Before The Sun Sets (ManxMan)

◼ four

04. In the warmth of family

A few minutes later, Adam throws Ian's empty bowl and sippy cup into the sink and lifts Ian from his chair. He grabs Ian's bag that was hanging by the wall, it was the exact same place Jhoni had kept it that morning. Inside the bag was a couple of Ian's colouring book and his crayons as wells as a couple of yoghurt and a change of clothes and a handful of diapers.

"I need a back-up plan, Ian." Adam tells his son as they walk out of the house. He makes sure the door was locked and he had his wallet and phone before walking towards the car. He straps Ian and goes to the driver's side of the car. He presses the start button and adjust his radio until he's at the baby channel and The ABC song comes on.

He sings along to the sing as he drives to Ian's school, Brentford School. He pulls into the parking lot and gets down from the car. He helps Ian out of the car and they to the doors together, Ian's backpack in Adam's hand. Adam pushes open the door and Ian walks through, his legs going as fast as he could. Adam doesn't even know when he took out his phone and started recording. a couple of seconds later, Ian stops and turns to him. The little boy raises his hands up and pulled his lips into a pout as he stares at his papa.

"Come on, baby. We don't want you to be late, do we?" Adam asks as he lifts his little boy. He makes his way to Ian's class and walked in. The other parents were still around seeing as they had five minutes left. There was something different this time. Instead of Miss Blueberry walking around and saying hi to the parents. It was someone different, it was a man this time. A very familiar looking man.

It was the same man Adam had seen this morning while he was at the park. He makes his way towards Ian's table and helps his son sit. He places Ian's bag on the table and presses a kiss to Ian's head. He doesn't have time to think about strangers he meets at four in the morning.

"Have a nice day today, lovely." Adam sings to his son who just smiles at him.

By the time Adam stands, the crowd had thinned out. He looks around for the man and finds him looking at him. His heart flutters and he has to look away. He blows a kiss to Ian who tries to do the same.

He walks out of the class and down the hallway. He however, comes to a stop when he hears the sound of footsteps behind. He turns around to check if it was him, the owner of the footstep heading towards. His eyes widened when he sees it's the same man from this morning.

"Um..." Adam doesn't know what to say.

"Hi, I'm Colin Baker." The man says, stretching a hand forward. Adam stares at it for a few seconds before shaking it.

"Adam Grey." He introduces himself.

"I'm the new teacher. Miss Blueberry got transferred to another class." Colin says with a smile and Adam nods. He briefly wonders if Colin remembers seeing him this morning.

"I hope you take good care of my son then, Mr Baker."

Colin smiles at Adam. "I will."

Adam gives him a smile and was about to walk away when Colin speaks.. "You look a little better now."

"Sorry?" Adam asks as he turns around.

"It was you I meet at Andrew's Park this morning, right?"

Adam looked at Colin. He was bewildered and didn't know what to do. Instead he take one look at Colin and walked away. He walks as fast as his legs would let him towards the door. He didn't know what to do and leaving was his only answer. He sits in the car for a few minutes, bathing in the silence. He doesn't want to think about what just happened. He flips on the radio and MGK's Bad Things comes on.