Romeo revealed that of the Eight Dukes, he’s closest to Ian Fang. He was, however, left speechless when Chris asked “who he hated the most”.
“Weren’t you and Desmond rivals back then?” pried Chris.
Desmond quickly stepped in to answer the question. “The rivalry was more of a work rivalry, which was made into a thing by the media,” he said.
“So if someone were to be more successful than you, how would you feel about it?” pressed Chris.
“The me back then would be unhappy. I would think that I could do better, and I would be upset with myself. I’m more competitive by nature,” said Desmond.
It’s a sentiment echoed by Romeo. “I think how we feel now is different from how we felt back then. In the past, we were more likely to compare ourselves [with others], like “Why him?”, “Why does he attract so much attention, not me?”. Things like that,” said Romeo.
“Now that we’re older, if we see any of the Eight Dukes doing well, I’m past that point where I wonder ‘Why not me?’.
“Honestly, Desmond and I don’t chat much. Maybe it was because of all the comparisons in the past. It’s hard to be good friends when you’re always being compared to each other. Now, we’re not in that phase anymore. He has his strengths, and I have mine.”
Desmond agreed with Romeo, saying: “One of my biggest takeaways from today is that I had the opportunity to chat openly with Romeo. Perhaps because we started out as the Eight Dukes, we never had the chance to speak much. Also we had the same image, and often took on similar roles, so there was always a sense of comparison, or competition. But looking back at it, we were never unhappy with each other, we were simply busy with our own careers.”