It All Started With A Payback

Three: Busted

Louie abruptly looked up from the milk he was steaming.  He silently cursed himself for acting like a puppy waiting for its master every time he heard the glass door open.

All because of her.  It had been a week since he last saw her. His thoughts were mostly occupied by her.  He felt helpess.  There was no way of finding her short of posting signs everywhere that read : Hot mysterious girl missing please call or text Louie if you have any information.

Pathetic?  Without a doubt. By the end of one week he had gone to Ashley for help.  Jon and his wife were two of a kind.  She had to dab at the  tears from the corners of her eyes before she was able to answer him. 

Only to laugh at him once again, clutching her stomach when he told her the name of the woman she was supposed to get an information on. 

She couldn't believe that he, who had never dated a girl for more than a month since he was eighteen, went crazy over someone he hardly knew. 

He was lucky Jon had the heart to leave out the part about how Jon found him gagged and bound to a chair.

He wasn't big on computers, android or the internet.  Ashley on the other hand swore by the internet.  She believed that everything and anyone can be found on the net.  Unfortunately for him, he didn't have any information at all that Ashley could make use of. 

Through its own volition, his head snapped up again just as he finished pouring the espresso shot on the steamed milk.  It may not be Jane but the person who just walked in lifted his mood significantly.

He broke into a smile when he heard the excited squeal of the little girl rushing towards him with outstreched arms.  He immediately wrapped her in a fierce embrace as soon as she threw herself at him.

"So, where are we going today, Princess?" He asked Jessyca who reminded him so much of her mother.

She smiled prettily at him.  He knew she was going to drag her somewhere he wasn't particularly fond of.  "Let me guess, Kidzoona?"

"You are the best and most handsome uncle ever!"  She wrapped her little arms around his neck and rained kisses on his face.  He half laughed-half groaned and teasingly pulled her ponytail. 

Although he was technically her grandpa since her mother was his niece, he was adamant that he was to be called uncle. 

"And you," she pinched her nose playfully, "Are the smartest kid ever.  You can easily make me do things I don't even want to do."

He would most likely be spending the entire afternoon running after Jessyca in a pool full of balls; pretending to be a customer in a sushi restaurant or a cake shop or perhaps getting dizzy running in an inflated cylinder like a hamster in a cage.

He put the little girl down and took the small knapsack Ashley handed to him.  He shook his head and looked at the parents of the little girl tugging his hand impatiently.

"You owe me big time." He said directing his statement to Jon.  He knew how much the two wanted to spend some "alone time" since the pair had just gotten together not more than a month ago.

"Aww, come on Kuya.  You know that YOU owe us.  You don't have to be here today and Jon would still be looking after the bar later......"  his niece didn't get to finish.  Her husband thought he had something more important to say.

"Besides, I can't stand the thought of you spending another day here. Just staring at the door." Jon happily interjected.

He shook his head, "You people are so cruel," he finally let the girl drag him towards the door. "Come on Jessy, let's go have some fun."