Poom works for Up whom he believes to be a closeted gay. As the days go by, Poom increasingly believes that Up is attracted to him, and one fateful day when Up makes a move which Poom mistakenly thinks is a sign of affection for him, Poom utters the...
A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.
Joss's POV
From the rear view mirror I took a quick glance at Up.
He looked distressed.
He remained silent throughout the commute to his office building. Normally he would make some comment about the weather, the traffic, current events and so on but today I noticed his lips were tightly pursed as if he was holding in some unwanted emotion.
"I'll see you later, Joss," was all he said as he stepped out of the car.
He did not give me a chance to walk around to the passenger seat to open the door for him. He walked rapidly towards the lobby entrance and disappeared behind the double glass sliding doors.
I parked the car in the basement in the space allotted for Up's car. I dared not wander far in case he needed me to drive him some place in a hurry. I did not want to be at the receiving end of his anger. Today didn't seem to be his day. He seemed to have gotten up from the wrong side of his bed, so to speak.
Instead of going to the gym I decided to go inside the building and go up to say a quick 'hi' to Kao. I had always been meaning to thank him for being responsible for my current employment but had never gotten around to doing so.
I knocked softly before sticking my head inside Kao's office.
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A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.
"Oh, hi! What a pleasant surprise to see you this morning, Joss!" Kao said with a bright smile. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"
"You know, I have always been meaning to thank you for introducing me to Up and getting hired by him," I said, "but somehow I never got around to doing so."
"Don't worry about it, Joss," Kao said. "You don't have to, you know. The boss needed someone immediately and there you were."
"Wanna have lunch with me later?" I asked. "My treat."
"You sure?" Kao asked.
"Of course," I replied.
"I would love that then," Kao said with a happy smile. "Where do you want me to meet you?"
"I was thinking of the Italian place at the third floor of the food court of the Golden Palace plaza," I said. (A/N: Just a made up name for a mall; author doesn't know if such a name exists, if it does it's pure coincidence.)
"Sounds good!" Kao sounded excited. "I'll try to be there a little after twelve."
"Great!" I said. "See you there!"
I decided to walk to the plaza and do some window shopping while waiting for Kao. It was just an eight minute walk from the office building of Up. And if he called me to drive him some place I could always just ask Kao to drive me back to the office, since Kao had a car.
To make sure that Kao would bring his car, I gave him a call.
"Hey," I said when he took my call. "I just walked to the plaza to kill time and to do some window shopping. I thought of asking you to bring your car in case you thought about walking over."
"No problem," he said. "Actually that's a good idea. If Up needed you to drive him at any given moment we could easily drive back to his office."
"You read my mind!" I exclaimed.
"That's one of my talents," Kao chuckled. "I can read people's minds."
"Don't scare me now," I said in mock fear, although the thought did scare me a little. I didn't want anybody being able to read my mind.
After I cut the call, I went inside the plaza and looked through each and every department store to kill time. Before I knew it I realized that it was twelve so I hurried up to the third floor where the plaza's food court was located.
I went straight to the Italian food booth and studied the dishes that they offered.
I was so intent on studying the menu that I jumped when I felt a strong tap on my shoulders from behind me.
"Hey," I said, giving Kao a buddy hug.
As he hugged me back the scent of his cologne wafted to my nose. I found myself wanting to cling longer to him but it would have felt awkward especially if he wasn't the touchy kind of person.
"What do you fancy?" I asked, reluctantly letting go of him.
"I have been craving for some chicken alfredo fettuccine lately" he replied.
"Who's the father?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" he asked looking confused.
"Who's responsible for the craving?" I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Oh you!" he punched me lightly on the arm.
"Me???" I gave him an incredulous look.
"Stop it! You know what I was trying to say," he said, punching me harder this time.
"Sorry, sorry," I said rubbing my arm where he had hit me. "I was just trying to have a little bit of fun."
So I asked for an order of chicken alfredo fettuccine for Kao and an order of chicken cacciatore for myself.
We learned a lot about each other over lunch. We learned that we had a lot of things in common, that we shared the same interests and laughed at the same jokes.
Our lunch ended without being interrupted by a call from Up.
"I hope we can do this again some time," I said to Kao before we parted ways.
"I look forward to it,"Kao replied. "It will be my treat next time."
"Ciao, uomo bello," I said,giving him a buddy hug. Once more the pleasant intoxicating smell of his cologne wafted to my nose.
"I don't speak any other language except Thai and a little bit of English," he said to me with a frown. "I hope you're not cursing me in some foreign language."
"Of course not," I said with a laugh. "I just said, see you, Mister handsome."
I'm sure I just imagined his face turning bright pink.
