"Secretary Andrew?"

Upon hearing his name, Andrew tore his eyes away from the ground and a courteous smile formed on his lips by instinct.

Just a few minutes ago, he was standing in a daze just a step away from the Lopez Mansion Gates.

Luiz was already waiting for Andrew to come in, but his feet refused to move. Andrew knew that he would be one step closer to ending this charade once he crossed this gate. The realization terrified him to his core, causing a chasm of emptiness in his head.

Maybe he was being too paranoid.

He moved to follow Luiz inside, yet his hesitation only grew stronger with each step. He repeatedly asked himself what kept him from ending this right here, right now.

Their parents only need one more push: a confession of the truth.

After that, Andrew has got five million in his hand, a brand-new apartment, and his freedom from Lopez Co.

But why was he paralyzed with doubt at this critical moment?

Luiz crossed the threshold and intended to go further in, but he stopped when he noticed Andrew was just standing still.

"Andrew, I am well aware that we have only known each other for quite a while," he said. "But discerning people is my area of expertise. Forgive me for saying this, but I observe there is one more obstacle that you are facing from building your restaurant aside from your financials."

Andrew couldn't decipher the meaning of the words said to him. He regarded the younger man in front of him. In the dim yellow light of the living room, Andrew realized how similar Luiz and Allen's silhouettes were.

"Do you plan on coming in soon?" Luiz asked, joking.

After he plucked up the courage, he crossed the threshold and waited for the world to explode, but nothing happened after a minute or two. The whole house was quiet. Mr. and Mrs. Lopez were not waiting for them as Andrew expected. Even Allen was absent.

"They must have gone to bed," said Luiz, relieved. He exhaled through his nose and pressed his lips to a thin line. "I did not realize it was already this late since we left just before midnight. They are normally asleep by this hour."

Andrew's gut feeling told him that they weren't. Instead, Andrew was confident that they were contemplating how to best approach their son. But Andrew chose not to voice it out.

Looking around, Andrew's eyes gravitated to the newly displayed picture frames on the shelf where the old family photo stood.

"Do you mind If I excuse myself for the night?" Luiz yawned and loosened his tie. "Should you wish to stay for the night, Allen's old room is adjacent to mine. Feel free to use it to your heart's content. Well, good night, Secretary Andrew."

Andrew simply nodded as Luiz disappeared to his room. He returned his focus on the row of new framed photos. It started with a picture of Mrs. Lopez tending to the gardens while smiling brightly at the photographer. Next was a photo of a visibly eager Luiz leading a lecture in a fully occupied auditorium. Then a picture of Allen with a wide grin as he cooked in the kitchen as his eyes were bright with happiness.

The next photo took him by surprise.

It was a photo of him stealing a bottle of tequila from a store while he wore his school uniform. It was the very photo they sent months ago to Mrs. Lopez. It was supposed to be an embarrassing photo, but Andrew guessed that Mrs. Lopez wanted to show pictures where they were all smiling.

The last photo on the shelf was a selfie with all of them included as they ate Sinigang. It was Allen's first home-cooked meal for his family. A sticky note was attached to the corner of the frame.

Lopez family photo.

His heart welled up with an abundance of happiness he never knew he yearned for. To be accepted, not as Secretary Andrew, but as himself. However, they knew him as Alfonso. It was all for the better as they loved him despite all the messy imperfections he had shown. He wanted to curl up on himself as he was flooded with a powerful urge to stay.

But when he glanced at the photo of Allen, filled with so much happiness and freedom. He couldn't help but be happy for Allen. In the past six years he has been working for Allen, he has never seen Allen be so happy as when he's cooking. He wants that to be permanent for Allen. To not go back to the cold, detached man he was once, but Allen seemed to have already resigned himself in this lonely path chosen by his parents.

He let out a deep, exhausted sigh. He scrunched his face in frustration. This wasn't his family in the first place. Allen and Luiz deserved to be happy. He raised his hand and noticed he was trembling. Maybe it was a sign of how indecisive he was, but still, he reached out and flipped down his photo.

With a heavy heart, he stepped back and turned around. But what he saw surprised him.

Allen stood a few steps away from him with an unreadable expression. He glanced past Andrew, and his face hardened when he saw the state Andrew's photo was in.

Andrew closed the distance between them, and he looked up at Allen.

Just to see this arrogant man smile and be filled with happiness, Andrew could do this. This was the right choice.

When Allen couldn't decide whether to talk or not, Andrew decided to step aside and walk past him. But before he could go further. Allen stopped him. He called out to him.

When he turned around, Allen's eyes were wide with panic, his fingers fidgeted, and his eyebrows were furrowed down. Andrew expected him to scream his lungs out like he did the night of their big fight, but Allen's voice was barely a whisper.

"What are you planning to do?" He asked though it wasn't much of a question as they seem to have already read each other's minds.

"I'm going to talk to your parents. This is the moment we've been waiting for, and this is much better than we've expected. You don't have to get disowned. Your family will remain intact and happy. And you and Luiz will both get what you've always wanted."

"Then what about you?"

"What about me?" said Andrew. "I get that five million and a piece of property that I own. No more rents. No more eight to five."

"I saw you almost cry back in there, so please don't expect me to believe that you are alright with this," Allen yelled, frustrated. "Please stop pretending that you're fine because I know that we both aren't fine with this."

"I am fine about this," Andrew shouted back. His voice echoed in the empty hall. "With that money, I'll be able to leave. Five million would have taken me ten years to work for because no matter how much you praise me. I am still a goddamn secretary!"

"You don't have to leave."

"Yes, I do," said Andrew. He stood tall and locked eyes with Allen.

"No, you don't," Allen pleaded desperately. He enveloped Andrew's hands with his. He begged him to stay. Allen clung to him.

"Please, you don't have to leave. And I just don't understand why you always speak about leaving when you do not put any real effort into it."

"What do you want me to say, Allen?" Andrew scoffed, pulling his hand away from him. "That I'm too poor to be unemployed. That my employment in Lopez Co was the only job where I could actually use my strengths? Or that I'm absolutely fucking terrified of going out and chasing my dreams without you!"

Allen was silent, shocked by the sudden confession from Andrew.

"I only have this one chance of actually pursuing my dream. There's no second chance for me. If I fail this one chance I have, then it's game over. That's it for me, and it endlessly scares the shit out of me to no end. I don't want all my hard work to go down the drain just because I realized too late that I'm nothing without you. And unlike you and Luiz, you can fail as many times as you want because you'll have all the financial support you'll ever need right in the palm of your hands."

Andrew clenched his jaw. "So, I need to leave now or else I'll never have the courage to do so. I need that five million Allen, and I want you to be happy."

"How can I be happy when you're leaving? You don't have to do this alone, Andrew. I can be with you. I want to be with you. We can be with you."

"I don't want to do this with you! I don't understand why you're so against this when I'm doing this for the both of us."

"Because I love you, Andrew," Allen confessed. His chest rose and fell with sudden breaths. "I've loved you ever since you've walked through the doors of my office in your cute ensemble and bright smile."

Allen dragged his hand over his face. "Are you fucking crazy?" he belted out. "You treated me like I was the worst employee in the whole building."

"I—I—yes, at first I was indifferent to you, but I still fell in love with you. Of course, I could not act on it! Do you know how hard it was for me to keep it together? To not treat you with the respect and love you deserve? The moment I realized you had a crush on me, I knew I was going to falter. You won't believe the thousands of times I stopped myself from doing something that would endanger your career."

"What does my career have to do with anything? I was just your minion." Andrew shoved Allen into the wall and motioned to leave.

Allen caught him by the hand. "You were on the rise, Andrew. We had enemies on every corner. And if they just got a whiff that you were more than a secretary to me. They would've attacked you. You would lose every ounce of respect you have painstakingly earned."

Andrew breathed in and out. He calmed himself down and once again pulled his hand away. Instead, he placed them on Allen's shoulder.

"Ok, alright. I think you're misunderstanding. This is probably because I'm the only gay guy you've known your whole life. So, you're thinking, 'Hey, I'm never going to meet a potential partner. I don't want to die rich and alone. Oh, I know my secretary slash minion is gay. He would be happy to serve me for money'. That's probably what you're thinking."

"Wha—Wha—what," Allen stuttered, bewildered. He breathed in deeply and calmed himself down too. Allen stood his ground, determined.

"I fell in love with you because I respect you, Secretary Andrew. Because I admire you. The one person who supported me the most. You believed in me. And most importantly, you're the person I rely on the most."

Allen's words struck a sobering chord in Andrew. A realization that put everything into perfect perspective because Andrew had thought Allen was sincere even for just a moment. This caused a deprecating laugh from Andrew's mouth. His arms fell to a limp by his side. He pushed his next words out of his throat. "You fell in love with Secretary Andrew."

Allen looked perplexed by Andrew's conclusion. He flailed around as if searching for the answer from mid-air.

"What's the difference?" He asked.

"That's not me," Andrew cried out. "Secretary Andrew was always by your side supporting you because that's what he was paid to. Secretary Andrew is always there because that's the job description. You pay me to be by your side Sir, Allen. I had no choice in the matter, even during this whole plan of yours. You paid me to be your boyfriend. For a moment, yes, I did wish it was real. But the reality is, it wasn't. I apologize if I mislead you while doing it. I promise it was never my intention for anything romantic to happen. You don't even know me, Sir Allen, because you've been with Secretary Andrew for whole six years."

Andrew spun and walked away with no opposition from the miserable Allen. In the taxi home, he was tranced and in disbelief. He hated the thumping rush of hope that he felt. Somehow, he felt ridiculed. He groaned as he smashed his face on the bag that Allen gave him while wearing the suit that Allen bought for him.

He drowned himself in alcohol the same night, but its once familiar taste had become foreign to Andrew. He flopped down to his bed and caught a peek of his filled-out calendar. He realized he's been with Allen and had no time to get smashed with alcohol. He heaved a heavy sigh and buried himself into his bed. Allen had much nicer sheets than Andrew.

Morning came accompanied by Andrew's alarm. Andrew's arm snaked out from the bed, swiped the phone from the bedside table, and threw it on the wall with just enough force for it split into pieces with the battery flying off into the corner. Just this once, Andrew was going to ignore work-related matters. Consider it as practice once he resigns. Andrew shut his eyes as he pushed all his effort to fall back asleep. But Allen's words, the pending work, and the loss of the Lopez Family invaded his every thought.

"Fuck."

He got up and ate all the leftovers inside his fridge. Which only reminded him more of his dates with Allen because every container was from a different memory with Allen. He cursed from the top of his lungs when he remembered all the fun times he spent with Allen over a meal. But there was one memory that stood out.

The morning when he saw Allen's smile as he cooked his first omelet. Andrew was amazed by the effect of doing something that makes that person so happy, how the most brooding person can light up like the sun.

Andrew grabbed his phone and turned it on. Immediately, a hundred missed calls and messages popped up on his screen. But it all stopped the same time a single message from Allen arrived:

'You don't have to worry about anything. I'll take care of it.'

Then complete radio silence. Although, Sonna had already sent dozens of news articles. All with one flashing headline.

It was coupled with all the private photos they took together for their fake dating that was supposed to be only seen by the Lopez's.

He received two important emails that day: a suspension notice from Human Resources and the rescheduling of the board meeting where Mr. Lopez planned to announce the CEO position to a much earlier date.

Andrew sent Allen a text.

'Are u okay?'