Rex brings the little kid to J City’s most famous breakfast restaurant, the Cuisine Royale. The owner is
a southern local who is very good in his cooking skills. Rex likes to enjoy his breakfast here; sometimes
he will order his assistant to help him take away food from this restaurant to his company.
The car speeds along smoothly, and the interior is dead silent. Although nobody is talking throughout
the journey, there isn’t any sign of awkwardness in the car; instead it feels warm and peaceful.
When they reach Cuisine Royale, it is almost eight o’clock, and there is already a queue in front of the
restaurant. Many people can’t find an empty table to eat there; therefore they usually take away the
food. Amongst them are people of all ages, and some people come with their children.
Rex parks his car and quickly guides the child down from the passenger seat. As the child is stabilizing
himself, he doesn’t withdraw his hand as he holds on to that soft and tender tiny hands. His heart is
turbulent with excitement but he tries not to show it on his face.
When they are on the way, he has already informed the owner of the restaurant to reserve a private
dining room for them. They go to the second floor and a waiter is already there preparing to serve them
when they sit down.
Rex doesn’t go through the menu; instead he asks Adair, “Do you have anything you want to eat?”
Adair peeks at the menu, and sniffs rather unnaturally, “I don’t understand what’s written here.”
He grew up in England, and his Chinese was taught by Lily all along, but since he was still young, there
are a lot of words which he doesn’t understand.
Rex only realizes this later on, since he never has any interaction with this child, he reprimands himself
for being careless. He nervously asks, “Adair, you prefer something sweet or salty?”
“Sweet.”
Rex orders a rice porridge, some pho, a bowl of noodles as his eyes fall on the side dishes on the
bottom right corner of the menu. Prawn dumplings, custard bun, barbequed pork bun, osmanthus cake,
curry fish eggs… these are all Lily’s favourite food. He recalls them coming here to eat long ago, and
she had eaten so much back then.
When he thinks of this, his gaze becomes mellow as he orders all of her favourite dishes. He doesn’t
care that she’s not here at the moment.
The waiter confirms his order before heading out of the room, leaving the father and son behind. Rex
fetches the glass in front of the little kid, and pours him a glass of hot water and says, “Drink some
water.”
When he’s at the association previously he always saw people with children equipped with water
bottles, therefore it has left an impression on him that children must continuously satiated with water.
Adair has already gulped down a big chunk before leaving the house, and he is not thirsty now. But he
only hesitates for one moment before accepting the glass of water and drinking almost half of it to show
Rex some respect.
“After breakfast, what do you have in mind?” The man’s tone is very gentle; he’s lacking his usual
arrogant and aloof demeanour which only exists in front of others.
Adair puts down the glass of water and gives it some thought, “I would like to watch a movie.”
“Movie?”
“Yes!” The kid nods, “Previously godmother has mentioned about a very nice animation film, and we
were going to watch it together, but sadly I’m no longer there.”
When he brings this up, Adair’s face is full of loss, as he feels regrettable about those missed
opportunities.
Rex raises his brows and asks, “Godmother?”
Adair answers in a firm tone, “Yes, I’m talking about Auntie Abby, she is my mum’s good friend;
therefore I always call her as my godmother. Mum always says that my godmother will treat me well.”
It turns out that he’s talking about Abby.
Rex twitches the corner of his mouth and confirms this possibility. It never occurs to him, but Lily and
Abby always has good relationship, so it is no surprise that the child will call Abby as his godmother.
“Then, do you want to meet da… uncle’s friends?” Rex almost blurts out the word ‘dad’; luckily he is
able to stop himself.
He has been repeating this in his mind too many times, to the point that it is almost natural for him to
address himself as his dad.
Adair in actuality is quite curious about him, since his life has been quite boring all along. Except for Lily
and Ryan, there is never anybody else who can accompany him. Now, it is a rare opportunity to spend
time with other people, so he’s quite tempted by his offer.
Despite that, he’s afraid of the prospect that those uncles will not treat him well, as they are total
strangers to him.
Seeing that he’s in a dilemma, Rex raises his hand and taps his head, “Don’t worry, uncle will take care
of you, nobody will ignore you. Let’s go watch the movie first.”
At the thought of watching a movie, the kid is obviously full of anticipation, “Really?”
“Yes, I’m serious.”
Adair shifts his gaze on his fingers as he fidgets with them, but he can’t suppress his desire, “Then,
then let’s go.”
His wishes have come true, and it puts a smile on Rex’s face. The turbulence in his heart is now
greater than when he has always closed billions of yuan of business deals.
A couple of minutes have passed, and the waiter appears again with a food trolley. He serves the
dishes one by one on the table. When the Cantonese style drawers painted with faint colours are
pulled, exquisite dishes exude their aroma throughout the whole room. These are dishes made by a
great cook; it is only natural that they smell and taste extraordinarily.
This is the child’s first time seeing such dishes; his eyes are staring at them in awe without blinking.
Rex grasps a prawn dumpling and sends it onto his plate and he watches the child obediently use the
chopsticks to put the food into his mouth. He knows how to cool down the steamy food before eating,
there is no need for Rex to look after him or guide him on this, which is very reassuring.
Rex continues watching him with an ecstatic mood. He thinks that God has not forsaken him, since he
could meet a woman who could forgive him for his past mistakes and bore his child. This is not
something everybody could experience.
He’s already thirty seven years old; there is no storm that he didn’t go through before. Despite that, Lily
and the child has become a soft spot for him, a single sentence by them could make him leave behind
his steely armour. He feels like he is a melodramatic twenty years old guy again.
So what if he’s not like himself?
The most important thing now is that he has a son, and this son is still concerned about him. Nothing
can describe his happiness and excitement right now.
They are able to enjoy this meal in a blitz mood. Adair has tried his best to taste every dish, but there
are still too much to his liking, in the end there are a lot of leftovers.
Looking at the myriad of dishes on the table which include some that are barely eaten, Adair pokes the
man and says, “Uncle.”
“What’s wrong?”
“There is a lot left, let’s take away the food.” Adair points at the dishes on the table with innocent eyes.
Take away?
Rex is surprised that he knows this phrase; especially that he’s just a four-year-old child.
But his surprise immediately turns into a shallow sadness. Kids nowadays don’t really care about food
wastage, as they are all being loved fully by their parents. These parents would always satisfy their
desires wherever they are; it is rare to see a child who would suggest a take away for the leftover food.
He feels a little sorry for him, “Is this taught by your mother?”
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda