Love???

Jake's POV

I parked the car beside his little cottage.

I sat on the armchair that was worthy of being an item on display in the museum.

The scent of tea brewing in that kettle, mixed with the scent of soil and the dung, filled my nostril with a strange blend of repulsive temptation. If that even makes any sense.

" Here you go dear boy! " As we sipped on that perfectly handmade porcelain crockery he smiled at me as my eyes wandered around the place.

There was wide stretched pasture with the hint of another house anywhere near.

" You stay alone here? " I asked.

" Now? Yes... but was not always like this. " His sipped as he said.

" You have a family? Do you own all these lands? "

I know I was bombarding him with unwanted questions. He had been too kind to me already without having to deal with all that interrogation. But I was being selfish. Anything to keep my kind busy for the moment. I didn't want to think how I would face Lea.

The old man smiled.

" Yes, I do. Like all human. We all have family dear boy but sometimes they are ripped away from us or sometimes, we don't even know that they exist. "

This was an interesting answer. Usually people would just say a straight yes or no but he did have a point. As social animals, we are inherently born into a family as in we have a set of parent, whether they own or disown us, that's another matter.

" So what's the story behind yours? " I asked.

" Well, dear boy! This body was once very young, like yours. I was a wild one in my young days. And then I met this incredibly beautiful woman. Beautiful not only on the outside, because you know, these days there are many with those big a*s booties and t*ts as huge as watermelons. My darling was a beauty that was pleasant on the eye and that healed the soul. Before I knew, I left every thing that I did, " he rolled up his sleeves and showed me his million scars. " It wasn't easy divorcing this world, you see. But I did it. I did it for my girl. And boy! I would do it all over again for her. I would give everything away, only to have her in my arms. I would even give this life away! "

I couldn't say I would do the same for Lea but his feelings resonated. It was something similar.

" I am so sorry for your loss. She must be resting peacefully in heaven. "

'Gosh Jake Chen! You should have waited for him to complete his narration. Always jumping to unnecessary conclusions.'

He looked up at me with angry eyes and punched me in my arms.

" Don't you dare speak like that about her, damn it, boy! She is alive. Bless my Naty... she is still breathing fine. "

I immediately bowed and tried to rectify my statement. Another stupid mistake.

" I'm so sorry, I didn't know you had to break up! "

I saw the spark in his eyes literally turn into an embarrassing rage.

" Good Lord boy! Where do you get these ideas in your head? Listen! The problem with your generation is that you don't listen! We never broken up. My Naty is in the hospital. She has severe Alzheimer's. They didn't let me keep her at home because they keep her chained up. I tried to bring her back a couple of times. Both times she ended up almost dead. Never took another chance. I go visit her everyday... Somedays she remembers be, somedays she doesn't. "

He sat down on his armchair as if exhausted with our conversation.

" I am so sorry! " I kept it brief this time.

But I, really was sorry.

It was hard loving someone and then having them deny you your love every day, every night.

" I am sure she will recover some day and you will be able to have a cup of tea with here, right here, just like you and me. "

My words put a smile across his face. He raised his hands up towards heavens as if in a pray.

I wrapped it up finally getting ready to say goodbye when he held my hand and asked,

" Your eyes seem like they are in love. If you have that someone in your life, hold on right onto them. It's the time apart that tells between fake and real lovers. "

He shook my shoulders.

I silently got inside my car and pulled my phone out.

I was feeling very very guilty about Lea, after all that talk and the tea.

" Hey, you still up? " I sent her a text.

Immediately it was seen and she began typing. Gosh, it was going to be lengthy as I saw her typing her heart out. She was always like that.

But before I could read that text, my phone rang and it was my manager.

It was starting to feel like he was my wife.

He called me in the middle of the day, night, evening, bedroom, washroom, toilet... anytime and everywhere.

And I couldn't even ignore his calls because then he would get paranoid and start tracking my location and come right where I was.

And that wad absolutely legal according to my contract.

Damn me for eternity. That's why Aunt always said read it all, read it through. What kind of an idiot I was to have agreed to anything and everything that was said without even being aware of it.

It was a f**king thirty nine pages long agreement. I only went through the headings and rest of it was read by a man at our hometown who was pursuing law as a career. He wasn't a lawyer yet but the entire population of our town went to him for any legal advice and drafting etc.

He was never found at fault ever before.

I think he must have slept it of, half way through my contract or he didn't take the wordings seriously.

***end of flashbacks from the past. We will be jumping back to the present from the next chapters. ***