Mallory was staring at the mirror on the dressing room. It took him a minute to realize he was pacing out of existence as someone knocked at the door. 

"Are you still alive there?" Don called out. "The line here is getting long." 

Mallory rushed to put on his new jeans and almost lost his balance. He walked out and looked around. Oddly enough, there was no line of people at all like Don said. 

"You said there was a line!" Mallory angrily said. 

Don spoke impishly, "Sorry, You were taking too long."

"...Don, why do you like lying so much?" Mallory criticized.

"Pardon?" Don became a bit taken aback and defended himself, "Mal, I'm just messing around."

Mallory put his chin down and glared momentarily at Don. He placed his hands on his hips and spoke, "I hope it's not too much to ask, Don. I want you to be honest with me completely."

Don had the irresistible desire to made up an excuse and say he doesn't lie, but  he managed to control his mouth. He wanted to become a better person, for himself and Mallory. He sighed deeply and nodded impassively.

"...Sorry," Don responded meekly to Mallory with his head tilted down.

"It's not that hard, Don---"

Don then rose his head up and added with a dramatic point, "But you will stop from smoking!"

Mallory furrowed his brows and gasped, "What? Wait!"

"I am not going to lie anymore if  you are not going to use cigarettes, Mal," Don demanded as he inched his face to Mallory. It was too close that their noses were touching.

Mallory sighed deeply and reluctantly agreed, "Sure! Why the hell not?"

Don shut his eyes in regret and angrily thought, "Why the goddamn fuck did you agree?"

"...I didn't expect that you'll actually agree," Don trailed off.

Mallory giggled and reassured Don, "Don't worry about it, sweetheart. We'll do it together."

"Being a pathological liar is in my parent's genes, though," Don reasoned.

"Don't get so fed up with your old man. You're different okay? Don't compare yourself to him. Fuck genetics." Mallory said as he put his both hands on Don's shoulders. "What I see is a dashing gentleman who's trying to be the best version of himself despite his past."

Don's frustration faded as he accidentally beamed from Mallory's flattering statements. His grin formed a dimple as his eyes wrinkled along. "Thanks, Mal."

Nobody ever saw a genuine smile from Don for fifty years, except Mallory.

"Don't mention it," Mallory winked before he turned around to conceal his reddening cheeks. "Let's go buy my pants. I'm freezing down here."

Don laughed and followed Mallory towards the female cashier. She briefly glared at Mallory and averted her attention at Don who was at her front. A flash of light caught Mallory's attention. He spun around to a group of photographers who was filming them. 

"Hey, Blondie," Mal chimed as Don was busy with the cashier. Don counted his money and glanced with a wink. "Wait just a hot minute, Sweetie." He brought out seventy dollars and handed it to the cashier. Mallory pulled Don out of the shop before he could get his change. 

As they ran towards the mall exit, Don stared at Mallory perplexedly. Mallory pointed his lips to the suspicious strangers.

"Uh... Do you want to kiss?" Don whispered with pure confusion, "Why do you keep puckering?"

"Damn it, I'm pointing to them!" Mallory lowly said.

Don rolled his eyes, mocking Mallory. "Are you doing that filipino habit again? You know I don't get it when you point your lips, point with your fingers---"

Don was interrupted as Mallory ran and dragged Don into the fire exit. But another swarm of paparazzi ambushed them at the parking lot. Mallory squinted his lights from the blinding camera flashes and let go of Don's arm. There were tons of incomprehensible sounds coming from the paparazzi. 

A microphone was shoved at Don's face and was bombarded with probing questions. "What are you two and Mallory doing at the Mall?"

Don plastered on a smile and shrugged casually. "We are just hanging out."

Another paparazzi put out a recorder and pointed it to Mallory. "Is it true you two in a relationship?" 

Mallory looked up at Don and raised an eyebrow. "Well, yeah. What of it?"

The sounds of the unethical journalists became louder. A man then rose another question to Don. 

"Were you aware of Mallory's latest scandal last year?" The paparazzi asked as he raised up his microphone. 

Don furrowed his brows as Mallory's eyes widen. "Pardon me?"

"I assume you were not aware at all?", the paparazzi probed. "Would you be afraid that it would ruin the peak of your musical career?"

Before Don could answer, Mallory pulled his arm and shoved the paparazzi off their way. In the way of Mallory pushing away the crowd, another stalking female reporter reached out his microphone to Don. "Is it true that you left your current foreign girlfriend for Mallory?" 

Mallory paused and glared at Don, who answered quickly. "Yes, we broke up."

"She said you also have been in relationships with other multiple women without her and Mallory's prior knowledge. What can you say about this?" the reporter snidely asked. 

Don felt Mallory's hands loosen up. He turned and tried to catch his lover, who succeeded in pushing the crowd away from his exit and walked out of the scene. 

"Mal!" Don called out as the flashing of camera lights increased. The reporter continued to probe at Don, who was extremely exasperated. She blocked his path towards Mallory and spoke again. "You haven't answered my question yet, Mister Vasco!"

Don sighed heavily as he tried very hard to maintain his composure.

He replied with a tone of compressed rage in his voice. "That's utterly hearsay. You have no evidence of it."

"Witnesses have told us that you had  many lovers-" 

Don saw a gap in the crowd and ran away. The swarm chased him towards the streets as he dialled up Mallory's number in his phone. He sprinted very quickly as he impatiently waited for the phone. 

"Pick up, pick up. Please, for the love of  everything that's unholy." Don muttered to himself.

"Sorry, the number you have dialled is unavailable--"

Don fought the urge to break the phone, cursed under his breath and turned sharply at the alleyway. He hid behind the dumpster until the sounds of the paparazzi has gone away. He goes out of the alleyway and decided to call Rose instead. After three beeps, she picked up. "Hello, Rose?"

"Oh hello, Don." Rose replied with nonchalance. "What's up?"