After rain comes the clear sky (Kaoearth)

38. Surprise

Kao was restless. Sitting in the head position of the conference table, half of his attention was not on what was being presented at the conference.

“Four of our agency’s rookie models have managed to bag a place in the Next Top model program. The second round of the contest is scheduled to be held in Pattaya next week. Out of the fifty candidates only twenty of them will be selected in this round.” Bosston presented his plan for the next quarter of the year.

Boston was one of the main employees in the artist management department and personally managed Boun since he debuted as a model under Kao’s agency about two years ago.

He went on to explain the pros and cons of the models taking part in the contest and how he plans to use this contest as a platform to promote their newly debuted models.

Kao hadn’t been in a mood to concentrate on his work at all. His mind was clouded with two problems. First, Earth hadn’t sent him any message or called him since the previous day. Second, from the way Ann talked to him about Earth, he had a hunch that maybe his mother had also noticed his interest in the younger boy and that was the last thing he wanted.

“Khun Kao Khrab.” Yacht called out seeing Kao zone out.

Yacht was Ohm’s manager and the head of the artist management department. He was practically in charge of managing all the artists under their agency.

Sound, Kao’s new secretary, who had been dutifully taking down the minutes of the meeting, nudged Kao, snapping the latter out of the daze.

“Khrab?” Kao asked feeling embarrassed.

“Director Fon would like to have a discussion with our team about the new movie N’ Ohm and N’ Peach would be shooting.” Yacht said. “As it is their first movie as main leads, the production house is taking it very seriously.”

“You can discuss it with Sound and arrange for a meeting. It would be great if we can actually get someone like Director Fon to sign up under us.” Kao replied.

“He had shown interest in doing, Khun Kao. It is just that the other companies are trying their maximum to prevent him from joining us.” Yacht frowned.

“Our stokes will skyrocket if Director Fon signs up with us. It is only natural that others don’t want that to happen.” Lemon, the head of the HR department said.

“I will leave the matter of convincing him to join up to you, P’ Yacht.” Kao looked at Yacht.

“Khrab. I will do my best.” Yacht nodded.

“What about the new interns this time?” Kao asked Lemon.

“The new interns are quite good, Khun Kao. Most of them are fit enough to join as contract workers.” Lemon confirmed. “Among the ten interns, eight of them had shown good performance.”

“That is good to hear.” Kao tapped the table. “After the mass resignation, we are in dire need of human resources. You can go ahead and recruit them if you feel that they are up to the job.”

“Khrab, Khun Kao,” Lemon noted down Kao’s orders.

The meeting lasted for another hour before Kao could finally go back to his office.

Closing the office door behind him, he sat on his chair with a coffee in his hand. He checked the phone again to see if Earth had left any messages and was disappointed to see none. He sighed and opened his phone gallery which was almost filled to the brim with Earth’s pictures.

He opened one of the pics in his gallery. It was a candid picture of Earth smiling widely. He had clicked on the night they went to the beach and someone had released some fireworks into the sky. Earth was so happy to see it that he hadn’t noticed Kao staring at him.

“Who made you smile like an idiot, Phi?” Boun asked entering the office, closely followed by Ohm.

“Ever heard of manners?” Kao was irritated seeing his cousin barge into his office. “Can’t you knock before entering?”

“I don’t think there is a need for it.” Boun walked in lavishly. “It’s not like someone is giving you a blowjob in here.”

Ohm smacked the back of Boun’s head. “Get your mind out of the gutter, will you?”

“Ouch, that hurts.” Boun massaged the back of his head and glared at Ohm.

Kao looked at the intruders and shook his head. “Why are the two of you here?”

“We were just around the area and thought we could visit you,” Boun answered.

Kao ignored Boun and looked at Ohm for an answer.

“We heard from Mom that you fought with P’ Alan the other day and we were worried.” Ohm sat on the couch and looked at Kao with concern.

“Worried?” Kao snickered. “Worried for what?”

“P’ Kao, you shouldn’t have messed with them in the first place. Those two, the Por and Luk, both are vicious creatures. They will do anything to get back at you.” Ohm shifted to face Kao who took a seat on the couch next to him. “They didn’t even show any mercy even to Boun. Much less you.”

“I know what you mean, Ohm.” Kao sighed placing his phone on the coffee table. “But if I don’t teach him a lesson in such a situation, he will get out of hand soon.”

Ohm and Kao were seriously discussing the matter with Alan when Boun, the protagonist and the source of all the problems, was busy trying to sneak Kao’s phone away from the table. As Kao was too focused on talking to Ohm, Boun successfully got his hands on the elder’s phone.

Just as Boun was trying to open the phone, it vibrated indicating the arrival of the message. He read the message

Cooheart: Hey handsome😘😘.

The phone vibrated again.

Cooheart: Surprise!!!

Along with the message, there was a pic attached. Boun couldn’t see it as he couldn’t unlock the phone.

“P’ Kao…” Boun called out. But the former was so engrossed in the discussion with Ohm that he ignored Boun. “P’ Kao!”

“What is it?” Kao got irritated while he was discussing business plans with Ohm.

“Phi, who is this Cooheart?” Boun eyed his cousin with a suspiciously teasing eye.

Kao’s eyes widened when he realized that his phone was in Boun’s hands. He immediately snatched the phone from Boun and looked at it and saw that there were two messages from Earth.

Kao’s reaction confirmed Boun’s doubts.  “P’ Kao, you haven’t answered me. Who is Cooheart? Have you found a new girlfriend?” he teased, peaking at the phone

“Nosy.” Kao shrugged Boun’s hands away and moved further to look at the message Earth sent.

Cooheart: Hey handsome😘😘.
                  Surprise!!!

There was a pic of Earth with the State Tower [1] in the background.

Kao’s heart tightened when he saw the smiling face in the pic.

“P’ Kao, are you okay?” Ohm asked worried.

“Guys, something urgent came up. I need to go.” Kao ran out of the office without another word.

[1] State Tower- It is a skyscraper in Bangkok, built in 2001, often used as a landscape.