The afternoon sun blazed mercilessly overhead, its heat shimmering off the asphalt of the highway stretching from Hua Hin back to Bangkok. Inside the air-conditioned Mercedes S500, Toey gripped the steering wheel with practiced ease while his boss sprawled across the back seat, looking thoroughly drained from whatever had transpired during their business trip. The monotonous hum of tires on hot pavement filled the silence until Toey's patience finally wore thin.
"If I wasn't worried about you, I definitely wouldn't have come along," Toey grumbled, accelerating to overtake a truck crawling in the left lane. "You look terrible. Obviously you barely slept last night."
How could I sleep? Teeradon's mind drifted to the previous evening's escapade. After that intense session with Ricky—who complained about where the hell all of my stamina came from—I'd gone off to the music festival and brought back a Korean actor to the hotel. Quiet type on the surface, but once the clothes came off... more insatiable than two Rickys combined. Completely drained me...
"I still have energy left," Teeradon murmured, reclining against the passenger seat. "Drive smoothly, Toey."
"I'm filing for overtime pay for this Bangkok trip," his secretary-turned-chauffeur muttered. "Don't you think I'm not tired too—I barely slept last night either."
Got hit hard myself. What kind of person has that much stamina? Claims he's straight and inexperienced…. yeah right...
Toey's lips curved into an involuntary smile at the memory.
"This Hua Hin meeting really wore me out," Teeradon said weakly.
"Got your energy drained by Ricky and Dodo, huh? One at a time or both together, boss?" His secretary's voice carried a mischievous edge.
"What kind of explicit talk is that, Toey? Your rating just went full R again."
"What other ratings exist in your life? If it's not R, it's X rated." Toey shrugged.
Teeradon didn't respond, adjusting his seat upright and turning to eye his chatty driver coolly. "Speed up a bit, Toey. When will we reach Bangkok? You're not driving to escape some turtle chase."
"My motto is: better late than never. I'm not planning to hunt down some beloved singer, so why rush?" The secretary shrugged again.
"You're getting bolder every day." Teeradon's eyes narrowed, wanting to reach over and tap that mouth lightly. Outside the office, Toey's tongue grew increasingly sharp.
"I have to adapt. With Khun Tin, I don't talk much or bite this hard."
"Tin again. If you love Tin so much, go work for him. Wait until he gets back from his honeymoon first," Teeradon sighed. "When is Tin coming back anyway? Why so long? It's just a honeymoon. Get to France, quickly make a baby, then hurry back. I'm already sick of working here—it's getting worse."
"Even when Khun Tin returns, you're still chairman of the board, don't forget," his secretary reminded.
"Just a title for dividend payments. I'll hand the actual work to Tin." Teeradon shrugged.
The secretary who "loved Tin" was about to argue when he jumped at his boss's sudden alert expression.
"Toey, faster! Speed up, speed up, speed up fast and furious!" Teeradon's voice rang out, repeating the same words.
"What now?" The secretary looked bewildered.
"Floor it! Catch up to them!" The boss pointed ahead at three motorcycles that had just overtaken their Mercedes S500 on the left.
"No way. I don't like driving fast."
"Toey, this is a Mercedes S500, not a Daewoo. Gun it now!" Teeradon commanded.
"Even if it were a Ferrari, I won't speed up." The secretary remained defiant.
"Then pull over right now. Hurry up," Teeradon urged. "Come on, Toey, or we'll lose them!"
"You're being ridiculous. Chasing after them like some car race every time. What's the point?" Toey complained but carefully maneuvered into the leftmost lane, checking the rearview mirror while muttering, "Don't overtake on the left now, you—"
Teeradon let out a heavy sigh at his secretary's sluggish pace. Once parked, he quickly jumped out, ran around to the driver's side, and ordered the other man to hurry and switch seats.
"Move it, Toey!" Teeradon shouted.
"I'm moving!" Toey scrambled around the car to the passenger seat, barely getting the door closed before his impatient boss pulled out.
"Heavenly Father, Heavenly Mother, help your child," Toey muttered, buckling his seatbelt and closing his eyes. "Please don't let me throw up on my new authentic DKNY and Armani."
"Think you'll get away this time?" Teeradon growled, eyes fixed determinedly ahead.
"Boss, I don't have a boyfriend yet! I can't die of a car accident!" The now-pale secretary cried as his boss accelerated to frightening speeds. "We won't catch up anyway—they passed us ages ago."
"They'll hit a red light," Teeradon replied curtly. "I won't let him disappear again."
"So what? You going to drag him away in handcuffs?"
"We'll see." The words escaped through Teeradon's clenched teeth.
Soon enough, Teeradon's prediction proved true—traffic stopped at a red light.
The three motorcycles had stopped in the leftmost lane, with a pickup truck behind them. Fortunately, Teeradon's Mercedes slid into the middle lane right beside all three bikes. The rider at the front turned to look, and seeing who was watching, raised his hand in greeting.
Toey smiled back, then quickly turned to Teeradon in alarm as his boss opened the car door and walked around toward Wittawin.
"What's up, pretty boy?" Teeradon called out, but suddenly froze with his mouth agape as the blue BMW motorcycle suddenly shot through the red light and disappeared at high speed right before their eyes.
"Hey, Win!" Baramee, who had parked nearby, shouted, then turned to look at the tall man approaching.
"Are you his friend?" Teeradon asked.
"Uh..." Baramee stammered, glancing back at his friend, Pamorn, parked diagonally behind before nodding. Then both young men simultaneously revved their engines, turned left, and escaped with perfectly composed expressions.
"What the hell?" Teeradon exclaimed in frustration, hands on his hips as he stared after them in disbelief.
"The light's about to turn green, boss. We won't catch up now," his worried secretary's voice called from behind. Teeradon turned with narrowed eyes to see the person who had rolled down the window to call him wearing a satisfied smile.
"Just wait. Don't let me catch you again," Teeradon muttered as he got back in the car. "Really damn annoying."
"He's probably scared of you. Just sitting there peacefully, then you get out and walk over looking for trouble. Anyone would run," Toey defended the motorcyclist.
"It was a red light, Toey. He ran that red light defiantly at a hundred kilometers per hour!" Teeradon slammed the steering wheel in frustration. "When the hell is this light going to turn green?"
"Should've revved and popped a wheelie like in the movies," Toey smiled. "Hard to believe that polite, well-behaved young man Wittawin would be so bold."
"Polite and well-behaved—ha! Yeah, right. You can actually say that," Teeradon scoffed.
"Every time he came to wait to see you, he was extremely polite. Quiet, still, cool. Well-spoken too. Humble and modest. Cute. Never seemed like the type to start trouble with others."
"So you think I started trouble with him first?" Teeradon's voice sharpened.
"I didn't say that. Just describing his general character. From what I've seen, someone who'd start trouble with others first wouldn't be Wittawin."
"Toey," Teeradon called his secretary's name with an ominous tone.
No matter how he rephrased it, Toey always ended up taking jabs at him...
Wittawin. Next time we meet, I'm going to grab you and spank your ass. Is this what polite and well-behaved looks like? Toey can actually say that. It's obvious what he's really like...
The worst I've ever encountered...
***