"Did you know that your sister is dating someone?"

"Don't remind me, Arthur...", Jeremy heaves a sigh as he tosses the towel into the bucket, "I know him... I actually uh...--"

"... had a crush on him?"

Damn it. He just hates it when his uncle reads him like an open book. Just play cool, Jeremy. This might just be a coincidence. He heaves a sigh, running his fingers into that blonde, messy hair. He really does need a haircut, but Jeremy admits that he kind of likes the way his hair looks like.

Jeremy isn't the ugly type of guy; in fact some girls actually asked him out, but he just rejected them. A good-looking guy rejecting a girl is a phenomenon sometimes, but not if you're actually gay and you feel nothing for the opposite gender.

"Sorry", Arthur says with a chuckle, "anyways... I have to leave earlier so... if you could be in charge of closing the shop, I'd be very delighted."

"Sure, man", Jeremy just shrugs then grabs the bucket to the back room.

The back room is a very messy environment. It has a sink, but the toilet that's on the left of the room, hidden behind a cabin, is not working. Everytime someone had to pee, they had to go to the coffee shop that's next to the antiques shop. Not a big deal but... Jeremy feels bad for doing that. He does not really understand how Arthur would feel about it. To be honest, that toilet needs a good fixing, but that's not really Jeremy's job to begin with; he's not a plumber after all.

He pours the bucket into the sink, sighing again. Just for this one moment of silence and being on his own, he just starts to resume the last week. While the girls are just head over heals for him, he doesn't really care for them. Jeremy is a gay man, twenty years old, a virgin and desperately single.

His cousin Emily, who is a lesbian, would often try to tug him into a gay bar, but Jeremy refuses. Seriously, he doesn't believe at love at the first fuck; no, he wants to get to know someone, taking it slow and falling in love with him too. A romance to dream about.

"Jeremy. I gotta go now", Arthur says when he enters the back room. Jeremy just nods with a sigh and catches the bunch of keys that Arthur just has tossed at him. "Hey and uh... if you're not feeling like it you can close the shop earlier. I'm pretty sure you have to--"

"Thanks Arthur", Jeremy just interrupts him. He doesn't like doing that but the least he wants is getting reassured by his uncle. Jeremy doesn't hate him, it's just that this old man likes teasing his nephew. He understands and accepts Jeremy and his homosexuality, but the whole ordeal with Cedric... honestly, he doesn't really want to get reminded by it every time.

It took like three hours to finish cleaning the shop. Jeremy doesn't like working overtime, but he really enjoys having the shop by himself. Plus he needs a distraction, and cleaning the shop was exactly what helped him.

While Jeremy was doing the job, he started to look at the objects that his uncle was actually selling. One of them was a little box that had an odd crest on it. Sometimes, people would come over and sell their old junk, but this little box kind of looked nice. Jeremy's a vintage enthusiast after all, and this box really has something vintage. He gently takes it with his ends, turns it around just to see if there's a date that was engraved and... there it is. This box is from 1925... why would someone have something like that and sell it for just a hundred dollars? Maybe it's just a mere box but... something's in there. He could hear some kind of distorted melody once he has gently shaken it.

"Huh..." -- now he's curious, and once he opens it, he could see that there's a small handle in the box. It looks like... a music box but why is the handle in the box? He can remember seeing a small hole on the left side of the box but didn't think much about it. Maybe the handle would fit the hole and all he has to do was just spinning the handle until he'd hear a tune.

And with that thought he actually tries it out. The handle fits perfectly, now he just has to figure how to spin the handle. Clockwise or counterclockwise? Clockwise works for him... so he tries to spin it until he's no longer able to. Once he releases of the handle, he can hear a gentle melody. Something he can't recognize... but it sounds surprisingly pretty. Still... selling this treasure for like hundred dollars... this thing could have been worth MORE.

Anyways, closing time. Jeremy got distracted by this nice music box that he has put back to the place he found it. If he wouldn't be broke by now, he'd have bought it for himself. This melody really made him buy this box. Maybe he could ask Arthur to get it and he'd pay him back once he'd have the money. Who knows.

Jeremy returns to the back room, and once he turns on the lights... he could see a random guy there.

...

How... did he get in there? The back room doesn't have any window or other way to get in... and he wouldn't have entered through the toilet because it had no windows either.

"Yeowch...", the man speaks, rubbing the back of his head. He then sees that someone was standing the door, and starts smiling. He gets up, adjusts that hat on his head and approaches Jeremy, who's shocked to actually see a stranger in the shop.

"Excuse me sir...", the man spoke, tilting his head in confusion, "but was it you who has summoned me through the music box?"

... wait.

That music box... it was enchanted!? How ridiculous... something like that wouldn't happen... maybe it wasn't enchanted but... cursed. Jeremy has read about certain objects that would contain an evil spirit or something... maybe this gentleman... is actually one of these spirits.

"U-uh... I'm going to... call the police... yes... or better... an exorcist... or something..." Jeremy's face is pale, he has a hard time breathing with any word he exclaims.

The gentleman wears a suit, has a cane and his hair were a bit messy but in a pitch black. His green eyes are the only thing that stick out. He was surprisingly handsome for... whatever he might be.

"Oh no... there's no need for the gendarmes to come and get me... and I doubt that an exorcist would help either..." the man has a bit of a british accent, it's weak but Jeremy can still hear it. Maybe this guy was born and raised in the United Kingdom and then moved to the States... -- anyways, this guy over there... what's his deal?

"How did you get in here?", Jeremy then finally asks.

"Oh, through that cabin I suddenly landed. I hit my head against the sink since it was dark and couldn't see anything", the gentleman responds. 

"Sure but... how? Like... there's no window here and... you couldn't have entered through the front door since I've been at the shop", a frown appears upon Jeremy's features. Something's wrong...

"Again, through that cabin I suddenly landed. I heard a tune and wanted to follow it and then... boom. Here I am. Oh... by the way... my name is Allister! Allister Montgomery!", Allister then smirks at Jeremy.

"Huh... tune... you meant the... the music box!?"

"That's an odd name...", Allister replies with with a frown.

"My name is Jeremy, gosh!", Jeremy exclaims, heaving a sigh in distress. "Listen... this is a very awkward situation...!"

"Indeed it is... This room has... odd gadgets... where am I?"

"At an antique shop... sir."

"Allister", he corrects Jeremy by pointing a finger at the other.

"Sure, whatever... look... I don't know what happened and why you were summoned by a music box... but as long as you do not seek any harm or anything, I'll let you leave the shop."

"Unlikely."

"What?", Jeremy narrows his eyes.

"Since you summoned me, I must stay with you", Allister replies.

"And what if I don't want you to stay with me?"

"You summoned me", Allister repeats again, heaving a sigh and grabbing a chair to sit on it. He places his cane next to his leg, resting both his hands on it just to rest his chin about it. He then keeps looking at the blonde, who still can't believe what he's seeing.

"You know... there must be a reason why you have summoned me."

"I... I was just curious, okay!?", Jeremy replies, "I saw this music box and wanted to listen to the tune... I didn't know that I would summon some weirdo here!"

"Weirdo...", Allister repeat Jeremy's words with a snort. "Okay so here's the gist: You must be pretty desperate and that is why you summoned me."

"No...?"

"Yes. If someone who's not desperate would play the tune, nothing would come and since you probably were desperate you summoned me... which is quite strange since... usually you would uh... summon a woman."

"Huh!?", Jeremy just stares at the guy who's just grinning at him.

"Ah, I see! A homosexual you must be!"

"Oh for fuck's sake..."

That's not true, right? This has to be a dream... did he just... summon some kind of a boyfriend or something?

"Well... since we're both on the same boat, we can't help it."

"Can't you just... okay listen... I gotta close down the shop. I'll take you home with me."

"Now now...", Allister gets up from his chair, "I don't want to take it that fast, young man."

"Gosh... I mean you can tell me everything when we're at my place! Then I'll see what to do with you!"

Allister just rolls his eyes. "Man, someone's being pushy...", he mutters.

"I meant talking, gosh!"

The man in the suit just snorts. "Very well then."