The No-Kiss Agreement

Chapter 5

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

AJ's POV

Mr. Kuariyakul made me go to the fax machine behind the desk outside his office which he had designated to be my work desk. Although it was a fax machine, it could also make photocopies of documents. He instructed me to make a photocopy of my driver's license and my social security card.

He asked me if I had a current passport. I said I did but that I did not have it with me at the moment.

I wondered why he wanted to know if I had a current passport. Was one of my duties to travel outside the country for business purposes? I wanted to ask him that but decided to ask next time if he insisted that I give him a copy of that as well.

After I made a copy each of my driver's license and social security card, I walked back inside Mr. Kuariyakul's office. He had sat back in his chair behind his desk and was busy typing something into his computer.

"Sir," I said to him, handing him the copies that he wanted.

"It's okay," he said, "just call me Toptap."

I hesitated.

"What?" he raised an eyebrow at me.

Should I say that I didn't feel comfortable calling him 'Toptap'? It sounded very much like the nickname that one would give a baby or a toddler.

"Toptap," he repeated. "Is that very hard to pronounce?"

"I ... "

"It's okay," he said. "You can go back to calling me 'sir' ."

Alright what the hell.

"Toptap," there I said it, now somehow feeling very fatherly towards him, haha. "Here are the copies of my driver's license and social security card."

He took them from me.

He studied my driver's license for just a few seconds before looking up and studying my face intently.

"When you first came in I got worried that you might be under aged," he said. "I would get in trouble with the law if I hired you to be my office assistant."

"I can assure you, sir, I mean Toptap, that I am of legal age with the mental maturity of a thirty year old or even older."

He gave me a smirk.

"Running away from a parent is not a sign of maturity to me," he said.

"I'm not really running away," I said, somehow feeling offended by his judgment of me. "I'm just trying to keep the peace with my father by not getting in his way."

"Whatever," he seemed to quickly get tired of the topic.

He spent the rest of the morning showing me some of the office tasks that he had to do routinely.

"I will be passing on to you some of these tasks," he said. "to free me up for the new tasks that the owner of this company has assigned me to do."

"And what are those new tasks?" I asked out of curiosity.

"I will let you know when the time comes that I might need some of your assistance on those," he replied evasively, making me even more curious.

Shortly there was a knock on his door and someone who looked like a maintenance guy poked his head by the office door saying, "The computer and desk phone have been installed, sir."

"Thank you, Mike," Toptap said, standing from his desk.

"Come with me outside," he said to me.

I noticed right away the desk top computer on one side of my desk and the phone equipment on the opposite side.

"Wow," I said, "That was fast."

"Yes, Mike is a very efficient worker." Toptap said, looking approvingly at the computer and desk phone.

Then Toptap glanced at his wrist watch.

"It's lunch time," he said, "come, I will show you where the company cafeteria is."

I followed him to the elevator where he pressed the B button on the number pad on one side of the elevator wall.

The elevator took us to the basement.

The smell of delicious food wafted to my nose even as we had just stepped out of the elevator.

"It will be my treat today," he said to me.

"Thank you," I said. "Tomorrow I will be the one to treat you."

"You don't have to," he said as he walked to stand behind the last person in line.

"I insist," I said.

He waved away my offer with a dismissive gesture of his hand.

"Save it for when you receive your first paycheck," he said.

I almost said, "When I receive my first paycheck I will be treating you to more than just a meal."

Then I caught myself. What the hell was I thinking.

Luckily I had not said the words out loud or I would have lost my job even before I had started.

"Choose whatever dish you want," Toptap said when we reached the glass counters.

I chose the honey walnut shrimp on a bed of finely sliced salted red ginger strips and a side of fragrant jasmine rice.

I noticed that Toptap chose the same.

Hmm... one thing in common. I started to count.

I chose the ice cold bottle of kiwi strawberry juice.

He did the same.

Two points now.

Toptap led me to a corner table by the glass wall where we could see the street below.

"Are you married?" were the first words that came out of me as soon as we sat.

The blood surged up my face when he did not answer but just stared wide eyed at me.