Dean Morton : The Paupers' Guardian Angel

008 - The Unwanted Adopted Son

“You look like someone who runs away from home. Where are you going?” asks Mary curiously. “Do you need a ride?”

  

“Home? Like I have one,” replies Dean with a sour face.

  

“No way?! Don’t tell me the family who adopted you just kicked you out of their house,” utters Mary with a disbelieving face.

  

Dean doesn’t seem to have any interest in talking with her, and simply walks away. Hence, Mary drives the car backwards, so slowly following him.

  

“Do you have a place to go? You know what? You could stay in my house if you want.”

  

“What the?” Dean stops, and Mary also stops the car. “God damn it! Why are you so persistent with me? I don’t remember ever doing any great deed to you.”

  

“Maybe you have done something good to others, and the universe brings you together with a good person like me?” replies Mary with a bit of a teasing smile.

  

And there Dean remembers about the old beggar which he encountered last night. Only then does he pay a bit attention to his bracelet. As he takes a look at it, he finds a tiny crack on the unique gemstone on that bracelet.

  

“No way! Is it real?” He mumbles with some eerie feelings.

  

“Come on! Get in! I’ll take you wherever you want to go,” Mary invites as she opens the door.

  

“What exactly do you expect from me?” asks Dean, still looking so reluctant to enter her car.

  

“You know it!”

  

“You went this far just to invite me to join your club?”

  

Mary just raises her shoulder a bit. In the end, Dean enters the car, but it doesn’t mean he has any intention to accept her invitation to join that Illuminati Club.

  

“So, where are you planning to go?” asks Mary as she starts driving.

  

“I was thinking of visiting Ertonbury.”

  

“Ertonbury? That small remote village in the western region? Do you know someone there?”

  

“It’s the orphanage where I used to live,” says Dean.

  

“It will take 3 hours to get there. And you were thinking of reaching there by foot? Anyway, what about your school?”

  

“I don’t know! I haven’t given any thought that far. Maybe I should just quit.”

  

***

  

Meanwhile, Mrs. Lawson has been looking for him for quite a while. She thought that Dean had come home from college since Monica herself is already at home. But she doesn’t find him anywhere.

  

She keeps banging on the door of the room where Dean used to stay. She also tries to open the door, but it is locked.

  

“Dean Morton! Answer me! I know you are there!”

  

That commotion attracts Monica’s attention. She gets out of her room to check on the situation, only to find that Dean’s bag that she had put in front of Dean’s room is no longer there. There she knows that Dean must have already left.

  

She approaches her mother, and then unlocks the door to Dean’s room. It makes Mrs. Lawson baffled, not understanding why Monica holds the keys to that room.

  

“He is no longer here,” Monica informs as she opens the door for her mother.

  

Mrs. Lawson looks inside. She finds Dean's wardrobe is open, and it’s so empty, giving a hint that he must have left the house.

  

“Where is he?”

  

“He moved out,” says Monica.

  

“What? How dare he move out without saying anything to me? I’ve been generous enough to adopt him into this family. Is this how he repays my kindness?”

  

“Come on, Mom! It’s not like you want him to be here,” utters Monica, as she walks away with an uninterested face.

  

“What do you mean I don’t want him to be here? He has been a good kid this whole time. Your father is quite rich, and I’m sure there is absolutely no burden in raising a child like him.”

  

“Well, he doesn’t want to be here. Who am I to argue?” Monica retorts.

  

“But I need him. Don’t you have any ideas? Your grandma doesn’t want to eat any food if he isn't the one who prepared it.”

  

“Uuurrrgh! Fine! I prepare a meal for grandma,” says Monica as she rushes to the kitchen.

  

“No, I want Dean to prepare the meal for her,” Mrs. Lawson insists while following her daughter.

  

Monica ignores her, and still prepares a meal for her sick grandma. At least, Dean has taught her cooking so many times in the past, and she is quite confident she can make something similar that Dean usually makes.

  

But later, when she tries to feed her grandma, that old granny spits the food out of her mouth.

  

“I’ve told you!” Mrs. Lawson whines. “Your grandma never accepts any food prepared by anyone else since the first time Dean cooked for her.”

  

“I know he is such a good cook since we were still in the orphanage. But I still don’t see anything special in the food he prepared,” Monica argues.

  

“Not even Dean himself understands this oddity,” Mrs. Lawson rubs her forehead. “He had taught the maids to cook the same menus he often prepared, but your grandma never wanted to eat whatever the maids prepared for her. I need you to call him back.”

  

Monica looks so uneasy with that request. She knows it was never what Dean wanted to leave the house. It was her who made Dean leave.

  

“What are you waiting for?!” the mother scolds her. “You must have his phone number, right? Call him now!”

  

Monica makes a call with mixed feelings. But of course, she doesn’t get any answer. She knows for sure that Dean is deliberately ignoring her.

  

“He doesn’t pick up the phone.”

  

“Give me that phone,” grumbles Mrs. Lawson as she snatches the phone from Monica’s hand.

  

“It’s useless. He won’t pick up the phone if it is still a call from my number,” utters Monica with so much guilt.

  

“What do you mean? Did something happen between the two of you?”

  

“He never wanted to leave the house. I was the one who told him to leave,” admits Monica with an awry face.

  

“Are you out of your mind?” Evie scolds her daughter so loud. “I get that it was you who asked us to adopt him in the first place. But it’s not your decision to kick him out of this house.”

  

Mrs. Lawson rushes to pick up her own phone, and calls Dean’s number. And only then does Dean answer the call.

  

“Dean, where are you, honey? Please come home. My mom hasn’t eaten anything since the last meal you prepared this morning. I’m afraid her GERD will reoccur if she eats too late.”

  

[All right! I’ll go back and prepare the meal for Mrs. Palmer]

  

Mrs. Lawson ends the call, and immediately rushes outside to wait for Dean’s coming. Meanwhile, Monica is still trying to persuade her grandma to eat the meal she has prepared, but to no avail.

  

A few moments later, she hears the sound of a supercar from the front yard. She goes outside due to her curiosity, only to find Dean coming back with a girl who looks so noble and beautiful.

  

“No way! It’s Mariana Durham! What is he doing with that girl?”

  

Coincidentally, Monica's older sister, Eliza, had also just come home from work. Just like Monica, Eliza looks surprised by the figure of Mary who comes with Dean.

  

“Hey, who is that girl? Do you know her?” Eliza asks in a half whisper from behind Monica.

  

“She's one of the students where we study,” replies Monica with a sour face.

  

“I mean, what business does she have here? Is she Dean's girlfriend, and Dean wants to introduce her to mom? Damn! I didn't know he was that good at picking girls. Look at her!”

  

Monica just puts on a frowned face. Without giving Eliza any answer, she gets into the house.

  

Meanwhile, Monica's mom invites Dean and Mary to get inside. Dean himself goes straight to the kitchen and leaves Mary accompanied by Mrs. Lawson.

  

As soon as he finishes preparing food for Mrs. Palmer, he immediately takes it to the old granny’s room.

  

“Mrs. Palmer! How are you doing?” Dean greets her with a peaceful smile as he walks toward her.

  

Mrs. Palmer just keeps silent by looking out the window. But then, when Dean reaches to her right side offering to feed her, that old granny suddenly turns mad and screams out.

  

“Aaaaarrgh! Aaaarrgh!!!”

  

Dean is also shocked by that sudden reaction. He also sees some dark entities enveloping her face and head as that old granny looks at him with wide eyes. It’s like she is so terrified and scared of him.