Chapter Sixteen

Amelia called Owen and told him about Jake's visit. Owen's love for Jake grew immensely, he felt so lucky to have had an encounter with such a sweet soul. He couldn't wait for the week to finish so he could fly back to Jake.

At work, Josh had a chance to hang out with Monneteni. Josh had invited him by going to his office.

"I'm sorry Mr Monneteni is too busy to attend to anyone now" The manager said when Josh extended his invite.

When Monneteni worked he poured his soul into it, he got completely immersed and locked himself up in his design room. He did this to reign in his ideas cause if others were around him, a little noise from them or a mere look from their eyes would distract him from creating a masterpiece.

Monneteni graced the photo shoot and Josh was shocked to see him.

"Wow Josh you did it again...you always have a knack for collaborating with the right designers"

"Thanks...It's a pleasure to have you here...I came by your office earlier and your manager said you were really busy"

"Well I came out for lunch after you left and he told me bout it so I took your invite and came over...I needed to breathe outside for a bit "

Josh respected and admired Monneteni as a person. Monneteni was an icon of inspiration to him.

Starting off as a designer was pretty rough for Josh as all the dresses he ever designed were always similar to famous brands and the customers preferred to buy from the original brands. Once, some years back he was stalking fashion and design news and came across Monneteni in an exclusive interview. He didn't notice how handsome he was just how he dressed and talked. He talked with such confidence and his outfit oozed confidence too. Staring at Monneteni, Josh got inspired and designed his best seller dress. The outfit sold out minutes after being launched. From that moment he kept up with Monneteni, he became his role model. Josh wanted to be great friends with him but Monneteni was too busy to hang.

"Can we do lunch ?" Josh asked.

"I'm quite busy....I have gotten some inspiration for my winter show so I have to rush back and get to work "

"Okay...will you invite me for your show ?"

"If I remember...I will"

"I'll remind you"

"Okay bye" Monneteni rushed off . Josh later realized that the only contact he had of his was his business card which his manager answered.

'Shit ! I should have asked for his personal number...but would he be willing to share ?...as we aren't actually friends...' Josh thought. 'Damn ! I've fucked up big time'

Shades came over to Josh. She was the designer he was recruiting and she had just graduated college. She had insisted the shoot of her dresses be done here before she joined him back to San Francisco.

* * *

Owen travelled back home when the work was finished. He didn't tell Jake that he was flying back to San Francisco as work got finished a day earlier. He couldn't wait to go over to Jake's house and surprise him. He rushed out from the airport bidding bye to Davis and Josh. He boarded a taxi home and realized his sister wasn't in, he wondered where she went on a Friday noon. He dialed her line

"Amelia where are you ?"

"I'm at aunt Kathy's...We're making cookies for Lucas "

"Okay...I just got back "

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming back today"

"I wanted to surprise you "

"Well too bad I'll be home tomorrow...go to your boyfriend ..." Aunt Kathy listening in on the call snatched the phone from Amelia.

"Hello Owen "

"Hi aunt...good afternoon"

"Yeah...come over it's been a while I saw you"

"Another time aunt I'm jet lagged"

'I'm sure he'll be strong enough to go to his boyfriend's' Amelia teased loud enough for Owen to hear.

"Uncle!' Lucas said and started crying over the line.

"Owen you made my little boy cry" Aunt Kathy whined.

"Now I have to come...Lucas my boy...your uncle is coming"

"Okay

"Cha-ca-let !" Lucas said.

"Okay baby I brought some...I'll be there in a while"

'Guess I will have to see Jake later tonight...Too bad I have just a week of rest before the semester break is over...work is sure taking a toll on my love life and school wants to join too' Owen thought.

He'd gotten some chocolates from New York so he packed them and headed to Aunt Kathys whose house was a twenty minutes bus ride from his house.

'I've really gotta buy a car...I'm sure if I save for two more months I can get one'

Aunt Kathy had a little house wherein there was a garden at the backyard where she planted some vegetables and flowers. There was also a little swingset for Lucas in the yard. His toys were scattered across the lawn too. Kathy's husband's car wasn't parked so he definitely wasn't back from work.

Owen rang the doorbell and the aroma of cookies enveloped him in a mist at the door. Amelia opened the door for him.

"Who knew I'd miss seeing your face " Amelia joked.

"I missed you too sis" he ruffled her hair and pulled her in for a hug. She took the bags with him and scanned them.

"You brought his chocolates right ?"

"Yeah of course"

They entered the kitchen where Aunt Kathy was mixing some batter with gloved hands.

Spotting Owen she stopped her mixing, removed her gloves and stride over to pull him in for a hug. Lucas came in through the back door and walked over to Owen who lifted him up.

"Big boy" Owen cooed and Lucas laughed.

"Are you playing with your transformer toy ?" Owen asked noticing the robot and Lucas nodded.

"The little noise maker is now quiet" Amelia laughed.

"He's always well behaved around Owen"

"Yeah he's a cutie" Owen pecked Lucas.

Owen played with him for a while, sneaking some cookies and sharing with him before Lucas got tired fell asleep.

Owen handed the chocolates to Aunt Kathy to feed to Lucas when he woke up. Amelia took Lucas to his room.

"So I hear you have a sweetheart of a boyfriend !"

"Amelia!!"

"You never tell me stuff but she does"

"I just didn't think to tell you and yes he's a sweetheart "

"When am I meeting him"

"When we are getting married "

"You know he's the only guy Amelia has talked highly of and I hear he's a hottie"

"He's really sweet but he's not out yet

"Is it hard "

"What is ?"

"Dating someone who isn't out yet"

"We are good...how's your husband ?"

"He's fine he'll soon be back from work"

"Okay how have you been aunt?"

"I've been fine my boy..."

"Okay...I need to nap"

"Go to your sisters room"

"The fact that Amelia has a room and I don't amazes me" Owen joked.

Aunt Kathy giggled.

He napped and woke up in the evening to Amelia shaking him up to join them for dinner. He joined them and greeted Ken who nodded and smiled at him.

Owen ate half of his meal and got ready to leave. Aunt Kathy persisted he stayed the night but he didn't want to. He missed Jake immensely.

He arrived at Jake's by 8pm. He got into the elevator and rode up to Jake's apartment. He still wanted to surprise him so he tried the door code but it kept showing error. He kept trying and trying but the door wouldn't budge.

'Did Jake perhaps do something secretive while I was away...Is he cheating on me ?' Owen's breathing raced higher than normal and he clutched his chest. His heart beat in fear that Jake might be in there right now with another guy that wasn't him!.

He called Jake !.

"Hey babe where are you at" he asked calmly.

"I'm home about going to bed"

"I'm at the door"

"Shit!! You never told me you were coming" Jake said as he shuffled off the bed he laid in.

"Okay I'll wait"

""Shit!!shit!! Is he hiding is lover now?...why did he sound startled to hear I was at the door...maybe I should have called before I came so I wouldn't feel this way"

The door swung open and Jake greeted him with a beautiful smile. Opening his arms for an embrace but Owen kept staring at him intently without moving from the spot he stood.

"Why did you change your lock ?" Owen questioned. He was shaking internally.

'Heartbreak from Jake...will be the death of me"

"Damn why does this sound familiar"

"Who asked Jake ?"

"Come on Babe what's going in your head is definitely not what's going on here"

'Kiki !!!!' Jake thought.

"I called you almost every fucking day Jake what could have happened that had you change your lock and why wouldn't you tell me "

Jake's brain immediately processed a lie.

"Well...I was once at work and had something I purchased online come in early. The delivery man called and I gave them my pin to put it in so when I got back I changed it afterwards"

"What was that ?... and why couldn't they drop it off with security ?"

"It was this delicate vase from China I'd gotten at an auction price.... I got it for Jules and I've given it to her now though ... I couldn't send it to security cause if it broke they wouldn't be liable to compensate for it and I would be at a huge loss"

"Oh...okay" Owen believed. "What he said makes sense...I hope he isn't lying though....i can't even snoop around his house cause he'd wanna be with me and if he caught that I was snooping around he'd feel I didn't trust him and that would strain our relationship...I should just forget about this'

'Damn I lie so good...that was close...the fear on his face hurts to watch..."Jake thought.

"How could you trust them enough to give off your pin like that babe...they could have been thieves or plain ass psychos who'd lay in wait for you to come in and attack you"

"It was safe babe...the site I ordered from was genuine and had good reviews" Jake said holding Owens waist and pulling him in and shutting the door "...your imagination always runs wild"

They hugged.

"I'm sorry...you should have told me" Owen said breathing a sigh of relief.

"It's fine" Jake said and kissed his forehead. "....How was work ?"

"I don't wanna talk about that now Jake"

"What do you wanna do ?"

"I wanna fuck you"

"Aren't you jet lagged ?"

"I got enough rest...didn't you miss me...have you gotten bored of me ?"

"Of course not I've been craving you non stop... I wanted to devour you the moment I saw you at the door".

"Turn on beast mode"

Jake spooned him to his room where they snarled each other's clothes off.

******

Amelia went back home the next day and met Yj at the terrace with his head bopping to the music he listened on his mp3.

'Freezing cold but I know we'll burn forever " he sang out. He unplugged his mp3 as he saw her pass by.

"Hey Amelia...how have you been...I haven't seen you in a while"

"Hi Yj I'm good...I traveled for a bit"

"Okay..so do you live alone ?"

"No...I live with my brother"

"Okay so Amelia there is this little boy downstairs who told me about the lady who lived here before me ....she was some sort of cat lady ?"

"Yeah...she had a whole bunch of cats and kittens"

"Yeah so I keep hearing cat meows even although my windows are locked and I'll be too scared to get up and the next morning I see scratch marks on my window and my mom nags at me for scribbling on it like a toddler"

"Oh that must be Wilbur"

"Who's Wilbur ?"

"The nastiest and naughtiest of all Mrs Graham's cats ...we'd always hear her scream at him for crashing stuff and unlike the other cats he never stayed home keeps wandering all night long"

"You're making him sound creepy"

"He is creepy...just don't ever forget to lock your windows ...I'm sure your room must be his fave seeing as he isn't visiting your parents"

"Jeez I'm creeped out right now"

"Don't be..." she was walking by then asked him "... do you speak Korean ?"

"How did you know I'm from there ?"

"You are ?"

"Yeah...my dads Korean and my mom is American so I'm Korean American"

"Wow that's cool"

"Yeah but I'm not really fluent in the language as we left Korea when I was three"

"Oh..."

"I understand and can speak a bit though...I'd have learnt more but my dad has to speak English else my mom would feel we were having a secret convo about her"

"Okay...I'm heading in...catch you later"

"Okay bye"

*****

One night the power was out in the dead of night when people had mostly gone to bed. Yj's mom entered his room to check on him and she sees him sweating profusely. She gets close to him and noticed his windows shut. She opened the windows so cool breeze could infiltrate his room and sleepily went back to her room.

That night Yj was lost in dreamland seeing himself cuddling with a big bear that patted his hair. He woke up to see a furry small arm on his head...he was silent and the hand moved. Slowly two green eyes blinked at him and he'd swear the cat gave a smirk before he rose up in fear stumbling backwards till he backed the wall. Wilbur stretched and crawled to him,nuzzling at his feet. Yj turned on his phone torch and cuddled the harmless kitten.

"You aren't creepy at all...just a cute bug cate" Yj cooed and stroke Wilbur's fur.