Kwan Khao arrived at the office just before nine.
The receptionist, still scrolling through her phone with earbuds in, barely noticed her. It wasn't quite working hours yet, so Kwan Khao let it go and walked straight to her department.
But when she reached her office, her steps froze.
Someone was already sitting in her chair.
The man turned slowly, his calm confidence cutting through the air like a blade.
It was him.
The man she'd spent nearly 8 years trying to forget.
The one she had sworn she would never see again.
"How did you get in here?" she demanded.
Pennueng raised an eyebrow — that same infuriating gesture she remembered far too well — and stood up.
He looked every bit the powerful man the world adored: tall, poised, devastatingly composed.
Once, she had been one of the women who admired him.
Not anymore.
"Get out," she snapped. "Before I call security."
His lips curved in that dangerous smile that had always undone her.
He didn't move toward the door.
He moved toward her.
Every step he took seemed to shrink the space between them.
The air thickened; her pulse thundered in her ears.
"Still so quick to run," he murmured. "Just like before."
"Stay away from me," she warned, though her voice wasn't as steady as she wished.
He stopped only when they stood face to face, his gaze burning with an intensity that made her knees weaken.
"You shouldn't be here," she whispered.
He leaned slightly closer, his tone low and deliberate.
"Correction," he said. "I own this place now. Which means, Kwan Khao… you're in my office."
Her breath caught.
The words hit her like a slap — cold, hard, undeniable.
All at once, the truth she'd been dreading became real.
He wasn't just part of her past anymore.
He was her new boss.