***Authors Note. This is a bit of an offshoot of the original story. I just wanted to give some secondary characters the endings they deserved.***
It could've been a much larger scandal but Uncle Fix It once again lived up to his name. Like most scandals, this one also started with a man who couldn't keep his dick in his pants.
Tul Medthanan charmed Mr. Padaphroom's daughter Ladda well enough that she accepted when he proposed marriage. She wasn't stupid enough to believe it was true destined love, but she was smart enough to know she likely wouldn't attract anyone higher on the social or financial ladder. A practical woman, raised in a family of practical women, she felt she'd give it a few years and if it wasn't bearable, she'd just get divorced.
The wedding date was set for May and the reception site booked, caterers hired and flowers ordered. All the details managed by a high dollar wedding planner. It would've gone off just fine if Ladda hadn't received a videotape a month before the wedding showing Tul and a woman engaged in a raunchy sexual encounter. Accompanying the tape was a note listing a hotel name, room number and a date about a week later. Ladda called her mother who called her husband who called a private investigator and soon there was a second videotape to join the first.
The young Miss was understandably hurt but did not share the reason why with her fiancé but instead told him she was going off for a week long meditation retreat and would be unavailable via phone or email. It was just an excuse as she escaped to Europe to think about her future. Her mother told her to marry the bastard and then take him for a lot of money a year later. Better known as the marry well, divorce better plan. Her dad told her to just call off the wedding - he'd deal with the fallout from Mr. Medthanan Senior but she could tell her father was worried about any payback. Infidelity at their social level was as common as a catching a cold a few times per year. It certainly wasn't an adequate reason to call off a wedding since the marriage of two such prominent families was arguably more important than a little bit of fooling around.
Tul and soon his parents became impatient and then frantic when the wedding was a bit over a week away and the bride still hadn't returned from her meditation retreat and there wasn't any reply from Ladda or her family regarding her whereabouts. Tul, fearing his reputation was taking a hit by having a runaway fiancé, started a whispered rumor campaign via planted surrogates that his intended bride had had a breakdown and was an inpatient at a private exclusive mental institution overseas.
Two days before the wedding, Ladda's parents made an official announcement the wedding was called off. No reason given and when contacted, the Medthanan Company spokesperson spoke fondly of the ex-fiance and her family and wished them well. No other information was officially offered by either family.
About a month later Tin learned the complete truth from King. The woman in the video with his brother was a 15 year old girl who thought she was in love with Tul and believed her feeling were returned. Tul fed her the excuses for his cheating: it was to be a marriage of convenience, he couldn't disappoint his father by ending the engagement, he was the heir and had responsibilities to uphold. He made it sound like he was wrongly forced, desperate to be free and if free, he would definitely take the relationship with his secret lover public. Teenagers can be quite obsessive and very stupid when feelings are involved so the young lady believed his words and took it upon herself to try to break the couple up. She secretly taped her and Tul in bed and sent the tape to Ladda.
When there was still no breakup announcement after 2 weeks and Tul had stopped responding to her phone calls and requests to meet, she escalated and reached out to Tul's parents next. She was now the taken advantage of and abandoned young teenaged lover which she quickly learned made a much more interesting and financially lucrative story. This set off panic in the Medthanan family. Their son had met the girl at a dance club and she said she was 19 years old so he couldn't be totally at fault. But even so, the optics were bad and the reputation of both the company and its heir were at stake if the scandal was publicized. The company lawyers advised paying to make the situation go away.
Three days before the wedding, Tin's father received a letter via courier from the girl and her parents formally apologizing and mentioning there would be no more contact. An hour later Mr. Medthanan answered a phone call from Uncle Fix It who said he took care of the situation on their behalf. There was no need to know the specific details. It really was no trouble. He knows both father and older son appreciates his efforts and trusts the young man will most certainly behave properly going forward. He certainly hopes it never happens again because he can't guarantee he can protect the Medthanan family again.
All Tin's father could say was "thank you" as he raged inside at the humiliation of the other mans words.
Tin knew what was not spoken aloud but understood between the two patriarchs in that short phone call: the Medthanans are now in debt to Kings Uncle since he obviously had to spend a lot of money to make the problem go away. He also has the videos and will use them as necessary to disrupt the Medthanan business empire if anyone were to cause Ladda or her family any trouble.
The reason why Uncle Fix It intervened? Because Ladda stayed with his son when she snuck off to Europe and he was asked by Ohm to act on her behalf. She remembered the kindness of the person who sat next to her at the awkward family dinner and how he paid her more attention than did her boyfriend. His invitation to visit Amsterdam if she ever found herself in Europe seemed sincere and they had exchanged contact information so why not? She sent him a text when her plane made a mid-flight stop in London that said she planned to visit for a week and could he recommend some good hotels? When she turned her phone on after landing in Amsterdam, his reply was No need, you can stay with me and I already have a dozen places I want to take you.
Tin was not surprised when a few months later Ladda and Ohm eloped. He sent an obscenely expensive wedding gift paid for using the company credit card along with a congratulations card signed only by himself. He knew King's Uncle would approve of such an extravagant gift and recognize the meaning behind the solitary signature. Plus, Tin enjoyed the added bonus of knowing the cost would royally piss his father off.
