Ariana looked up at Azaiah and said "I'm sorry I didn't recall who you were at first. It was only later I remembered".
"Well I haven't been able to forget you" Azaiah muttered.
"What did you say?" Ariana asked, as she wasn't clear on his statement.
"I said there's no problem. People forget and are often given the chance to remember" he stated and Ariana nodded slowly.
Azaiah zoned out momentarily as he was thinking about what he was about to say to Ariana and her reaction to it.
"Uncle Azaiah?" Little David tapped on Azaiah's hand which was resting on the table, drawing the man's attention.
"Sorry" he quickly said, straightening up.
Noticing his slight change, Ariana wondered if all was well. "Are you okay?" She asked with her eyes focused on him.
"I'm fine. I wanted to speak to you about something very important" he stated and Ariana's eyes lit up with curiosity.
"What's that?" She asked staring at him.
"Its about how I treated you back then. I'm sorry. How I behaved was stupid and unnecessary. I'd like us to talk about it more but-" his eyes shifted to the child briefly before looking back at Ariana.
"Oh" Ariana said in realization. It was better not to have such a conversation in the presence of little David as it might quickly make him dislike Azaiah whom he was already fond of.
Ariana knew Azaiah was referring to the way he had treated her in highschool. She disliked his attitude then but she hoped he'd change and it seemed like indeed he had.
"We'd talk about that later" Ariana said and the waitress got to their table, placing each order before them.
Ariana quickly sent a text to David's chauffeur to come get the child. She knew everyone would be searching for him now because no one was aware she had picked him up from his school.
It wasn't right to do so without telling anyone but everything happened in the spur of the moment.
She inwardly hoped David won't throw a tantrum when his chauffeur comes to get him. She still wanted to spend time with him but she couldn't.
Night was quickly approaching and she couldn't let her parents worry about his whereabouts.
Meanwhile at the Sterling mansion, as Ariana had thought, Mrs Sterling was worriedly curled up on the couch in the living room.
"My little boy. Please be safe" she sobbed as her husband hugged her.
"We'd find him, don't worry" Mr. Sterling said, trying to coax his wife.
Hours ago after returning home, Mr. Sterling asked his wife if the chauffeur had gone to pick their little boy up and she nodded.
But the chauffeur was yet to return. One hour, two hours, passed and there was no sign of the boy or the chauffeur.
They began to worry and tried calling everyone they could but no one had seen the child or his driver.
Mrs.Sterling worriedly deeply for her child's safety and she feared something might have happened to him but her husband convinced her they'd do everything to find the child.
On the other hand, David's chauffeur who had gotten to the child's school and didn't find him there began to worry himself. He had only arrived at the child's school about an hour late due to traffic.
A traffic Ariana was lucky to miss.
The man couldn't return to the mansion without little David. He asked some teachers who were still present in the school if they had seen the boy but unfortunately, none had.
The chauffeur was still driving slowly through the city, searching for the little boy when he received a text from Ariana.
"My brother is with me. I know you might be looking for him, sorry I didn't inform you earlier. Come to the Sarontelli and pick him up. Please don't tell my parents I picked him up".
The man let out a breath of relief. Thanking God the child wasn't kidnapped or lost.
He headed straight for the Sarontelli and getting there, he placed a call to Ariana.
Ariana's phone shrilled and she quickly told Azaiah "Excuse me".
She picked up the phone and heard the man ask "Miss Ariana, I'm at the Sarontelli now. Where are you?".
"Come up to the restaurant" Ariana said before ending the call.
Little David was sliding a fork-full of Fusilli pasta into his mouth when he saw his sister looking at him like she was about to say something.
"David, its getting late and mum are dad are probably worried about you so uncle Sam is here to pick you up". Ariana said and she watched the joy slowly disperse from the boy's eyes.
"I don't want to leave you yet. I don't want to leave uncle Azaiah also!" The little boy's eyes became teary and Ariana opened her arms for him to receive her hug.
While sitting on the chair, little David's legs didn't reach the floor so he was occasionally swinging his little legs while he sat. Seeing Ariana open her arms, he carefully got down from the chair and ran into Ariana's arms in a deep hug; sobbing.
She patted his shoulders softly and said "It's okay love. Don't worry we'd go out again very soon. We'd go anywhere you want around the world. I promise".
Her statement quickly brought a smile to David's face and he wiped his tears and asked "With uncle Azaiah also?".
Azaiah looked up at David, a tad surprised the boy had included him.
He looked up at Ariana and noticed how she wanted him to say yes to David.
"Yes, with me" he replied smiling at David. Though the whole thing was unfamiliar to him.
"Yay!!" David wriggled out of Ariana's arms and hugged Azaiah who was still surprised by the boys affection towards him.
He carefully returned the hug and David smiled brightly.
Ariana's eyes turned towards a familiar person who got out of the elevator that now arrived on the roof.
David's eyes followed Ariana's line of sight and David said excitedly "Uncle Sam!".
The little boy was still happy to see the man though he didn't want to leave his sister and his new friend, Azaiah.
The man who was now walking towards their table was happy to see David, relieved he was safe.
"David!" He said when he got to the little boy. He grabbed him and lifted him up in the air playfully before placing him to stand on his own after a while.
"Good evening miss Ariana, Good evening..."
"Azaiah" Azaiah said to Sam.
"Good evening Mr. Azaiah" Sam said after the man who was seated at the table with Ariana confirmed his name.
"Good evening" Azaiah said, returning the greeting.
"Good evening" Ariana said.
"I'm so sorry for the stress" she added.
"Its fine" Sam responded.
"Come David" Ariana said and the child walked to her side and she whispered in his ear "Keep our outing today a secret okay? Just between the both of us".
"Okay" little David said. Ariana preferred if her parents didn't know about her outing with the little boy.
"His school bag and clothes is in my car. Just get it please" Ariana handed her keys to Sam and the man went on to get David's things from the car before returning Ariana's car key.