My lovely driver

4. The best meal

Prem had been staring at the phone in his hand for a few minutes as if that would make some kind of sense to what had just happened. The assistant had called 4 different restaurants to make a reservation on behalf of Mr. Ritprasert, but 3 of them hung up on his face on hearing the CEO's name and the fourth cursed him before that. Inexplicable!

But then he remembered another new restaurant that his boyfriend had suggested a few weeks ago and he decided to take a chance. Anyway, he managed to book the reservation and was happy to inform his boss.

"Sir, I just confirmed your lunch reservation and sent the address to Fluke."

"Oh, sure… Thanks, Prem!", the CEO thanked him with a slightly embarrassed look that went unnoticed to the assistant.

"But something strange happened. The restaurants I'm used to booking reservations at refused to serve me. Do you know what might have happened?"

"A-ah… Prem, you know how it is! Nowadays people don't control attendance anymore and they take advantage of any student willing to work too hard and earn too little. Don't worry about it!", the man gave a suspicious smile that looked like something out of a advertisement.

Yup, definitely weird. But Prem was still oblivious to that and just erased the fact from his mind.

Moments later, the CEO said goodbye to his assistant and headed toward the parking lot. In his private space, his private car was parked with Fluke occupying the driver's seat. The boy seemed oblivious to what was happening around him, humming a song while touching up his makeup using the internal rear view mirror. Ohm crept up on the side of the vehicle and knocked twice on the driver's window, making Fluke startled.

"Ready for lunch?", Ohm grinned.

"Of course!", Fluke mirrored his sincere smile.

Fluke drove the car to a park that wasn't crowded at this time of day and both men chose to sit on a bench that was under a tree that was attractive enough with its cool shade. After arranging the items they would need on a towel, they started to eat lunch.

As they ate, Fluke couldn't help stealing a few glances from the man beside him. He was rich and refined, but since he had tasted one of his sandwiches, he said he had never eaten anything so tasty. Since then, he had asked the driver to double prepare whatever he was going to eat for lunch so the two could eat together.

Fluke tried to argue that the man found the sandwich tasty just because he had gone many hours without eating and that the kind of home-cooked food he knew how to prepare would probably not be to his liking, but Ohm was decisive in asserting that he loved it. And, in fact, he really liked it.

"You are very talented, Fluke! Driving so well and still knowing how to cook like that! I am amazed!", Ohm commented on one occasion.

Fluke was startled by the random compliments that seemed a little exaggerated to the point of being almost corny, but Ohm seemed sincere. In fact, lately it was common for them to spend more time together, always taking advantage of breaks between the CEO's appointments to visit some interesting place that one of them had heard about.

"Oh, I forgot to bring the cutlery for dessert…", Fluke said looking devastated as he stared at the bowl containing some colorful star-shaped candies.

"What is this?", the CEO asked pointing to the candy.

"It's look choup!"

"In this case it's simple to solve the problem!", Ohm replied.

But what was "simple" in the suit man's vocabulary actually meant that Fluke could feed him by putting the candy in his mouth. Ohm was literally leaning towards him, mouth open and eyes closed just waiting to taste the candy.

Fluke felt his cheeks burning with embarrassment, but eventually he gave in. When the man's lips brushed his fingers, the driver thought he might fly out of there, but the husky, excited voice made him sense reality.

"It's delicious! Can I get one more? Please?"

Apparently, Ohm was addicted to candy and it was impossible to resist those sweet eyes asking for "one more".

When they were finishing their meal and just sipping a soft tea that Fluke had prepared, the CEO's phone rang and he excused himself to answer it.

"Sir, we have identified a suspicious vehicle in the direction of the park where you are now. For now, we have reinforced security. You should notice some undercover men passing by you every now and then just to check."

"Thanks, Boun! Keep me posted, please!", Ohm replied to the head of his private security.

As he walked back to where he had left Fluke, Ohm caught sight of the plainclothes security guards passing around him, but he tried not to look suspicious and to avoid giving the boy reason to worry.

"Sorry for the delay!", he said sitting on the bench again.

"No problem!", Fluke grinned at him, totally oblivious to what was going on.

Ohm felt that he would be capable of anything to protect precious moments like this. For now, he wanted to enjoy those brief moments of peace with an open chest.

********

Returning from lunch, Ohm found an angry Prem waiting for him.

"Sir!"

"Is everything alright, Prem?"

"I took advantage of my lunch break to go to the restaurants that had refused to book your reservation."

Not good.

"Is that so?" Ohm tried to look innocent.

"Yes, they told me you haven't been at your scheduled times! So I asked the head of security to give me your car's GPS history and I saw that you and Fluke have been spending lunch anywhere, except where I've been booking!", Prem accused.

"That's true!", Ohm tried to be blasé after being caught by the assistant.

"Siiir~! I need to look out for your good name, please let me know details like that!", Prem pleaded with the CEO.

"Sorry, Prem! But let's do it like this: you'll be entitled to an extra week of vacation this year! Compensation for this inconvenience, ok? That way you'll be able to enjoy more time with Boun!", Ohm negotiated.

"Why would I spend my time with that guy?!", Prem asked sheepishly.

"Prem, I have eyes. And the security team members love gossiping, so it's not exactly a secret that you guys date, you know?" The manager winked at the assistant.

"A-ah… I remembered that I need to do that thing… that day… for that thing! Excuse me, sir!", the boy ran out of the room.

"Ah, love does things to us…", Ohm chuckled to himself.