Caged Slave (MewGulf AU)

🌻Chapter 10

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At the beginning of the rainy season, for the first time since being dumped by AA in March, a change occured that breathed new life into Gulf's tortuous work life. He was plucked from the bowels of the company and reassigned to the Secretarial Division.

"Kanawut, you're being assigned to our new Executive Director of Sales who is coning next week," Gulf was told by the General Affairs Department.

"Me?"

"Is there a problem?"

"Um...no," Gulf answered, convinced that this circumstance was just a new type of harassment.

The new Executive Director of Sales had been headhunted from outside of the company. Apparently, he had been the Managing Director of G.V. Consulting, a foreign-capital company. The rumors swirling around said that he was an outstanding worker.

An outsider becoming Executive Director was probably a bitter pill for the senior members of Dai Tech to swallow. President Ookawa, who had died so suddenly, had not been overly tradition. But Dai Tech had been run for a long time by the same family and was somewhat entrenched in its ways. No matter how skillful a person was, if his name wasn't Ookawa, it would be hard for him to come to this company, even if he had an excellent track record. He would definitely suffer a certain degree alienation.

Some perverse executive must have suggested that Gulf become the intruder's secretary. He had only a few years of experience, and up until yesterday, had been hidden away in a basement reference room. And the new director would probably be disappointed with his inexperienced new employer. Gulf had no proof, but he was almost entirely sure that AA had been behind the whole thing.

'He must want to makr me quit pretty badly,' Gulf mused. Even though this transfer showed how much he was disliked, and would probably involve all sorts of difficulties, it was still better than fighting mountains of dusty papers on the reference room. And maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he just did his work well.

"Unlike when you used to be a secretary, this time it's going to be just you serving the Executive Director," he was told. "Do your best and work hard."

"I understand," Gulf said. No matter what the person who had gotten him into this had intended, Gulf felt lighter and freer than he had during the four long months of hell.

Plus, there was one other possible advantage to the transfer.

'If I'm really busy, maybe I'll be able to forget about my mystery man."

For three-months, he had been filled with futile love and sorrow for a man whose name he didn't know. And when he spent five long days in an underground windowless room, it was all too easy to think about the mystery man, no matter how much it hurt.

Gulf was the only one to blame for bringing his personal baggage into his work life. But his secret weekend meetings with the man were the only things that brought him any relief from his messed-up life.

'This is a great opportunity! Just calm down and do your best!'

He decided to make a real effort to rescue his heart from the maze it had fallen into and and to try to concentrate on his job.

TBC