any emotion and he quickly did her bidding. "My order?" he asked afterwards.

"I'll get that sorted out right now." She nodded so quickly that Adam thought her head would have fallen off easily if it wasn't attached to her body.

Not too long after it all, he was good to go.

He sent a stiff smile at her before hurrying out.

He turned back to glance at the woman and found that she was batting her eyelashes at him unashamedly and he cringed before turning back to face where he was going.

But he collided with a waitress that had a huge pile of dirty dishes covering her face as she held them out gingerly in her outstretched arms.

Adam took in a sharp breath as all the dirty plates came crashing down.

The sound of the crash was quite deafening to Lucy and she looked at the mess before her in horrific disbelief.

Her brown eyes went from the broken plates to Adam's sorry dark ones.

"Look, I'm really sorry that I wasn't paying much attention to where I was going. This is so unfortunate," Adam said apologetically.

At once the pot-bellied man rushed in to see what the commotion was all about.

His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when he saw his plates smashed and broken on the floor.

Lucy had already gone down on her knees and was trying to clear the mess all up.

"HOW DARE YOU?!" the man bellowed angrily as he charged at Lucy.

"Sir," Adam intervened, raising up his arms involuntarily. "It was actually my fault. I should have been more careful," he tried to explain to the irate man.

The man turned a deaf ear to Adam and moved closer to Lucy.

Adam glanced at his watch and hissed under his breath. It was already 7:35am. He looked at the man wishing he would understand and turn the other eye. He groaned at the thought of being involved in the mess.

Lucy's lower lip quivered as she stood up straight. "I'm sorry, it was an accident. I didn't mean--" she was saying when suddenly her boss was beside her and next thing she knew was that he had slapped her hard across her face.

"Hey!" Adam's hand shot out swiftly and grabbed the man's fleshy arm. "That's so uncalled for!" he told the man angrily while he gritted his teeth.

The nerve of this fatso, hitting that innocent girl all because of some stupid plates... Adam thought angrily.

"I said it was all my fault. Didn't you hear me?!" Adam shook the startled man again.

Lucy's hand was on the cheek that her boss had slapped. It stung but she blinked back the tears. She wasn't expecting the slap at all and the shock of it made her go mute.

Lucy's boss tried to jerk free from Adam's firm hold but Adam didn't allow it.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO INTERFERE WITH HOW I TREAT MY WORKERS?!" the man demanded in a scream.

"SHUT YOUR LOUD PIPE HOLE!" Adam yelled back, making the pot-bellied man blink twice.

No one had ever yelled back at him before.

"You're really lucky that I'm in a hurry or else you'd be behind bars right now!" Adam snarled at him and threw his arm which he held away from his face. He then turned and began to walk out.

Adam grabbed Lucy's hand as he went, so they both exited the restaurant together.

Lucy looked a little lost as Adam left her hand all the while muttering under his breath how he never should have came to the café in the first place.

Adam turned to the girl who looked a bit mature for her age. She was not bawling her eyes out or gripping his collar like he thought she would. She wasn't even blaming him or anything. Sure a bit of sadness was etched on her face but she still looked calm and collected.

Her brown eyes scrutinized him, expectant.

They seemed to peer right into his soul so he averted his eyes.

"I'm sorry kid, I didn't mean for any of that to happen," Adam apologized again. Now she had lost her job all because of him and he felt a tinge of guilt at her predicament.

"It's okay sir," was all she said but she made no move to leave.

He rushed to his car and hesitated as he held on to the door handle.

He glanced back at her and saw that she was still watching him. Adam felt he had to reimburse her at least. He turned back, dipping his hand into his suit pocket.

"Look kid, I really feel bad about the situation but I can't waste a second more here as I'm really running late for my meeting," he started. "But tell you what, here's my card; it's already endorsed and my address and everything is there...you'll get settled in my house okay? My house keeper is at home; she'll let you in," he finished hastily as he handed her his card.

Lucy looked at him in surprise.

"You want me to get settled in your house sir?" she wanted to be sure she heard him correctly.

"Yes, yes," Adam affirmed as he retreated into his car. "Bye kid." He turned on the ignition.

"It's Lucy," she said.

"What?" Adam paused as he looked at her, puzzled. His car engine was already running, purring softly.

"My name is Lucy, and thank you sir," Lucy said.

"Whatever kid," Adam waved her off and zoomed away. Lucy smiled as a tear rolled down her cheek. That was a tear of joy. She smiled confidently and took a glance at the address. She still had a few cash that she could spare to reach his home.

He had to be extremely wealthy and generous to offer for her to get settled in his house.

She smiled and turned round.

~~~

Adam cursed his ill-luck.

No more stops. He told himself.

Unfortunately, he became stuck in a traffic jam. He quickly dialed his manager's number and told him that he was going to be in later for the meeting.

His cousin sighed and ended the call.

Caleb carried his cleaning supplies and looked round at all the cars stuck in the traffic jam. He had to decide which owner was rich enough to spare him some cash that morning.

Caleb saw Adam's sleek black car that shone a bit when the sunlight hit it.

He smiled broadly as he made his way over to where the car was.

The occupant was impatiently tapping his steering wheel. Must be a big shot of a guy. Caleb concluded. He approached the car and tapped gently on the windshield.

Adam lowered his side window a bit, still glancing every now and then at the traffic light that was forever on the red.

"What?" he asked the youngster a bit impatiently.

Caleb cleared his throat. "Hi sir, um...I was wondering if you'd like me to help clean your wind screen. Just to polish it up a bit.' he said as he put on his best smile for the well-dressed executive.

Adam's eyes went to his wind screen that gleamed spotlessly in the morning sun. It was ever so clean.

He gave Caleb a hard look.

"No," he said and looked ahead, wondering when the traffic light ahead would turn green. "Scram kid!" He shooed Caleb away as he brought up the side glass of his passenger side door.

Caleb looked dejected but resolved not to give up. To Adam's surprise the youngster went to the front of his car where the wind screen was to demonstrate his abilities.

"Hey! Kid!" Adam honked his car horn at Caleb as he started cleaning the windscreen of Adam's car with a wet rag.

Adam had to force himself out of his car. "Get lost or I'll call the cops," he threatened and that seemed to do the trick. Caleb packed up his things sulkily.

Adam rolled his eyes as he re-entered his car.

"Stupid kid,” he muttered angrily under his breath.

Just then the light turned green and the cars began to move.

Adam who had bent down to have a bite of his burger straightened up quickly and attempted to move his car forward.

But what he didn't know was that Caleb had bent down to retrieve his rag that had fallen to the ground right in front of Adam's car.

He narrowly missed knocking Caleb down. He halted just in time as the car was a hair's breath away from the shocked boy.

Caleb gave a loud, frightful wail as he collapsed on the ground in a faint in front of Adam's car.

Some drivers insulted Adam as they passed him but he ignored them as he rushed down to help Caleb who had fainted just the moment that Adam stopped the car.

"Oh my gosh, you've killed him," a nearby lady walking her dog gasped out in a yell. Her dog barked at Adam. Some passers-by had also gathered round, watching.

A sweat made it's way down Adam's brow.

"He's not dead. I didn't hit him," Adam said defensively as he bent to where Caleb lay.

"Isn't that Adam Hunt?" Adam heard someone nearby murmur.

"Yeah, how awful!" another person replied.

"Hey Kid, get up; you're ruining my reputation, kid," Adam said in a low tone as he shook the inert Caleb.

"I've called an ambulance," a man standing nearby informed Adam, trying to be helpful.

"He's not hurt." Adam hissed at the man, giving him an irritated look. He shook Caleb harder now. "Get up kid! Show them that you're all right, C'mon kid!" Adam shook the boy harder.

"Don't shake him so much," a younger guy around his early twenties said.

"I'm shaking his brain back to order," Adam snapped at him and shook Caleb all the more.

He glanced at his wristwatch.

He was toast.

8:06am.

"Kid!" Adam shook him again, adding some light slaps to his face.

"Maybe some water would help," a woman suggested, offering Adam a bottle of water.

"Yeah, thanks," Adam said as he collected the bottle of water and gulped it down. He felt refreshed afterwards. He handed back the empty bottle to the woman.

She looked at him wide eyed.

Adam went back to shaking Caleb, feeling more energetic after his drink of water.

"Get up Kid!"

"The ambulance will soon be here," a woman said.

"I said he has no need of one! Don't you get it?!" Adam snapped as he turned to glare at the onlookers. The crowd was building by the minute and he was beginning to hear more loud whispers as they recognized him more.

He turned his attention back to the lad on the ground, who was beginning to stir.

Caleb groaned as his vision became clearer.

"Am I in heaven?" he murmured a bit dizzily. He had hit his head when he fell. His eyes went to Adam whose face was a mixture of relief, anger and irritation.

Caleb sat up slowly, still rubbing his eyes.

"What are you doing in heaven? You were very mean and unkind, you ought not to be here," Caleb said accusingly to Adam in a sleepy tone.

"That boy needs to be checked in an hospital," an elderly onlooker in his seventies stated and a murmur of agreement rose among the crowd of onlookers.

Adam frowned and shook Caleb harshly again and the boy's dizziness faded.

"Whoa, what happened?" Caleb was quite himself again and his voice had cleared.

Adam cleared things all up with everyone watching him.

"Here's my endorsed card," Adam thrust his card into a startled Caleb's palm. "It'd be great if you can check in with me. My house keeper will let you in. I'll see you later," Adam said a bit stiffly.

He entered his car and drove off leaving a startled Caleb seated by the sidewalks.

The crowd began to disperse when they saw that Caleb was alright. Someone called off the ambulance, station that the incident had been rectified.

Caleb pinched himself to make sure that he wasn't dreaming.

The famous Adam Hunt had told him that he, Caleb, a homeless child, could ‘check in into his house’.

Caleb sighed contentedly and smiled in satisfaction.

He packed up his things and dusted his pants. He didn't need to carry on with the hustling anymore.

He headed off.