CHAPTER TWENTY
Liam Robertson laid on his couch with a blanket as he pondered the meeting he had with the chairman of DiMera Enterprises. He read through the contract a number of times, not leaving a single word out.
"The contract says I need to travel around the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Manhattan." Liam said to himself. "A two-hundred-thousand-dollar contract with food and lodging included. Isn't this a little of a stretch?"
Liam sat up on the couch and took the contract from the coffee table as he began reading through the contract once more.
"He's clearly the man who saved me from the fire. Did he really not recognize me?" The blonde wondered, "Why is he pretending like he doesn't know me? And why does he want to get me back to New York asap?"
Questions were running through Liam's mind. He did not know what to think of the situation. He was curious, yet he did not want to get into any drama. Liam then decided to on the TV and distract himself a little.
"Let's not read too much into the details, maybe he really did not remember me." Liam decided to give Chad DiMera the benefit of a doubt. "After all, it has been five years. It took forever for me to remember. Maybe he just needs a longer while."
"Hey Abs! It's so good to see you!" JJ greeted his sister with a hug.
"Yeah, it's nice to finally be home!" Abigail laughed, "How have you been? When are you going to get married?" Abigail teased.
"Oh come on Abs! Not you too!" JJ groaned, "Mom has been pestering me to marry Gabi on a weekly basis!"
"Well, the two of you have been dating for five years already! It's time to take the plunge!" Abigail gently slapped JJ's arm.
"Hey JJ! What are you doing here?" Chad walked into the house with TJ.
"Uncle JJ!" TJ ran into JJ's arms before JJ lifted him up.
"Hey how is my nephew Thomas? Why you have grown!" JJ put TJ down before picking up the shopping bag he brought. "Guess what Uncle JJ bought for you?" JJ passed the shopping bag to TJ.
"Oooh! Legos!" TJ exclaimed when he saw what was inside the shopping bag.
"Yeah, why don't you go up to your room to play with your new toy?" JJ suggested.
"Ok!" TJ turned around, heading towards the staircase.
"Thomas, what must you say to Uncle JJ?" Abigail reminded.
TJ turn around when he took the first step on the stairs, "Oh, I almost forgot. Thank you Uncle JJ!"
"Good boy, now don't run up the stairs!" Chad patted TJ's head before watching his son disappear into his room.
"So JJ, what brings you here?" Chad asked.
"I'm actually here to discuss with you guys something." JJ's tone became more serious.
"You sound serious, what's wrong?" Abigail questioned.
"Well, it is about Liam Robertson." JJ informed in a sterner and softer voice.
Chad furrowed his eyebrow.
Liam Robertson was walking through Horton Town Square from the grocery store. He was annoyed with Jackson Kiriakis and his childish ways.
"I'm taking leave for a few days next week." Liam notified his boss.
"And why are you taking leave?" Sonny asked.
"Because I want to?" The blonde raising one eyebrow and shrugged his shoulders.
"Gosh, you're adorable when you're like this!" Sonny mumbled through his teeth.
"I'm sorry, what?" Liam asked.
"Nothing, I'm just wondering why the sudden need to leave?" Sonny questioned. "I'm getting suspicious here?"
"And why is that any of your concern?" Liam countered.
"When it comes to my head chef," Sonny stood up from his chair and walked towards Liam until their faces were a few inches apart. "you are of utmost importance to me." Sonny grabbed the blonde's waist and pulled his body against his.
"What the hell?" Liam barked, face down trying to look at Sonny's hands wrapped around him. When he looked up, his nose touched Sonny's. Then and there, there was an awkward silence between the two.
Liam's heart began pounding, "Shit, why am I so nervous?" He panicked to himself. "Ok, ok look away look away… Why aren't you looking away?" Liam chided himself.
Sonny smiled when he saw Liam's cheeks turning red. "Wait a minute, is he blushing?"
Liam quickly pushed Sonny away, afraid that the unthinkable would happen.
"I want to help Paul, your boyfriend" The blonde emphasized, "with his baseball team. He seems to be having a hard time so I thought of a few team-building activities to help them."
"And what his baseball team got to do with you?" Sonny frowned.
"He's your boo, and you don't know about this?" Liam stared at Sonny, "He's disappointed with the team and he's stressed about it!"
"Yeah I know about that, but why are you so caught up in his business? How are you going to help the baseball team? Cook them dinner?" Sonny said.
"I just told you I got a list of activities for them to do." Liam gave Sonny the blank stare.
"Ok fine." Sonny may not feel comfortable with Liam hanging with Paul but he knew Paul could use some help.
"However, there is one condition!" Sonny told Liam.
Liam rolled his eyes before asking, "And what is that?"
"I want to be on your next cooking video." Sonny stated.
Liam slanted his head to one side, "Seriously?"
"I want to make a traditional Greek dessert" Sonny stated, "I saw your video on how to make chinese egg tarts and I thought that you would want to explore various cultures of food. So, I would like to make a dessert with you!"
Liam rolled his eyes, he could not believe what he agreed to.
"Wait, I thought Liam Robertson's parents were in Salem?" Abigail asked.
"Parents-in-law, black parents-in-law" JJ corrected, "but he calls them his parents!"
"Seriously, couldn't he find a normal white couple to call his parents?" Chad grumbled at the back of his head.
"So we are back to thinking that Liam Robertson could be Will?" Abigail asked.
"I don't know." JJ sighed. "I just know that if he is really Will, he needs to come back into Arianna's life. Arianna after all needs her father."
"So what are you going to do?" Chad asked.
"What else is there to do?" JJ shrugged. "I'm planning to get to the bottom of this."
Chad looked down on the floor, he did not want his wife and brother-in-law to see the terrified look on his face.
"We need to get Liam out of here NOW!" Chad decided, realizing how he was going against time.
"JJ, I want you to think about this rationally. Maybe it's truly an honest mistake." Chad dissuaded.
"No, there's too many evidences that proves that Liam maybe Will. The man speaks german and not just any german, swiss german." JJ emphasized, "I'm not leaving any stone unturned."
Chad wanted to place his palm on his forehead but he did not want to give himself away. He settled for a long sigh.
"So what do we need to do for this Greek yoghurt cake?" Sonny asked.
"Didn't you say you know how to make this dessert?" Liam rolled his eyes, "Well thankfully I got the recipe and the ingredients required."
Sonny took an egg out of the egg tray, cracked it and dropped the egg into a bowl.
"What the hell are you doing?" Liam asked.
"Cracking some eggs?" Sonny tossed the egg shells into a bin.
"You obviously don't know how to bake this cake." Liam grumbled with slight irritation. "You are supposed to separate the egg yolks from the whites.
"And how am I supposed to do that? You don't have an egg yolk separator." Sonny said.
"Child, you don't need no egg yolk separator to separate the egg from the yolk. All you need is your two hands. Let me show you" Liam walked behind Sonny and took his left wrist.
"Open your hand" Sonny turned his left hand around. The blonde chef now standing behind him moved his wrist above the bowl.
"Can you crack the egg with one hand?" Liam asked.
"No?" Sonny replied, uncertain whether Liam would scold him.
"Alright fine." Liam took the bowl with the egg Sonny cracked opened earlier.
"Washed your hands already?" Liam questioned.
"Yeap!" Sonny answered.
"Ok so what we're going to pour the egg onto your hand" Liam poured the entire egg onto Sonny's hand. "Now all you need to do now is let the egg white drip through your fingers." Sonny separated his fingers slightly as the white flowed down into the bowl. As Liam's chin touched Sonny's shoulder, Sonny turned his head to his direction. He noticed the blonde staring intently at the wrist he is holding.
"That's it, slowly let all the white flow down." Liam remarked.
"You may be a strict teacher, but you sure are a patient one." Sonny complimented, admiring how attentive the blonde was to guiding him.
Liam turned to look at Sonny, accidentally colliding their noses against one another. Their lips were now an inch or two away from one another. They both stared intently into each other's eyes.
Liam's heart was pounding again, he did not know why was he feeling this way all the sudden. He could not deny that he had been thinking about Jackson Kiriakis when he realized that he was his husband's doppelganger. He did think about how to make him feel better by being nicer to him and have even become good friends with him over the past few months. Still, it was new that he felt his cheeks getting warmer. He did not feel that way when he hugged him previously.
This is the first time Liam did not pull away from him. Seeing the flushing cheeks on his face, Sonny boldly but slowly lean forward. And as their lips were about to touch.
"Da da! Da da!" an infant's voice came giggling from behind.
Liam quickly pull away and saw Devon running towards the kitchen.
"Oh Devon, what are you doing here?" Liam ran towards his son, carried him and walked towards the living room. "Are you hungry?"
Sonny exhaled in disappointment.
"Hello" Kayla greeted as she picked up the phone.
"Kayla, it's Chad. We've got a 911!" Chad warned.
"Hey Chad what's going on? You're scaring me." Kayla asked.
"Well, getting Will out of Salem just got a lot harder!" Chad informed.
"What are you talking about?" Kayla exasperated.
"You need to tell everyone for this afternoon in Salem University Hospital that you will be in charge of the DNA testing. No one is going through with a DNA test without your approval." Chad instructed.
"I'm sorry, I don't get a clue of what you're saying." Kayla massaged the bridge of her nose.
Chad turned his head left and right, making sure no one was around before entering the bathroom. He closed the door and turned on the tap, letting the water run.
"Look, JJ and Gabi are onto Will." Chad explained, "JJ is thinking about getting Liam's DNA and would probably be on his way to the hospital."
"What?" The sound of Kayla's voice intensified.
"Calm down Kayla, this isn't the time to panic." Chad reminded, "We need to make sure that JJ does not get pass you for DNA testing."
"Ok, I got it!" Kayla noted before hanging up. She walked into her office before placing the documents on the table.
"Seriously, you got to add more pressure on me?" Kayla massaged the temples of her head.
"I couldn't thank you enough for taking care of Devon for me" Liam said as he guided Devon into the house.
"Wow, Devon is really walking faster!" Gabi complimented.
"Yeah… I can barely catch up with him these days." Liam groaned light-heartedly.
"Hey mom!" Arianna came running out of her room with a catalogue, "Can I please buy this?" She showed her mother the catalogue and pointed at the figurine on the page.
"You know your Daddy Sonny has been complaining that you have too many toys!" Gabi warned.
"Por favor?" Arianna pleaded in spanish.
"You do know that pleading me in spanish will not get you what you want right? I'm with Daddy Sonny on this." Gabi told her daughter.
"Hey Arianna, I have brought Devon here today!" Liam greeted.
Arianna turned her head. When she realized who greeted her, she glared at the blonde man before walking back into her room."
"Arianna, why aren't you greeting Liam? Where are your manners?" Gabi raised her voice. "Arianna, Arianna!"
"It's ok, I got to run." Liam shook Arianna's rudeness off, trying to calm Gabi down. "This is Devon's bag…"
"Hey Babe," Liam heard a voice from behind him before turning around. "Liam, it's good to see you!"
"Hey JJ!" Liam greeted, "I wanted to thank you guys for taking care of Devon on such short notice! My parents couldn't leave at the worst time!"
"No worries, we miss Devon!" JJ smiled. "We couldn't be happier that Devon is in our arms." JJ meant every word of that sentence.
"Ok, I got to go!" Liam put his bag of diapers and baby necessities before leaving.
Once they made sure Liam left, JJ quickly opened the baby bag, rummaging through it.
"You're sure about this?" Gabi questioned once more.
"Absolutely positive" JJ nodded before taking finding a pacifier in the bag. "Now, pass me Ari's toothbrush."
Liam was walking through the hallways of Salem High as memories ran through his mind of the incident with Jackson Kiriakis earlier that day.
He recalled how close their faces were when he was teaching the brunette how to separate an egg yolk from its egg white.
"No way, I'm not falling for Jackson Kiriakis." The blonde shook his head violently. "This cannot be happening. I mean yeah I feel sorry for him losing his husband but that doesn't mean that I should fall for him. Besides, he and Paul are together… or somewhere around there."
"Hey Paul!" Liam greeted Paul with a bro handshake before diving into a bro hug.
"Hey Liam!" Paul greeted back, "The team is already at the field. I hope you know what you're doing."
"Relax, I did team-building activities all the time back in my church choir in New York. This method may start off bad at first but it will help the team work together." Liam assured.
Sonny was sitting on his swivel chair in his office. He was thinking about the conversation he had with Paul the a few days before.
"So…" Paul said hesitantly, "I wanted to be honest with you. I don't want to end up arguing every time we bring up this topic."
As Paul sounded rather serious, Sonny gulped and straighten his back.
"This is about Liam." Paul stated.
Sonny closed his eyes before taking a deep breath. Although he knew what topic Paul was going to bring up, he prayed that he was wrong. He exhaled slowly before looking back at Paul.
"What about Liam?" Sonny asked, trying not to feel troubled.
"Well, Liam said he would love to help me get the team to work better together." Paul stated, "So he would like to spend a few days helping me out at Salem High."
Fear once again risen up Sonny's gut. However, his mind kept telling him that Paul informing was the right thing to do.
"Liam is straight, there's no way the two of them would do anything." Sonny kept on reminding himself. "There's no way anything will happen."
"I really hope you're not mad." Paul began going on, "He really had some great ideas about getting the team to work together…"
"It's ok, I get it." Sonny cut Paul off.
"Really?" Paul asked once more, surprised.
"Yeah!" Sonny smiled. "I mean Liam is truly one of the best people we have ever met. Sure he's got a tough exterior and he's often straightforward and feisty but when you're down, you can sure find a friend and a confidant in him."
"I'm so glad you aren't weird or angry about this!" Paul heaved a little sigh of relief. "I really wanted to be completely honest with you."
"Look, I know I haven't been completely honest with you about Liam." Sonny tried to explain without making Paul insecure. "You know Will will always be a part of me and when Liam came around, I couldn't help but feel…" Sonny paused for a while, "compelled to know him better."
"You don't have to explain it to me." Paul assured Sonny, "Will is an important part of your life and I know that. Plus, Liam is genuine person, it's hard for anyone to not like him."
Sonny walked towards Paul and gave a quick peck on the lips.
"You know nothing is going to happen. Liam is not gay." Sonny Kiriakis kept on reminding himself.
"A six-legged race?" Paul laughed, "I can't believe you made seven people tie their legs together and race it out!"
"A six-legged race is all about coordination" Liam explained. "everyone in the middle needs to coordinate their legs with one another so teamwork is everything!"
"I can't believe that the team is actually working together!" Paul smiled, "I haven't seen them so happy as a unit in such a long time!"
"I'm glad you're happy!" Liam smiled.
"I couldn't thank you enough!" Paul showed his appreciation as they sat down on the coffee table in Coach Hudson and his office. "To show you how grateful I am, let me take you out to dinner my treat."
"Maybe next time, since practice ended later than usual today. I actually brought us something to eat!" Liam took a few containers and chopsticks out of the recyclable bag he brought and placed it on the table.
"What is this?" Paul asked.
"Open it and see" Liam told him.
Paul opened the lunchbox, he saw various types of sushi in the container including his favourite, salmon sushi.
"It's sushi!" Paul smiled, "I haven't eaten this in ages!"
"I'm a New Yorker, I live in a multi-cultural city." Liam explained, "I have tried so many types of food from chinese, indian all the way to lebanese cuisine. Frankly, the food in Salem is getting more boring by the minute. I'm left with no option but to make my own food."
"You made this?" Paul asked, stunned.
"Is there a sushi shop in Salem?" The blonde chef asked rhetorically.
"Wow! I can't believe you made it all by yourself!" Paul praised in awe, "Is there anything you can't cook?" Paul excitedly split open the wooden chopsticks.
"Wait I almost forgot!" Liam stopped Paul as he quickly took a thermos flask, two Styrofoam cups and some soy sauce packets. "You forgot your soy sauce! I'm sorry I didn't bring any wasabi, couldn't find it at the grocery store." Liam apologized.
"Are you kidding me?" Paul laughed, "You have made such a huge spread of sushi for me and you're apologizing? I should be the one thanking you!"
After dinner, the two men were completely stuffed. They had a good conversation about sushi and their lives back in New York and San Francisco and the changes they have to make as two big-city boys living in a small town.
"Thanks for the dinner once more!" Paul was incredibly touched; it was not everyday someone would go all out to make something for him.
"No big," Liam shook it off, "I wanted to have something different beside steaks and potatoes. I thought about sushi and then thought why not let you try some! I hope it's to your liking!" The blonde sipped his cup of hot green tea.
"Are you kidding? These are one of the best sushi meals I ever had!" Paul exclaimed.
The baseball coach looked at the blonde's expression, he adored Liam's innocence. He is enchanted by the way he makes the smallest gestures to cheer him up.
"You know, aside from my mom, no one has actually made japanese food for me." Paul confessed staring seriously at Liam. "You're the first person that actually did that for me."
Puzzled by Paul's expression, Liam laughed, embarrassed. "Really, it's ok." The blonde shrugged his shoulders, "I didn't know I will make you this happy! I may not be very good-looking, nor am I the type of person that would speak thousands of poetry to win your heart. But eh, I have a pair of hands that can cook. And PS." Liam leaned in closer as if he were telling a secret. "A way to a woman's heart, or in your case, a man's heart is through his stomach." The blonde winked.
"Not good-looking? Are you kidding me?" Paul got frustrated, when he wanted a serious conversation with the blonde but the latter didn't seem to get a single clue.
"Hey what are you doing?" Liam barked as Paul snatched the styrofoam cup from him and placed it on the coffee, grabbed him by the shoulders and turn him to his direction.
"Look at me!" Paul ordered.
"Ok, what is wrong with you?" Liam argued.
"Do you have any idea how attractive you are?" Paul's emerald green eyes were now fixed on Liam's ocean blue ones. Paul boldly placed his right hand on Liam's face. "Do you know how difficult it can be to be around you?"
"What are you talking about?" Liam got slightly confused, his heart was thumping faster.
"Do you know how often I think about you?" Paul confessed.
Liam's eyes widened, he was afraid where this was going.
"I know I will get rejected, but I'm not going to regret doing this." Paul pulled Liam's entire body forward and planted his lips on the blonde chef's. The baseball coach used his tongue to pry Liam's mouth open.
The blonde struggled in shock, completely caught off-guard as Paul's tongue made his way into his mouth. Running out of air, he gasped giving Paul the opportunity to suck his upper lip and then stick his tongue further down his mouth.
The blonde pushed him away and then gave a tight slap across the face.
"What on earth do you think that you're doing?" Liam yelled.
"I'm trying to confess my feelings for you." Paul boldly announced.
"Well, I thought I made it clear to this entire town that I'm straight!" Liam stated in a rough manner. The two of them stayed silent, standing where they are for a few seconds before Liam took the lunchboxes and closed them before putting them all back into the recyclable bag.
"I got to go!" Liam briskly walked out of the office.
Paul let the blonde walk on by as he fell onto the chair.
"What have I done?" Paul asked himself as fear crept into his mind. He wasn't lying when he said he did not regret kissing him but he just realized he put their friendship on the chopping block.
"Dr Brady, there's someone waiting to do DNA testing right now." A nurse announced, peeping her head into the office.
"Sure, I will be right there." Kayla dropped whatever she was doing and followed the nurse. It wasn't very often that someone would want to do a DNA analysis. "Ok, just get the samples and swap it. No one's going to find out." Kayla kept telling herself. As Kayla followed the nurse, her heart was pounding at the thought of going against her doctor's code of honour.
"Here is the person who wants a DNA." The nurse pointed out. Kayla turned her head, only to see the surprise on her face.
"Hello," A woman greeted, "I would like to conduct a DNA test between my daughter and I."
Kayla's eyes widened in shock. "Wait, if JJ isn't here, where is he?"
Inspector JJ Deveraux was walking hurriedly into Salem PD.
"Has any of you seen Shawn?" JJ asked a junior cop frantically.
"Hey hey hey!" JJ heard Shawn's voice from behind. "JJ what's the matter?" Shawn asked.
"I need to talk to you asap!" JJ urged.
A/N: I bet all of you thought JJ was going to consult Kayla for the DNA testing! HAH! Gotcha!
Anyway, once I'm done with my exams, I'm much more likely to release a chapter once a week. SO YAY!
PS. Next chapter the THE BIG REVELATION! AHHHHHHHHHH! STAY TUNED! :D
Thanks for reading and you guys better REVIEW! :D
PS. pardon my spelling mistakes! :D