Melted: A MaxTul AU story

Eighty-nine: A Shot in the Dark

Author's Note Updated: I didn't like the beginning of this chapter, so I completely rewrote it because I realized that I wanted to spend more time with Max and Tul. I will use the old opening about Metinee's motivations as the beginning of the next chapter instead.

Once the party starts, everything is the same.

**

After they went to get ice cream, Max and Pechaya went on to their other appointments. Max had another interview and a small book signing at a local bookstore. These were smaller events, but he was exhausted by the time the day was through. He hoped he did well, but he really couldn't remember much of what he said to people. His mind lingered on what had happened earlier in Metinee's office. They hadn't talked about any of it at lunch; everyone who had witnessed any of it seeming to agree that they needed some space, and Pechaya knowing from the look on her client's face that he needed a good mind cleanse to be ready to face the rest of their appointments that afternoon.

He kept it up remarkably, but the Max Tul saw from his car while waiting outside of Max's apartment complex was a man who was dragging. Tul immediately rushed over to him, catching Max's satchel that had slipped from his shoulder while he was looking for his key.

"Tul?" Max said in wonderment at the person whom he most wanted to see appearing out of the blue.

"I've been thinking and worried about you all day," Tul responded as he followed him inside. "I told Pechaya to tell me when you were leaving the last place, so I could try to meet you here. These are for you." He thrust an extremely large bouquet of flowers at Max.

The action made Max chuckle, and Tul deflated a bit. "Do you not like them? I just wanted to do something nice for you after today, and we've already had ice cream."

Max put the flowers down on the sofa and pulled Tul in for a hug. He breathed in his smell deeply feeling some of the energy that had been drained away by the earlier confrontation come back.

"I'm sorry, Tul," he whispered.

Tul pulled back in surprise. "Max, why in the world are you sorry? Once again you've been dragged into the crazy Pakorn world."

"I just kept talking, and there were things I probably shouldn't have said, not to people who are older and definitely not to your father. I just . . ."

"What?" Tul asked gently. He moved the bouquet to the table and pulled Max down to sit next to him. "Do you know how hard Uncle Phon had to hold on to me to keep me from trying to get in that room? At one point, he even had his hand over my mouth."

Max sighed. "It just hit me in that room how tired I was of them. How tired I was of Metinee and her obsession with your father and the fact that she just can't see it nor does she care who she hurts. I was insulted by her offer of money as if my feelings were that cheap and nothing compared to hers, but also . . ." Max hesitated.

"Keep going, love," Tul said, gently caressing Max's cheek. "Go ahead and say what you want to me. I'll try to understand. We've spent far too little time talking to each other these past few months."

"I was actually angrier at your father, Tul," Max said standing as if his frustration couldn't be contained in a relaxed position. He started walking around the room, and then as if he discovered the flowers for the first time, he started unwrapping them and finding containers to put them in while he spoke.

At a different time, Tul would have offered to help, but it was clear that Max needed to something to do with his hands as he got this out.

"As crazy as she is, Metinee makes sense to me," Max said as if he were describing one of his subjects. "She is consistent. She loves your father. That's it. She wants no one but her to be important to your father. She thinks your father should be in charge of Pakorn group not just Shilapath. In her mind, everything she has done since she set eyes on him has been to help him achieve that goal, to be as great to everyone else as she believes him to be. To be honest, I can relate to that. In some ways, it's what I was doing with you.  The main difference is that Metinee believes that he will love her for this. She's fairly simple to understand because she only has one motive."