Mayas POV

'Wow just look at this place. This house is huge! Your parents must be living the sweet life, James!'

We had parked in front of their house and it was my first time meeting them. I was excited to meet Owen especially.

'Yeah, they sure don't miss anything... Look, Maya. There is something I haven't told you about my brother...' He held tight at the steering wheel looking right through the window. I could see his jaw clenching. He seemed nervous. I wondered why.

'Hey, I'm just happy to see your family. And I must admit, I can't wait to look inside the house also. This place is beyond amazing!' I beamed and he replied with a faint smile.
I opened the door and we both walked toward the door. I took a big breath and prepared to give a warm smile to his parents, but when the door opened, we were met by the care helper. James frowned but greeted her.

'Oh, hi Millicent. Is dad and mom not home?'

'Sorry sir, they actually just left a few minutes ago. They had to do something and asked me to be here to let you in'

Weird. Didn't they know that James would bring his girlfriend with him? Why would the leave when they knew that James would visit them?

'Oh, well I expected them to be here though. When will they be back?'

'I don't know sir, they didn't say' she had a look that showed pity. I was a little startled by this awkward situation. Anyway, we went inside and took our shoes off. As I walked into the living room, I caught a glimpse of the interior of the house. It reminded me of James' home. Stylish and modern, but this house also seemed cold and not personal at all. There were no pictures on the wall, no colors on the wall, or anything like that. So, that's where James had it from. I felt bad for them as this house had so much potential to look amazing with warm tones, cozy garnish, colorful pillows, and warm lights. Instead the house left me feeling all misplaced in a way. It was more or less white with beige tones and a few dark brown nips things.

As I moved closer to the kitchen, I was nearly dropping my jaw down the floor. This must have been the biggest kitchen I had ever seen in my entire life! It was open space; it was a kitchen island where there also were bar stools at one side of the table. The kitchen looked a little untouched also. Did nobody in this family cook food? Then why have all this place when not used?

I was baffled at the ungratefulness. The kitchen had always been heaven to me. I mean. People eat every single day. We need food. Food is to be enjoyed, to be experienced, to be explored.

Maya, get back to reality again. Enough of you dreaming.

Oh, yes. I pulled myself together and turned around to watch James standing behind, observing me.

'You really are a sucker for the kitchen part in every household huh?'

I grinned and nodded. 'Of course. My biggest dream is to someday have a nice kitchen like this. Then I would bake all day, cook all day, and eat all day long!'

He laughed at my enthusiasm and passion. 'God, I love you babe. You are seriously the cutest person I have ever met'

I pouted. Was he serious? I didn't want to be seen as cute.

'Am I only cute in your eyes?'

He laughed a little and moved closer to me.

'No, you're not only cute. I think you're very sexy too. Especially yesterday when I could see through your clothes' he winked at me and I blushed immediately.

'Behave. We are here to see your brother!' I whispered. When I mentioned him, he suddenly turned a little pale. We walked over to Owens bedroom. We stood outside the door and I knocked. There was no reply at all. James cleared his throat and told me to just open the door.

When I walked in, I saw Owen lying on his bed. Immediately I caught the wheelchair beside the bed and I also noticed all the medication on the open cabinet to the left. The room was big and bright, but also very blunt without any warmth or any colors.

Man, they needed some colors in this home!

'Hi, Owen. I'm Maya, pleased to meet you' I stroke my hand toward his hand and then took it in mine which was lying at his side. I could feel Owen squeeze my hand vaguely. I smiled at him. James now came forward and greeted his little brother. 'hey buddy. It's so good to see you again. This is my girlfriend. What do you think of her?'

He seemed so caring toward his brother that it almost melted my little heart. They were sweet together. Millicent had left now, and we were the only three people in this big house. Owen made some muffled sounds out of his mouth as a sign that he was happy to see James.
I watched them for a while just chatting and how he helped his brother get into his wheelchair again. Surprisingly Owen had recovered pretty fast from the accident. So now he just had to take it slow and he could now get back into his wheelchair. James pushed him out from the bedroom and we all sat in the living room now. I went into the kitchen and tried to see if there was anything in the fridge to eat. They didn't. It was primarily butter, milk, eggs, and some orange juice.

How did this family survive?

I tried to see if they had some flour and when I found it, I started to bake an apple pie. They had a fruit basket next to the fridge and they had so many apples in it.

When I finished up baking, the whole house started to smell of apple pie. I loved apple pie! And the crust was always the best part. Yeah, definitely.

'What are you doing Maya?' James was standing in the kitchen looking at me. 'I'm baking. There wasn't anything else to eat in the house and I thought that Owen would like to eat something yummy' I replied kindly.

'So, you are not scared about my little brother?'

My eyes widened at his weird question. I gave him a confused glare and tilted my head to one side.

'What do you mean?'

He was silent for a bit, then looked down at his feet. 'You know. I hadn't told you about him...That he was... You know. Handicapped'.

I stared at him. What was the big deal?

'Yeah, I can see he is a disabled guy and so what?'

'You aren't freaked out about it?' he ogled at me.

'James, seriously. Why would that freak me out! I think he is so cute, and I like him!' I waved my hands up in the air.

'It's just that... I have never experienced any woman who wasn't freaked out about it when they met him or heard about him' he trailed off.

What in the world?! What type of women did he use to date back in the days? How shallow could you be? Owen was as much as human as any other person.

'James. I feel sorry for you that you had to experience people react that way. But I can assure you that it really doesn't bother me. He is your brother. So, he is important to me and he deserves to be loved as much as you do or any other human being for that matter.'

He just stood there. Frozen to the marble floor. He stared at me and then shook his head in disbelief.

'You are really the most amazing woman I have ever met' He came and kissed me tenderly. I snaked my arms around his waist and inhaled his sweet scent. God, he was so sweet.
'Why thank you'

We took the cake out of the oven and brought it over to the table near the couch. Owen had a crooked smile on his face. I think he could smell the pie.

'Owen, I made you an apple pie. I hope you'll like it' I cut a slice and handed it over to James. And then one to Owen. Owen was able to eat a little by himself. But when he started to struggle a bit, I moved closer to him and helped him out.

'Mmh... Aphle paaie good' James and I looked at each other. Did Owen just talk?
James put his hand on Owens' shoulder and had a huge smile that was visible on his lips. He was in awe.

'Owen, that's so good to hear! I'm glad you like the pie'

'You want another one?' I asked him and he nodded. Owen was really an angel. Even though he couldn't move or talk like us or even if he looked different than other people – he was so kind and sweet. I started to think about the day we were at my parent's place where James told me about how he longed for love from his mother and father. He told me he basically took care of his brother for many years. I now understood that it was even harder for him as his brother was handicapped.
My heart was beginning to grow bigger and bigger every minute. I couldn't do anything but love James even more. He really had a good heart.

When we finished eating, I took our plates and brought them back to the kitchen. I started to put the plates and forks in the dishwasher machine. I was fully occupied there for a bit that I didn't hear the sound of someone walking into the kitchen.

'Who are you?'

I noticed a stranger's voice talking to me and quickly straightened up to meet the person. I saw a slim, older lady standing there with an elder man beside her. She had half short hair; it was hazelnut brown colored with some lighter stripes in it. She had a gorgeous pearl necklace on and a navy-blue dress on. The man on her side was also a slim man, only a few inches taller than the lady. He was wearing a polo shirt and some brown trousers on. He had a lot of hair on his head still. His hair was white though, but it was combed to the side, so he looked very handsomely and neat as an elder man.

The lady shifted her feet and gave me a skeptical look. She then cleared her throat as I hadn't answered her yet. I was just standing there gawking at them.

'Oh, sorry. Yeah. Um I am...' She didn't let me finish my sentence before she had already taken the situation in her own hand.

'Look, I don't know if Millicent had made sure you got the job. We have been waiting for a new housekeeper for two days now and you show up too late'

I froze at her comment. She thought I was the new housekeeper! I wanted to correct her, but I went numb.

'I must say that I have to deduct you for the two days you haven't shown up from your paycheck. And make sure to also really get the corners of all the rooms. The last housekeeper got fired because she kept missing those spots'

I still couldn't say anything. It wasn't until James came back into the kitchen to see how everything went that he saw his parents. 'Oh, hey there son. We are so sorry to come this late. We had some urgent stuff to do. Is your girlfriend still here. Is she in the living room maybe?' She smiled big and flashed her teeth to him. I wished the floor would have opened and swallowed me up, just to get away from this humiliating situation.

'Tell me son. Is she from a wealthy family? Where did you find this girl – at work maybe? Uh, is she a lawyer too?'

James' father put his arm on the back of the lady. 'Alice, would you please stop questioning our son and just go and look for yourself?' he chuckled and moved her to walk. As they began walking past me and past James, I gave a nervous smile at James.

'Um, mother and father. Actually, she is standing right there' They stopped in their tracks and shot their heads up and looked right at me. They had a slightly open mouth and was surprised.

I smiled awkwardly and waved to say hello. 'Hello, I'm Maya, his girlfriend'

"Oh, I see... Hello.... Maya' Alice straightened herself more up and she didn't quite look too thrilled about the situation.

James' father on the other hand started blushing and walked toward me to shake my hand.

'We are so sorry about that dear. Alice just made a mistake. Hi, I'm James' father, Richard Powell'

I shook his hand and smiled at him. 'It's nice to meet you. It's alright. It could happen to anyone...' I tried to console myself more than them.

We stood there in silence. Alice didn't give her hand but stood rock hard at her spot without moving an inch. She had made a little duck face without even noticing.
James luckily walked over to me and took my hand in his. He suggested us to go back into the living room where Owen was sitting.

As we walked, I could hear his parents whisper behind us. I was pretty sure that they thought I couldn't hear them and how I wished they were right. But they weren't. I heard precisely what Alice said to her husband.

'But honey, she is black'.

Oh boy... Here we go again. 

What do you think of James parents? ;) 
I have been planning to meet your wishes about a meeting between Oliver and James. I just don't want it to happen yet. But it will happen soon maybe! :D 

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