<div class="floatleft">(https://i.imgur.com/1Cm55so.jpg?2)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Owen Christopher (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=308599.msg15002076#msg15002076)<br/><strong>Age:</strong>32<br/><strong>Sexuality:</strong>Straight<br/><strong>Hometown:</strong>Hamilton, NZ<br/><strong>Date/Time:</strong>4 July, 2019, Evening<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Villa backyard -- Firepit area<br/><strong>Wearing:</strong>Pictured with dark khaki shorts<br/><strong>Coupled with:</strong>Cassie<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Elsa/Carolyn/Cassie (mentioning)/Open<br/><br/>Owen stepped down onto the patio area with the rest of the male contestants with a small tightness in his abdomen. He thought about how he should have grabbed another bottle of water and slammed it down before the producers marshalled them out to the outdoor space. The sun was dropping in the sky, but it was, frankly, still hotter than what he’d been used to, and he was feeling it.<br/><br/>That there was the pressure of the ceremony laying at his feet didn’t help. Being first was a generally a good thing, and he was excited by the potential for a nice, relaxing date away from the pressures of the villa, as Caroline had promised in her text. At minimum, it meant that he wouldn’t have to worry about making a decision on the fly in the event that his preferred partner went in a different direction.<br/><br/>What<em>was</em>troubling is there were so many ways this could go wrong. It was only the 4th day of the competition. Was he supposed to pick Cassie again? They’d not had much time to talk the last couple days, and he couldn’t help but wonder if her attention was elsewhere. He’d spent a little bit of time befriending a few of the others in the house, but it felt like quite a weight to put on anyone to come off and ask them to spend the night with him.<br/><br/>This was all sort of spinning in his head as Caroline made her opening statements for the benefit of the cameras. When she called his name, he exhaled and stood slowly, as though the movement was causing him pain.<br/><br/>“Thank you, Caroline, I appreciate it,” he said, punctuating the statement with a soft sigh and a wry smile. Owen’s eyes peeked at the cue card just to the side of the camera, for a moment grateful for his still strong eyesight. Without looking at the girls, he continued, “I want to couple up with this girl because I think she seems to be going through a bit of a rough bit right now, and I think I could be empathic to that. She’s also very pretty, and I think she could probably push me a bit working out.” Feeling he’d already given himself away, Owen let a bit more of a smile curl the corners of his mouth. “And she was kind enough to share some chocolate with me, and it’s hard not to appreciate a bit of a sweet tooth, even if I’m not supposed to indulge that much.”<br/><br/>He paused, surprised he’d used so many words to get to the point. His gaze swept to the girl he’d described, figuring he’d already done well to give it away. “And the girl I choose is Elsa.”<br/><br/>Owen froze in place and a bit of anxiety washed over him. He knew well that he was potentially throwing things out of balance. And, he didn’t know-could Elsa simply decline? Anything was possible.<br/>