Under_The_Whispering_Door_by_TJ_Klune

Hugo seemed to let it go. “The Manager said I was selfless, which is why
I was under any consideration at all. He could see it in me. I laughed in his
face. How could I be selfless when I would have given anything to have them
back? I told him that if he put my parents in front of me along with a random
person and said I had to choose who lived or died, I would pick my mom and
dad without hesitation. That’s not how a selfless person acts.”
“Why not?”
Hugo looked surprised. “Because I would choose what made me happy.”
“Doesn’t mean you’re not selfless. If we never wanted something just for
ourselves, what would that make us? You were grieving. Of course that’s
what you would say.”
“That’s what the Manager said.”
Wallace wasn’t sure how he felt about that. In a way, he’d been a manager
of sorts, and that comparison didn’t sit well with him. “But you still said
yes.”
Hugo nodded slowly, picking at the string of lights on the railing. “Not
right away. He told me he’d give me time, but the offer wasn’t always going
to be on the table. And for a while after, I was going to say no, especially
after he told me all it would entail. I couldn’t … I wouldn’t have a normal
life. Not like everyone else. The job would come first, above all things. It
was a commitment, one that if I agreed to, would be binding for as long as I
drew breath.”
Wallace Price had been accused of many things in his life, but selflessness
was not one of them. He gave little thought to those around him, unless they
stood in his way. And God help them if they did. But even so, he could feel
the weight of Hugo’s words, and it was heavy on his shoulders. Not
necessarily because of what he’d said, but what it meant. They were alike in
ways Wallace hadn’t expected, choosing a job and putting it above all other
things. But that was where the comparisons ended. Perhaps, when Wallace
was young and bright-eyed, he’d started out with noble intentions, but those
had fallen by the wayside quickly, hadn’t they? Always about the bottom line
and what it meant for the firm. For Wallace.
Maybe on a surface level, he and Hugo could be considered similar, but it
didn’t go much further than that. Hugo was better than he could ever be.
Wallace didn’t think Hugo would make the same choices he had. “What
changed your mind?”