Really Sang?

Owen Invests in the Future

SEAN POV

"What are your thoughts on real estate?" Owen asked, turning the page of his newspaper passively. It was times like this that Owen scared me.
His grey eyes were impassive and indecipherable to even me when he was calm and calculating like this. He vaguely reminded me of a super villain scheming in the most nefarious and cunning ways when he became as withdrawn as he had been today.
"If the price is right it sells overnight?" I questioned, hoping that he was going to say that that he hadn't already sold his house and was going to be moving in with me tonight.
Owen gave me a tight smile and passed me the paper. He pointed at a small add in the middle, one that would have been easily overlooked by the mass public but not his razor eyes.
It advertised a sprawling fifty acres on the outside of town. I paused, considering what it meant. "Owen, " I leaned forward, "Are you suggesting that we become farmers? Is that where this is going?"
"I'm suggesting a place for a future home that I can purchase now for an absolute steal." He said robotically.
I froze. I knew that tone. I knew it all too well. That was Owen's 'try to stand in my way' voice.
I rifled through the paper in my lap, frantically checking for a date.
"Owen, this paper is a week out of date. Did you buy­" I didn't get a chance to finish the question before Owen rose smoothly from his chair and gave a brief nod.
"I did. The papers were finalized this morning." There was no emotional in his tone, all semblances of humanity were carefully tucked away as he awaited my reaction.
"Where did you get the money?" I exclaimed, still unable to comprehend the solid steady Owen Blackbourne doing something like this without establishing a strategy that would result in total control.
"My bank account, Sean, where I also acquired the money for my home and car." The words would have been sarcastic had there been any inflection in his voice.

"You know what I mean."
"Fine, the money came from a law firm that I am a shareholder in and a few small online startups I financially backed for a few years." He admitted, a small bit of excitement breaking through.
Owen had a decent inheritance from his parent's life insurance that he used to invest in businesses that were Academy related. He was apart of an Academy board that allowed him to review business ventures that were for the good of the community but not always things that
banks were willing to take a risk on. Bob's Diner was an example of one those businesses, as was a motorcycle shop in Charleston, and a sweet shop on Main Street.
I had known that Owen was an investor in those places, but never imagined that he had really made any profit off them. Then again, the man lived like a monk so he probably had a lot of savings built up through the years.
"I got the place at a good price." He explained as he returned to sit at his desk, straightening the already perfect papers, "The old owners had been in financial trouble and wanted someone out of town to buy it quietly and quickly."
"You certainly fulfilled that wish." I snorted, trying to remember if there had been any indication that Owen was doing something like this.
"It's sudden, I know, but I've been thinking about acquiring land like this for quite some time." He started typing on his laptop for a moment then turned it to show me a picture of a dense green forest with lighter green clearing speckled throughout.
"It's an hour away from the Academy hospital." He said as through reading my mind, knowing Owen, he probably could and just hadn't ever mentioned it. "Forty minutes if you take the backroads until the main highway. "
I considered the commute for a moment, knowing his convincing words had been born from my constant complaining that the Charleston Hospital was an hour and thirty minutes from Sang. If we were together in a farmhouse I wouldn't ever have to worry about it again.
"You've sold me. " I told him with a hint of exasperation. Owen was acting too perfect for my tastes and my admission would only fuel his ego. I would have to track some dirt through the house the next time I was here. "But what are your plans for it now? Are you just going to wait until we've progressed into that stage of the relationship and then tell everyone out of the blue that you've had this planned for years?" I asked, interested in how he would spin this to the others. The boys were used to Owen's peculiar brand of constant preparedness that Kota had somehow inherited through diffusion, but was Sang? How would she feel knowing that Owen had been planning for her to love us since he'd known her for three months?
"I'm lending it to the Academy conservation effort for a few years and then, when the time arises, we can live there along with the deer and turtles they're saving." He informed me as he exited out of his computer and tapped at more of the paperwork that lined his desk.
"Alright." I said, knowing that every argument I could have possibly thought of had already been thought out by him.
"You're okay with it?" He lifted one of his eyebrows in question and I nodded.
"So long as everyone is safe I'm okay." I told him honestly before changing gears, "What time is Victor stopping by tonight?"
"Eight. After he unloads your groceries for you." Owen chastened.
I shrugged him off. "Victor can handle a gallon of milk, ice cream, and macaroni in one trip, Owen." He shook his head at me. "I will never understand how a doctor who aced his health and nutrition course can eat like a picky five year old."
"I'm never home." I whined, "Besides, you cook for me. Not well, but you can."
"I am an excellent cook." Owen protested, looking affronted at my accusation.
"It's too precise." I complained, "You never give it any flare."

"At least it's edible." He shot back.
I made a hurt noise, "You wound me Owen."
"You'll get over it."
"I don't know, Owen. " I patronized, " I am a doctor, I can tell what will kill someone or not."
The last word were tinged with pride as I remembered the many medical mentors who had drilled it into my head all the happy things that could result in death. I'd aced every test.
"Good to know that you are a doctor Sean." He said drily as he took to the stairs, glancing at my hospital lanyard with my name tang still in place. .
"Are you aware that people who feel less misunderstood emotionally have a lower pain tolerance? " I called after him loudly as I removed the offending article and stuffed it in my pocket.
"I was not. That's rather interesting. Did Dr. Roberts tell you about that?" Owen inquired as he waited for me.
"Kota actually." I admitted as I considered the resident scholar, "Did you know he's at the top of his class at college?"
Owen paused with an air of refined thoughtfulness. "I hadn't been told."
"One of the math teachers started talking about him after he went under the anesthesia." I confided as I mentally predicted what he would say next.
"Should you be telling me about that?" Owen questioned amusedly.
"Probably not, but I didn't give you his name or the specific surgery so any normal person wouldn't be able to track him down." I countered, emphasizing the 'normal'. Owen was no normal person, and I was inclined to believe that he had a milder form of OCD or something similar that caused him to be such a perfectionists and a skillful manipulator. I would never tell him this, however, because his father had been a total psychopath and a diagnosis may result in more emotional damage than it was worth.

Contrary to Owen's belief, not everything needed a label.
I hunted through his cabinets as I thought and found some celery and a box of raisins. It was good that the boys were going shopping today.
"You really needed food." I commented as I rinsed off the celery and munched on it.
"You really need to take Sang on a date. " He countered without skipping a beat.
I paused mid crunch at the rapid change of subject. "Victor had her the day before yesterday and Silas is taking her out tomorrow. You and I need to start courting her more aggressively or we'll be left behind by the youths."
"You're right." I admitted with embarrassment and ignoring Owen's dictation , "The last time I took her out I got paged to fill in for a colonoscopy. Hardy romantic."
Owen cracked a rare smile.
"Take her roller skating." He suggested, "If I can recall you were pretty good at that back in the day. "
I made a noise somewhere between a pig snort and a laugh.
"Can you imagine North? He'd wrap her in bubble wrap before she left the house."
"I can think of no other man I'd rather be with her when she falls." Owen stated formally.
I tossed my hair like I'd seen the flirty nurses at the hospital do, "You're just saying that because I'm a doctor."
"I'm saying that because I trust you with the woman I love."
"I know." I said suddenly solemn, "She's the best thing that's ever happened to us isn't she?
"She is." He affirmed with a smile in his voice.
That's when I knew that it would all work out in the end. If Sang could bring the unmovable Owen, the man who never did anything without careful planning and rigorous thought, to do something as impulsive as buy a tract of land without seeming it first, she could move mountains.
Owen was a heedful and cautious man, but I knew that when he wanted something as bad as he wanted the future where we were all together he would accomplish it by any means necessary. It had always scared me whenever he behaved like this before. It had seemed like it was too much plotting and determination for any well meaning person to have; too much power for mortal man to know precisely how to achieve his desires. I was glad he was on my my side because he would be one terrifying threat if he wasn't. ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­