AGAINST THE RULES

Chapter 29

There was a frightening yell. It was so loud that the windows shook. For a brief moment, Daisy Mae feared there was an earthquake. She exchanges a look with Martin and Dim, the more junior assistants. They understand immediately and disperse.

Daisy Mae tentatively steps into Ohm Saetang's office,  as expected he was seething mad. She began quickly and silently removing anything breakable from his reach. No need for a repeat of the 2013 window incident.

"Do those boys think I am an idiot?," Saetang asks, trying very very hard not to start snapping his pencils in half.

"I don't think they are thinking about you at all," Daisy Mae replies softly. "Or anyone else."

He glowers at her. She swears she can see smoke coming out of his ears.

- - -

Breaks are hard to come by when you are an A-lister. But Ohm Saetang believed a burnt out star was of no use to anyone, so even if it required a whole lot of wrangling, he made sure the talents he handled are able to take vacations. Besides, planned well, it could even earn them more money. There were so many brands that would love to be featured in a star's night out at Marina Sands or paraded around Time's Square. It was a win-win.

When Bright and Win filed their vacation leaves, Saetang didn't even blink twice. Win was attending a food tasting event related to his father's confectionary. He was scheduled to fly out in a week. Bright bought tickets to a music festival and was also due to fly out in a week. No problem at all. But as Saetang was plotting out scheduled content and identifying which brands he could approach for sponsored posts his sheer stupidity smacked him right in the face.

- - -

"I need to know what's going on. Right now," Saetang says. Double checking his office door was locked. It was six in the morning and he was sure no one else was in their floor but better safe than sorry. Excessive? Maybe. But Saetang would rather be paranoid than caught unaware. Besides, it wasn't as if these two handsome boneheads in front of him were convincing him to let down his guard.

"I don't know what you mean," Win says while Bright remains dead silent.

"You don't? How about this. You quickly understand what I mean or I cancel your vacation leaves. There are several shoots I can slot in right now to those dates," Saetang says calmly, leaning against his desk.

They stare at each other in silence for a few minutes. Saetang sighs. He's handling this wrong wasn't he?

"Look," he starts again. "You do know that my main job is to protect you. Above everything else, I am here to secure your interests. But I cannot do that if I am kept out of the loop. I could guess but what kind of strategy can I offer you with guesswork?"

Win shoots a quick look over at Bright.

'Good,' Saetang thinks. 'Progress.'

"I figured it out by paying attention to a spreadsheet. Do you really think no one else will figure this out? You booked the same flights for crying out loud. Tell me what's going on and I can help you plan this," Saetang says, making sure to keep his tone light.

Win turns to Bright, this time holding his gaze until Bright looked back.

"Just tell me," Saetang says softly.

Bright finally moves. He reaches over the armrest of his chair and takes Win's hand. He looks up at Saetang.

Seatang nods. "Got it."

He shoots out a text to Daisy Mae. They have a lot of work to do.