“My adoptive family doesn’t treat me as well as the outside world believes. Also, the woman who took me away from the orphanage—well, she makes it clear how sick she is of me. My adoptive mother often expresses how helpless she is when I get picked on by everyone else, but I can tell she, too, doesn’t like me,” Maurice revealed, testing the waters as he cautiously looked at Darius.

Yet, disappointment soon tightened his chest to know the answer he wanted never came.

Darius continued to stare at Maurice, knowing what the latter was thinking. He secretly found it funny how the boy reacted. While everyone was still stunned by the sudden turn of events, he raised his hand, hovering it over Maurice’s head.

That caused Maurice to stiffen, holding his breath until the former’s hand rested on his head. Only then did he calm down.

Darius quirked a brow but kept his opinions to himself. All he did was calmly point out, “You were hoping to see if I knew your birth parents and whether I could te