Chapter 10 Absolute Rights of the Administrator (of the Heart)

          The atmosphere inside the company's nine-seater VIP air-conditioned van was a world apart from the fierce showdown at the lobby half an hour ago.

Lita sat shrinking into the plush leather seat in the second row on the left. The tall figure of the Head of IT sat on the right, his face an impenetrable mask of stoicism. The back row was entirely occupied by his three IT minions: Nick, the nerdy, bespectacled coding geek; Job, the stocky hardware guy; and Tum, the department’s resident system admin and gossip sleuth.

The van glided smoothly down Rama II Road, heading straight for Prachuap Khiri Khan province. The journey, which should have been quiet and peaceful, was completely ruined by the whispering from the back row—whispering that was loud enough for the people in the front to hear crystal clear.

"Hey Nick, don't you think our boss is acting kind of weird?" Tum whispered, his voice laced with suppressed laughter as he leaned forward to grip the back of the front seats.

"Once in a blue moon the server room AC breaks down, and the boss still refuses to get out of his chair. But now he's dragging himself all the way to the beach just to check an auction system? By the way, since when does our company have a real-time digital auction system? I'm the system admin, why the hell don't I know about this?"

"Right, P'?" Nick agreed, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"I remember at two o'clock this morning, the boss texted me out of nowhere, ordering me to draft a mock system architecture and send it to him ASAP. I thought it was some top-secret project from the executive board. Turns out, he just used it as an excuse to go on a field trip with our top-tier PR queen."

"Woooo! Is it the security system he needs to go down and monitor, or the system of his heart?" Job chimed in. They were supposedly teasing each other, but it was painfully obvious they intended for the people in the front row to hear every word.

Listening to their banter, Lita felt her face burn scorching hot all the way to the tips of her ears. The young woman immediately whipped her head to look at the sharp side profile of the man sitting next to her.

"Did you... did you really stay up all night drafting documents for the executive board just to use as an excuse with the big boss?" she asked softly. Her little heart hammered wildly, overflowing with a profound sense of gratitude. Did he really go to such lengths just for her?

Bhakin maintained an expression as perfectly stoic as a sculpted statue. He didn't turn to look at her. Instead, he flicked his piercing, razor-sharp gaze to the rearview mirror, locking onto his three subordinates who were sitting in the back, grinning from ear to ear.

"Nick. That new warehouse system coding project next month? I'm making you the project lead. Overtime required, no extra pay."

"Hey! Boss! I was just kidding!" Nick's face went as pale as a boiled chicken. He immediately pulled his head back, sitting ramrod straight in his seat.

"As for Job and Tum... the second we get back to the office, prepare yourselves to crawl under the desks and rewire the LAN cables for the entire fifteenth floor."

This deadpan, ruthless execution served perfectly as a warning to the monkeys. The three IT guys snapped their mouths shut, going dead silent as if someone had just hit the 'Mute' button. Even so, Lita could still catch them secretly exchanging knowing looks and wiggling their eyebrows at each other through the rearview mirror.

The young woman hid a secret smile. This warm, fiercely protective side of the deadpan Head of IT—a side so obvious that even his subordinates could tell he was quietly but madly in love—healed the bruised heart she'd suffered yesterday, making it swell with warmth all over again.

The journey took over three hours. As the excitement and adrenaline began to wear off, the sheer exhaustion from being awake all night finally crashed down on Lita. Her eyelids grew incredibly heavy. Her head swayed back and forth with the rhythm of the van navigating the curves, before slowly nodding off and tilting to the right.

Thump...

Her beautifully shaped head, crowned with golden-brown curls, tilted and landed perfectly on the broad shoulder of the man sitting beside her.

Bhakin froze. His long fingers, which had been swiping across the iPad screen, stopped dead. The tall man cast his gaze downward, looking at the sweet face sleeping soundly against him. Her steady, rhythmic breaths ghosted over his upper arm. The fierce, intimidating glare he always used to terrorize others melted away, replaced by an unconcealed, profound tenderness.

He shifted his body just a fraction, adjusting the angle of his shoulder so she could rest more comfortably. He then smoothly shrugged off his sporty jacket and draped it over her slender frame, which was clad only in a thin shirt, shielding her from the biting chill of the van's air conditioning.

This incredibly gentle gesture—one that completely contradicted his stoic persona—was witnessed in its entirety by the three IT minions in the back row. Nick, Job, and Tum clamped their hands tightly over their mouths, desperately holding back their internal, manly squeals of excitement. They exchanged knowing nods. At this rate, the odds of their Khun Bhakin officially losing his single status were skyrocketing to an absolute certainty.

At around eleven-thirty, the company van pulled up and parked in front of the resort's open-air, tropical-style lobby, which welcomed the ocean breeze. The sound of waves crashing against the shore and the salty scent of the sea roused Lita from her slumber. The young woman jolted violently awake when she realized she was resting her head on Bhakin's shoulder, completely enveloped in his jacket.

"Oops! I'm so sorry, Khun Bhakin. I have no idea when I fell asleep." She practically bounced off him, handing back his jacket with a face flushed crimson all the way to her ears.

"Wipe your drool."

Bhakin accepted the jacket and slung it over his shoulder. He delivered the deadpan tease before sliding the van door open and stepping out. He left Lita frantically swiping at the corners of her mouth in a panic, only to realize her face was completely dry.

That crazy jerk! He tricked me!

The moment she stepped into the lobby, Krit's tall figure approached, his hands in his pockets and a triumphant smile plastered across his face. His sports car had sped here, arriving almost an hour ahead of the company van.

"Welcome, Lita."

Krit purposefully stepped closer to the young woman, but Bhakin smoothly intercepted, positioning himself directly between them as if he had timed it perfectly. Krit immediately scowled in frustration.

"I've already sorted out your accommodations."

Krit turned and nodded at the receptionist to hand out the keycards.

"For the IT team, I've arranged standard rooms in the rear building zone near the mountains. It's nice and quiet—perfect for you guys to sit in front of your computers."

Krit handed three keycards to Nick, Job, and Tum, eyeing them with profound disdain.

"As for you, Khun Lalita..." The ex-boyfriend turned back, flashing a sickeningly sweet smile. "I upgraded you to a pool villa right on the beachfront. It's a connecting villa that links directly to mine. That way, we can discuss the gala details comfortably, all night long."

Lita went deathly pale. A connecting room with the ex-boyfriend who was actively trying to corner and claim her? That was an absolute catastrophe.

She opened her mouth, preparing to refuse, but the large hand of the man standing beside her gently grasped her wrist in a silent warning.

Bhakin pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. His piercing eyes stared at the villa keycard in Krit's hand with freezing intensity.

"My apologies, Khun Krit, but arranging the rooms in that manner violates the maximum-security protocols of the IT team."

Krit furrowed his brow.

"What bullshit rules are you spouting now? This is my resort. I'll arrange the rooms however I please."

"To prevent the leakage of hundred-million-baht auction data," Bhakin explained in a perfectly flat yet profoundly commanding tone, "a project manager like Khun Lalita is required to remain within the coverage radius of my private network as the Head of IT, twenty-four hours a day. This is to ensure I can monitor her communication devices."

The tall man turned to the receptionist, who was standing there looking incredibly awkward.

"Kindly change Khun Lalita's accommodation. Move her to the room right next to mine. Oh, and please upgrade the entire IT team's rooms from the rear building to the beachfront Pool Villa zone as well. Swipe all the price differences and extra charges on this black card."

Bhakin pulled out a prestigious black credit card—a card that only a handful of multi-millionaires in the country had the privilege of holding—and slapped it onto the counter. The receptionist's eyes bulged. She snatched the card and hurriedly processed the request as if she were under a magic spell.

Krit's jaw dropped. He stared back and forth between the black card and Bhakin's stoic face in a mix of utter shock and bewilderment.

"How the hell does a computer tech like you get a black card?! Did you steal your boss's card or something?!"

The corner of Bhakin's mouth twitched into a smirk. It was a dangerously lethal smile, dripping with superiority in every conceivable dimension.

"It just so happens that my digital asset portfolio generated a little bit of profit."

He threw the exact same excuse he had given Lita right back in Krit's face. He then stepped a fraction closer to Krit, dropping his voice to a lethal whisper meant only for the two of them.

"Remember this. Don't you ever dare create a vulnerability to hack into my system again. Because the next time you try to breach my data, you might lose more than just a beachfront villa. You might lose this entire resort."

The threat, so clearly laced with an underworld-like authority, drained the color completely from Krit's face. He was beginning to realize that this deadpan Head of IT was absolutely not the ordinary, salaried employee he had assumed he was.

Bhakin turned back around and grabbed Lita's suitcase.

"Let's go, Lita. Your accommodation system has been successfully updated. I guarantee it's one million percent safe from any viruses."

The tall man elegantly led the way toward the beachfront villa zone, leaving Krit standing in the middle of the lobby, his fists clenched in pure, vindictive rage. Lita practically half-walked, half-jogged to keep up with that broad back. Trailing closely behind them were the three IT guys, enthusiastically whispering and gossiping about just how much of an absolute baller their boss was.