Melted: A MaxTul AU story

Fifty-eight: Plan B

Author's Note: I keep having to fiddle with the timing of things, so don't call me out if the timetable doesn't quite work. My older daughter says that most readers don't pay attention to those kinds of things, but I do. I'm the one that notices if someone appears with a sweater on in one scene and then doesn't have it in next or if the hair of an actor is a different length throughout a show, revealing that it was not filmed in the order the scenes are shown (which never happens).

Once the story is done, I plan to go back and reread to make sure the time frame works out

**

Four days. That's how long they had to develop at least four samples. Really only two and a half because one of the days was when the story broke, and one of the days was the planned visit by Sinjai Hongtai.

When Tul had finished emptying all his frustration on Max in his office, he had just sat down in exhaustion. He had nothing else to say to Max, and he didn't have time even if he had something else to say. He was exhausted. He had been tired even before, but he felt like this was going to wipe him out.

He looked up at Max who was standing quietly. He thought Max would look concerned or worried, but Max had no such look on his face. He oozed calm as if he were merely waiting for directions. He was looking straight ahead like a sentry, and Tul wondered what he was thinking at the moment to appear so nonplussed. But somehow the quiet and the blank look Max had calmed him. It was like he was turning the page in a notebook to get to a new, clean sheet. He just needed to plan out everything going forward.

He went to his tablet and was about to start it but changed his mind and opened his desk drawer to take out an actual notebook. At the top of the page he wrote the time of Sinjai Hongtai's visit and decided to work backwards, making two columns with the labels "what must be done" and "what would be nice to do."

He was a third of the way down the page when he heard Max's phone ping. Max looked and picked up. Tul kept working but looked up when he heard Max say, "I'm with him right now. Yes, Kuhn. I will text you his personal number."

Tul stopped with a raised eyebrow. Max had only time to say "Kuhn Sinjai" before Tul's phone rang.

Tul immediately just felt so sorry. It wasn't just that he was worried about the deal; he was. However, at this moment, he didn't know how he could deal with Kuhn Sinjai's disappointment in their team. She had made a risky move by publicly supporting him so much, and he felt sorry that she had put so much faith in him and his team. He took a deep breath and picked up the phone.

"Tul Pakorn speaking."

Max shifted and watched Tul's face again. He had seen many emotions on it, but the sad look he had when he told him who was going to call almost broke him out of his focused meditation. Tul looked the way Max imagined all children looked when they knew they had disappointed their favorite parent. It wasn't expected, but it made sense. He knew how much Tul had come to like Kuhn Sinjai.

As he watched, he noticed that Tul didn't speak. He only nodded several times, and then, to his surprise, he watched as Tul's eyes filled with tears. Max was so stunned that he didn't move right away. In fact, he didn't move until Tul was finding it difficult to wipe away the tears because they were coming so fast. Max looked around and found a cloth folded neatly next to the teapot and handed it over to Tul who was finally starting to talk.

"Yes, Kuhn. He's still here. Yes, I'll put you on speaker."

At that, Tul set his phone down on his desk.

"Max?" Sinjai's voice came out clearly over the phone.

"Yes, Kuhn," Max responded. Sinjai's voice held her official tone. He knew this meant that she was really angry.