Chapter 3: Talking through

I stormed back in the room and everyone was sorta surprised by my entry. "I... just came to say toodles meant see ya." I regret storming back in. I don't know how to start a conversation with this person. I wanna cry.

"You wanna talk with him?" Ray asked.

"Yes..." I said a bit embarrassed. I can't even tell others what I want. I am now damn sure it would be hard for me to get adopted. I would hate for a person putting their effort in me and I just not being open to them. I need to make this man understand that too. If he changes his decision of adopting me based on that, then I would consider it for the better.

"Ok kids. Why don't we go and talk with Sera and Maria for a while since they would be going to another her place soon?"

"Sure~" All the kids said in unison.

And soon in the room, it was just me and Mr Mathew. The room was quite big, so we managed to put sofas facing each other near the French window.

"Please sit." I asked him while showing him the sofa.

"Yes." Mr. Mathew said and sat down on sofa. I sat after him and we were facing each other.

He had crossed his left leg over his right one while sitting straight and his left arm on the armrest. He seemed so confident like he was about the crack a business deal with me.

I, on the other hand, just sat normally and while my right hand was on the arm rest too, I was slouching a bit because there were too many things on my mind. And also some guilt out there regarding what I did earlier.

"So you don't want to get adopted by me?"

"No..."

"Why? Because of what happened last night?"

"yes..."

"I was worried last night because a young man like you should not be near forest or any similar place especially at around 3 am in the morning. You should understand that..." Uh oh he's started it again.

"but there's another reason too!" I said, trying to stop him. I then calmed myself down a bit and took a deep breath. He stopped talking too.

"So, you see I had been bullied since childhood because of my hair. This has made me loose confidence in interacting with people. I can't also tell what I want many a times when questions are asked and I am expected to answer them on the spot. When I calmed down and thought of it again, it didn't seem like that bad of a deal to be adopted by you. But then again. I take time to connect with people. I don't wish to get adopted by you if you expect me to form a close bond with you instantaneously. It will take time for me to get attached to you."

"So that was it." He said sighing. "It's normal. Forming a relationship with someone is not like making instant noodles. A certain amount of time is required along with love and care to cherish the relationship and when you are a teenager, and someone suddenly says they will adopt you, obviously you would be suspicious and it surely will take a lot of time for you all to get close to adults and it's not just adopted ones, it's also the biological children who become distant from their parents during this age. Even they take time to reconnect. And it's all because of the hormonal changes in your body. And while I have been discussing with my wife about adoption of teenager, we both considered that possibility. And believe me, we are willing to put in my all for it if the other person wishes to get adopted by us."

"So you have been considering of adoption for a while now?"

"Yes, for a year precisely."

"What?! A year?!" Broo... they damn serious about it.

"So why... like for a year... you know?"

"You would probably be aware of our family history right? For generations we adopt teenagers and provide them a home to belong to."

"Oh no like yeah. I know that, it comes on news every now and then." Their business family is famous for fostering teenagers. Even this guy was adopted and so was his father. Actually 'why adoption' was a stupid question to start with but... "But I want to know why teenagers?"

"You see there was a time a few decades ago when teenagers were the ones who committed many crimes and even more as compared to adults. One of my forefathers was a psychiatrist back then involved in the research of why this happens. And he found the major reason was economy of the country so he did his best for a few years and built a strong business contributing to the nation's economy. But then he died suddenly due to an illness and his son got to know of his research and became curious in it and started to research it himself. He didn't want to take over the business, rather he took part in the war, business went into loss, but he made enough to satisfy himself and his family. In his leisure time, he would try to research like his father did and after a while, found that even though economy was a reason, the other reason was that many had broken homes due to abusive or neglecting parents. But the worst fact was that he was already death bed when he found that out. And then, his own children found out about their grandfather's and father's research but they didn't do anything to actively contribute to it as their main motive was economic stability. A few years after, one of sons died, the daughter eloped leaving only the third son and his wife who brought back the business into mainstream but even the wife died afterwards

leaving them no heir and that's when that son remembered about the research and adopted a teenager to take over his business and trained him well and told about the crazy research his ancestors were up to. That teenager then found that fact interesting and when he grew up and married, he refused to have children and rather adopted another teenager to take over the family business and told the world about what the family has been doing. Getting inspired by him, many started to normalise adopting adolescents and fought for their rights. And soon, it was found juvenile delinquency reduced to a great extent in the country. So my predecessor's research was true. And then it sort of became a norm for my family to adopt teens and bring them in family business since they felt obliged to their parents for adopting them and giving them a home and family. But again, that is a concious choice of whoever we adopt whether they would adopt someone in future or not and believe me I won't force you to adopt at all."

Wow, I expected a one liner but he pulled out a whole history book and this family has some crazy traditions but ngl kinda heartwarming.

"I see..." I started," So why from this orphanage?"

"Our main home only has one orphanage near to it and I and my wife thought it would be better for the child we would adopt to be close to the orphanage rather than be somewhere far."

"I see. So that's why." He is not as bad or as scary as I thought of him. On the other hand, he seems to genuinely want to raise a child and reduce juvenile delinquency. They don't lie when they say a spark can help light up the whole house, his movement must have inspired many to foster.

"It's also my wife's birthday today so, the initial plan was for us to go together but now that she is in comma, I had to respect her choice and come here alone."

"That's so sweet. You love your wife don't you?"

"A lot. She is the best. The best of the best." By the way his expressions changed when he started talking about his wife, I feel like it won't be bad at all to be adopted by him. This family has been stable for generations now and each has had great family relations, so I am damn sure I won't be mistreated.

"I will come."

But back then I didn't know what the hell I got myself into.