Chapter 4 Courting Him

• TJ's POV
• "So, If you will let me. Can I officially start to court you now?"
• "Yes."
• One shot, make sure you're courting him.
• 2 weeks after and we became even closer, of course, I am courting him. Every day we are together, breakfast, lunch and dinner, and even weekends, and I'm always waiting for him after class.
• 20th day. It's the weekend and we don't have school.
• "What am I supposed to do here? Watching TV all day?" I asked myself because I'm getting bored.
• Zack went to his Aunt's house, far from here, the dorm. I asked him about that but he said he prefers to live alone because he seems to be a burden to his Auntie so he just looked for an apartment.
• Out of nowhere, my phone started ringing and I saw Zack's name so I answered the call.
• "Hello, Tj?"
• I smiled, "Yes?"
• "Uhm, are you busy? Can you come here, just here at Auntie's house?"
• "No, I'm not," I answered. "Anyway, why?"
• "Please?" he begged.
• "Umm." And I just nodded, smiling.
• I took a bath, put on some nice clothes and went out. And left just to go to his Aunt's house.
• I rang the doorbell, as soon as I came, even though the gate was open. I walked inside when no one was coming to me. I knocked on the door, but I was shocked when the door opened by itself. I looked around to see someone who maybe opened it…. but I didn't see anyone.
• I looked down, that's the person! There is a child here who looks like 3-4 years old and he is cute.
• "Who are you?" I asked.
• "He's my son." It's Zack's voice.
• I was surprised at what I heard. I looked up and tried to look around to see him.
• "Just kidding. He's Auntie's son."
• I lost my nervousness from what I heard.
• "Come in," he added.
• "Zack, who is he?" His Auntie showed herself, she's smiling widely at me. While
• Zack was in the kitchen preparing food.
• I was about to speak but Zack said something already.
• "Auntie Jane, he's Tj…. My suitor."
• I was startled, he's so open to his Auntie.
• "Really? You let him?" Zack's Auntie looked at me, went after me and held my hands, "you must be really special."
• I smiled though I don't know what she's talking about.
• "Auntie!" Zack shouted, and we both just laughed in response.
• "Call me Auntie from now on," she said to me.
• "Auntie, you're late!" Zack said a little louder, as if he wants his Auntie to leave now.
• "Fine. Zack, take care of Tj— no, I mean, take care of my Little Bao, okay?" Auntie teasing him.
• "Auntie!"
• Auntie laughed and kissed Little Bao on his forehead and waved at me before she left, "Bye."
• "I would definitely tease you always, you're so cute," I said.
• "Try it!"
• He's quiet at school but different when at home.
• "Ayii, Kuya Zack is having a lover." I was startled once again, because of what this Little Bao had said.
• I looked at Zack and he's shy.
• "Stop dreaming, Little Bao!"
• I just approached this little child and picked him up.
• "Let's go, Little Bao." We went to the living room and there, we played. He is a kind and good boy so we quickly became close.
• A few minutes later…
• "Let's eat," said Zack.
• Little Bao and I went to the dining table and sat down. After we ate, I offered to wash the plates. It would be embarrassing if I just ate here. While washing the dishes I'm looking at them, Zack and Little Bao seem really close. But I suddenly
• remembered what Jaybi said that he was an introvert. Actually, he's maybe a different kind of introvert: maybe cold or rude to everyone, but can be kind to those he loves.
• "What are you looking at?" I woke up to the truth because of what Zack asked.
• "Nothing."
• After washing the dishes I went to where Zack and Little Bao are.
• More than half of the day we played games here, this boy doesn't seem tired.
• Zack closed the windows, and it wasn't that dark, we were going to do a movie marathon now. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is what we will be watching today because I suggested that.
• .
• I woke up and I didn't notice that Little Bao and I were asleep, and he was still hugging me. I was afraid I might wake him up so I didn't do anything, there was a blanket wrapped around the two of us, it must be Zack. I tried to close my eyes and sleep again.
• "Tj, wake up."
• I woke up because of someone.
• "What!?" I asked, angrily.
• "Let's eat."
• We're going to eat?
• I got up immediately but I went to the bathroom first, washed my face before going to the dining room table.
• "It's delicious."
• "Of course, Zack cooked that," Auntie said.
• I moved my mouth close to his ear and whispered, "It was very different compared to what I tasted this morning. Who cooked this morning, then?"
• "It's Auntie, I just warmed it up."
• "Stop whispering, I can hear you."
• Zack and I both laughed.
• A little silence prevailed before Auntie spoke again, "I just came home from work and I'm really tired, but knowing how happy my Little Bao was with you, being tired suddenly disappeared. While you were asleep, he told me everything. My Little Bao, he's so happy because of you. "
• I felt very happy with what Auntie had said.
• "Thank you, Little Bao," I said while smiling at him
• "No, Tj. Thank you," Auntie gratefully said.
• "It's late, it's 11 pm. You can spend the night here," Zack offered, and Auntie agreed by nodding.
• What? Am I really that tired? I slept a lot!
• After eating, I went to Zack's room and it's really dark here. The ones here are all darker colors, too.
• "Do you like it?" I saw Zack standing at the bathroom's door.
• "Huh?"
• "My room. I mean if you don't like it—"
• "No, it's alright. If you don't know, I like this kind of set up." I didn't let him finish yet.
• Black is my favorite color, so darker colors are fine.
• I saw two beds here, "Why are they two?"
• "If I have a guess.... If."
• "Here!" He suddenly dropped a pair of clothes on his bed, and I saw a brief.
• I gulped, "What?"
• He looked at me, "Don't overthink. I have a lot of clothes here and even briefs that I haven't worn yet, okay?"
• I just laughed at his shy face.
• "Can you stop asking? I'm already sleepy, I just want to sleep." And lay down on the bed.
• "Fine."
• I went to the cr, do half-bath. Then, I went to bed, in another bed because there were two of them.
• The next morning…
• I just woke up so I went out first. I saw Auntie Jane here, sitting on the couch.
• "You're early."
• "Yes. I have class at 9 am. So, I need to get up early."
• Auntie Jane looked at her watch and turned her gaze back to me, "Can I talk to you? It's only 7 am."
• I sat down beside Auntie Jane.
• "Let me ask you some questions, may I?" she asked and all I could do was nod at her.
• "Did you know that he never had a girlfriend before?"
• I nodded, "Yes, he told me."
• "Then, maybe he also told you that he met his first love at a young age?"
• "Yes. I was so shocked, knowing that I met my first love at a young age also, grade 5. And, I thought I was unique but after knowing that he's the same, I felt something different. I don't know what it is and I can't explain it either," I explained, while laughing.
• "What did you do? I mean he's an introvert— doesn't like to be approached by someone or even his smile, he rarely smiles.... but the past few days, even though we only met for a few hours, he started to smile a lot. He never gets shy in front of someone but when I teased him yesterday, I saw how shy he is in front of you."
• Huh, was Zack really like that before?
• "I didn't do anything. At first, he ignored me but I'm the one who didn't stop. I mean even though he doesn't want to, I still court him. I've never known that he rarely smiles because when he's with me, he's always smiling. For now, I maybe don't know everything about him but there's this one thing that I'm sure of, is that he's really sweet."
• Auntie Jane frowned, "What do you mean, sweet?"
• "I may not be good at explaining but when I say something about that person, I really mean it. He's really sweet in a different way, he's sweet to people close to him."
• "I understand now…"
• "This time, may I ask, Auntie?" I said, trying to change the topic.
• "Sure, what is it?"
• "You know, I'm courting him now. So, I'm gonna ask, what is his biggest turn on? Because I want to show him that I have it."
• "You don't know, though you already did that?" She questioned me back.
• "Pardon?"
• "He really likes the one who loves kids. I don't know why, but that's what he always tells me," she answered, seriously.
• His biggest turn on, done.
• I smiled at her, "Thank you."
• "What are you guys talking about?"
• I looked at where the voice came from, it's Zack.
• "Nothing. I just asked him if my Little Bao behaved nice yesterday. I'm already hungry, let's eat." Before Auntie finally left, she whispered something to me. "Don't tell Zack about that, okay?"
• I nodded, as I smiled.
• My phone rang. And I saw a text from Jaybi saying, "go to school, now."
• "Auntie, Zack, I'll go first."
• "Why?" he asked.
• "I have something to do, so I have to go.
• "Come back if you have time. Don't bother to hesitate, got it?"
• I smiled and nodded at her before I left.