As soon as he answered, the capable secretary reported his work results. Teeradon had to let out a big sigh when he heard what the young man said.
"It's not in the directory. It's not an employee's motorcycle."
"Then whose is it?" Teeradon pressed.
"Um, this will take me some time to investigate." Toey answered. "But why do you want to know?"
"Never mind." Teeradon spoke curtly, then continued giving orders. "Toey, check if anyone new has started working in IT. Male, good-looking, recent graduate."
"No one," Toey replied immediately.
"You searched pretty fast," Teeradon needled.
"The most recent hire is thirty-plus, short and fat, somewhat bald, and married. If a handsome young man started working here, there's no way I wouldn't know." Toey laughed softly before making a shocked sound. "Oh no, don't tell me you're going to dip your pen in the company ink when you can't get actors."
"That mouth of yours. I should fire you. Someone like Teeradon will never lack for guys." Teeradon sounded stern.
"Khun Teeradon, the meeting's over. When will you be back at the office? You have an appointment at 11." Toey changed the subject with a straight face.
"Five more minutes. Don't time me." Teeradon hung up without waiting for his secretary's usual protests.
After finishing lunch and working until 3 PM, Teeradon recalled his own order for that "computer technician" to come see him after finishing work. The handsome, sharp face kept floating around, bothering him all afternoon. But he'd completely forgotten about the motorcycle racer until he stood up to stretch by the window and looked down below.
Where did it go? The motorcycle's gone. I completely forgot. If I'd known, I should have told security to detain him.
And why didn't that handsome computer technician come report to me?
But wait, Toey said IT doesn't have any good-looking new employees. The most recent one is short and fat as he said.
Teeradon walked straight to the door. The moment he opened it, Toey turned sharply, mouth opening to ask something. Teeradon immediately raised his hand to stop him.
"Don't ask. And don't follow."
"I won't ask, but I'll tell you. Four o'clock sharp, appointment with Mr. von Bergis. After that, the Chula students, then Mr. Kumiyama this evening. Dinner with Chevron. After that, you can go out with your beloved singer boy wherever you want."
"Why do we have to schedule so many appointments in one day?" Teeradon complained.
"This appointment was moved from last week because you said you weren't available. You had to go out with—"
"No, no, no more sarcasm." Teeradon stopped him. "Cancel the Chula students. And why do I have to have dinner with Chevron? What does that have to do with us? They sell oil, we sell alcohol."
"Building relationships. You'll have to ask marketing about that one." Toey shrugged. "But you can't cancel the Chula students. They've been postponed two or three times already. Poor kids are doing research. I'm also a Chula alum—have some sympathy."
"And Mr. Kawa-whatever..."
"Kumiyama," Toey corrected. "That one can't be cancelled either because..."
"Because what?" Teeradon asked immediately, knowing his secretary was deliberately leaving the sentence unfinished to make him pay attention.
"Because it's a huge, massive, enormous multi-million order."
Teeradon sighed and walked away quickly, hearing only his never-tiring secretary's voice floating after him. Now he needed to see why that computer technician hadn't come to report to him.
Or maybe he's still not finished working. What has he been doing from 9 AM until 3 PM?
Teeradon stopped at the spot where he'd almost been hit by the falling wrench, then continued following the steel rails overhead as his guide. When he'd walked far enough to nearly reach the back of the building, he saw two people standing and smoking.
"Who gave permission to smoke on company grounds?" Teeradon made an issue of it. A thin, dark-skinned young man and another chubby, fair-skinned one looked startled and quickly threw their cigarettes to the ground.
"I'm the company president. Who are you two?" Teeradon's voice and expression were stern.
"Er, we, I, er, are computer technicians," the dark-skinned young man stammered.
"Fixing what?"
"Running network cables, sir." the other technician answered for his friend.
"The one who climbed up to run cables up there, right?" Teeradon pointed up to the steel rails where this morning he'd seen the good-looking "monkey" hanging and carelessly dropping the wrench that nearly hit his head.
Both young technicians nodded. Teeradon then asked if they worked for the company, but both said they were outside contractors hired to do the work.
"Working since this morning?" Teeradon tried to connect this to the handsome young man from the morning.
"No, we came at noon. This morning the head engineer was here, sir."
Head engineer. That must be him. He seemed well-educated, not clumsy like these two kids.
"The one with big eyes, fair complexion, thick eyebrows, prominent nose, red lips—is that him?"
Both computer technicians nodded. One of them said, "Khun Wittawin, head engineer. He owns the company too. He's coming again tomorrow."
Hmm, that's good then. His name is Wittawin? Company owner, no less. No wonder he dared to deliberately disobey my order to come see me.
I wonder what would happen if I cancelled the contract and changed to a new company...
Today's meeting was extremely tense. After it ended, Teeradon walked to the back of the company building, finding a quiet corner to smoke before his competent secretary could call to check on him. Normally, he hardly smoked unless he was annoyed or stressed to the breaking point.
Cigarette finished, Teeradon called Puri, a young actor who'd become attached to him. They chatted pleasantly until he felt better, then walked back to the office, intending to return and "deal with" the owner of that daredevil motorcycle once and for all.
The handsome CEO took a shortcut under one of the buildings, pulling out his phone to search for the number of Wasin, a young singer who'd just won The Shining Star 7 competition, which his company had major-sponsored. Wasin had met him at the congratulatory party for winners and had become his "new toy" for a week now.
Teeradon was about to lift the phone to his ear when he suddenly froze in shock. A large wrench had fallen, missing his head by mere inches. He looked up in annoyance and was momentarily stunned.
A good-looking young man sat on the steel rail—which he assumed was electrical wiring—looking down at him. His right arm hung from another steel rail, and he extended his other pale hand downward, asking him to pass up the wrench.
Hmm. A handsome little monkey.
"Do you know you almost hit my head?" Teeradon frowned.
"Sorry, but I knew it wouldn't hit you. Otherwise, I would have heard screaming by now. Could you pass me the wrench?"
"What are you fixing?" Teeradon asked curtly.
"Computer," the voice answered briefly.
"What's a computer doing up there?" Teeradon sighed, knowing he'd encountered a "troublemaker."
Is this an IT technician? Do we have employees this good-looking? Sharp eyes, thick eyebrows, prominent nose, red lips. Tell me he's an actor in disguise filming a movie and I'd believe it. Most importantly, mmm... nice ass.
"I'm fixing the network system. The optical cable and switcher are having problems. The server can't find the IP, so I had to climb up here." The voice from above explained slowly. "Could you pass me the wrench?"
Teeradon fell silent because he didn't understand what the young man said. He bent down to pick up the wrench from the ground and handed it up.
"Could you boost me up a bit?"
Great. Now he's giving me orders. Does he know who I am?
"When did you start working here? Are you from IT or maintenance?" Teeradon asked, then felt puzzled because when he looked closely, he could see this computer technician wasn't wearing the technician uniform like other employees he'd seen.
"This morning. I've been working for exactly one hour and thirty minutes. No more, no less."
"When you finish working, come see me. Third floor, front building. Ask for Toey, the company's head secretary." Teeradon boosted him up, handed over the wrench, then walked away as his phone rang.
He didn't need to answer to know who it was—he'd set a specific ringtone for the "head secretary's" number, who always called him immediately after meetings ended.
***