Pete POV
"Wow, Arm...your haircut turned out great. Are you wearing lenses?"
The result of Tankhun's treatment was already evident. Without his glasses, and with his new haircut, Arm was attracting so much attention that the floor staff turned their heads to watch him pass by the corridor. Which made Arm quite embarrassed, but happy with himself.
"I'm still getting used to the lenses, Pete...but I think it's okay."
"And to the attention too, huh?" I teased him.
"I told you to trust me!" Tankhun declared proudly. "I'll take care of you tomorrow, Pete. I have more specific plans for you that I want to test." I felt my body tremble. "Now follow me."
Tankhun took us to the room where we usually watch tv series. On the floor was a closed delivery box.
"I ordered some manhwa."
"Manhwa?" asked Arm confused.
"Yes...Korean comic books. These are about BL stories for you to study."
"BL stories?" I asked, not having the slightest idea of what it was.
"...Boys love...romance between men...among other things, you know. Maybe you don't, Arm. And you, Pete, I'm sure everything you learned from Vegas must be twisted in some weird and sick way.
I blushed immediately. Arm was a little stunned by all those books inside the box.
" These are mafia stories. Oh, well...always the same thing. The handsome, powerful and ruthless mafia boss chasing after a cute wife...hmm...my brothers must have read those comics at some point. They are just like this...how depressing...Anyways, I saw in a BL Korean series, "First Love, again", take note, the protagonist learned about it by reading manhwas. It's definitely the most reliable way."
"But we don't even read in Korean, Khun Noo..."
"Just look at the pictures, Arm! It's self-explanatory. Now go...take a mahwa each of you. You'll need to pretend to be hopelessly in love, won't you?"
"Actually, like I said before, I just need to escort Arm during the business meeting..."
"But tomorrow you'll be at a private club. What are you guys going to do? Hold hands?"
"I g-guess..." Arm scratched his head.
"You're the experts on those two guys, not me. But as far as I know, no one is going to buy it."
Arm and I looked at each other. Khun Noo had a point. Gu Wei and Angel were too much explicit about their relationship, mainly because of their jealous temper. We started flipping through the comic books.
"Ow, ow, ow...what the hell is that?" Arm was burning with embarrassment. I widened my eyes.
"Skip those pages...keep going...keep going...then we have to watch some videos too!"
We sighed.
...
We spent hours in Tankhun's room. We also had to focus on other, more important studies. ...details of the negotiation, the armaments involved, the client's profile and remember more details about Gu Wei and Tianshi.
We had dinner and went up to Arm's room. We pored over the documents. It was almost midnight when my cell phone rang. It was Vegas on video call. I looked around, and Arm was still in the bathroom taking a shower. I decided to answer.
"Hey, Pete..."
"Hey..."
"Why didn't you answer my calls?"
"Sorry, I didn't see it, did something happen?"
"No...I just wanted to see you before going to bed...where are you, Pete? I even called your room...where are you?"
"Hey Pete, can you give me my clothes? It's on the bed next to you" Arm came out of the bathroom with the towel wrapped around his waist.
"Pete? Tell me right now where you are!"
"Just a second, Vegas...Those, Arm?"
"Yeah...please"
"Arm...? Why is he naked? Pete?"
I noticed Nop was calling me. I asked him to report to me daily on everything. I had to answer. It may be important.
"I need to hang up... I think you'd better not call me for now. I'll explain it later."
Vegas yelled something, but I had to end the call.
"Here are your clothes, Arm!"
"Thanks! Sorry, I didn't see you were on call."
"No problem!"
I answered Nop's call. "Hey, Nop, what's up?"
"My team searched the entire mansion and we haven't found bugs around the mansion...
"Good"
"However..."
"What?"
"We found a camera streaming remotely from your bedroom and another one from the bathroom...aiming the bed and the shower."
"B-but...how? Where were those cameras hidden?"
"Behind major mirrors. There is a hidden compartment behind the main mirror in the bedroom...and another in the bathroom as well..."
"Hidden compartments... where are those cameras streaming to?"
"Sorry, we haven't been able to verify it yet, Pete."
"Send it here immediately."
"Ok. I'll do it.
"In the meantime, check in the mansion's entrance control who has been in the house in the last three months, when recording has stopped. Any type of service performed, visits... Have the cars been checked too?"
"Yes. We didn't find anything in the cars. Nor in the company. Do I report this to Khun Vegas?"
"Not yet. I want to check something first."
"Ok. By the way, did you guys fight today?"
"Me and Vegas?! Not that I know..."
"Well, it must be for another reason then... I heard something breaking up there again."
"Nop...take good care of them, please."
"Don't worry. We have four eyes on each the three brothers all the time. Take care, Pete"
I got several missed calls from Vegas on my phone while I was talking to Nop. I had too much information on my mind. I had to get everything in order first.
"Pete...are you okay?"
"Someone installed cameras in my bedroom at the minor family mansion. Nop's team is bringing the equipment here. I need to find out where it was transmitting the images to."
"Don't worry, Pete, I will look it up for you. We'll find out who's behind this."
"Thank you for your help, Arm."
...
It was already dawn when we finally managed to review everything and get some sleep. Arm and I ended up falling asleep amidst the documents scattered on the bed. I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. I answered without looking at the screen.
"Pete..."
"...yeah..?" I answered without opening my eyes.
"Answer me...where are you?"
"...where would I be...let me sleep just a little longer...please..." I was so sleepy.
"...who is there with you...?"
"...uh...?"
"Whose arm is that around your waist? That tone of voice sounded sinisterly calm.
"...waist...?!"
My sleeping brain was trying to process those questions.
"Whose arm, Pete?" (Vegas asks in English, firmly)
"...arm...arm..." My eyes narrowed and then widely opened. "ARM!"
I immediately got up in bed startled.
"WHAT? WHAT?" Arm woke up startled by my yelling.
At that moment I realized that I was on a video call with Vegas. He had a straight face.
"Oh...good morning, Vegas!" I smiled, not knowing what to say for sure..."Me and Arm were studying the documents you sent through the night...I ended up falling asleep here."
I turned to Arm, and I got startled. "Oh, shit! Why are you shirtless?" I whispered to Arm next to me who was scratching his eyes.
"Sorry, I'm used to it. I unconsciously took it off when I fell asleep."
Arm quickly covered himself with the sheet when he noticed that Vegas was staring at him over the video call.
"Good morning, Khun Vegas! Did you sleep well? Arm smiled timidly."
"I don't want to interrupt anything. See you two at night."
Vegas simply turned off his phone.
"Hello? Vegas?...hello?!" Fuck...he is pissed. I'm doomed.
...