Why didn’t I realize this earlier? It was just like my brain not to remember something so important when I needed to remember it. It’s like they say, if you’re looking for something you won’t find it but when you’re not looking for it anymore, it’ll just pop out at you.
"I remember now. If I’m not wrong your father said that he was looking for Jack Witman when he ran into me in my town. That was the first time that I met you father," I told Hayden.
It was then that I realized that the old man probably knew something about me all along. I would be a fool to believe that he simply ran into me in that small town completely by coincidence. Who is Jack Witman and what does he have to do with me?
"I see. Old man was probably checking to see if you knew anything about Jack and about yourself," Hayden said without showing any signs that he was surprised.
"What do you mean?" I asked quickly.
"Let me tell you a story from when I was younger..." Hayden replied calmly before smiling reassuringly at me.
A story...from when he was younger?
...
"Jack!" a blond boy called out as he raced toward the man called Jack.
Jack was sitting on a bench in a very beautiful and well-organized garden. The boy approached the bench and quickly sat next to Jack.
"Hayden, you’re always so active!" Jack said before he put an arm around the boy’s shoulders.
"You should have told me that you were coming to visit. Can you take me for a drive like last time?" Hayden asked as hope sparkled in his eyes.
"Jack’s not free to deal with your stupid requests. He’s busy," a dark-haired boy poked his head around to snap at Hayden.
The two boys glared at each other as they sat beside Jack while Jack started laughing.
"Shup up, Ethan. No one asked you for anything," Hayden snapped back.
"Jack is super busy with work now. Also...his baby girl was just born..." Ethan said before turning to smile at Jack.
"I guess you’re right. What about this? Do you want to marry her?" Jack teased.
Hayden’s blue eyes widened before his face scrunched up in disgust.
"Of course not! I don’t want to marry anyone!" Hayden cried loudly.
"Is that so...?" Jack said before he laughed carefreely.
"If you don’t want to marry her, then I will. I want to be Jack’s son," Ethan said proudly.
"You can’t do that, Ethan," Jack quickly killed off Ethan’s dream.
"Why not?" Ethan asked as he pouted, clearly dissatisfied.
"You’re already engaged to someone else...another girl. Well, I doubt you understand what that means right now..." Jack said with a helpless shrug as he watched the two boys.
Jack placed his large hand on Hayden’s head and the boy turned to look at him with a questioning look in his bright and clear blue eyes. Jack knew from the time that he spent with Hayden that he was a pure hearted and honest boy. This boy had something that his elder brother didn’t have and that might be the key to uniting both groups.
"Hayden, you are such a compassionate boy," Jack complimented.
"Compassionate...what does that even mean?" Hayden asked in confusion as he cocked his head slightly to the side.
"Hmm...it means that you’re caring about other people. You try to understand them and help them, I guess," Jack replied.
"Never mind that, I’m hungry!" Ethan quickly cut in as he jumped up from the bench and started pulling on Jack’s hand.
"Why don’t the three of us go out for dinner?" Jack suggested as he stood up.
"Yay! Steak. I want steak!" Ethan shouted happily.
--To be continued...