Flames Reignited - Chapter 1

In a condominium unit, an alarm clock went off in one of the bedrooms. There were a few grunts and groans and then the alarm was silenced.

"Adam, Leon...get up and eat your breakfast. Or else you'll be late for your first day of school." That would be me, William Kim. A 35 year old guy with dark hair and charming good looks that can make people swoon.

"Just a few minutes more William..." Adam moaned in reply.

"I'm gonna finish your breakfast...sausage, egg and toast...!!!" A small child's voice replied giggling. That's little Timothy. A 6 year old angel that can get away with almost any kind of crime with that cute innocent look of his.

"Touch them and we'll finish you off, Pipsqueak." Leon warned. Little Timmy scuttled to the twins' room after finishing his share of the breakfast.

"You guys won't finish me off." Timothy said confidently.

"Oh yeah? Why is that?" Adam asked with a smirk.

"Because you love me so much." The little boy jumped into their arms as the twins tickled him. Squeals of laughter sounded from their room.

"Ok you two. Go and get ready." I walked into their room and picked up the little rascal.

Adam and Leon are 16 year old twins. Good looking with dark hair and athletic body. The kind of guys that can make girls go wild. The one thing about our family is that we're not related by blood at all. I took in the twins and Timothy years ago when they were abandoned on the streets and decided to adopt them as my sons. Since then we've stuck out for each other.

The twins freshen up themselves and changed into their school uniforms. While they were enjoying their breakfast, I combed Timmy's hair in the living room.

"Better hurry up, we still need to catch the bus. " I urged them as everyone got ready to leave.

"But it's Friday." Adam started to complain.

"It's still school day for you guys. Even if we've just moved here to Sommersville." I told him while carrying Timothy in my arms as we're walking to the bus stop.

"So how does it feel for you? To be back here again?" Leon asked.

"I'm not sure, a lot seemed to have changed over the years when I'm not around." I replied unsurely.

I accompanied the boys to the school and see them off before going to my new workplace. Luckily Sommersville has a kindergarten,  primary and secondary school in one compound. So at least the twins can keep an eye out for Timmy.

I continued to my new office at a place called G Corp. A multinational conglomerate that is involved in a few industries. Starting my new work as a personal assistant to the CEO. A guy by the name of Alex Moreno, a name that brings back some painful memories which I kept locked away in the deeper part of my brain.

After reporting to the HR department and a brief orientation, I was brought to meet my superior, the person that I wished I wouldn't meet again.

His office is located on the top floor, with a large meeting room on the left, a smaller room with a small round table and a few chairs adjacent to it. My workspace is just outside Alex's room. With neat cabinets and workstation. After a short briefing, the manager knocked on the wooden doors behind my workspace.

"Come in..." A deep voice sounded from inside and he opened the door. Alex's room was simply decorated. A large mahogany desk where he does his work, high-backed chair, floor to ceiling glass windows with curtains behind him so that a part of Sommersville can be seen, cabinets and shelves filled with books and files and finally a large screen television attached to one of his walls. A figure was sitting at the desk, looking through stacks of documents and jotting down some things.

"Good morning, Mr. Moreno. Your personal assistant is here." The HR manager informed.

"Thank you, Steven. I'll take it from here." Alex replied as the manager took his leave and closed the door.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Moreno." I greeted him and extended my hand.

"Please...call me Alex. And nice to meet you too, William." He stood up to shake my hand and had a curious look on his face.

"You look quite familiar, were you from around here?" Alex asked.

"No...I've just moved here." I lied to him.

"Well then, I hope you will enjoy your stay here." He said with a smile. He passed me an electronic tablet and a notebook.

"You'll need these for your job. I've already synced my schedules for the next few weeks. And if all else fails, there's still the notebook to rely on." He explained to me as I took the items from him.

"Thanks, if there's nothing else,  I'll go and start on my work." I informed him as I made my way out and back to my workstation to start work.

The whole day was packed with calls, meetings and reports. Seems that there is nothing that Alex couldn't handle. I had to keep myself busy to prevent my stray thoughts. Thinking about his deep sexy voice, his smoking hot good looks, hair that is smooth to the touch, the magnificent body behind his perfect looking suit, and other things that popped into my mind. I felt something hard in my pants and had to cover it up as best as I could before anyone notices it. Just then my phone vibrated with a message from an old friend asking me to meet up tonight at a local coffee shop. I sent back a.short reply, followed by a message to the twins to notify them.

After a long day of work, I went to see my old friend at the agreed location to wind down and relax. I reached the place and looked around. There were a lot of people here, some were relaxing and chatting, some were on the hunt for adventure. I saw my old friend waving at me from behind the counter and made a beeline straight towards him while ignoring the obvious flirting and stares from some of the customers. Unfortunately for them, this guy is currently off the markets.

"It's been a long time, William." My friend Kris said as we hugged each other.

"Indeed, did you miss me?" I teased him.

"Well, have I ever." He laughed.

Kris is quite a looker himself being at the same age as me and Alex. He's living a good happy life as the owner of a LGBT friendly café. He's managing the place with his partner and their adopted sons.

"How're your kids?" I asked him.

"Well, you're looking at them, over there." Kris gestured to the two handsome barristas who're brewing coffee and drinks and preparing the food. Each of them looked about the same age as the twins. They smiled and waved as they looked our way. His youngest son was manning the cashier with the help of his partner. He looks to be around the same age with little Timmy.

We were served with some hot coffee and iced chocolate and cookies while we sat down. I'm not a coffee lover kind of person.

"So...how is it?" Kris asked.

"How is what?" I replied with a blank look.

"Don't play dumb with me, William." He said with a sly smile. I gave a sigh.

"There's nothing between us anymore. He did suspect a bit but I lied and said that I've just moved here. And it'll stay that way." I said with a challenging look.

"You know that you can't hide it forever." Kris said as he took a sip at his coffee.

"I know...now can we talk about something else? " I said to him while rolling my eyes. We continued chatting happily until I glanced at the entrance and my jaw dropped. I looked back at Kris with a menacing glare.

"Tell me that you didn't asked him to come here." I said to him.

"I didn't asked Alex to come here." He replied immediately.

"You did...!!!" I pointed an accusing finger at him. Kris puts up his hands in surrender. Just then Alex was already approaching our table.

"Oh, I didn't realise you two knew each other." Alex said amusingly.

"We don't. I saw him just sitting there all by himself so I thought of chatting with him and make a new friend." Kris replied.

"Yeah, Kris seems quite a nice guy." I added.

"So fast already going on first name basis?" One of Alex's brows arched.

"What can I say? I'm a people person." Kris chuckled while I smiled.

"Alex comes here often to hangout after work." Kris explained.

"Well...they make good cookies...and I get special discounts for being an old friend." Alex smiled cheekily which made my heart beat a little faster.

"Oh...so that's a good thing I guess." I said while taking a drink of my chocolate.

"So you're not a coffee lover." Alex said amusingly.

"Indeed...I kinda have a little issue with coffee." I explained.

"Oh, just like someone we used to know." Alex said while gesturing towards both him and Kris. I knew exactly who he was talking about.

"Yeah...he's not really a coffee person either." Kris said while giving me a knowing look.

"Probably we share the same taste." I replied and just laughed it off. We continued to chat for quite some time. Not knowing that it's almost closing time until his partner came to our table.

"Having a good time I see..." he said with a smile and gave Kris a little kiss on the lips.

"This is Greg." Kris introduced as we shook hands.

"It's closing time already. The boys are waiting in the car. You're the last ones." Greg told us. I looked at the time and realised how late it is. Slightly worried if I can get any public transport home.

"Well...time to close shop then." Kris said as we all got up.

"I think it's better that you send William home, Alex." Kris said as he winked at me behind Alex.

"That won't be necessary..." I tried to refuse, but was stopped halfway by Alex.

"It's late...and it'll be very hard to get any public transport at this hour. Plus, I don't mind at all." Alex said as Kris and Greg tidied up.

"Ok...sure..." I replied, a bit awkwardly as we made our way out of the café after saying goodbye to Kris. I should remind myself to get back at him for this.

"So, tell me your address." Alex said while we were walking towards his car. He activated his Waze apps on his phone while waiting for my input.

"Alex, it's not necessary..." I tried to refuse again.

"It's already late, it's almost impossible to get a public transport,  and I prefer to see you safe back inside your home. So give me your address." Alex gave me a no-nonsense look as we reached his car. Which I concede to in the end.

"There...that wasn't so hard." He said while typing the information. There was a few minutes of awkward silence between us as we started on our journey.

"So, tell me about your family." Alex said as an attempt to lighten up the mood.

"Well, I have three sons. A pair of twins and a little one which is cute like an angel." I said with a smile.

"You're wife must be a beautiful person then?" Alex asked.

"Well...I'm not married actually. I'm still single." I told him.

"Then your sons?" He asked.

"I adopted them a few years ago before moving here. We've been staying together even before that. They've lost their parents and were wandering the streets to make a living." I explained to him.

"Oh, you must love them very much then?" He said with a smile.

"Sometimes I'm worried that I spoiled them too much." I laughed. Part of me wanted to know how he feels about me right now. But part of me told me to just forget about the past and move on. The first part won this battle. And now I just have to try to carefully manoeuvre my way around the conversation.

"So, the friend you and Kris were talking about must be a great person. Wish I can meet him some day." I said to him. I tried to glance at his direction, some how there was a sad smile on his face. But it vanished in a split second.

"Yes, he was a great person. We even used to be an item together. But sadly our relationship didn't work out." He said to me.

"Oh, such a shame." I tried to hide my sadness while focusing on the road in front.

"Would you mind telling me what happened?" I continued prodding him.

"He moved away with his parents one day. It happened so suddenly, even right now I'm not sure where he is or how he's doing." He told me.

"I'm sure he's fine wherever he is." I assured him.

"Probably...he's a strong and happy go lucky person." He agreed with a smile. The remaining of our journey was filled with awkward silence again. A few minutes later, we've reached my condo.

"You can just drop me off here...I'll just walk back to my unit." I indicated to the guard house up front to Alex.

"I did promised Kris I'll get u back home safely though." He said as he drove right up to the guard house and lowered down his window.

"Seriously, here is good enough." I tried to object.

"Nonsense...I'd feel better when you're safe inside your home." He was adamant and I finally gave up.

After parking his car in the visitor carpark, we went into the lift and up to my unit floor. Alex walked with me all the way to my unit. As we stopped at the door, I rummaged my pockets for the keys while he stood behind and watched. Once I've opened the front door, I turned to him.

"Thanks for sending me back." I said to him with a smile.

"No problem, so I'll see you tomorrow then." He said as he turned to leave.

"Yeah, good night and sweet dreams." I said as he started to walk away. Waving his hand at me in acknowledgement.

I closed the door and entered the living room, to find the twins and Timmy falling asleep on the couch. I gently woke up the twins and carried Timmy to his bed and kissed them on the forehead as they tucked in their beds.

As I showered, I thought about the events today. So far there were no incidents, but some day Alex will find out the truth. But for now, I'll just go along and see what the future holds as I turned off the shower and ready for sleep.