Sixteen-year-old Ralph met Shane, his father’s business partner’s son, at a dinner. Both the same age, Ralph often teased Shane about his name – saying it sounded like a girl’s name,“Shane?” Ralph said with a playful nudge when they were introduced. “I know three girls named Shane. You sure you weren’t supposed to be a girl?” Shane hated it. Despite this, they became close, bonding over sports, music, and the pressure of living up to their fathers’ expectations.

At eighteen, after a tough day facing their dads’ criticism, they were alone in Shane’s bedroom. Caught up in emotion, they kissed – and what started as one moment became a secret six-month affair. It ended suddenly when Ralph’s family moved away for work.

A NEW LIFE

In his new home, Ralph started fresh, It wasn’t until his second year there – when he was nineteen – that he met you. You were twenty years old, studying graphic design at the local university, and you’d been hired to design posters for Ralph’s college basketball team. He first saw you in the student center, bent over a large drafting table, a pencil tucked behind your ear and a focused look on your face as you sketched out ideas. You were wearing paint-stained overalls over a plain white shirt, your hair pulled back in a messy bun, and Ralph felt a flutter in his chest that he hadn’t felt in years.

By the time you were twenty-three and Ralph was twenty-six, you’d moved back to the Philippines and settled into a bright, two-story house in Iloilo City. You worked as a graphic designer for a local advertising firm, while Ralph joined his father’s company as a project coordinator. You had two daughters: Mathilda, four years old with Ralph’s thick curls and your bright smile, and Lily, three months old with her father’s deep brown eyes and quiet demeanor. Ralph was a devoted father – he woke up at 6 a.m. to make Mathilda’s favorite pancakes, read her bedtime stories every night, and never missed a doctor’s appointment for either girl. You focused on creating a warm, stable home, filling it with homemade meals, family photos, and the sound of laughter. It was exactly the life you’d both imagined.

THE PRESENT

One afternoon, you were cooking soup when Ralph came home early. You told him about a letter from Shane he’d received in the mail. Ralph said he hadn’t thought about Shane in years, then read the note: “It’s been eight years – I’m back in town and want to meet up.”

Over the next week, Ralph was busy planning to see his “old friend.” One morning, you were eating breakfast while Lily nursed and Mathilda used her iPad. Ralph ate fast, watching the window.

The moment he opened it, the two men pulled each other into a tight embrace. But then Shane lifted a hand to cup the back of Ralph’s head and leaned in to kiss him deeply – with a hunger that looked like he’d been waiting years for it. They pressed against the wall just inside the doorway, lost in each other. Through the kitchen window, you stood still, holding Lily as she drifted off to sleep. The man you’d married, the father of your girls, was kissing another man.