Masters of the Hurricane

Part II

The buzz of his office phone only made a smile appear on Mile's face as he looked to the large screen where he was having his zoom call. That was probably the fifth time it had rung with an insistence in the past half hour.

"Sir. If you'd like to stop the meeting here, we can come back?" A woman, one of Mile's marketing managers commented as she sat back in her seat, her presentation already completed.

The rest of the room gave a nod of their heads in acknowledgement. The phone interrupting the conversations was making them nervous when their boss would just laugh it off and tell them to continue...until it happened again. It was as if Mile knew who was on the other end of the phone and was purposely antagonizing them. They could tell from the amused smile on their boss' face that he was getting a kick out of tormenting the phone caller.

"Is it that time already?" Mile lifted his wrist to peek at his Bulgari watch, observed the small hand count the seconds to 12:30 on the dot and his stomach grumbled in unison, he clapped his hands. "You're absolutely right. Let's pick up tomorrow."

Mile was in the comfort of his huge corner office on the 20th floor as the others were gathered in a conference room on the 10th floor. Being a company president meant that he didn't have to go anywhere he didn't want to – that included within his own building. He waved to the members of his executive team, turned off the zoom call, and heard the ring of his office phone one more time and he smirked to himself. "I thought he said I wasn't worth the effort?" He spoke to himself. Turning on his heel, standing in just his shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, tie removed as soon as he felt like it was choking him, and his fingers curled around the telephone with a "Hello?"

"Phakphum!"

"I thought we said we were on a casual first name basis, Apo?" Mile chuckled at the shout of his name. He had been biding his time to answer the phone purposely. After the press conference where he had made his spectacular presentation on high-end investments in luxury brands with K-pop celebrities and Thai actors, he went back to the room to see everyone's jaws on the floor (as expected); however, only one pair of eyes were the ones he wanted to garner attention from.

Beautiful hazels that were stunning and reminded Mile of chocolate diamonds as they blinked an irate glance in Mile's direction. Before Mile could open his mouth to tell Apo 'I told you so' it was the younger man's turn to head to do his own presentation. Being an investment firm that raked in millions every year, Mile knew all of the captains of industry and Apo's revolutionary leadership in construction and design made for a competitive edge in housing development in Thailand.

Yes. Mile had read the proposal. He just wanted to put a face to the 'memo'. And damn if it hadn't knocked the wind out of him to envision those plush lips pulled back in a sweet smile instead of a snarky one or the crinkle of those almonds for eyes in contentment instead of glaring at him in frustration, as Apo was currently doing.

"Apo—"

"You're up Khun Nattawin!"

Mile had to resist looking behind him to snap at the person interrupting this moment only to feel Apo brush past him towards the door and Mile scoffed, "I didn't think you'd be a sore loser. Disappointing?" He knew that sounded harsher than he meant and was about to apologize for being rude when he felt a chill go down his spine at the look Apo gave him when Mile turned around to face the other man.

Apo paused in his step, peeked over his shoulder to toss a scathing look to this man that was doing amazingly at getting under his skin. "Losing isn't in my vocabulary. I told you. Turning your back on me might be the mistake you'll wish you didn't make." The younger gave a huff and went out of the door with a pristine smile plastered on as if no one noticed how they goaded the one another.

"He's a handful," Mile spoke out loud to no one in particular, watched the screen turn on to tune into Apo's broadcast, and he watched it to its entirety. He waited for him to come back to the room but when he never did, Mile approached the conference coordinator.

"Khun Nattawin left promptly after his presentation."

Snorting at the obvious cat and mouse chase. Mile would just dig out his cellphone to send a 'MEMO' for Apo's attention since he still had the email and it had Mile's work information plus a bonus of, "If you want to stop being childish, call me and we can discuss over lunch at my office. I'll even increase the 5% initial deposit to 10% so construction can start sooner than later." He silenced the phone and felt full of energy the rest of that day.

Now in present time, his phone had been ringing consistently for three days around the same time, lunchtime, and Mile smiled to himself, "Punctual. I like it."

"You ... what kind of man doesn't answer his phone?"

Mile chuckled, "A busy one."

"You told me to call to discuss this, I did. Many times, and you feel the need to ghost me THEN call me childish? What are we? Sixteen?" Apo exhaled coarsely as he ran his fingers through his hair to calm his annoyance at getting the run around as he sat in the lobby of Mile's office. They had refused to let him up without confirmation and given that he was a president as well and always let his guests up immediately, this was weird for him. "Not hospitable are you?"

"Let me answer in the order as you presented Apo." Mile cleared his throat to answer as he walked over to his window that overlooked Bangkok. "You're childish because you left that day after the conference instead of coming back to talk to me." He counted on his finger with the signet ring. "We're not sixteen - thank goodness for that. I can't get involved with someone so immature again." Mile smiled crookedly, "If you're talking about security, no. I gave them specific instructions just for you."

"Why you—!"

"Thai food okay or Italian?" Mile interrupted Apo's speech mid-rant, "I'll have security bring you up and give you the full princess treatment. Would you like that?"

"You're lucky I chose a road of peace a long time ago Mile." Apo rolled his eyes as he gathered to his feet, his assistant at his side carrying his satchel bag and his laptop briefcase. "Otherwise, we might have to get someone to clean your office after I knock sense into you. I can't believe you run a company with your attitude."

"And I'm surprised you're adorably charming while still being annoying." Mile retorted then waved his hand at Apo's sputter. "I'll see you in five minutes. My staff will escort you. Tell your assistant to wait in the cafeteria. I want to talk to you. Alone, Apo."

"Sounds ominous," Apo was already doing was Mile mentioned, not wanting to further delay due to his hunger and minor fear of Mile backing out of the deal; not because he needed it, but because Mile's percentage was just too desirable to be foolish to give up. His plans were all set in motion and Mile was the last little piece that wasn't fitting into the puzzle the way Apo wanted to. "Fine. I'll give you an hour of my time. It would've been two, but you wasted it making me schlep over here to see you myself and then waiting for you to answer the phone." Apo clicked the phone to hang up and looked to the security expectantly to be escorted. "Don't make me wait any longer."

Mile was left staring at a blank screen on his cellphone and burst out laughing, "Not a kitten as people mentioned...a tiger for sure."

-TBC-