A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

F I N A L   C H A P T E R

Man was getting more frantic by the minute. What the hell was happening with Ben. Where the hell was he.

Man had gone back down to Ben's office after Ben had not responded to his calls but his office was locked. After knocking, Man used his master key to unlock the door. Ben wasn't there.

Man decided to go up to Tay's office to check if Ben was with Tay by any chance.

Tay was just about to leave for lunch when Man reached Tay's office.

"Have you seen Ben?" Man asked Tay without any preliminaries.

"Yes, earlier at breakfast time," Tay replied. "Then he called me two hours ago to say that he was going to a downtown supermarket to check out the prices of liquid laundry detergents because the suppliers were quoting unreasonably high prices for them. I asked him if he was coming back in time for lunch but he gave me a vague answer. He said, most probably."

"I have been calling him close to thirty times since this morning but he hasn't taken any of my calls," Man complained, running a hand distractedly through his hair.

"Lemme try calling him," Tay offered.

Man waited while Tay called Ben. Man was tempted to grab Tay's phone and talk directly to Ben but he kept himself in check and waited until Tay's conversation with Ben was over.

"He's on his way back," Tay informed Man. "I'm gonna go and get a housekeeper to meet Ben at the entrance with a trolley because he's carrying a heavy box with two one-gallon bottles of liquid laundry detergent inside it."

"No," Man pulled Tay back. "Don't get a housekeeper. I will wait for him at the entrance and help him bring the bottles of liquid laundry detergent into the building."

Man stood just outside the hotel's revolving doors and crossed his arms as he waited for Ben to arrive back at the hotel.

It seemed like an eternity until Man saw Ben alight from the bus and start making his way to the hotel driveway.

Halfway through the length of the driveway, Ben noticed Man standing at the top of the stairs of the entrance to the lobby.

In a panic, Ben quickly set down the heavy box containing the liquid laundry detergent at the curbside of the driveway and started running away.

Man almost tripped as he ran down the stairs and chased after Ben.

Passing by the box of liquid laundry detergent and ignoring it and hoping that no passerby would grab and steal it, Man ran like his life depended on catching Ben and soon enough he was able to reach Ben, near enough to grab his arm and spin him around to face him.

"What do you want from me?" Ben asked defiantly in the coldest tone that he could muster.

Without loosening his tight grip on Ben's arm, Man pulled out his phone from his pocket with his other hand and called Tay.

"Please send a housekeeper to pick up the box of detergent in the driveway," Man instructed Tay.

After Tay said 'yes' Man cut the call and put his phone back into his pocket. Then he dragged Ben towards the bus stop where the hotel staff and hotel guests would not notice them.

"I need an explanation for this hostile behavior that you are giving to me," Man demanded from Ben.

"And I need an explanation for why you couldn't give me the courtesy of a formal breakup before engaging in physical intimacy with Kathy," Ben countered, his voice remaining hostile.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Man demanded angrily.

"Oh, you're going to pretend that you did not kiss Kathy inside the staff lounge behind the reception desk?" it was Ben's turn to demand angrily.

Without another word, Man grabbed Ben and dragged him inside the hotel, going straight to the reception desk where, thankfully Kathy was still there because the morning shift receptionist had requested Kathy to cover for her until after lunch due to some personal emergency.

Man stopped right in front of Kathy and said to her, "Ben over here is claiming that he saw me kissing you inside the staff lounge this morning."

Kathy's eyes widened so much that they looked like they were gonna fall off their sockets.

"What the hell!" was all she could manage to say.

"She was holding your arm and you were bending towards her face," Ben said, still determined to push with his accusation.

"Ohmygahd," Kathy's voice came back. "That was probably when I was trying to wipe away the eyelash that had fallen into your eye and was causing irritation and blurring your vision."

Ben was about to run away but Man caught him by the wrist and said, "I won't ask for an apology from you but you owe Kathy one."

"I'm sorry, Kathy,"  Ben expressed a reluctant apology before tugging his wrist from Man's grasp and quickly making his way to the elevator area.

"Oh no, you're not," Man muttered, regaining his grip on Ben's wrist.

He didn't let go of Ben until they reached the executive floor where Man's private suite was.

"I'm not going to ask for an apology, but I'm going to ask for this," Man said.

Ben did not resist until their passionate kiss was over.

"I couldn't call you to let you know that I was running late in coming back from the conference last night because my phone battery died on me," Man explained, still sounding a little breathless from the kiss. "I shouldn't have accepted that third glass of champagne from the host manager of the hotel where the conference was held because I barely made it back safely here. Kathy saw me stumbling into the lobby and had kindly taken my luggage and led me into the staff lounge to try to sober me up. I didn't wake up till around seven. I quickly washed my face but in doing so I happened to rub my eyes too hard and one of my eyelashes fell halfway into my eye. Kathy noticed my affected eye growing red and teary and that's when I asked her to help me get rid of the offending eyelash. You know how much taller I am than Kathy that's why I had to bend to bring my face within her reach."

"I'm sorry for making a snap judgment on you and Kathy," Ben said, unable to look Man in the eye.

"I need reparation for it," Man said, grabbing Ben close to him and kissing him once more.

Man deepened the kiss when he felt Ben's response.

Both Man and Ben were breathing hard, their foreheads and chests wet with perspiration after a very satisfactory lovemaking.

"I have a confession to make," Ben said after he and Man had taken a quick shower together.

"What now," Man asked with some anxiety.

"I have rented a studio apartment downtown and will be moving there tonight," Ben said.

"No, you're not!" Man could not help raising his voice.

"Think about it, P'Man," Ben put on a persuasive tone of voice, "I think it would be the most ethical thing to do because I am your subordinate here. It is bad enough that we are in a relationship. We should at least not be living together in your private suite."

Man was still inclined to disagree  but Ben said, "We will still be seeing each other everyday and you could always spend your evenings with me."

"In fact you can sleep over on some nights," Ben said with a naughty wink.

"No, not some nights," Man protested, "Every night."

"I can agree to that," Ben replied, tiptoeing to give Man a kiss.

Man was more than happy to pay back that kiss.

T H E   E N D