Always You

1

Kongpob's POV

It was over an hour and I had not stopped glancing at the door to my office. At the rate I'd been craning my neck, to look through the glass door and into the corridor outside, I was sure to have a stiff muscle or two by the end of this performance. But I couldn't care less and hoped to spot a figure with thick raven coloured tuft and milk pale skin who was late to work today by an hour. He is never late. NEVER. For God's sake the guy arrives at least half an hour prior to office timings, daily, to make sure all the preliminary tidbits are done. He was the sole reason I'd been able to manage all jobs as the CEO and for that he deserved a fine raise. Which, by the way, I was planning to offer today. Now only if the said person would show up.

I checked my cellphone for the umpteenth time to see if he had sent any messages conveying reasons for his absence. But there were none. The last text from him was sent yesterday night to confirm my schedule for the upcoming meeting regarding a prospective merger. My fingers unconsciously clicked his profile picture and there he was, smiling widely at the camera. A deep dimple forming right below a pair of hazel coloured eyes. I traced his cheekbones on the screen with my thumb. Beautiful. If only the smile was ever directed towards me. In the 3 years that he had been my secretary, never had he smiled so happily in my presence. Fine. So maybe, it was a bit of my fault. Ughhh! Who am I kidding? It was completely and solely my fault that my secretary hated me. In fact I had an inkling he secretly loathed me and was hatching plots to my murder. As scary as it sounds, I do have to justify the hate. I had never made his job easy and had been constantly pestering him about his work performance not being up to the mark. I was always barraging him with thoughtless taunts and excessive work. To put it bluntly, I was a prick to him. But all this never daunted him and hadn't ever affected his performance either. I always meant to stop myself from being a jerk, but it was so fun watching him fuming from the inside but still accepting all the shit I gave, with a plastic smile on his face. His professional facade, which hid boiling rage beneath, seemed to call out my inner devil, who I never knew existed, until him. His sarcastic smiles, obvious poker faces and 'accidental' slamming of files on the table while delivering them, were the favorite parts of my days.

I kept staring at his picture, smiling unconsciously, until a loud " Ai Kongggggggpobbbb", broke my reverie. Em, the CFO and my best friend was standing right beside the chair I was sitting on, intently staring at my screen. I quickly shut my cell off and pocketed it, hoping that he hadn't somehow caught me in the unholy act of staring at my secretary's picture.As if reading my mind, Em smirked. "No use Kong, I've already seen what I had to. I've been here for the past 5 minutes and would have stayed longer without you noticing me if I hadn't called you. Dude just get it over with this one sided crush and fess up to Arthit"

" 'Fess' what up, Em? That his boss and a man, to boot, likes him? He is as straight as they come and would pummel me against my own desk if he even had the slightest notion about this. I know you would hate to lose your friend in a one sided brawl."

"How and why are you so sure he is straight? Are you both even close enough to discuss your sexual preferences with each other?No, you're not. It's been 3 years Kong. 3 years of hopeless pining and lack of any sexual activity. When was the last time you even went out on a date? Let me answer that. It was 3 years ago. Since the minute you've laid eyes on Arthit, your life has been revolving around him. And all this for nothing . How long before you stop drinking yourself to near death each weekend, sobbing for lack of Arthit? Man up and fucking confess!"

As much as I would have liked to tell Em that his monologue was exaggerated or to even make light of the situation, I knew he was right. The previous few years, since Arthit had joined the company, had been a bittersweet torture. It all started out with a harmless crush and then proceeded to develop into a full fledged obsession. Watching him discreetly each day from the confines of my cabin and the cafeteria had amounted to three things. One, I knew more about him than he probably did. Like the way he scrunched his nose every time he encounters a problem, what drink he loves, what food he craves while working for long hours, who he is the closest to in the company and almost every other tiny habit. Second, I got to know that Arthit was a social butterfly.He had made friends with everyone and anyone. He was charming and generous. I daresay everyone loved being around him. I don't know how I exactly feel about the latter though. As much as I loved the warmth he exudes while interacting with people , the fact that I am never at the receiving end of the affection irked me. He was always indifferent only to me. And that's one of the reasons my hassling him had increased manifold over the years, even though I was conscious of my actions' immaturity. And last but the most important thing, I had gotten aware of the fact that he was straight, courtesy of the countless times I had seen him flirt with female co workers.

"I don't know Em. I don't want to destroy the already frail relationship we have. I'd hate for him to feel uncomfortable around me, or worse, quit the job. I know how much he values this position and how hard he works. In no case do I want to be an adversity to him. I'd rather suck it up and have at least his presence around me. "

"You'll never know unless you give it a shot. Don't be a coward and think of how he'll reject you. I just hate seeing you like this Kong. You've never faltered in your life."

"I know" I said softly, barely a whisper. I closed my eyes and ran my hands over my face, in futile hopes of rubbing off all the emotions I felt at that point.

"By the way, didn't you have a meeting right now? Why are you squandering your time away in here?" That question gained me a smack on the head.

"I completely forgot about why I came here. And it's all because I saw your sorry state and went ahead to console you, you ingrate!" That earned him a smack. "Anyhow. So, your beloved secretary just called mine and asked her to inform you that he won't be coming to office for a while. I was passing by when I heard them on call and told her that I'd deliver the woeful news myself"

"What? Why didn't he call me himself to say so?"

"She said he lost his cell. And since they're good friends, he had her number memorised"

"Andddd??"

"And what?"

"And the reason for his absence of course, you bimbo!"

"Oh that. Something about Arthit being admitted to the hospital"

"HE'S WHAT NOW?