Double Trouble [Complete]

The Birth of Archenemies

"Shit! Shit, shit, shit!" Mark curses while hurriedly locking his apartment.

The elevator is full by the time it comes, so with an annoyed growl, he runs toward the staircase. He's going to be sweaty once he reaches the lobby, but it's better than being too late.

Yeah, Mark Masa, the typical perfectionist lean specialist, is late for the first time of his three-year career.

"Damn alarm!" He curses between his heavy breaths as he remembers how his alarm has just died on him.

Arriving at the lobby, checked, now he needs to run again to catch up on his bus, which of course, has driven off when he reaches the stop.

"For God's sake!" Mark exclaims, shocking the others waiting for the next bus.

His next bus still has fifteen minutes before arriving, so he needs to pick another option, the cab, even though it's costly and he may need to cut off today's lunch allowance.

Whatever. It's better than being late, he guesses.

So, that's how Mark finds himself heaving on the backseats of the cab, annoyed and grouchy that his usual plan was ruined by a damned alarm.

Taxi is faster than bus, but Mark still arrives late since he has to run from the main gate, past the factory compound to the office building. Actually, his office gives their employees thirty minutes spare time for accidental lateness and Mark has only wasted ten minutes of it. But, it's still considered late in his dictionary because he's known as a stick in the mud like that. Even the security, who has known him since the first day, raises his eyebrow.

"It's not like you to be late, Khun," the security says while checking his bag.

Mark answers him with a shaky chuckle and hastily grabs his bag so he can go to the elevator. Fortunately, it's empty since everyone has gone to their own divisions already.

Mark's office is in Khon Kaen. It's the Thailand main branch of a multinational manufacturing company based in the US and Mark has been trusted to fill the only one lean specialist position once he passed the competency tests. So the Bangkok boy Mark Masa had to move out of his hometown. Fortunately, Khon Kaen has been giving him a sense of home to him, so he doesn't really feel homesick.

Moreover, he can get away from his creepy stalker ex-boyfriend that way, but let's save that story for later, shall we?

The ding sound of the elevator signals him that he has arrived on his floor. With a little haste on his feet, Mark enters the office.

He didn't expect that his floor would be so hectic in the morning. What did he miss in the ten minutes of his lateness?

Quietly, Mark makes a beeline to the far corner of the floor, where the accounting division is located, to find his best friend so he can ask about the unusual business.

"Hey, Kam," Mark peeks above his best friend's cubicle.

"Yo, morning, Mark," Kamphan greets without looking up. There's no mug of smoking latte by Kamphan's keyboard, which means he hasn't made it yet, which is also unusual since Mark knows how Kamphan enjoys a mug of hellish hot latte in the morning before working.

"Uh, what's going on?" Mark finally asks.

Kamphan stops typing on his keyboard and finally looks up with a grave expression, "Do you know that we're going to have new IT and SP managers on the same day now?"

At that, Mark frowns. As the one who often keeps in touch with the supply planning, or known as SP, division the most, it's the news he doesn't know.

"Today?"