The Billionaire's Wild

Five Years After

“It’s still hot in here like a devil’s den,” Amelia whined when she disembarked on the plane, fanning herself furiously with the tips of her fingers joined together to resemble a handheld fan. “Nothing changed at all,” she commented more, pulling her sleeping child closer to her chest.

The other passengers who heard her complain about the temperature laughed at Amelia’s comparison of it to a devil’s den and one even joked about the citizens being small demons running around but Amelia just raised her eyebrow, clearly, she isn’t amused with the small talk.

“That’s crossing a line,” she reminded the passenger who talked to her. “But, oh well, yes. We welcome sinners like you,” she added before stepping on the bus that’s already waiting to take them inside the airport’s building.

She only bought the cheapest economy ticket available and because of that, she needed to wait for a long time to retrieve her luggage. After securing their luggage, Amelia looked at Caden, who fell asleep while being carried, his head lolling to one side as he rested himself peacefully on his mother’s shoulder.

“Caden,” his mother called to him but the child remained lost in his sweet dreams.

Giving up on waking up her child, Amelia checked the status of the cab that she scheduled earlier.

“Thirty minutes?”

Disappointed at the late arrival of the cab, Amelia took a quick look around the airport to help her decide what to do within that 30 minutes of time frame, which she knows will be actually more than half an hour.

“Caden,” she called to her son again.

Luckily, the four year old child opened his eyes and rubbed it to see his mother’s face clearly. “Hm?” Caden hummed, waiting for her mother’s words.

“It’s time to wake up. Didn’t you say that you’re excited to meet your grandmother today?”

“Grandma?” Caden mimicked, still dizzy from the long sleep he just had.

“Yes, Grandma. Your grandmother and besides, we also need to call Cayce later.”

Hearing his twin sister’s name, Caden pushed his mother and begged her to put him down. “I’m big now,” he reasoned out as he wriggled his dangling feet to immediately jump out of his mother’s embrace.

“Okay, okay, just wait.” Amelia agreed, “let me just place my handbag down so you don’t fall.”

However, Caden is a bit of an active kid. And without a warning, Caden leapt to the ground after he felt his mother’s embrace loosened, making him hurt his knee that hit the tiled floor for a while before running in full energy again. That’s when he suddenly bumped with a tall man he didn’t know.

“Dang, watch it,” the man exclaimed when Caden accidentally stopped him from his tracks. “Go run somewhere else,” he told the child as he looked over his watch again to see if he could still arrive on time for their set meeting.

But the child wasn’t moving at all from the spot where he fell and started massaging the knee that he already hurt earlier.

Worried, the man lowered his body to see the child’s face and injury more closely. “Are you alright?” he asked. “Where are your parents?”

Not knowing what he must exactly say, Caden searched for his mother to help him and when he finally saw the familiar figure of Amelia, he shouted “Mama!”

“Is that your mother?” the stranger questioned him which Caden answered with a nod.

“Then let me bring you–”

“Sir, Mr. Kwon has already arrived at the venue. We must go now.”

Alejandro Morris squinted his eyes to the secretary who suddenly interrupted him. “How many times do I need to tell you that I hate getting interrupted?” He chided his secretary who is always praised for being so competent to his job. “Don’t do this again, Ethan Gaior.” he warned silently as he stood up again.

Gulping his saliva, Ethan, the secretary nodded. “Yes, sir,” he confirmed before directing Alejandro to the place where the meeting would be held.

Meanwhile, not too far from them, Amelia is bugged by the fact that the man her son collided with seems so familiar to him. But it only took a few seconds for her to recognize that it is Alejandro, his ex-fiancee who she stood up during their wedding day.

What is he doing here? Did he know about Caden?

Then suddenly, Caden called her, shouting Mama from the distance.

Seeing that the mother is already approaching the child in a hurry and he’s also running out of time, Alejandro decided to say goodbye to the child. “Come here, kid,” he told him. “Tell your mother to contact me if you have any injuries. So, keep this card, understood?”

Caden received the calling card from Alejandro with his open hands. “Bye-bye,” he said to the kind stranger but before Alejandro could truly leave, Amelia arrived, wearing big shades that almost hid her whole face.

Amelia immediately checks her son’s physical body, snatching the card from his hand and tucking it inside her trouser’s pocket. “Are you hurt anywhere?” she asked.

“No and– huh?” Caden scanned the crowd again. The kind tall man isn’t there anymore. “Did you see him?”

Amelia frowned. Him? Does he mean Alejandro? Of course she did but she just ignored his presence until he left.

“No.”

“But you saw us, Mama.” Caden pushes on. “You looked at me when I called you ‘Mama!’ and then you hm… come here. Yes?”

Amelia shook her head again and chose not to answer any more of her child’s innocent questions. After that, she rummaged inside the bag she’s carrying and brought out Caden’s hat. “We’re going now. The cab’s here so, we better leave,” she informed him, lying about the cab, as she fixed the clothes that got crumbled from excessive movements. “And Caden, remember not to talk with strangers again.”

On the other hand, Alejandro glanced back once more at the woman who approached the child. Did he say Mama? That girl looks young and a bit familiar. He can’t just point out where he met her before, but he’s sure that he did.

“Ethan, Do you know that woman?” he asked his secretary, who’s walking beside him.

Ethan also sneaked a glance at the woman but he can only notice her slim figure since her face is covered with that annoyingly big sunglasses. “No, Sir. Do you want me to do a background check about her?”

But instead of considering Ethan’s suggestion, Alejandro just snapped her fingers. “Oh, that! Forget it. Let’s not waste time on trivial matters.”