Page 61 of Neptune

"His name is Aiden." The orphanage head stepped beside me, watching Aiden with a smile on her face.

"When we first found him inside the box outside the gate, we never expected that a newborn baby would have survived being inside a cold box for hours.

That day, the wind was chilly. We're grateful that we found him in time.

Aiden means ' the fiery one.' We named him that because of his passion to live, to survive. "

My breath caught in my throat as I thought again about all the miseries that he went through.

The orphanage head wiped a tear from her eye. "He's such a sweet and kind-hearted boy. We will surely miss him so, so much."

I could feel her sadness from having to part with Aiden. I was grateful that he'd been taken care of by a good soul.

She sniffed and walked toward Aiden before saying something to him. Aiden stared at me in confusion and walked in my direction.

I froze. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

When he halted in front of me, I could clearly see that his eyes were a mixture of my mine and Cassie's in color.

He seemed like he wanted to say something, while I was still speechless. He was the first one to speak.

"Are you really my dad?" he asked, staring at me with anticipation.

I bent down to him, unknowingly let a tear fall from my eye. I nodded with a smile. My throat hurt so bad.

"Yes. I'm your dad. I'm your dad, Aiden."

He was still staring at me, curiosity glinting in his big eyes. "What about my mom? Is she coming too?"

I pulled him into a tight hug and cried on his shoulder.

???

Aiden stayed in my house, making my life colorful with the new experience of being a father. I always wondered how I deserved him.

He was the light at the end of the tunnel, the light that kept me going to survive the hell I was living in. He'd given me a new sense of purpose.

My days were busy with saving Klein Enterprise. I couldn't just let the traitors that had backstabbed me take over the company and destroy our life.

I'd been working my ass off to turn things around. I'd gathered the evidence of all their dirty deeds, all the corruption they committed just to get rid of me.

They should all be put behind bars, and I should bring this company back into its glory. No one should ever mess with me and my family.

However, all of these things had delayed my plan to get Cassie back. I couldn't come to her in five years because of so many unpredictable things.

Besides still trying to survive the new threat attacking Klein Enterprise, I was also trying to figure out how to make the three of us unite without hurting Aiden.

We couldn't just barge into Cassie's new life—she didn't even remember us anymore and she was now very famous.

If I just announced the truth, the entire world would blow up, not to mention that she was now with another superstar.

Cassie would be shocked and confused, but it was Aiden that I worried about the most .

He would be exposed too, and the entire world would know him as the child of a famous star who didn't even remember him anymore. I couldn't do that to him.

Time passed, slowly but sure. One year had passed. And then more months had passed. I still couldn't bring them together, while Aiden couldn't stop asking about his mother.

One day, I finally had to show him Cassie's picture. It was a picture of her in a magazine, in which she was at a charity event.

I always made Aiden stay away from the TV, because I didn't want him to watch the news about Cassie and her new lover, Jude Scott.

Aiden's eyes were twinkling when he stared at Cassie's picture in the magazine. "Mommy is so pretty."

I smiled, ruffling his hair.

Aiden's eyes glistened with tears. "Why doesn't she live here with us? Does she not want to see me?"

My heart felt like it was being sliced when I braced myself to tell him the truth.

"No, it's not like that. She does want to see you, so badly. She loves you very much, Aiden. But she is sick. She will come back to us when she remembers us."

Aiden frowned. "What kind of sickness made her forget about us?"

I couldn't answer that. I could only pull him into a warm hug to wash away all his worries.

???

I turned off the TV after watching more devastating news about Cassie. Fuck . Those reporters couldn't just keep their mouths shut.

I'd never expected that my plan to make her leave her drug addict ex-boyfriend would backfire on her.

The news of her breaking up with Jude fueled the reporters' desire to say nasty things about her and blow up the world with dirty headlines.

After all my hard work, Klein Enterprise was now in its safe zone. I'd brought it up from ruins, and it was now one of the most influential companies in the country.

I could help Cassie by controlling the media. She needed me—I couldn't let her suffer any longer.

I'd also found a way to make her mine again. It was the quickest way despite the probability that she would hate me with this plan.

Still, I was more worried about Aiden. I couldn't just tell Cassie the truth. She would think that I was crazy—she had many lunatic fans already.

And what if she denied Aiden? What if she didn't want to believe that he was her son? What if she rebelled instead? I couldn't let that happen to Aiden.

That night, with a heavy heart, I stepped into Aiden's room. He was sitting on the floor, painting with watercolors.

When I looked at his work, my heart clenched. He was painting Cassie.

I knew that it was her because of the snowman in his painting. I'd told Aiden that she loved snow.

"Dad." Aiden beamed when he saw me walking in.

I bent down next to him, watching as he resumed his work again. "Do you really want to meet her?"

Aiden stopped and turned to me, clueless.

"Can I really see her? Are you planning to bring her back?" His tone was hopeful.

I plastered a sad smile. "If I do bring her back, will you promise me one thing?"

He stared at me with wonder.

"Your mom hasn't recovered from her sickness," I whispered, my voice hoarse because I was holding in my pain, and because this was too much to ask for. "Will you promise to not overwhelm her and let her remember us by herself?"

I didn't know whether she would ever remember, but pushing the truth too soon wouldn't be good for either of them.

I wanted to take it slow. I wanted us to have the longest moment even if it might not be forever.

Aiden's eyes now glinted with excitement. He nodded enthusiastically.

"Will you promise me," I choked, tears blurring my vision. "Will you not call me ' Dad ' when she's around?"

Aiden froze, but then he looked down and nodded. However, I didn't miss the tear that fell from his eye. I pulled him into a tight hug.

"God, I love you, Aiden," I rasped. "I love you so very much. Don't ever doubt that."

He sobbed, his tiny hands wrapping around my back as we hugged each other tightly. "I just want to see her."

"You will," I vowed, kissing his hair. "Don't worry. I will bring her back."