And he really did accept it. Whenever he was in New York we would hang out. When he was somewhere else in the world we would FaceTime.

It was an amazing time I had with him.

But on my semester break in September he took me to Toronto with him:

"Are you really living here?", I stood in front of a gigantic house, the windows glistening in the autumn sun.

"I live right at the top. Don't worry. There's a lift.", he joked and pulled me inside.

We hadn't seen each other personally in over a month now, so I wasn't really surprised when I found a plane ticket to Toronto and an encouraging message to use it in my inbox.

Of course I used it. I missed him badly and needed to spend some time with him.

As we reached the penthouse, my jaw dropped. We walked into a bright room with gigantic windows.

There was a huge, black, shiny piano right in the middle of the room standing against a partition, cupboards and closets piling up on the huge white walls around in dark timber.

A dark grey couch, which took up one whole wall came to my attention when we walked farther into the living room. It was situated on the other side of the partition with the perfect view of the skyline of Toronto, shining through the ginormous windows.

The room was breathtaking.

"hey, let me show you around", he held out his hand for me and pulled me towards a white door to my left. The kitchen alone- and I'm not joking- was bigger than Chiara's and my dorm room.

The walls were a shining white, but the cupboards and shelves were pitchblack. The kitchen was long, with a kitchen isle in the middle in a modern design, the chairs were high and fancy, with leather covers.

"That is my kitchen. I use it a lot and I'd like to pretend I'm a good cook, which I'm definitely not.", he laughed.

"Have you ever gotten food poisoning from your own cooking?", I asked curiously and sat down on the high kitchen isle.

"No", he replied and leaned next to me with a questioning look on his face.

"Then you're not as bad as me.", I joked and he got a laughing fit.

"Remind me to never let you cook dinner.", he said, when he calmed down from laughing so hard and grabbed my hand to pull me with him: "Come on, I'll show you the other rooms. They're upstairs." And I followed.

Upstairs was different, less modern, more cultural.

His walls were plastered with paintings in so many different colors and sizes, it was astonishing.

The hallway leading from the stairs to a french window at the back wall and was wide and illuminated with soft, warm lights. The doors were the color of dark timber and heavy. "This is the bathroom", he opened the door to his right and revealed a large room with a bath tub and shower, all in the color of light blue.

"This is your bedroom. I hope you like it. If you need anything, mine is right here", he pointed to a door, before opening the one for me on the opposite side of the hallway.

My room was warm, in a soft orange tone. The bed was big- kingsize- with a thick mattress and orange, yellow and red layers of pillows and blankets. The cupboards were in a dark brown tone and the curtains dark orange.

"It's great, thanks.", I smiled at him and closed the door again. But then my gaze fell on a door at the far end of the hallway: "Hey, what's in that room back there?", I asked and walked towards it.

"That's my music room.", he stated and followed me, "Do you wanna see it?"

I nodded and he opened the door to let me in. I realized that the grand piano in the living room was nothing compared to this. Guitars were hung up on the walls, at least 30, all in different shapes, sizes, colors and different in use.

I saw electric guitars, acoustic guitars, concert guitars, small ones, big ones, Ukuleles. A grand piano wasn't in this room. But there were multiple electric pianos, a set of drums and a small recording studio.

It was mindblowing.

"Wow... you sure have a thing for collecting guitars.", I whispered when I caught my breath.

"Yah, but better than drugs right", he joked.

I punched him in the arm: "SHAWN! Why would you say that?" and he laughed.

"Let's go. I can order a pizza.", and we left the room.
•
•
•
"By the way, did you know that we met over a year ago?", I asked him after swallowing my last bite of pizza and leaning back with a satisfied feeling in my stomach. How I loved food, it's ridiculous.

"Yah, I actually have an online reminder set for that. ", Shawn finished his part as well and leaned back to look at me. I smiled.

But suddenly we got interrupted. The doorbell rang and Shawn jumped up. I attempted to go upstairs to give him some privacy but he waved me off so I stayed on the couch.

I took out my phone, but when I heard the voice of a young woman my curiosity took over.

I stood up from the couch, walked around the partition and faced a young, blonde, skinny woman with his arms around Shawn.

And jealousy kicked in...