This update is posted less than 24 hours ago, please check the previous chapter just in case you haven't seen it yet. Thank you.
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Kong cannot believe that he is currently in Mielle Thailand, one of the biggest lifestyle and travel magazine across the world. It is considered as a top magazine brand in Thailand and never in his sane mind has he ever thought that he'll meet the Managing Editor.
Just a few days ago, he literally asked himself 'so what's next?' and a few hours later, he received a call from P'Jane saying he needs to come over Mielle on this specific date.
"I am Prae, the managing editor of Mielle." The beautiful lady in front of him reached out for a handshake.
Kong went through screening with the HR and Prae. He was so nervous, but he kept on telling himself that he needs to do this right.
His heart almost dropped when Prae asked to talk to him one on one only for her to congratulate him for getting hired.
"We have no available position for writers, but our online content team, specifically the video team is in need of a content creator and editor and I can see that you have a talent seeing your portfolio, I am sure you'll do well the team." At this point, Kong will accept any position given to him. He cannot stop beaming over what Prae said.
The thought of getting this job so he can finally have his camera lens fixed is making him excited.
"No offense, but how did you end up working in RevealDaily with such a portfolio like this?" Kong almost wanted to complain about how high the standards of other companies (including Mielle) but he chose not to, knowing that he is literally served with his dream on a silver platter.
Prae started to personally explain to him initial things he should know about Mielle. He knows that the ME is quite busy and he is starting to get shy with the not-so VIP treatment he is getting.
"Arthit and I were classmates in the university so please be comfortable around me," Prae told him and he just smiled and nodded. P'Jane told him that Prae doesn't know that he is 'fake dating' Arthit as they just told her that they will introduce someone and she can check his skills if he can pass Mielle's standards.
"And this is Tew. He is technically your boss. He is the online video content producer of Mielle." Prae introduced Tew and Kong immediately greeted him.
Kong never thought that his life will turn a total of 180 degrees after that eventful night. He started working in Mielle and he never thought he'll enjoy and learn a lot this way. Tew is really nice to him. The people in the team are teaching him things so he will be prepared once Tew gives him his assignment to think of contents for the online platform.
Being surrounded by people in this field made him miss his best friends. Kao who is a photographer and Khai who became a stylist under a fashion brand. Both of his best friends found what they love while he was working under his aunt, but he was still very supportive of them. They playfully call themselves Khai-Kong-Kao.
He is hoping that one day, he can get to work with them in this field, and he can only imagine how fun it will be.
He has not met Arthit in person after they left his place past midnight to make sure that things are settled. Toota had to excuse himself though as he still needs to attend on his job as an EIC of RevealDaily so Kongpob was left surrounded by Arthit's team. He can still remember how he can barely eat despite feeling hungry after he skipped breakfast and lunch. He cannot imagine digesting his food, especially with Ice seated in front of him while they were eating.
Despite not meeting Arthit, he was advised by P'Jane and P'Rainza to monitor news about him so he won't get 'lost' about whatever he is saying in the media. He actually 'studied' Arthit for references. He checked articles about him, about his past, his career, his dramas, and more. He must say that one thing about him is he is good at dodging questions, and that whatever he says may sound like it did not answer the real question but it sounds so right that you'll end up accepting it.
He also watched recent interviews just so he'll know what he was saying to the press Somehow, Kongpob cannot help but get impressed with his words as whoever is at the receiving end of the fake sincerity he is showing on interviews will surely be touched with the way Arthit is dealing with it.
On the other hand, he can clearly say one thing, Arthit Rojnapat indeed deserves every acting award that he received with how natural he is.
Arthit attended an opening of a flagship store of one of the products that he is endorsing. The ribbon-cutting has ended and he was given a chance to greet his fans and face the media.
He continued to smile to the media and politely entertaining questions thrown to him.
"Is your lover a university student?" one of the press asked.
"No. He has graduated and is working." Arthit answered with a smile.
"Why did you only reveal it now?" another question.
"I personally wanted to keep it private. I actually wanted to keep it longer before revealing but things happened already and I cannot bring back time." Arthit looked at the camera with a smile.
"How did you meet? You haven't mentioned it yet."
"Through an event? Through a common friend? Unconventional? Hmm... It's a secret, I'll make you guess." he almost snorted at the way he answered the question.
Event? Of course, at a birthday party. Friend? It should be a common subject, Namtan... who is obviously clueless about her being photographed with her controversial boyfriend. Unconventional? Arthit cannot think of any other words than to describe their first meeting.
"What can you say about your dating news coming out?" another one asked. Arthit cleared his throat before he opened his lips to speak.
"I am hoping for people to respect our privacy, especially his privacy." He started.
"We didn't try to keep this for more than a year if we wanted people to know easily. We were complacent that night and we regretfully got caught." He looked into the camera that was settled in the center, he didn't mind to read if from which news agency it is.
"People can come after me, but please don't try to know his identity until we are ready. I still want him to live a normal life." he tried to mask his sentence with full sincerity before he broke his eye contact with the camera to look around and waited for additional questions. When no one asked anymore, he gave everyone a wai and he excused himself to follow P'Jane inside the store to resume his role being the endorser.
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Arthit is getting tired. His peaceful life has now become a 'full course meal' of the press. His every move is being followed as people are expecting him to meet up with his lover and they are expecting to get a glimpse of him.
He is just thankful that he has a very good team that is handling the issue for him. The news that was released technically became his coming out story. In line with this, he has gained a lot of opportunities on top of his prior commitments so at least, he still gets to divert his attention from all these dating life fiasco he got himself into.
He hasn't met Kongpob after that night he posted his statement, but he is receiving updates about him from Jane and Rainza. He learned that he is doing well in Mielle and has heard praises from Prae too.
He learned from P'Jane that he has released video contents and a few caption write-ups and somehow, he's happy that he was able to help him out of his former job. Don't get him wrong, he respects people in the media, but he never condoned the following and stalking act just to get a good scoop ahead of anyone.
"So you're saying that you are fake dating this guy from RevealDaily whom you recommended to Prae to hire in Mielle?" Third summarized his story making him nod. After weeks of a busy schedule, he finally had time to talk with them so he invited them to come over his place.
Pete and Third have been flooding him with calls and messages when he released the statement but he had no energy to talk to them. He just told them that he'll explain to them once they get to meet and just take everything he says to the media with a grain of salt.
"So the catch here is, he'll act as your fake lover until P'Charong thinks that you had good use of this little trick to your career... and in exchange, you found him a stable job for himself, did I get it right?" Pete asked and Arthit nodded.
"I thought of Mielle when we were trying to think of a place to put him in. First is Prae, it is easier to have someone I know monitor him despite not telling her everything. Next is, it's Mielle, we all know a lot of people want to work there... and third, we know how good the pay is." Arthit explained.
It was actually suggested by his lawyers when they asked if they needed to make a contract agreement with Kongpob. The threat alone about filing a case against him and RevealDaily worked. His lawyers said that they may not have a paper signed for this agreement, but they made the agreement in front of them, and it's more than enough. They can see that Kongpob is someone who will keep his word. Having the paper may become a source of a problem in the future.
"How sure are you that this person wouldn't turn your back on you?" Third asked, still suspicious over everything.
"We made a background check on him, just the basic information and it is obvious that this person values being indebted to others so much. We gave him a good working place, a good working title and this is obviously with a good salary...
And he knows that we have evidences against him too. Ice took pictures of him when he trespassed the party and took pictures of the people there. We got a picture of his media ID that night too. There's a lot of at stake for him." Arthit explained further.
"Let me see his picture." Pete suddenly asked said making Third roll his eyes. Arthit just laughed as he shook his head.
"We only met twice. That night at the resort and the day after when I released the statement. I don't have any pictures of him." Arthit replied.
"So when are we going to meet him?" Pete asked again.
"Why are you so adamant in meeting him?"
"Because I want to see the face of Arthit's first 'official' boyfriend." Pete even raised his hands to quote making Arthit throw the tissue he crumpled towards his friend.
"That guy is nothing but ordinary, don't expect too much," Arthit replied as he recalled Kongpob's face. Well, he can say he's charming with his hair down and glasses on when he met him the day after the party, totally different from his waiter outfit that was mistaken as a university uniform.
"I think he's good looking." Third suddenly said.
"And why is that?"
"Because I know P'Jane wouldn't approve this if his baby is going to be paired up with err... not that gifted on that department?" Third tried to complete his sentence for the lack of the proper word to say and that made both Pete and Arthit laugh so hard.
"Third you... really!" Pete even shook his head as he continued to laugh. Third can only roll his eyes and pick up his glass to drink.
He still thinks his theory is right though. P'Jane has become a parent figure to Arthit in his career, his entire team treats him as their 'baby' even if he is a 25 years old adult already. So he is sure that even if this is just for fake dating shenanigans, P'Jane wouldn't agree if he's not good looking – end of Third's theory.
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Barely three months after that night, the two of them got extremely busy with their respective jobs. Kongpob has adjusted well and Tew has given him his assignment to come up with some content for their weekly video upload and Tew was impressed by his work ethics.
Arthit on the other hand finished filming his drama and is currently taking a short break while doing some endorsements here and there. He already saw it coming so it was not a surprise for him when P'Jane told him that Charong gave out signals that it is high time to reveal Kongpob's identity to the public.
Truthfully, if he wasn't obliged to retweet those sweet quotes and share love songs, he could have forgotten that he is actually in a fake relationship with how busy he is.
Kongpob came over Friday night after work. He was fetched by Ice in the basement and they followed the same path they passed through last time. Kong is now confident that if he needs to come over the next time, he knows where to go.
He was offered with dinner and Rainza said she cooked. After long hours of work, Kong didn't bother having Ice seated in front of him as he ate well.
After dinner, Jane and Rainza explained to him how things are going to be. He expected it when they called for him so he has prepared himself already.
"We want both of you to come up with a believable storyline that doesn't involve a lot of people so we can control everything," P'Jane instructed and they know that they will be stuck unless they come up with something.
They left the two in Arthit's living room and silence enveloped them.
Kongpob bit his lower lip as he glanced at Arthit. He doesn't know if it's just his eyes or the actor has lost some weight since he last saw him. He can only imagine how stressful his schedule is on top of all the controversies that came out.
He adjusted his glasses as he cleared his throat. Arthit doesn't seem to have any plans to speak.
"Do you have any idea?" Kongpob asked in a soft voice. He still doesn't know how to properly talk to him, and the last time he checked, he obviously raised his voice to this person when they talked alone (temporarily forgetting about Ice's presence that night).
"Do you?" Arhtit asked back and that only made Kongpob sigh.
"I attended a presscon of the event you went to when I was doing my internship." Kongpob offered an idea and that made Arthit look at him.
"Oh? And then?"
"And then there's another presscon too, for an insurance company you were endorsing that year," Kongpob added. He interned in a news agency and his senior partner was assigned on this beat so he was able to attend those events. (Beat in journalism: particular topic or subject area that a reporter/journalist covers)
"So we already met before?" Arthit clarified.
"I don't think it's a meeting though. I just saw you on stage while I was taking pictures for my senior to use on her articles." Kongpob replied and Arthit just chuckled.
"Okay. So do you have any idea how to weave this up? You're the writer here." and Kongpob almost grunted with what he said but he chose to bit his inner lip instead.
"How about this..." Kongpob started to narrate the story forming in his head.
It's quite simple and Arthit seemed to accept it. They first met on the even that Kongpob covered with his senior when he was doing his internship. After that first event, they met again on another presscon and they met in the toilet. Kongpob added some color into the story to make it interesting.
"So I am really the one who wooed you huh?" Arthit cut him off when he said that he was the one who asked for Kongpob's number. Kongpob immediately felt his cheeks hot over Arthit's statement.
"If I was the one who took your number, it will end up like I was desperately getting the attention of a superstar." Kongpob countered as he tried to hide how flustered he is.
"Okay continue." Arthit pursed his lips to stop himself from laughing at how Kongpob reacted. Don't get him wrong but he can clearly see the beauty and cuteness of this guy in front of him. His cheeks are prominent making his features soft. For Arthit, he may have soft features but he got sharp edges compared to the lean man in front of him.
Kongpob continued explaining despite the distracting stare of the actor towards him. They became 'chatmates' and they tried to 'secretly' meet several times until Arthit asked Kongpob to be his lover after he graduated. Arthit snorted and Kongpob just rolled his eyes.
He continued saying that he said yes and they got together since then.
They counted well the months and years and things fell into places from Kong's internship until the recent events.
"Okay, that seems fine." Arthit finally said after Kong finished his story.
"You wouldn't put in anything?" Kong asked.
"I don't want to ruin the story in your head, I can jive into the topic once we get there. I'm afraid it will mix up the ideas in your head." Arthit explained and Kongpob just nodded.
"We can take fake photographs if needed. There's a lot of places we can go to take those if needed. You still have my photos from the presscon right?" Arthit asked.
"Yes." He kept all the files he had from his internship on one folder so of course, he have them. He will never forget how Arthit was one of the first celebrities he saw during his internship. There are a lot of celebrities going to their university so he got used to seeing them. It was different seeing celebrities on stage though.
"Okay then I think we're good. We got the more than one-year relationship covered." Arthit clasped his hand as he slumped his back to the couch.
The number of years was thought of Rainza saying that more than one-year relationship is the safest for the both of them, especially with one article about Arthit coming out saying 'if I am in a relationship, I would probably keep it.' It was him teasing the media on a presscon but people gave it a different color after his 'secret dating life' came out.
Jane and Rainza were impressed with how they weaved the story so they proceeded with the plan. They also informed them that they will go on with the exclusive interview with RevealDaily but with the presence of ACB-03 Exclusives since this is the official showbiz news portal of Artist Creatives.
Jane said that they are going to settle the schedule and will inform the two once it is final.
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"Arthit, I'll leave the caption to you. Weave in some romantic phrases from your previous dramas or something." Jane teased and Arthit just rolled his eyes.
A week later, Jane has confirmed the schedule of the interview on Saturday, so they had to call in Kongpob to come over for a short briefing.
Arthit has distinct uses of his social media accounts. His twitter is to interact with fans as much as possible. His Instagram is to post important events, dramas/shows, advertisement/PR posts, and important people in his life for the gram. This is the first time he is posting something different.
He carefully took a picture of Kongpob who is seated on the couch, reading through the papers Jane and Rainza gave him. He chose to take the picture while his two managers have their backs turned on him.
Kongpob came from work, his eyes were quite tired that he removed his glasses once Jane and Rainza were talking to him, not really minding Arthit's presence at the back of his two managers. The initial fear of how Jane was during their first meeting is now gone in Kong's system as he realized that the manager is actually nice. Rainza is like an elder sister to him too.
After getting satisfied with the picture, Arthit edited it into black and white making Kongpob's side profile look like a silhouette. His cheeks, nose and smiling lips became the prominent features in the black and white picture. He also noticed Kongpob's longer hair compared to how it was during the first time they met.
Arthit wets his lips as he took a deep breath before he finally pressed the share button on top of his screen.
And Arthit knows that both of their lives are going to change after he posted.