"Please. I promise not to act like I did earlier. Please don't send me away." Adam bit his lip, trying to stop its trembling.
Aurora's brows furrowed. "Sweetheart, I'm not punishing you. I'm trying to protect you."
"No one wants me. Why am I alive?!" He screamed.
Adam hunched over on the floor, bawling and hitting his head against the ground. His mother rushed from her seat and lifted his head to her lap. Feeling his mother's embrace, Adam lunged forward, gripping onto her tightly and burying his face in her dress.
The boy cried his heart out as he begged his mother to change her mind, his bawling giving way to soft pleas as his tears ran dry. Aurora sat silently rubbing her son's back as she rocked him, humming a familiar soothing tune. Her own tears flowed endlessly as she held the boy.
Logan stood over his wife and son. "We both have our roles; this is mine. Let me protect my family." He cast a determined glare at his wife.
Aurora raised her head. "You are fighting a force of nature."
"You think too highly of him; your father is a man."
"You are too innocent for wealth, Logan." Aurora spoke softly.
Silence passed between the couple, occasionally punctuated with sniffles from Adam. The boy held his mother, refusing to let go. His fingers were taut and ached from clutching onto her dress. He feared letting her go; he would hold onto her until she changed her mind.
Aurora leaned over her son and entreated him, "Adam, sweetheart, look at me." Tilting the boy's face up to hers, she cupped his cheeks and brushed his tear streams with her thumbs. "I love you. You are always in my heart. I'm not abandoning you."
The boy's tears started again as he shook his head and buried his face against his mother's chest. Aurora kissed Adam's head and took a deep breath, inhaling his smell. She turned to her husband and asked him to charter a flight for their departure within the hour. She would deceive her father's agents, making it appear that the family was fleeing to Puerto Rico.
Logan and Sophia finished making their preparations and returned to find the mother-son duo still in each other's arms on the floor.
"Piccolo...we need to leave now." When the boy resisted her efforts to push him away, Aurora spoke firmly. "If we delay too long, the easier it will be for him to catch you. He will hurt you, my love."
Adam raised his head and squinted at his mother. His eyes, red and swollen, ached in the light. The boy's burning eyes watered, which his mother mistook for a new round of tears. Aurora kissed her son repeatedly.
"One year. We'll be apart for one year at most. Next year, this time, use your card, and I will find you. Ok?"
Adam knew he had no way to change her mind, so he nodded and slowly released his mother. His fingers were pale, wrinkled, and cold. They were also numb. Everything felt cold and numb to Adam. His parents accompanied him to his room to help him pack. They picked clothes to keep him warm in the upcoming season and packed other necessities.
While Aurora helped Adam out of his suit and into comfortable clothes, Logan left the room and returned with a khaki, heavy jacket. He helped Adam into the jacket, watching him carefully. Once the boy was in the jacket and zipping it up absentmindedly, Logan pulled him into a hug, cradling the boy's head against his shoulder.
"I regret not acting like a father sooner." Logan kissed his son's head. "But you will always be our son, Adam. You are our first child. Never forget that; wait for us."
An embrace and words that would have moved the boy had he experienced them before, but despite feeling the warmth of Logan's embrace, Adam still felt cold and numb. He nodded at his father and finished checking that he had packed everything. The boy took one last, sorrowful look around the room that had been his for the last three weeks.
Sophia waited for them at the foot of the stairs and handed Adam two paper bags with sandwiches for his dinner and breakfast. Again, the boy nodded emptily as he put them in his bag.
The family departed their home once again, making their way towards the airport. Sophia, Logan, and Aurora weren't just faking leaving; they really were headed to Puerto Rico. Aurora said her father's people would follow them trying to find him, and she warned the boy not to return to the house because they would also be watching it. He needed to stay away from public places as much as possible and get out of the city.
As they drove, Adam's parents argued softly in the backseat. Logan suggested the family flee together to a remote town. Aurora reminded him they would need to draw from their accounts to stay in hiding, and he needed to be in contact to organise his firm since their departure was sudden.
"There's nothing you can do." Aurora whispered harshly.
Before they entered the city, Sophia pulled over at a dark patch. Logan's last words to him were to stay on the ground and wait for a few vehicles to drive past. Adam glanced back and took one last look at Aurora, then stepped out of the car.
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