But now that my dream was about to be realized, I felt no excitement or thrill.

"You know our situation. It's better not to make it official in public."

I declined.

"It's up to you, to go or not!"

Since we've been together, I've never opposed him,

let alone repeatedly reject him as I did tonight.

He was humble enough, but I still couldn't appreciate it.

He slammed the door and left. I calmly organized the documents and thought about returning to work tomorrow.

When I woke up the next morning, I couldn't tell if Chandler had stayed up all night or risen early.

"Are you heading to work today? Your leg isn't great; let me drive you," he offered.

Seeing me up, he stood, appearing awkward and uneasy.

"Yeah, there's a lot to catch up on," I replied.

"No need to bother. It's better not to be seen together," I insisted.

Chandler's place was quite a distance from my workplace. Initially, I used to ask him to drop me off,

but he always cited his celebrity status and hailed taxis instead.

After a few attempts met with no response, I stopped asking.

Deep down, I knew those were just excuses. He had no qualms sending Lily home countless times.