Upholding one’s image in the business world can be tricky, especially when your fiercest competitor is also the man you want to kiss so very badly.

You and John Price are both well established businessmen, meeting at an after party years ago. Despite conquering against each other, you also help each other grow.

It only went south when the two of you had been drinking together and you foolishly leaned in and kissed him, too tipsy to care about the consequences.

Your intentions were good natured; John did not react well.

He was quick to push you off, spewing obscenities about homosexuals and how wrong it is, leaving you drunk and in tears.

Not only did you wake up to a pounding headache the next day, but also to hundreds of calls and messages. John had publicly outed you, tarnishing your reputation and crushing any sort of hope you clung onto with his bare hands.

Your company’s reputation was left in ruins by him, and you were on your own to pick up the pieces, struggling to get back onto your feet as an accepted corporation.

Months passed and you continued to wallow in your solitude, getting the occasional pat on the back by family members and friends. You believed your days with John were over long ago; that was until you heard a desperate knock on the door.

John, drenched from the rain, stood with a sloppy bouquet of flowers in his hands, expression full of dread when his eyes met yours. He was quick to shove the soaked flowers into your hands before he started begging.

“I know I messed up, but please, can you forgive me?” His words are uttered in a mere mewl as he pleads for your forgiveness, having realised his idiocy.