Chapter 16 Run, Ling, Run
The first sign that something was wrong was that Ling could no longer concentrate.
It was such a small thing that, at first, she almost dismissed it.
Ling had spent years mastering the art of being present when she needed to be present and emotionally absent when being present became inconvenient.
She could sit through a four-hour negotiation without checking her phone once.
She could read a twenty-page proposal and remember every number, every weakness, every promise buried between the lines.
She could listen to people argue about millions of baht without allowing her expression to change.
She had built her entire career on that ability.
Control was not merely a personality trait for Lingling Kwong; it was a language she spoke fluently.
Yet that afternoon, sitting at the head of Veyra's largest conference room, she read the same sentence on the presentation screen three times and couldn't remember what it said.
Around her, senior executives continued discussing the partnership.
The project was important. Very important.
The kind of project that would normally hold every ounce of her attention.
A major client was considering extending its relationship with Veyra, and the numbers on the table were large enough that everyone in the room had been preparing for this meeting for weeks.
There were projections, timelines, financial commitments, expansion opportunities, and an entire strategy team waiting for Ling's final approval.
Normally, she would have been the person steering the conversation.
Today, she was staring at the presentation as though the words had been written in another language.
Her phone vibrated silently beside her folder.
Ling glanced down.
One message.
From Orm.
Her entire body went still.
Orm: I wanted to tell you myself before you hear it from someone else.
Ling's fingers tightened around the pen in her hand.
She opened the message.
A second one appeared.
Orm: I got the position.
Her heart skipped.
The overseas position.
The one Orm had mentioned weeks ago.
The one Ling had known existed but had deliberately pushed into the back of her mind because there had always been another meeting, another campaign, another conversation, another reason to believe there would be time.
A third message appeared.
Orm: The one I told you about before.
Ling remembered the conversation with uncomfortable clarity.
They had been sitting together after work, Orm talking about the opportunity almost casually while Ling pretended to read through a report.
Orm had said it was a position she had wanted for a long time, something that would give her the chance to prove herself outside Veyra and establish herself as a creator in her own right.
Ling had listened. She had asked questions.
She had even told Orm that she should take it if it was what she wanted.
At the time, it had seemed like an abstract possibility.
A distant future.
Something that could happen someday.
Then another message arrived.
Orm: I'm leaving tonight.
Ling stopped breathing.
Tonight.
The word seemed to swallow everything else in the room.
Someone was speaking.
Someone else was turning a page.
The presentation changed.
Ling heard her own name.
"Khun Ling?"
She looked up.
Every face around the table had turned toward her.
The managing director cleared his throat.
"We were asking whether you approve the revised partnership structure."
Ling looked at the screen.
The numbers were meaningless now.
She looked down at her phone again.
Nothing else.
Her mind moved quickly.
Too quickly.
Orm was leaving.
Tonight.
She had one chance.
One.
And suddenly the meeting in front of her felt like something happening in another universe.
"I'll review the final numbers afterward," Ling said.
The managing director blinked.
"Afterward?"
"Yes."
"But we were hoping to have your approval today."
"You'll have it."
"When?"
Ling stood.
"Tomorrow."
The room went completely silent.
Someone looked at the managing director.
Someone else looked at Khun Dew, who had been sitting farther down the table and was watching Ling with an expression that seemed to say she already knew exactly what was happening.
The managing director looked confused.
"Khun Ling, this meeting is-"
"I know what this meeting is."
Her voice wasn't angry.
It was simply final.
She closed the folder.
"I need to leave."
"Now?"
"Yes."
"But-"
"I said I'll review everything tomorrow."
She picked up her phone.
Then, almost as an afterthought, she added, "Send me the revised projections tonight."
The managing director stared at her.
"You'll review them tonight?"
Ling paused.
"No."
She looked at the phone in her hand.
"Probably not."
Khun Dew lowered her head, hiding a smile.
Ling walked out.
She didn't look back.
For perhaps the first time in her professional life, Lingling Kwong abandoned a major business meeting before it was finished.
And for once, she didn't care what anyone thought about it.
?
The moment the conference room doors closed behind her, Ling walked quickly down the corridor.
Then faster.
By the time she reached the elevator, she was almost running.
She pressed the button.
Nothing.
She pressed it again.
"Come on."
The elevator remained stubbornly still.
Ling looked at the number above the doors.
Too slow.
She turned and headed toward the stairs.
Behind her, the elevator doors opened.
She ignored them.
She was already halfway down the first flight when her phone rang.
Orm.
Ling stopped.
She answered immediately.
"Hello?"
"Where are you?"
Orm's voice sounded uncertain.
Ling resumed walking.
"I'm leaving Veyra."
"What?"
"I'm coming to you."
There was silence on the other end.
"Ling..."
"I'm coming."
"You don't have to."
"I know."
"Then why are you?"
Ling pushed through the stairwell door and emerged onto the ground floor.
"Because I want to."
She reached the parking area.
"Where are you?"
"At home."
"You're already packing?"
"Yes."
Ling stopped beside her car.
Her chest felt tight.
"When is your flight?"
"Tonight."
"What time?"
"Eleven forty."
Ling looked at her watch.
She had hours.
Not enough.
But enough.
"Don't leave yet."
Orm was silent.
"Ling..."
"Please."
That single word felt strange coming from her.
Ling wasn't used to asking.
She was used to deciding.
"Please wait for me."
Orm's voice softened.
"Okay."
Ling closed her eyes.
"Okay."
She ended the call.
Then she got into the car.
?
Bangkok traffic had apparently decided that Ling's emotional crisis was an excellent opportunity to test her patience.
The road ahead was packed.
Cars barely moved.
Motorcycles slipped through gaps that looked far too small.
A bus stopped in front of her.
Someone honked behind her.
Ling gripped the steering wheel.
"Not today."
She checked the time.
She had enough time.
Probably.
She didn't like the word probably.
Her phone sat in the cup holder.
She wanted to call Orm again.
She didn't.
Instead, she drove.
As the traffic crawled forward, memories began appearing in her mind with no particular order.
Orm's first day at Veyra.
The way she had tried to look confident during the interview.
The way Ling had immediately noticed how nervous she was.
The first proposal.
Ling's criticism.
Orm's anger.
The way Orm had stared at her as though she couldn't believe anyone had spoken to her that bluntly.
Their first argument.
Their first campaign meeting.
P'Cherry and Khun Dew explaining why they needed to present a united front for Aurelia.
The ridiculous rules they had created.
No kissing.
No unnecessary touching.
No jealousy.
No falling in love.
Ling almost laughed.
No falling in love.
What a ridiculous rule.
She remembered Orm looking at her across that table.
"Don't look at me like that."
"Like what?"
Ling's grip tightened.
She hadn't known then.
Or perhaps she had.
Perhaps she had simply been too afraid to admit it.
The campaign had started as an arrangement.
Something temporary.
Something practical.
Something they could control.
Then Orm had stolen her coffee.
Invaded her office.
Made her laugh.
Argued with her.
Touched her hand.
Looked at her like she was something more than an executive director.
And somewhere between all those little moments, the rules had become irrelevant.
Ling had fallen in love.
Quietly.
Terribly.
Completely.
And she had almost lost her because she had been too frightened to say it soon enough.
The traffic moved.
Ling accelerated.
?
Orm stood in the middle of her apartment, staring at the open suitcase on her bed.
She had been packing for hours.
Her clothes were folded.
Her documents were organised.
Her passport was sitting beside her laptop.
Everything was ready.
Everything except her.
She had wanted this job.
That was the truth.
She had worked for it.
She had applied before everything with Ling had become complicated.
It was an opportunity she couldn't casually dismiss.
It would be good for her career.
It would give her independence.
It would prove that she was more than the new creator who had become part of Veyra's most successful campaign.
Orm knew all of that.
She also knew she was leaving the one person she loved.
That was the part she couldn't solve.
She sat on the edge of the bed.
Her phone was beside her.
Ling's name was still on the screen.
Orm opened their conversation.
The messages from the previous night were still there.
Goodnight.
She smiled sadly.
Then she remembered Ling's voice from earlier.
Please wait for me.
Orm's heart tightened.
She didn't know what Ling intended to say.
But she knew Ling.
If Ling was driving across Bangkok instead of finishing a major business meeting, then whatever she was coming to say mattered.
Very much.
?
The traffic finally began to loosen.
Ling drove faster.
She didn't speed dangerously.