Semua Bab Inappropriate Conduct : Bab 71 - Bab 80

Chapter Seventy-One — Collaborative TriumphJamieThe new project room smelled like fresh whiteboard markers and possibility.It was the first official day of the joint initiative they’d pitched to the board in the aftermath—*Black + Lane Forward*, a cross-departmental creative lab meant to prototype bold, boundary-pushing campaigns before clients even asked for them. No hierarchy inside these four walls. No titles. Just ideas, caffeine, and the quiet understanding that everyone in the room was allowed to be brilliant.Jamie stood at the long table covered in sketches, mood boards, and half-finished wireframes. Julian was already there, sleeves rolled to the elbows, marker in hand, drawing rough frames for a motion piece they’d been arguing about—playfully—since breakfast.“You’re still wrong about the transition,” Jamie said, leaning over the table to point at the sketch. “Fade-to-black is lazy. We need something that feels like the screen is breathing.”Julian raised an eyebrow, amu

Chapter Seventy-Three — Heritage HarmonyJamieThe flight to Manila was long, but the drive from the airport to his family’s house in Quezon City felt even longer.Jamie kept glancing at Julian in the passenger seat of the rented SUV—suit jacket off, sleeves rolled, tie loosened, looking quietly out the window at the chaotic, colorful blur of jeepneys, street vendors, and neon signs. He hadn’t said much since they landed, but his hand had stayed on Jamie’s thigh the whole drive, thumb moving in slow, absent circles like he was grounding himself.“You nervous?” Jamie asked softly.Julian turned his head. Gave a small, honest smile.“A little.”Jamie squeezed his hand. “They already like you.”“They like the version of me they’ve seen on video calls. The polite one who remembers birthdays and asks about the garden. Not the one who—”“—got publicly dragged through a corporate scandal, came out in a company-wide memo, and then asked their son to move in with him?” Jamie finished, teasing.

Chapter Seventy-Five — Proposal Sparks Jamie The getaway cabin was the same one they’d escaped to after the board cleared them—same pine walls, same stone fireplace, same wide windows looking out over the dark lake that reflected stars like scattered coins. But this time felt different. No crisis driving them here. No immediate threat breathing down their necks. Just the two of them, a long weekend cleared in both calendars, and a small velvet box Julian had been carrying in his coat pocket for three weeks like it might burn a hole through the lining. They arrived just as the sun dipped below the tree line, painting the water in streaks of orange and violet. Jamie dropped their bags by the door and immediately went to the fireplace, kneeling to stack kindling the way Julian had taught him the last time. Julian watched him from the doorway, arms crossed, quiet. “You’re staring,” Jamie said without turning around. “You’re beautiful when you’re focused,” Julian answered si

Chapter Seventy-Seven — Vows and Victory Levi The dock at the lake house had been swept clean that morning. Late-afternoon sun slanted low across the water, turning everything gold and soft at the edges. A simple wooden arch stood at the far end—wildflowers and eucalyptus woven through it by Jamie’s cousins the day before. No chairs. No aisle. Just the narrow stretch of weathered planks, the lake on both sides, and the small circle of people who mattered most. Levi stood at the head of the dock in a charcoal linen shirt, sleeves rolled, no tie. He’d insisted on officiating—half because Julian had asked, half because no one else was brave enough to tell two stubborn men what to do on their own wedding day. Jamie’s mom sat on one side with lola, both in soft pastel dresses, already dabbing at their eyes with handkerchiefs. Avery was next to them, arms crossed, trying (and failing) to look unimpressed while her mascara was actively betraying her. A handful of cousins and a couple of

Chapter Seventy-Nine — Legacy Launch Julian One year later The atrium of Black + Lane’s new headquarters building was flooded with morning light. Glass walls rose four stories, letting the Chicago sky pour in. The space had been designed specifically for today: long communal tables, movable whiteboards, charging stations everywhere, and—most importantly—a permanent wall of framed posters from every major campaign the agency had launched in the last twelve months. At the center of the wall, taking up the most prominent spot, was the Vanguard rebrand—the one Jamie had pitched under fire, the one that had turned the tide. Next to it hung the first campaign the new mentorship program had produced: a short, gut-punching PSA about mental health in creative industries, written and directed entirely by the inaugural cohort of young LGBTQ+ designers and filmmakers Black + Lane Forward had recruited. Julian stood near the back, arms crossed, watching the room fill. There were maybe