Gabriel and Gyan were college sweethearts, and they thought they had found the love of their lives. Then Gabriel got an opportunity in Australia, and he left behind a heartbroken Gyan.
It's been more than five years, and Gabriel finds hims...
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It was all building up and hitting me all at once. Italia Beauty had an art exhibition coming up, and that was stressful, not only with the work and Joseph, but also Enrique. He wasn't out to get me, but things were awkward between us. I still felt awful because Enrique was a great bloke, and I did enjoy his company.
Then there was Gyan. After our date, things seemed to be perfect, then his useless cousin Arush had to ruin everything. It was like he brought us back to the present—where things weren't so rosy after all.
"Hey," Gyan greeted me as he came back from work.
I sat at the island with my back turned to him. "Hey."
He was still. "Are you going to look at me?"
I sighed before turning in the seat to face him. "Happy?"
"No." He moved closer. "What's your problem?"
I frowned. "My problem is you stealing money from Appeto to put into your bratty cousin's account."
He never explicitly told me, but I knew he was embezzling money from his family's business. I always knew Gyan was desperate to keep his secret. I never knew he was this desperate.
He glared at me. "Do you think I want to do this?"
"You're not doing anything about it."
He placed his briefcase down. "What am I supposed to do, Gabriel?" he asked. "I can't let him out me. It's my life. I have to deal with the consequences of it, and there will be consequences."
"There are consequences to stealing."
"This is pointless." He removed his suit jacket. "You've made up your mind, and you'll never get it."
I stood up. "I'm gay, too, Gyan. I've been in the closet."
"You're not me!" he yelled in my face, and I flinched. "I don't know how many times I have to keep telling you this. The both of us being gay doesn't mean we have the same experiences or the same feelings. You may be safe to come out of the closet, but that doesn't mean I do. Your family is different from mine. Different things are at stake, and it's just me." His expression softened. "I'm not ready. I want to be. God, do I want to be, but I'm not."
"Gyan."
"Do you think I want to live this way?" he asked. "Keeping who I am from my family. Being engaged to a woman I'll never love. Pretending the man I actually love is just a friend. I don't want any of it, but it's my reality. I'm not where you're at yet, and I don't know how to get there."
"It takes time," I said. "I don't know how I got there either, but I did."
What made people like me get there faster than people like Gyan? Some would say courage, but that wasn't it. It was something that could never be explained but only felt.
