A/N: I AM SO PUMPED TO POST THE FIRST CHAPTER! First chapters have always been difficult for me to write so I do hope you enjoy it! Comments would be greatly appreciated and I look forward to your reactions. I just posted this and it's already ranking. You lovelies are fabulous!

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There was a reason why the majority of the world population despised Mondays.

Monday; or otherwise widely known as the day the week of torture commenced or the day when we have to get up from bed early, or even the day when we have to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to complete homework or assignments.

"Are you going to talk to your friend all day or get my coffee already?" I snapped, agitated by the new barista who I was seeing for the very first time.

He jumped away from the girl who he was standing dangerously close to behind the counter, startled by my loud and annoyed voice. The girl looked away, embarrassed, and turned to her counter as she returned back to her own customer. "Sorry Ma'am," he apologised, his eyes wide open and his mouth hanging slightly open as a faint red tainted his cheeks.

A laugh threatened to spill out of my lips but I held it in as I kept my glare on him. "Make it fast! I've been standing here for about half an hour," I exaggerated dramatically, puffing my chest out like an unsatisfied customer.

"Really, Mads," came a voice from the other side of the counter. "You're going to drive all my employees away."

I smiled widely before my gaze met that of Noah's, the café owner. He was a lean man who loved to wear baseball caps, plain checked shirts and jeans that were either dark blue or black. He had blonde hair and these piercing but gorgeous green eyes.

"What can I say, Noah," I beamed with a playful smile on my lips, "your employees really know how to tick me off." With this comment I sent the innocent boy a pointed look and tried my best to hold in my laugh when I saw the red tint on his cheeks deepening.

"Don't mind Madilyn," he told the boy whose name was Jake—I had to squint to see his name on his tag that was clipped on the breast pocket of his orange work t-shirt. "She's likes testing my employees out. Pass her test and you might be looking at a bonus."

The boy took Noah's joke quite literally and his pink face paled at his boss' words. He silently went on making the coffee before pouring it in a to-go cup and handing it to me, wide-eyed and stiff.

I smiled at the boy as I took my coffee. "That's my cappuccino, right?"

"What?" the boy exclaimed, his voice high pitched and frantic with panic. "You didn't say anything about a cappuccino."

"Relax, Jake," I laughed, my eyes twinkling as I winked at him. "I'm kidding." Offering him a smile I turned around only to be hit by a hard, solid figure that sent the cup that I'd been holding in my hands flying to my chest. I yelled before I let out a hiss. The hot black liquid coloured in the dark red woollen top that I decided to don on that very morning, seeping in through my top and gracing my skin with its sizzling hotness, and my already developed agitation grew even worse.

I was already angry because it was a Monday and I had woken up fifteen minutes late for my day and this incident was certainly not helping my anger. "Do you have eyes?" I yelled, my eyes wide as I gestured wildly with the empty paper cup in my hand as I looked at the stranger who had bumped into me.

"Oh God," the man sighed, tiredness gracing his face. "I'm sorry. I didn't see you turn and I was in a rush to get on with the line and get my drink—"

"So are a lot of people, mister," I shot back heatedly but I felt my anger dissipating at the sight that met my eyes. He had dark, fine hair. It was a jet black which was certainly a mess given his current appearance and stuck out at such odd angles but the allure wasn't held in his hair—though his hair did look very smooth and something I would certainly like to run my hands through just to test how his fine hairs felt through my fingers. His allure was held in the eyes which were brown like any other eye colour I'd seen before and yet something about the way he looked so frustrated, tired and apologetic all in one look made the chocolate eyes he had fascinating and intriguing to me. And his build—he was dressed in a suit that looked wrinkled and rather messy but the way it fit him made me wonder how he'd look if he cleaned up well and bothered to make a proper appearance. However it was Monday and I totally understood his current outlook. His skin was of a caramel colour, beautiful and somewhat enticing. His jaw was defined and his overnight stubble looked fairly good on him. He certainly was pulling off the frustrated and frantic look extremely well.

"Look," he said, his apologetic tone a little sharper, his features hardening. "I said I'm sorry and I am. I just need to grab my coffee and I'll be off."

"Well," I pushed, quirking my head to the side as I raised my eyebrows haughtily, "if you're going to get yourself a black coffee you might as well get me one, seeing as you literally spilled mine all over me."

His apologetic look completely fell as he let out a huff of breath. He brushed past me and pushed his shoulder against mine—deliberately I thought—and pulled out his wallet while he ordered from Jake, the coffee-boy, two black coffee's to-go.

Jake, who had noted the entire ordeal that spilled out in front of his counter, was flushed again as he momentarily looked from me to the man that was sifting through his wallet. Quickly, he prepared two cups of coffee to-go and handed them to the man who exchanged them for cash.

"Keep the change," the man said, "for dealing with this coffee-hogger." Turning around the man looked at me, his deep gaze boring into mine for a few seconds before he thrust his right hand forward. I placed my hand on the cup as I intended to take it from him, my fingers brushing against his hand which felt rough and firm. I offered him a wry smile which he returned back.

"Have a good day," he said sharply, his hand still on my paper cup, the edge of his hand now pressed up against the edge of mine.

"I shall if you can kindly let go of my coffee," I smiled back at him, shooting him an awfully fake appreciative look. His lips quirked up slightly at my snide comment and he let go of my cup. Raising my to-go paper cup in a toast pose I tilted my head and said, "Good day to you, Mystery Man."

Shaking his head like he couldn't believe the way in things unravelled this morning, he ran his free hand over his dishevelled and messy hair before he brushed past me and headed for the door. My eyes lingered on his retreating figure until he disappeared through the door.

* * * * *

I got out of the car with a heavy sigh. Monday, oh how much I loathe you.

Mondays were always the busiest days for me. I tended to sleep late on Sunday because I mostly got distracted by something on the television, which then I'd switch off and do last minute touch ups on assignments that I always kept for the weekend because the procrastination bone in my body was apparently extremely strong. Sleeping late often caused me to wake up late and I'd be in a rush to drop Riley off at school before I made my way to grab a coffee before making my way to my university for the first lecture of the week.

After lectures, which had a large amounts of unnecessary time in between, I'd go to pick Riley up from school. Mrs. Gellar had scolded me on numerous occasions when I had apologised to her for coming late to pick up Riley, excuses about how Mr. Hallman kept us late or was lecturing us on discipline rather than economics.

Hoisting my bag up my shoulder I briskly made my way to the primary school eager to see Riley and gather him up in my arms to give him a long tight hug. I entered the school and walked down the junior-primary section which up to Grade Three. I knocked on the Grade One classroom door and I smiled as Mrs. Gellar called me in.

"Miss Adair," Mrs. Gellar greeted, "Good afternoon."

"Afternoon, Mrs. Gellar," I smiled at her before my little Riley came barrelling across the room to hug my legs. I laughed, my heart inflating the second I felt those small hands enclose around the back of my calves and I pried him away from me by the shoulders before I kneeled down and enveloped him into my arms. "Looks like someone missed Mummy," I teased, kissing his temple.

"Mondays suck, Mum," Riley said as he pulled away and pouted at me. His mushroom cut which I had gotten for him over two months ago had begun to grow and was now interfering his line of sight.

I pouted back before I ruffled his hair. "Yes, they do. How about we go get some coffee for Mummy and you can get something you like, maybe some ice-cream, huh? You'd like that, wouldn't you?" At Riley's grin I laughed and pulled myself up.

"Thanks, Mrs Gellar," I said turning towards Riley's teacher. "You're a big help!"

"Anytime, Miss Adair," she smiled back before smiling down at my son. "Bye, Riley. See you tomorrow."

"Wish I didn't have to," Riley murmured under his breath as he headed out the classroom door.

"Riley!" I exclaimed giving his head a light smack despite being amused by his comment. Riley was like any other child—he detested school.

"What?" he shot back defensively as we both made our way to the car. "It's not that I hate Mrs. Gellar. I like her when she's not teaching me but when she is..." He trailed off and before I could catch him he jerked open the back door and jumped in, slamming it before my hand even reached the car door's handle.

I trudged back to the driver's side and slid into the car. "I guess we'll have to rain-check that ice-cream, won't we?" I said keeping my back to him as I twisted the key before I started to reverse my car out of the parking lot.

"What? Why?" Riley questioned scrambling from his seat as he gripped the back of my seat.

"Sit back, Riley, Mummy's driving!" I warned before I said airily in reply to him, "Because someone was bad mouthing Mrs. Gellar who does us both a huge favour by taking care of you."

Riley sighed grumpily and as I kept my eyes on the road ahead I heard him shuffle back to his seat. "I'm sorry, Mum," he whispered.

Smiling, I said, "Looks like we don't have to rain-check that ice-cream after all." My son's ecstatic fist pump into the air only warmed my heart and let my smile linger a few seconds longer.

Riley and I looked for a free table inside of Golden Quaff and when I found an empty booth we both made our way to it. Settling into our seats we saw Noah walking our way and a playful smile instantly made its way to my lips.

"Your service is terrible," I said as a means of greeting with a teasing glint in my eyes as Noah slipped into the opposite seat. Exaggeratingly I continued, "I've been sitting here for an hour and I don't see my coffee or my baby's ice-cream."

"I think they ran away. The coffee didn't like how it was being dealt with this morning and decided that it needs a time off from Madilyn Adair. And the ice-cream... I'm afraid the coffee told the ice-cream how terrifying you could be," Noah said solemnly, his face a mask of devastated seriousness.

"Shame," I frowned, enjoying the light banter with Noah as I always had, "what do you think coffee will think if I ordered some tea today."

Noah's eyes widened in alarm. "It would think that you're cheating on it and it'll never return. You'll never taste coffee again."

We both looked at each other and burst out laughing but Riley's eyes were wide open like a deer caught in the headlights and his mouth hung open like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. His expression reminded me of Jake's, the coffee boy at the counter I used this morning. Smiling, I shook my head and ruffled Riley's hair before I leaned down and said, "Don't worry, Rye. Uncle Noah is only kidding. He likes scaring us."

Riley frowned at Noah who was looking down at Riley with a radiant smile. Noah was like a father figure to Riley in some ways. Riley had Finn but Finn wasn't always a proper father and he wasn't ready to be one, and when I had arrived at Noah's doorstep for extra help while I was pregnant with Riley he had accepted me into his care, letting me work in his café to earn some money to care for when Riley came along because my parents all but approved of my pregnancy. Noah was the man who was there through almost every moment of the first two years of Riley's life and while Riley barely showed his affection for Noah like he did to me I knew that Riley loved Noah almost as much as he loved me. Riley didn't have to say it for Noah to know.

"Don't worry, buddy," Noah said, reaching over the table and ruffling Riley's hair. Riley pushed his hand away and pouted while trying to straight out his hair. I laughed at his failed attempt and helped him fix it from both my ruffling and Noah's ruffling as Noah said, "I'll get Maddie's coffee and your ice-cream. How would you like chocolate, vanilla and toffee all in one bowl?"

At this Riley perked up and nodded rapidly, immensely excited to hear Noah's proposal.

"You have to promise me you won't tell anyone, okay?" Noah said, seriousness lacing his voice and his features but I knew he was only playing around with my son. When Riley eagerly nodded again, Noah said, "Great! Why don't you come on back and help me scoop out the ice-cream. If you want different flavours you can tell me."

"Yes, Uncle Noah!" Riley exclaimed excitedly as he wobbled off his chair and followed Noah.

I smiled after them before my smile died down as thoughts that often plagued me filled my mind. 

Noah was a great man and we often got along but we didn't have all the same interests. I had often thought about the benefits of getting with Noah. Riley would have a father whom he already knew and loved, and since Noah was there since Riley was just a new-born it was perfect. I had talked to Noah about this before, once, and he brushed me off saying that it just wasn't right because firstly he was already invested in a girl that he wasn't even dating because they were best friends and he was afraid because of the most clichéd excuse ever: he didn't want to ruin their friendship. Noah had said while he and I getting together was an ideal solution it wasn't perfect because we didn't quite love each other as partners who want to spend the rest of their lives together should. I did love Noah but he was right because while he was attractive and while I had once, long ago, thought of snogging him I just couldn't bring myself to love him in that way as a love partner should and I knew us getting together would be on all levels of wrong because we clearly didn't love each other in that manner, but I craved normalcy. A perfect family. I wanted to give that to Riley and even after six years I didn't know how to give it to him.

"Someone looks deep in thought," said a familiar voice and I jerked from my deep reverie.

I looked up to find the man I had bumped into this morning, smiling down at me but nothing like the smile he had on this morning. This smile looked sheepish, a little apologetic and sincere.

"May I?" he asked, gesturing to the empty seat across me.

"Sure," I said lightly as I quickly recovered from my deep thoughts. "Looks like someone is less grumpy and in less of a rush."

"Yes, about that," he smiled as he reached for the back of his neck to rub, almost as if he were embarrassed. "Mondays aren't the best days but this particular Monday was terrifyingly horrible. I was in a rush and I'm sorry if I came off rude or arrogant to you. I swear I didn't mean to."

"Apology accepted, Mystery Man," I said with a light smile on my lips.

"Bruce," he said like that one word, name, explained everything.

I didn't know what to make out of the name he'd given me so I'd stupidly said, "Bruce Wayne?"

He laughed, shaking his head and his still dishevelled hair fell over his eyes. Running a hand through his hair to push those dark strands back, he said, "Bruce Vela. My name isn't Mystery Man. It's Bruce Vela."

"What a shame," I commented, my voice thick with humour, "Mystery Man sounds so...mysterious and girls love a good Mystery Man."

"Yeah?" he pressed, leaning on the table using his forearms that were covered by the grey blazer I'd seen him wearing this morning. "I could be a good Mystery Man."

"But you're a Bruce," I declined, quirking my eyebrows as I caught a lock of my golden hair in my hand, twirling it as I looked at him through my lashes. I didn't know why I was flirting when my son could be back any moment and I knew I had no time to waste on men when Riley was such a top priority but under the gaze of this man I couldn't help but flirt. After all, a little harmless flirting wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Well," he said pausing for effect, as his lips pulled up into a sly grin, "Bruce can sound mysterious if you want. The name itself is very...mysterious."

I smiled, my entire being lighting up at the fun casual banter we had going on. "Mystery Man," I said sarcastically, "it looks like you have a wide vocabulary."

"What can I say," he replied smoothly, his brown eyes sparkling with both amusement and mischief, as he gave a careless shrug. "You render me quite speechless."

I couldn't supress my laughter at this and my laughing triggered his laughter and after a few seconds of laughing I sobered up, lifting my hand up to my face as I brushed the tears from my eyes. "Wow," I said and he gave one last chuckle, "Nice pick up line."

"Why thank you, my dear," he replied smoothly, bowing his head in mock appreciation.

Before I could even think of something to say to Bruce, a small figure slid next to me, bumping into my hip with his small body as he tugged on my sleeve and said, "Mum, I got Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry. I didn't like the caramel flavour. Uncle Noah said he's bringing your coffee in a minute."

Riley's eyes tentatively moved to Bruce and instantly, as if I'd been caught doing something illegal, I pulled back from the table and leaned back on the soft plush of the seat. Bruce, having noticed my reaction, also leaned back on his seat and all the mischievous playfulness that was in his rather appealing features fell away as an innocent little smile took over those very lips that had been flirting with me only seconds ago.

Bruce held a big hand out across the table in the direction of Riley and introduced himself, with a broad and warm smile on his lips, "I'm Bruce."

Riley hesitantly put his small hand in Bruce's big one, his eyes suddenly wide and I held in a giggle because I knew my son and I knew exactly what he was going to say next. My suspicions were correct when Riley said, his voice holding the tone of awe, "Like Bruce Wayne?"

"A little bit," Bruce nodded, his voice serious and yet gravy smooth, "but way better. For one, I'm Bruce Vela and a Vela is better than a Batman because well, Velas are Mexican and Batmans are...plain."

Riley gasped, pulling his hand out of Bruce's grip. "Batman is my hero. He's better than Superman and any Vela," Riley began but before he could get all riled up about this I placed my hand on his shoulder—I knew how sensitive he was when it came down to his superheroes.

"Now, Riley, Bruce is only joking," I said, my tone holding a warning that said don't push this further.

"I'm sorry," Bruce said, frowning like he completely meant it. "I know Batman is better than any Vela but sometimes I get a little jealous."

Riley surveyed the man before him sceptically before he gave in, nodded and said sheepishly, "I get jealous of him too. He's so cool!"

"Oh, what I'd do to get the Batmobile!" Bruce replied with the same enthusiasm.

Riley jerked his hand out holding it for Bruce. "Riley. My name is Riley Adair," he said, all of his scepticism towards the man in front of him vanishing into thin air.

Bruce accepted his hand and smiled down at Riley which made me smile unconsciously as I watched them. "Good to meet you, Riley. Unfortunately, I have to get going," he said and at these words he looked at me, his smile turning into something mischievous like it had done at the start of the conversation when it was just him and I. "Maybe we could get a coffee sometime? Black coffee and maybe some cake."

His proposal sounded wonderful and I truly would have loved to go out but Riley's presence right beside me burned with a great ferocity and I just couldn't say yes. But I didn't want to seem rude when Riley looked as if he really liked Bruce's company so I said, "Sure. Coffee and cake sounds nice. Don't you think so, Rye?"

Bruce's eyebrows lifted slightly like he was surprised. I knew his reaction was due to the fact that his offer was only for me but Riley was my son, I put him before anything, and he was my everything. "How would you like that, Riley?" Bruce said, surprising me now, as he turned his attention towards my son.

"But I don't want coffee," Riley said, scrunching up his face in disgust. A year ago when I was having my cup of coffee Riley insisted that he taste it and see for himself why it was that I loved coffee this much and it was safe to say that he was greatly disappointed.

"I'll get you anything you want," Bruce replied and when Riley said, "yes," Bruce looked at me, giving me his attention. "I didn't catch your name," he said.

"It's Nikki," came a deep voice from behind him and all three of us turned to the source of the voice to find Noah looking down at Bruce like he deeply disapproved with my cup of coffee in his hand.

"Ignore Noah," I told Bruce who looked from Noah back to me when I spoke up. "My name's Madilyn. Madilyn Adair."

He nodded, a smile on his face as he slid out from his seat, casting a glance at Noah who looked as if he was staring down at Bruce until Bruce turned to dust. Bruce looked back at me and said, "Well, uh, I guess I'll call you sometime."

"Okay," I replied, nodding with a light smile on my face and I watched him turn around. Ignoring the stares of Noah and Riley I watched the man I had encountered this morning walking out the door without even asking for my number when he had said that he'd call me and yet something in my gut told me he wouldn't need my number to find me again.