Melted: A MaxTul AU story

Ninety-one: Too Much Time

A week later, the morning of Mik's funeral, found Max and Tul eating breakfast together at Tul's house trying to get their minds around how different the world felt. It seemed so quiet—eerily so. After the chaotic business of the last week, it was pleasant to finally just sit and be together without having to think or plan or respond to something. Most of the reporters had finally left—or at least the crowds that had been outside Tul's house, outside Max's apartment, outside NMR, outside Shilapath, and even outside the American embassy.

They both knew that things were far from over, but for Tul this was the time of stepping forward into their new lives—no more hiding about anything. It wasn't just that he didn't have to pretend about his feelings or relationship with Max, but the reality of his life as a Pakorn or least some of it wasn't something he had to pretend about either. His misery growing up hadn't really been revealed even though many had surmised it, but since the real world of the Pakorns or at least Metinee's world had been revealed, he didn't have to pretend that he was from a perfect family. Everyone knew that he was successful despite of rather than because of being a Pakorn.

Max, Prin, Ann, and Uncle Pongpat had told him that he wasn't seen as that bastard Pakorn anymore, but the long reach of Metinee's hold on his mind had been hard to dissipate; however, this week, he had seen some of the people who had shunned him because they had been influenced by Metinee change their attitudes. Some of them had even shamelessly reached out to him—messages he had ignored—thinking that he was really the heir since Metinee was gone, and no one had heard from Plustor.

Max was relieved by the silence on the part of Tul's stepbrother. He knew that Kuhn Bagnet wouldn't want Plustor dragged back into this. Metinee needed to take all the blame for this one. He was glad that Tul had followed his suggestion and contacted Plustor to brief him on what was happening and to convince him that now wasn't the time to come back. Apparently, their father had also called Plustor with the same message. Tul had even contacted Taina only to find out that she was on her way to the airport with the intent of flying to the Netherlands to keep Plustor from coming back.

Max had been sitting next to him when he made the phone call. He had been busy checking his messages and noticed Tul's shocked face.

"What's wrong? Is Plustor already coming back?"

Tul looked at him still confused. "No, not yet anyway."

Max raised his eyebrows waiting.

Tul continued looking like he was trying to figure something out. "Taina is at the airport. She's flying to Utrech to convince him not to come home."

Max smiled slightly and took a sip of the now cold tea he had in a paper cup. Tul watched his face.

"This doesn't surprise you? From everything I heard, she hasn't withdrawn her divorce papers. She just hasn't filed them yet."

Max nodded. "And?"

"What do you mean, "and"?" Tul asked both bewildered and frustrated.

Max looked at him, "Remember, Taina didn't file for divorce because she hates Plustor. She just wanted her baby to not be in that toxic life he was living. Another thing, where are Plustor's friends?"

"What do you mean?" Tul asked really confused now.

"I mean just that. Where are they, Tul? When you were in trouble, you had many people coming to stand by you. But when Plustor got in trouble, he had no one. Taina is probably the only real friend he has, and she knows it. Seriously, you've been a better friend to him in this last month than any of those people he used to hang out with. Ki Woo told me he even went to the airport alone. How sad is that?"