Nunew accidentally crashes CEO Zee Pruk Panich's car when working as a valet. He expects Zee to make him pay back the cost of damages but the young businessman has another arrangement in mind.
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The bar was quiet as I moved from table to table, turning chairs over before stacking them on the tabletops. It was a regular routine. Closing time at the bar. The atmosphere was a stark contrast to how it had been just an hour ago. Where customers had recently been dancing, drinks in hand, bodies swaying to the loud music, now I stood. Alone. Dirty rag over my shoulder. A calm settling over the building. I continued onto the next table, my lips pressing together as I grabbed another chair, wondering if I appeared as calm as the bar now was.
Because I wasn't. Inside, I was going fucking crazy.
I grunted as I flipped the last chair up, my hands wiping together before I turned back to the bar. James was stacking glasses, his eyes on his hands as he worked.
We'd been together a lot recently. He hadn't asked about Zee since that night he showed me the picture on his phone. I figured he was waiting for me to bring it up. I didn't know how. I didn't even know if I could.
Zee hadn't offered me any kind of answers that night. After I'd asked him to be honest with me, he became guarded. Closed off. Like my question had somehow offended him.
"Where is this coming from, Nunew?"
I watched as Zee scooted back on the couch, putting distance between us.
"It's a simple yes or no." My voice still shook, barely audible, sounding like it took everything within me just to speak. And it did. I felt heavy, like a weight was bearing down on my shoulders. Like the world was going to cave in.
Another beat of silence, filled with suffocating tension. The knot in my throat was close bursting. I tried to swallow but my tongue was stuck against the dry roof of my mouth.
"I told you, I want to give you everything." Golden flecked eyes darted between mine. "That includes me."
My hands clenched against the couch. "That's not an answer, Zee."
The muscles in his jaw were taut, straining against the hardness in his expression. Back to the calculating CEO. Never one to show how he felt. "It's the only answer I can give you."
"I don't want secrets," I whispered.
Zee stayed still, shadowed eyes never leaving mine. "Neither do I."
I blinked, that uncomfortably familiar ache growing behind my eyes. It was like the pain before a long cry, the tears crashing against the dam, ready to break free. But still, they never came. Not when he told me he was tired. Or when he left me on the couch to get ready for bed. Or when he turned his back towards me as we slept, never once reaching out to touch me, hold me, comfort me in some kind of way.
It was back to where we had started. Like a ravine had opened up between us, filled with unanswered questions. Twisted lies. Dark secrets. And now I was there, fallen within the depths, living in the chaos his choices had created.
