Arthit's POV

Messages

Arthit: Hey, have you eaten anything yet? I can make you something if you haven't.
11:11 pm

Kongpob: Sorry, I just saw your message. I'm still tied up here. You should go ahead and sleep first. Don't wait up.
11:52 pm

Arthit: I'm not tired yet. I can wait.
11:52 pm

Kongpob: Please don't. Go to sleep
12:04 am

I toss the phone aside and sigh. This will be the third night in a row that he's not home before I go to bed.

"Sorry, but your daddy is still busy. Don't look at me like that. I want him to come home too." I look at Popeye who has been whining all night for Kongpob. He has been pacing in and out of our bedroom and standing by the door the entire night until I sat down on the sofa. Now he just keeps giving me the stink eyes.

Looking around the living room, I've always felt this place is really big but it has never felt so empty. It's not like we haven't spent time apart because we definitely have with all our work travels. We've gone weeks even up to a month without seeing each other due to work, but it's not the same. Although those moments were just as lonely, at least they weren't as depressing.

I switch off the news that's been playing in the background for the past hour. The news has finally died down a little regarding the accident of the fatal fall of a construction worker at the SuSus Project site one month ago. After further investigation, it turns out that the man had practically no training at all. He had only started working at SuSus three weeks before the accident. It was his first time working above ground and he lost his balance trying to walk across the beams before he safely clipped his harness.

At first, it was breaking news all day on every media source. People in my office and everywhere else were talking about it non-stop. The thing is SuSus is such a high profile project that it has garnered global attention, so even the slightest of errors are scrutinized to no end. It has been going so well, that some people are just waiting for the other shoe to drop. And now it has.

Kongpob has been so stressed about all the negative press surrounding SuSus right now that he hasn't been himself lately. The paparazzi were constantly hounding him for details and answers to questions that he couldn't discuss. And the paparazzi wasn't even the worst of it all. The worst were the mobs outside the company protesting about the exploitation of improperly trained workers leading to the accident. For almost two whole weeks they were outside chanting and yelling at Kongpob. But anyone who knows Kongpob or who has worked with any of his companies before knows that that's the farthest from the truth.

Kongpob was raised by his father that got down on his hands and knees working side by side with his employees. His father paid his 6,000 employees before he paid himself when their business was in trouble. Kongpob would never do anything that would disgrace his father's name. Ever. The only reason why Kongpob kept quiet and endured everything for so long was for legal purposes. Suth Enterprise needed time to file a lawsuit against the contractor AEECOM, and then they needed time to file a lawsuit against the subcontractor ICC Construction who's really the one responsible for improper training.

It was a week ago that Suth Enterprise finally clarified with the press that they aren't responsible and had no knowledge of the wrongdoings of the subcontractor that was violating their contractual agreement. And only since then has the paparazzi eased up on Kongpob and Suth Enterprise. However, there's still a lot of reporters following the topic. All eyes are watching how Kongpob will handle the matter and turn the negative press around.

On top of that, it turns out ICC Construction has been hiring a lot of illegal immigrants and giving them fake identifications to work. No wonder the high turnover rate Kongpob said that was suspicious. And unfortunately, the construction worker who died was an illegal immigrant, so he wasn't hired properly so his family gets no insurance money. Kongpob said he will personally contribute to the victim's family, but no one has claimed to be the victim's family as of yet. They are probably too scared to even show up since they don't want to be found out.

Kongpob hasn't been able to eat or sleep properly since. He still can't believe this happened right under his nose. He had M and Alexa compile all the contractors and subcontractor's files so that he could personally go verify them himself. From strolling into offices to make sure they were legitimate companies to walk up and down job sites to verify real construction workers. That's hundreds of companies and thousands of people. He comes back dusty and exhausted every day. M thinks he's crazy and will kill himself eventually if he continues like this.

I don't even know what to do at this point. I mean it's tragic and unfortunate, but it's not his fault. It's those greedy people that exploit illegal immigrants for cheap labor. Hopefully, those people will get punished by the law. Kongpob shouldn't take this out on himself like this. These tragedies happen all the time even though it shouldn't. He can't prevent all the horrible people out there that intentionally break the law. I've tried to talk to him and it seemed like he was listening and agreed with me but then nothing changes. He continues spot-checking companies and inspecting construction sites on a daily basis. How long can he keep this up while still running all his companies?

I'm seriously at a loss with what to do. When he's home he's in his office until the wee hours. On the weekdays he's in and out of the office all day and doesn't come back until really late at night. And when he's back he is too exhausted to talk and goes straight to bed. The only comfort I get is him holding me to sleep when he finally lays down in bed. But he's already gone by the time I wake up. He leaves the house extra early to go visit construction sites. So he hasn't been eating breakfast at home, Alexa says he never really eats lunch, and we haven't been having dinner. So my boyfriend is running on average 4 hours of sleep and probably 15 cups of coffee. He's exhausted and lost a lot of weight. So how can I not be worried?

"Popeye, your puppy eyes aren't working hard enough."

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Kongpob's POV

"Here, eat this!" Bie dumps what looks like a poor attempt to be a sandwich in front of me.

"No thanks. I'm not hungry." I gently push the plate away.

"Man, you need to take care of yourself. You've barely touched your dinner. Look, this stuff is important but so is your health. You look terrible."

"Thanks for the compliment. Now stop nagging like my grandma." Seriously, Bie and M are starting to get on my nerves. Why can't they just focus on getting the work done? I want to go home too. I don't want to be here at this hour either.

Everyone just doesn't get it. I need to make sure all the companies associated with SuSus are legitimate and are playing by the rules. I can't let another accident or mistake ruin all my plans and hard work for all these years. On top of all that, I can't let there be another victim. I know it was an accident, but I can't help thinking that with proper training the man wouldn't have died. And yes, I know it could have happened to even well-trained workers but it's less likely. So that's why I need to make sure all the companies associated with the SuSus Project are following contractual obligations. On paper, all these companies look good. That's how they got hired but behind my back, I don't know what they've been doing in SuSus' name. We've already found a couple of companies falsely claiming to have a much bigger part in the SuSus Project than they really do to boost their own sales.

"Kong, I've already drafted fourteen lawsuits with various counts of violations and at least fifty warning notices in the last month. Are you sure you really want to go through with this? You don't want KPS and Suth Enterprise's reputation to become too hard to work with or too strict. You have to think about your company's future beyond SuSus." Bie hunches forward resting his elbows on his knees while he tries to rub his exhaustion away from his face with his hands.

"In light of this accident, I need to make it known to all these companies that I'm paying close attention to their every move. I need them to know that I hold them accountable to our agreement to the fullest. And as long as they follow through, then there would be no problem. Let that be known for all future projects too." I close the file on a company that I think I will need to inspect further and place it in the inspection stack.

"Fine. You won't listen to me anyway. But seriously, we have to stop after this stack. I need to get some sleep and so do you. I should really bill you for overtime."

"Sure. Go ahead. Just take it out of my dividends." I toss Bie another file. At times like these, I'm glad I did invest in his law firm. He can't say no even if he wanted to.

"Aish. Just sell me all your shares already."

"Nope. I'm not gonna let you get rid of me so easily. You're stuck with me for good." I quickly duck from the flying pen Bie throws at me. As if he would actually leave me anyway. We have been there for each other when no one else was. We're as thick as blood. Besides KPS and Suth Enterprise practically accounts for ninety percent of his law firm's business. Correction, our law firm. So he's going nowhere.

"Well, you better get out of my house soon. I swear Arthit is plotting my murder right now, and I don't wanna die yet. I'm too young and good-looking."

I'm too tired to roll my dried eyes at his ridiculousness. "Quit yapping. Or I'm going to kill you myself. Since I don't find you good-looking, it's not a real tragic loss for me."

"Ouch! I'm hurt." Bie places a hand over his heart. I guess we won't be making much progress tonight as I see he's not taking things seriously anymore for the night. That's how he's always been. Once he's done working he turns into a bona fide idiot just like M.

"Doubt it. You've got a bulletproof ego." I close another file and I get up to leave. I hate not being able to finish at least the stack I've set aside, but I can't concentrate with this Bie. I might as well go home.
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I check my messages on my way to the car and I see Sachi has sent me eleven death threats for holding Thak up again. Maybe I should send Sachi a picture of how happy Thak is to be watching sports and eating ice cream while he waits for me. But then again, I wouldn't want to put Thak's life in danger.

I quietly enter the house and I see Popeye smack in the middle of the foyer. He gets up staring at me, but he's not jumping excitedly like he usually does. He's either too tired or he's mad at me. So I bend down to pick him up and give him a hug.

"I'm sorry for coming home so late." I kiss the top of his head and scratch behind his ears. He whimpers a little and licks my face. I guess I'm forgiven.

Feeling a little parched, I head to the kitchen for a glass of water before going to bed. Sitting on top of the counter was a plate of noodles with a cover over it and a sticky note on top demanding I eat all of it otherwise Arthit won't speak to me.

I can't help but chuckle. I was about to fold the note and put it inside my wallet but then I had another idea. I searched around all the drawers and cabinets to look for that recipe notebook that he hides around here. Aha! Found it in the pantry behind the dog treats. I flip to the page for my favorite lemongrass beef stew and stick the note there, and then I write another message on it.

Just as I'm done with my noodles and placing the empty plate in the sink, I feel a buzz from my phone.

Messages

M: He has a kid.
1:43 am

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AN: Sweets, I've attached a picture of Bie at the top as a refresher in case some of you have forgotten how he looks like.

Sigh, my poor attempt at angst is not working. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I hope you enjoyed this chapter anyway. 😬

Curtsy,
Lana ❤️