CHAPTER NINE

"I'm so excited to meet them!"

"I wonder what they're like."

"Probably like any other stuck up couple out there who thinks just because they have money, they can control anyone."

"That's mean of you."

"I bet Mr. Xu is a flawless man."

"I heard Mr. Xu loves wines and has an entire cellar of it!"

"Mr. Wen is a hot piece of meat. I have seen him one time when he went to check on one of their stores here in Seoul."

"How do you even know it was him?"

"I don't but I'm sure it was him. He has this Godlike features that aren't hard to miss and his aura just screams dominance!"

"Are you saying Mr. Xu is the submissive one of the two?"

"I doubt that."

Those and many more murmurings filled the air as they wait patiently for the butler to open the door for the foyer hall. The butler could hear every word that came out of the guests' mouths and he inwardly laughed to himself. The guests' theories and stories about the Xu-Wen are too interesting but not even close to describe who and what the couple are really like.

One maid gave a thumbs up to the butler who nodded as he knows what that mean and pressed a button on the side of the double doors. They swung the door and everyone couldn't believe their eyes.

The foyer hall was absolutely stunning, with a glittering chandelier hanging over their heads and two grand staircases split center by another hallway below them. The walls seemed to be covered in gold and were covered in intricate designs that it would take someone years to study if they want to see the whole thing. The stairs were a shiny pearl white marble, accompanied by a matching railing.

Owen and Joshua stood by the side, having a good view of both staircases. They still couldn't believe how beautiful and elegant the hall was. The butler loudly clears his throat, successfully silencing the murmurings in the room.

"May I present? Your hosts for this wonderful evening. The lovely and ever lively........Mr. Xu and Mr. Wen!" The butler bowed and gestured his hand to the top of the stairs.

Collective gasps are heard all around the room as finally the couple of the night walks down on the stairs. The chandelier's warm light gave the couple a very angelic glow.

Owen's eyes went to the shorter male of the couple as he walks down the stairs with confidence oozing out of him and his aura felt superior. His slim body was framed perfectly with his Gucci Cardigan and those Gucci denim pants gave his long legs justice. And his mullet, Owen has never seen anyone pull off a mullet better than the short male. He looks simple even though his choice of outfit was far from simple. He looks expensive as he is dressed Gucci from head to toe.

The taller man caught Owen by surprise. He looked so different from the plain white pharmacist uniform he wore when Owen met him at the drugstore a few days ago. His hair was sleek and black, his eyes dark brown and fox like. His outfit was all Balenciaga from the black long sleeve turtle neck under a black blazer and matching black dress pants. He was truly a stunning man.

They are a very stunning couple.

Said couple reached the bottom of the stairs, the shorter male has one of his arm wrap around the taller man's arm as they smiled and greeted the guests before properly introducing themselves.

"Good Evening Everyone. Thank you all for coming. Let me properly introduce ourselves. I'm Justine Wen and this is my beautiful husband, Theodore Xu. We welcome all of you and we hope that we all enjoy this evening." Justine gave a short bow afterwards and a smile, completely unaware that a few women in the room are giving him lustful looks.

Owen couldn't help but grimaced at that. His gaze moving away from the women to scan the room before his eyes landed on a familiar bespectacled man.

A very cute bespectacled man.

Wait.....what?

Owen felt his cheeks warmed up at his own thought. He has never found other men cute or anything remotely close to being cute, so why did he find the bespectacled man cute? This must be his headache talking. Yes, it was just the headache talking, Owen decided and diverts his attention back to the expensive looking couple/hosts for the night.

"Let us now proceed to the dining hall for the dinner." The butler announced as the couple left his side and walks down the hallway between the staircases.

The guests followed the couple, still murmuring and gushing over how hot Justine looked or how lucky Theodore was. Looks like the couple did a good job leaving an impression on the guests like they intended to.

Owen lifted Sebastian into his arms as Ezra finally joins them. Samuel, who was clinging to the teen, let’s go of the teen's arm and lifts his arms up to Joshua who immediately knew what the child wanted. He smiled down at the child and carefully lifted him into his arms. Samuel wraps his legs around Joshua's waist as his little arms did the same to Joshua's neck. Samuel then rests his head on Joshua's shoulder.

Joshua was not surprised with the child's affection because Samuel has always been like that to both his father and uncle. Among the three siblings, Samuel is the cuddler while Ezra's hate for skin ship was starting to rub off on Sebastian who now has a mild hate for skin ship and would deny any affection. And Caiden doesn't really care for cuddles or what as long as he gets his milk. Caiden loves food more than anything, Owen could tell.

Joshua's hand brushed past Samuel's forehead and he immediately frowned when the child felt warmer than normal. His pediatrician instinct kicks in and checks the child's neck where it felt warmer. Owen didn't notice the look on his face as said man was busy admiring the rose quarts chandelier on the hallway.

The pediatrician/oncologist already has a guess on what was wrong with the child but until he gave the child a full checkup, he won't know for sure. But he couldn’t just leave the party to do so because that would be rude to the hosts, but if he waited until the party ended to do the checkup, Samuel might already have gotten worse by then. Joshua fell into a tough dilemma.

Samuel whined in his arms and yawns as he snuggles closer. Joshua sighs and ponders whether to notify Owen about what was happening or not. If he does then Owen won't hesitate to leave the dinner and bring Samuel to the hospital. If he doesn't and something bad happens to Samuel, he won’t be able to live with himself and Owen would hate him. With that in mind, Joshua came to a decision.

This was just a dinner party. He won’t risk a child’s life for it.