Chapter 26

Hale is startled with the sudden reaction of Harrison. He immediately distances himself from him due to indescribably awkwardness. The boss comes back to senses then stands up and follows him which makes the scene between them worse.

"Why did he follow me?" he whispered.

"Hale, stop right there," he was commanded not to move.

He cleared his face from sweat and deeply sighed. When Harrison is in front of him, he turns back as he is shy about what he just did earlier.

"Let's make things clear, okay? What you did was good... I-I-I mean... You did a medical action, I know you are just concerned, but do you think doing CPR was necessary? Be honest, do you have feelings for me?"

Hale became uncomfortable with what he was hearing. He was being judged and that boss was thinking that he was flirting. He didn't expect Harrison was think that he did a malicious act.

He was offended by this and embarrassed, he was just being scolded in front of many people. The fire was cleared just after their scandal happened, so the attention of everyone was to them.

"I am sorry, boss. It won't happen again."

"Okay. Anyway, you can exit now. Not only Hale, but all of the trainees. Have a nice day everyone. See you there tomorrow."

Hale can breathe now properly and his anxiety will tone down. He is supposed to cry but he is lucky that the boss is not talkative when angry. However, when he is going to Armando's home in a taxi, he cannot control himself flashing back to his mind about what happened between Harrison and him, specifically on the accidental kiss. It seems unexplainable to him as he felt a romance even the result made him anxious.

"Why can't I stop thinking of him? Just why? Am I liking Harrison? It is just weird because what I felt when kissing Xander was the same as Harrison."

He is confused now. He looked at his boss as Xander's clone or a carbon copy, and now a simple kiss reaction is also the same. He is questioning now about his dead secret boyfriend.

"What if my classmate is right? Xander might not be dead. I never read a single news article confirming his death. Then who is really at the grave? I didn't attend the burial and Armando just toured me to the location. I cannot sleep if I don't get the answers to my questions. I am going to be insane with this."

Because of overthinking, he didn't notice that the driver was already asking for the fare.

"Hey miss, are you okay? We are now at your destination. Hand me the fare, please."

"Oh, I am so sorry. My mind was flying in the sky while I was overthinking. Again, I am sorry that I made you wait."

"That is fine. Thank you."

He got out of the taxi and walked through the boarding house of Armando. He knocked on the door many times, his boyfriend might be busy he guessed.

Armando immediately went to the sink and washed his hands. He walked faster went to the door and opened it.

"My apologies, I was busy preparing our dinner."

"Oh, wow! You surprised me," Hale smiled widely.

"That is my treat between you and I. I am going to graduate next week, while you just started your work immersion. We deserve a sophisticated dinner and the food was made with love by yours truly," his boyfriend smirked and winked at him.

Hale followed Armando to the kitchen to watch his boyfriend cooking a special food.

"You bought a file mignon? How fantastic, Armando."

"Absolutely! Well, I don't want to spoil something, so let us change the topic. Just tell me about your first-day experience in Fuentabella Company."

He rolled his eyes before he told the story. He carefully chose his words as he didn't want to make Armando jealous.

"The tests are tough. I must be ready at all times before entering the company to avoid mistakes."

"What have you done wrong, my dear?"

"Well uhmmm... I didn't manage the time and I worked with mediocrity. I need to learn advanced formulas and techniques to make the work faster, especially on dealing with worksheets."

"Ohh, that one... I am such a fool, I didn't teach you. Doing worksheets is one of my jobs."

"Really? Then why didn't you teach me? Don't you know that I was embarrassed like the boss just left a side comment?"

"I am sorry, Hale. Well, from now on I will be your personal trainer."

"You are not joking, are you?"

"I am serious. I, Armando, serving as your personal trainer and making sure you will master anything that I taught." His boyfriend saluted him and made a promising gesture.

"Then that is good. No romance later, after the dinner you will start teaching me. Deal?"

"Deal!"

~~~

Hale pushed the button of the alarm clock when he was awakened by its sound. He wondered why the alarm time was too early. Armando just set the alarm last night and planned to wake his girlfriend so that he could continue the training.

"Good morning, my Hale," he greeted his partner passionately and brought a coffee.

"What is the event today?" his girlfriend started to be curious.

"I am just doing my job, it's time now to have our master class."

Hale suddenly covered his face and his eyes zoomed. "W-W-What? Seriously?"

"I am serious, I just want you to learn as fast as the speed of sound. We need to rush this as you need to wear skills so that you will not be scolded."

"Oh my god, this is stressful. But okay, I am game on it. Just let me prepare my body first, I need to shower first to make my mind fresh."

"No problem."

Five minutes later...

While Armando's girlfriend is busy in the restroom, he puts his attention on his computer by checking his emails. There is an email that grabs his attention and immediately opens it.

The email was sent by the CEO of the Fuentabella Company. He was appointed to be an assistant to the CEO and his job was to train the ABM trainees and continue his former job.

It looks like he doesn't need to act as a personal trainer of Hale since he has an obligation to train more people simultaneously.

Hale has just done showering, then Armando just notified him about the email he received.

"Wait, what?"

"Yes, Mr. Harrison Fuentabella wanted me to go back to my job."

"Uh-oh! Then I will just go back to bed, it's just 4 A.M. anyway so... See you there later."

Armando continued his business on the computer. He sipped coffee before he did something. He is busy now on working a resumé and CV for future purposes.

Just a few seconds later, he received a call from Harrison.

"Good morning, boss. How are you?"

"I have a good mood today, I am happy my feet are recovering."

"That is a good news."

"By the way, have read my email? How is it?"

"Informally, I accept the offer. Would I need to send you a resumé?"

"Yes, please. But no need to do an interview, I still have your notes about your responses. And also, I trust you very much."

"Thank you for that."

"See you there later. Have a nice day."

Armando deeply sighed and clapped with excitement. This is his lucky day, even if he is just a graduating college student, he was been offered a job. Finally, he can earn money to have high savings.

8:00 A.M, Fuentabella Company

"Good morning, trainees. I introduce to you my assistant, Armando. He will be your trainer and one of the evaluators of your work immersion," Harrison introduced Armando to the ABM trainees.

"I am happy to meet you all, trainees. I hope you can learn many things from me. Promise, I will turn you from an amateur into a master in doing ABM-related work. Now, follow me to the training room to let us get started.

After the trainees introduced themselves to Armando, the training formally started. First, they start learning the advanced formulas and techniques in Microsoft Excel.

The training was authentic until the students noticed that Armando was focusing on a single trainee. They have just misinterpreted what Armando did since Hale really needs assistance because he is not a fast learner.

Harrison was curious how the training went so he tried to visit the training room. Unfortunately, he grimaced and felt upset when he saw the indecent action of his assistant.

He just secretly entered the room so that he would not disturb anyone, however, he did it on purpose. He is observing the two which is the couple.

Since the day he was kissed by Hale, he didn't sleep last night early because every time he closed his eyes he flashed back to the scene. And now he felt jealous seeing Hale having a long time on a certain station with Armando.

Just after the training session, he commanded Armando to go to the office on lunch break.

"Uhm Armando... I have so much trust in you, and I love your working attitude and quality of accomplishing tasks. But there is something I wanted to know aside from what is written in your resumé."

Armando is now wondering why his boss is talking to him that way. He is reminiscing about what he did a few hours ago.

"I noticed that you are so close with Hale. You were there yesterday, I heard how you cheered him. And lately, I noticed you are so near to him, it's something you are acting like you are his personal trainer. There is a special treatment happening there... Do you have a love relationship with him?"