Fateful Encounter (Completed)

Chapter 18

*A/N People in the club who wanna adopt these two? Act as their fairy godmother and make them marry each other? Anyone?

From the moment Kongpob had landed on Chiang Mai airport, on Thursday, things had been stressful. He'd met with the project staff and had conducted a review meeting which had helped in identifying the key problems that were hindering with achieving the desired progress. After five hours of intense discussion, the team had come up with a plan of execution that would enable the stagnant components to get underway.

The newest subsidiary to K & S, KS Energy, was proposed by Kongpob. He'd first talked with his father and brothers regarding venturing into renewable energy when he was a senior in high school. Of course as customary to every Suthilak son, he was given a chance to prove himself. Just after turning eighteen, he'd had to present a feasible project proposal in front of the whole director board and all the share holders. Needless to say with 72% of the votes the new venture was approved. Klahan was even a little jealous since Kongpob broke the record he set with 68% in his time.

The biggest champion of the project had been his grand father's friend, Professor Xuvicha, with whom Kongpob shared a strong camaraderie, despite the age difference. A pioneer of education in Thailand, the man had seen far to the future when he'd told a young Kongpob about the importance of renewable power source to the sustainability of future human. With great help from Prof. Xuvicha and carefully selected staff, the project has entered construction phase when Kongpob was just in his third year. 

Due to the extreme sensitivity of the project location, it had been a constant uphill struggle since the beginning. The small hydro power project is set to energize a three small village of more than 500 families in a remote corner of Chiang Mai. Approval process was relatively smooth given the established name of the mother company. The public had been a little reluctant to accept change. But given the enormous social and economical improvement that is bound to come their way, no major protests occurred. It also helped that they worked with both KST and Chinag Mai University's Engineering faculties since the beginning of the project.

However, recently, there's been a group of activists who has been creating some unrest in the area. Unfortunately they've selected few development projects as deserving of their attention. One of which was their project. Through false rumors they've created an undeserving public opinion regarding the project due to which the project staff had faced some difficulties and project delays. His staff had done admirably with the given constraints. Kongpob was only called in when the situation couldn't be managed without his presence as the owner.   

He'd had numerous meetings with local authorities, the villagers, law enforcement personnel, public institutes, NGOs etc. Thankfully, his team had worked with him in perfect synergy. Given that he was the ultimate authority in the subsidiary company, KS Energy, it was inevitable that all the major decisions be made by him. Hence, even though the project staff had conducted admirably, Kongpob still had a lot to do. Due to the project location being extremely remote, communication with the stakeholders and the outside world took extra effort. 

Kongpob was rather tired when he boarded the flight back to Bangkok, after lunch, on Sunday. All of his team, PA and bodyguards, was more than relieved to have things successfully wrapped up. But he still had the progress report presentation to the BOD on Monday and will be called to task regarding the delays and unexpected situations. While it wasn't serious trouble, it could be irritating when people acted obnoxious.

On the way back to the apartment, the youngest member of his security detail, San, proposed to have snacks at his parents' restaurant. After a tiring day Kongpob felt that a change was needed and since the restaurant is on the way, it shouldn't be much of a hassle. So much to the surprise of the others Kongpob agreed to go. A move he came to regret later.