Chapter Seven

This was the reason why Clive had come up with the ridiculous idea of telling him that his house had vanished. Because he must have known his parents were here. Why didn't he just tell Andrew then?

Andrew straightened himself. "Parents what are you both doing here? In my house?"

"You are my son." His father said looking at him like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "We're here because we heard from your assistant what you were thinking of doing. And we've come to stop you from making such a foolish decision. You're going to have a family of your own. The normal way."

"This has to stop." His mother put in. "You need to find a woman that you love. Not just go out and buy a family. It doesn't work like that."

"I do love someone." Andrew said feeling a little ashamed at how he had said that as if it felt unnatural.

"You do?" His parents asked at the same time. Shocked as much as Clive was too who had felt his hand being grabbed by Andrew tightly.

"I love him!"

"What?" His parents again asked in unity.

Clive stayed silent choosing to see how the whole thing played out.

"I'm gay." Andrew finally said, the words tumbling out of his mouth in a breathy rush. His heart felt like it was about to jump out of his chest as he waited for his parents' reaction.

For a moment, the whole room seemed to go silent. No one said anything as if the news was too much to process. The silence felt tense and deep and endless.

His father finally turned around and left the room.

His mother followed. And then just like before it was just him and Clive left in the room.

Clive had his eyes popped open looking at Andrew for an explanation. Andrew quicky dropped Clive's hand looking at him sheepishly. "Sorry. I-" before he spoke he ran to the living room's door to close it so his parents couldn't hear what he wanted to talk to Clive about.

"I'm so sorry Clive. They were just there .. I just said whatever I could think of."

Clive calmly took a breath and smiled at his boss. " So you're not in love with me?" He asked with a chuckle.

Andrew smiled nervously. " How do you do that?"

"What?"

"Take everything so lightly. I just lied about you to my parents and you're so calm. Are you human Clive?"

Clive laughed. " Last time I checked. "

He looked at Andrew's eyes. "So tell me what's the plan? Because your parents will be back soon."

"Clive I don't know. Let's run away from here while we have the chance. "

Clive only laughed. " That's impossible. Your parents wouldn't allow that." He sighed. " I don't know how they're gonna react to what you said though. Are you truly gay... Because well word does go around in the office that well no one has seen you with a woman. "

"What word?" Andrew questioned surprised that his employees had the time to actually gossip about him instead of actually working.

"Well come on Boss man lighten up. It's not malicious we're all just nosey that's all."

"Well if you must know no I'm not gay that just blew out of me because of my parents. "

" Oh". Clive nodded.

" But I am attracted to both female and male. I'm bisexual. Plus I like to keep my things private from the work place."

"Well yeah privacy is one thing but how come I your driver never see anything? I take everywhere."

"You don't need to know everything." Andrew pouted. "Now how do I get my parents out of here so I can hunt for my perfect family!"

" I think it's a little too late for that." Clive laughed. "They're in the house now and they're going to want to talk about what you said."

"I know." Andrew groaned in annoyance. " I'm going to have to sit down and talk to them."

"That's not such a bad thing." Clive said trying to cheer Andrew up. "Because they're your parents and well you should be able to be honest with them. And hopefully they'll be understanding."

"I doubt that very much." Andrew sighed as he heard a knock on the door.

"Clive please". Andrew begged. "I'll double your salary. Just this once help me!"

"I'm afraid I can't lie to your parents for you. They deserve to hear the truth from you." Clive said with a shake of his head. "I'll be your support but I can't hide things from them. They deserve the truth and you need to be honest with them."

Andrew groaned. "I'm going to hate you."

"No you won't." Clive said with a grin. "And this is for your own good. Sometimes the hard choices are the right ones."

There was a knock again. Andrew begrudgingly went to open the door.

Andrew's mother and father were standing at the door, both of them looking concerned and a little bit worried. Andrew didn't know what to expect but he knew it was going to be a long conversation.

"Come in." Andrew said reluctantly. "Can I get you anything to drink?"

"No thank you." His mother said sitting down on the sofa. "We need to talk about what you said."

Andrew swallowed nervously. "Yeah. I know."