Melted: A MaxTul AU story

Chapter Thirty-six: Two Drops

Tul was exhausted. The day had been a whirlwind of experiences and emotions. Couple that with him only getting about three hours of sleep the night before, and he was surprised he hadn't fallen asleep in the middle of dinner. Chimon had been waiting on the other side of the fallen tree with one of the farm vans, and he fallen asleep almost immediately while Chimon and Max had talked. But according to Max, that was only about an hour.

Meeting Sinjai Hongtai and walking around to see some of the buildings had really sapped out his energy to the point that at dinner, Max had made their excuses and had led him upstairs to his room. He was so exhausted, he almost felt drunk. He almost didn't want to take a shower, but before Max had left, he had made him promise to wash up. They both knew he'd feel better and get better sleep if he went to bed after washing off the dirt and sweat from the day.

He rubbed his hair with the shampoo even more. He really loved the smell of the mulberry shampoo, and he wondered if they could mass produce it well at their factory and keep the quality. He also didn't want it to be so expensive that most people wouldn't be able to use it. He made a mental note to ask to see some of their processes on his tour with Chimon tomorrow. The smell of mulberries also brought him back to the memory of the tea Sinjai Hongtai had served them after lunch.

When they had arrived, they had immediately been welcomed by the owner of Hongtai farms. She had walked off the porch of the sprawling farmhouse with a wide grin, giving Max a huge hug as soon as he had gotten out of the car. Tul, for some reason, felt a bit shy. This meeting to him was not just business; he felt as though he was meeting an important member of Max's family. He could feel the warmth from Sinjai's honest face, but he could also tell that she was sizing him up.

She invited them in and correctly guessed that they were hungry, so she told Max that she had set up his usual room and the one next his for Tul. Lunch was being put out on the table so would be ready as soon as they were ready to come back down.

Lunch had been a relaxing affair with Sinjai and Chimon telling Tul all sorts of funny stories about Max's first time working at the farm—how many times he hurt himself, the time when he was caught on a runaway tractor because he didn't know how to stop it, and Max's infamous ride on a water buffalo. But it was the teatime afterwards that Tul thought about the most while taking his shower that night.

They had moved from that table to one on the porch. Chimon had gone on another errand to make sure they were ready for the brief tour of the some of the closer buildings. That was the plan for Tul this afternoon with a much longer tour of the grounds and small factory building they have on site the following morning.

They had been quietly sipping tea for a few minutes, when Sinjai had asked each of them if they would help her with a product. Of course, they said yes. She went back inside and after a few minutes came out with a small round glass dropper bottle filled with a clear liquid.

She sat on one side of the table facing the two young men with the bottle between them.

"As Max knows, we have been experimenting with quite a lot of different things on the farm. What many don't know is that when I went to university, I specialized in Textile Chemistry. I mean most people if they know remember the textile part since the focus of the farm for generations has been on silk production, but I really loved the chemistry aspect of my studies, and I still love to play around in the lab."

Tul was surprised, but Max wasn't. He turned to his friend and said, "This is one of my favorite things about working and visiting here. The products other than silk that come out of the farm have been developed by Kuhn Sinjai herself or in collaboration with some of her company chemists. Kuhn Sinjai is always coming out of the lab with new things for us to try. Remember that soap that turned my feet blue?"