A Foreign Land

It has been over two weeks since Cade moved into this small town on the outskirt of Chicago and when he landed, he made sure to contact his parents and little brother to fill them in about his trip and was already getting settled in the apartment he had booked before arriving.

He wanted to relax and know his environment first before going to his mum’s place of work and seeking the answers he needed. Although while sightseeing, he made a few friends, one at the supermarket he shops at, the other was the receptionist at the hospital Michelle worked in and he also met with Michelle once in a while.

He had taken her on a few dates and they got to know more of each other gradually, it was quite pleasing to meet her after months of speaking on the phone, she also helped him to settle in properly and he was grateful for that.

Presently he was seated on the couch in his small living room as he went through the information he got from Daniella. He knew his parents were aware that she was the one who let him know of it but he didn’t want to cause any form of chaos, she was enough headache for him, he didn’t want his parents to have another problem with her.

It was just too bad that his little brother was still captured in her dangerous claws and hoped that his eyes would be opened to see all her wrongdoings and he can know that she isn’t someone that he should want to marry.

He looked closely at Lexi’s picture and could see the slight resemblance of himself in her. He had her green eyes and smile. She was a beauty indeed, she had blonde curly hair that was gathered in a pink scarf and she was wearing a brown lady’s suit as she stood like a fierce woman ready to battle whatever comes her way.

He smiled then dropped the picture and took the paper that her place of work address was written on then sat back on the couch as he thought of how his meeting with her will go.

With what his mum and dad told him, it was very obvious that she might not like the idea of seeing him anywhere around her and he wants to just know why she had to take such a decision. If not anything, he deserves an answer to all these, and also, he wants to know who his dad was, whether or not he is dead, he just wants to see how he looks like and what made his dad and mum separate or whatever that happened.

He thought of it going well and properly. Like she will be all emotional when she sees him and apologize for leaving him when she would have just taken full responsibility for him then she would explain all things to him and want to be in his life then he would forgive her and accept her back as his mum.

Cade relaxed back on the couch and lifts his legs to the top of the table then closed his eyes as he reminisces on the day he was set to leave when his brother and friend came to help him pack up and escort him to the airport.

…

“Where would you be lodging? Will you need to take your car? How long would you have to stay? Hope you would stay long enough for me to take over the business. I don’t want to work there Cade, please come back on time” Dimitri pleaded.

Cade shook his head and then looked at Aiden who shook his head too and shrugged at his childishness and the numerous questions he threw at him.

“I wonder which I should answer first” Cade put the rest of the clothes he arranged for himself to take so that he wouldn’t have to worry about cloth shopping.

“Any of the questions I asked” Dimitri sat on his bed as he awaits his response.

“I booked for an apartment there already” he started but was interrupted by Aiden who silently remarked.

“An apartment? I doubt you have plans of coming back home” he shrugged when Cade threw him a glare. “Or you could have said that you wanted to relocate and that would have been the best word for it” he shrugged yet again.

“I have no plans of taking my car, I don’t really know how long I will stay but it's certain that I will come home and update you guys on how I am faring,” he said then thought for a moment “Is that all the questions that you asked?”

“I guess, but why can’t you just tell me your main purpose for leaving? I know it's not just ‘exploring’ as you put it, there is something to your leaving and I want to know, just fill me in and no one will have to know anything. Just us bro” Dimitri came closer to him and whispered the last part to him.

Cade laughed it out and put the two bags that were packed beside his bed as he awaits the time to get to when its two hours to his flight so that he could be on his way.

“Dimitri, I am going for some self-discovery and you know how much I have told you that I wanted to explore outside the walls of our world?” Dimitri nods “The time has come,” he said to him.

“But how about your training? You will need them before taking over the company gradually”

“I talked with dad about it and he permits me to leave” he pats his brother’s shoulder “Just be good and well behaved, I want you to look over our old people,” he told him.

“I will just make sure that you come back home in one piece, else we would have a strong beef” Dimitri warned then pointed his finger at him “Call and pick up your calls, else we would send down an army to look for you”

Cade chuckled at that and they both shared a hug and he hugged Aiden too before making his way out of his apartment, with his two nest buds following behind him.

“We will go eat something before I leave,” he tells them and they agreed.

…

“Such a boy” he muttered then picked up his phone to dial his brother’s number. It was still in the morning and he calculated that it would be late evening over there and Dimitri would either be with his girl or out with the guys.

After two rings, the line was connected and instead of Dimitri’s voice being sounded, it was Daniella’s voice that he heard.

“How are you doing Cade?” she asked just when he was about to disconnect the line.

“Where is Dimitri? Put him on the phone, I need to speak with him” he told her but she let out a laugh.

“Dimitri went out for a walk and would be back in some hours, you know how grumpy he can be sometimes?” she chuckled “He needs it,” she says.

“Okay, when he gets back, tell him I called to say hi to his whining ass, bye,” he said and was going to hang up when she spoke again.

“How is your stay over there? Have you met mummy yet? Did she welcome you with open hands? Have you guys had your reunion?” she asked.

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.