"Sir, there's a malware attack on our system," his assistant informs. It makes Kamon sit straighter. He hurriedly checks the system. Indeed there is. The employee management system is already down and now the attacker moves to the financial one. He immediately contacts Kim.

The Boss, half an hour from the call, is staring at the culprit from his video surveillance with a little smile on his lips. That boy deliberately wants him to find out but still makes it difficult for his team to track him. Just what does he do in his spare time, really? "Let's go to the office," Kim tells his assistants.

In thirty minutes, he is standing next to Chay who looks bored out of his mind and won't look at Kim. "Ter," he calls softly, "Do you mind telling me why you're destroying a ten thousand dollar corporate system, besides you're being bored?"

Chay thinks mate bonding is a scary thing that now Kim can even tell exactly what he has in mind. But he pretends to be unbothered.

Kamon, who stands beside Kim, takes a sharp breath. 'Being bored?', he thinks. Maybe it's better to keep his boss' little mate occupied as much as possible than if the idea of feeling the void of boredom is to destroy a perfectly working and good system. One of the best money can buy.

Chay looks at him with an annoyed face, full of accusation. As a result, it annoys Kim as his mate won't even spare him a glance but looking another man, who, mind you, is a handsome single man.

"Porchay Kittisawasd," he calls again, a little firmer this time.

"You're system is shit. It only takes me 3 minutes 48 seconds to infiltrate it." Porchay finally says after a sigh.

"Or maybe you're just that good."

Porchay shrugs. He can't argue with that. It is his other source of living, but Kim can't find out about his 'side job'.

"Your attack seems a bit too familiar. Do you mind telling me how you ..."

"I bought it," Chay cuts, this time he looks Kim in the eyes. This is necessary to make his lie believable. Kim is like a shark to blood, he can somehow sense a lie. Porchay noticed it in his many observations when he was with Kim and his mate was working with subordinates. "I bought it on the dark web."

Kim frowns. That malware that Chay used is one of a kind, although the one that is being used today is much more aggressive. That is why it managed to crawl into his corporate system. He had encountered it once last year when he did the cleaning for the family system back in the compound, but he had never seen it anywhere else. It only grabs pieces of information, and doubles it, without destroying it.

He didn't put a mind to it as the malware seemed harmless, the data that had been doubled weren't important,  and the system didn't have his or Phayu's data anymore.

Now he is curious. If indeed Chay bought it, from whom? Why hasn't someone else used them yet if the malware was produced to be sold? It's a good production, almost untraceable.

Something is not adding up.

He sighs, deciding to not prolong it here as his mate is stubbornly only going to deny it. "Let's go to my office. We need to talk about this." He points to the way out. Chay follows without a fuss.

People's gazes follow, but he puts an indifferent face despite being uncomfortable. Kim notices this and puts a considerable distance between them which puts a little smile on Chay's face. He appreciates the little things that Kim does for him.

"Then do you mind telling me what were you doing on the dark web?" Kim asks after they are sitting inside his office.

"Because I like it," Kim's face displays his disbelief, "It has pieces of information that I can't get anywhere else and it's hard to get bored there."

"The dark web is not a place for you to be. It's not ..."

"Safe," Chay quickly finishes the sentence, in a slightly mocking tone. It gets Kim to frown sourly. "But I don't want safe. Safe is boring."

"Porchay ..."

"You've been in my life for how long now? Ten days at best. I'm doing fine without you before."

Kim grits his teeth. "But now is different. Now you are my mate. With my position, you'll be a sitting duck to attacks!"

This gets the talk to turn into a verbal fight in a second.

"But I've told you already, I am not a damsel in distress! I am not a weak omega who can't do anything but rely on his alpha for anything and everything. So don't treat me like one. Also start giving me a fucking job, Kim!"

Kim is furious at Chay's cursing. "Traditionally, you are supposed to rely on me for anything and everything! Like it or not, you are my mate, Porchay!"  Kim shouts, losing control of his own tightly guarded emotions. His mate makes him want to throw things to the wall at the moment.

"Well, tough luck for you because I don't want something traditional. I want to be equal. If you can shelter and protect me, I also want to shelter and protect you."

Kim is clicking his tongue, annoyed but also amused at the same time. He knows Chay is stubborn, but not to the point of even making a fuss when all Kim wants to do is make his life easy.

Can his little mate see that? Can he at least appreciate that? All he wants is for Porchay to be happy, safe, and content. But it seems what he regards as a favor, Chay regards it as something else.

They stare staring at each other in heated gaze for a moment, neither want to back out. Kim is sighing. "Have you had lunch?"

Porchay looks at him in disbelief. "Are you or are you not going to give me a job?" he asks, making his stand.

"If I give you that, will you have lunch with me every day?" Kim bargains.

"I'm an intern. I am supposed to have jobs until I can't have lunch."

"Well, tough luck for you then, because your mate is the owner of the company and he can do whatever the fuck he wants."

For some strange reason, Porchay finds Kim's cursing hot. Fuck man, the guy looks extra sexy when he curses with that fiery glint in his eyes. It makes Chay's body tingle in NSFW direction.

This is out of the equation, something Porchay hasn't calculated before. He means, he enjoys cursing as much as a normal person, but not like this. Never like this.

Kim seems to notice as he picks up Chay's arousal scent. He looks at Chay up and down at slow speed, before muttering a quiet, "Fucking brat," that gets Porchay's breath hitches. A shiver runs down through his body, making it slightly tremble.

Kim is almost smiling. "Lunch or not?"

"Job or not?" Porchay is back to his defiant self too quickly for Kim's liking. He decides to retreat in this battle.

Kim nods, which makes Porchay nods also.

They leave the office side by side after Kim tells Kamon to give Chay 'something to do'. Kamon nods while eyeing Porchay, wondering how this soft-looking boy is actually one of the toughest men he knows because he can go toe-to-toe with his diabolical boss.
***

Rain is sitting in the most posh restaurant he has ever been in his life, being too fidgety and nervous to enjoy the luxurious setting. He looks at the menu, but it only gets him even more nervous.

The restaurant's menu doesn't have a price.

How can he know what to rightly pick if he doesn't know how much is it? Rain doesn't think he can eat a $50 soup or something like that.

Phayu notices this as he gently says, "You want me to pick it for you?"

Rain exhales quite noisily. "Can we just go somewhere else?"

Phayu frowns. "You don't like this one?" Phayu had done some research and this restaurant is the number one pick if you want to spoil your partner or mate.

"It makes me uncomfortable," Rain says in broken words.

Now Phayu is confused. "Why?"

Rain shrugs. He can't really put that in words without sounding ungrateful.

"Is it the food? None of them to your liking?" Phayu coaxes gently. "I can make them to cook your request."

"No, no!" Rain quickly refuses. Gosh, just how much will they pay if they make the restaurant take a not-in-the-menu dish? "That's ok, Phi. I'm ... I'm just ..."

Then it dawns on Phayu the answer to the 'why'. He smiles. "In case you're wondering, I can afford the bill even if you want to taste everything on the menu, Baby. I'm not that broke."

Rain is cringing. It doesn't ease his uncomfortable stand.

Phayu sighs and puts the menu back. "Let's go somewhere else then," he says as he offers his hand to Rain. Rain takes it in an instant, wanting to quickly get out of here.

They end up eating at the place where Phayu brought Rain to cure his 'hangover'. He scrunches up his face when he looks at how red Rain's bowl is. "Must you eat that spicy?"

"It's not spicy, Phi. It's only the color."

Phayu doesn't believe it, but he stops himself from complaining. It will only sour Rain's mood.

Rain begins to ask him for things related to architectural work and Phayu is more than happy to share his knowledge. He is also happy that his mate is not dodging his touch subconsciously anymore. Rain even smiles when he puts one part of Rain's hair to the back of his ear to ease his eating while happily munching some dumplings.

It feels like they are returning to their old days, where Phayu is free to touch whatever part of Rain's body that he wants to touch in public.

​It brings peace to Phayu.

When he wipes the sweat out of Rain's face, his eyes settle on how red Rain's lips are because of the spice. "Does it hurt?" he asks as he wipes the remaining remnants. His fingers absentmindedly trace the outer line of the lips, like he is in a trance.

Rain shakes his head as his face grows red and hot. Phayu is too close.

Then their eyes meet.

And the minute stills.

Breath lingers.

It takes half a minute until Phayu closes the distance and mashes their lips with an open-mouth kiss. He is tasting the spice from Rain. His Rain. It's warm and inviting and makes him want more.

So he coaxes Rain to open up and the younger gives up too easily, getting lost in how slippery and cool Phayu's tongue feels inside of his cave.  It caresses the right spots, making him want more.

They forget everything but themselves until it breaks them to breathe. But with just one look, they start all over again, this time with hands caging each other.

It feels like coming home.