Case No.280

Chapter 4: What Now?

The next morning, Max woke up to 5 missed calls and 20 messages. After Max left the party, Mark tried to contact him but couldn’t get through. Mark, Poppy and Zee had sent him messages apologising for whatever happened. He dismissed those texts and turned around in bed to take a look at Nat. Nat was fast asleep beside him and had a beautiful face like a baby’s. The more he stared, the more difficult Max found it to stop himself. He liked Nat for the past 5 years but because of the issue, he had to pretend to hate Nat. Both of them had to compete in solving the cases. The competition made Max push aside whatever feelings he had for Nat and just be rivals. The case brought them close and helped them to become friends again. He kept staring at Nat’s sleeping form as if trying to remember every detail of Nat. It was at that moment that Max realised that he still liked Nat, despite the rivalry they had for 5 years. Before his thoughts could go astray, Max got out of bed and went to wash up. After coming out of the shower, he saw that Nat was still asleep. He went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for them.

Nat woke up and was surprised to find himself in an unfamiliar room. He lay awake in bed trying to remember the previous night and remembered Zee assaulting him in a washroom. Thinking Zee brought him to his house, Nat walked out of the room and was ready to fight Zee. He was surprised to see Max in the kitchen cooking instead of Zee. "Good morning Ai'Nat!" Max greeted him with a huge smile on his face as he flipped the bacon. "Good morning. What am I doing here?' Nat asked Max. "Go and wash up first. We can discuss this over breakfast." Max said. "I don't have a change of clothes on me." Nat answered. "Don't worry about that. I got an extra pair of clothes from your house last night while driving home." Max replied smugly. Nat gave him a questioning look and went to change his clothes. Nat was rather surprised to know his body hurt a lot. He saw his clothes kept on the bed with an ointment and a note with it. “Apply this on your wounds. Last night was rough for you. Get well soon.” Nat smiled to himself, seeing the familiar messy handwriting of the giant who he secretly liked. He took a quick shower, applied the ointment on his wounds, and went for breakfast

“So, are you going to tell me how I ended up here? All I remember is that I had gone to use the washroom.” Nat asked Max, sitting down at the table opposite Max. “I saw P’Zee follow you into the washroom. I followed him and saw him assaulting you. I was really mad and punched him in the face before carrying you out. You had passed out from drinking too much and because of all the beatings, you sustained. You were drugged by Khun Park” He took a pause and continued, “The worst part is that Tutor was not kidnapped. It was all a plan by P'Zee.” Max told Nat everything that happened. Nat was shocked to learn the truth too. “This is unbelievable Ai’Max! I seriously can’t believe P’Zee would do something like this, or our bosses would make us do these things. They sent us on a wild goose chase for weeks and it turned out to be nothing!” Nat was mad at how they both were used by their seniors. “You’re right Nat. They used us.” Max was upset with the whole ordeal. Nat’s phone buzzed and he saw a text from Park. “Look at this Ai’Max. They all have the audacity to text us even after what they did to us.” Nat showed his phone to Max. "Let's deal with them later. Enjoy your meal for now." Max said and took a sip of his coffee. "Ai'Max, why did you save me? First, you saved me at P'Zee's house and then last night at the party. Why did you save me? You could have let P'Zee rape me. You hate me, right?" Nat asked Max, curious about it. Max hesitated a bit, before replying, "It was an instinct that kicked in. I saw you were being assaulted and I knew I had to save you. There is nothing more to it." Nat took a moment to let the remark sink in and replied with an "okay" before going back to his breakfast. “Where are P’Mike and P’Top? Won’t they be surprised to find me here?” Nat asked, looking around the house. Max laughed and said, “It is 11am Ai’Nat! P’Mike and P’Top already went to their work. We both woke up late because of the party.” “I didn’t see P’Mike at the party last night.” Nat remarked. “Yeah, it was their wedding anniversary yesterday. They went out for the whole day. They were already asleep by the time I brought you home.” Max replied with a shrug.
Max drove Nat to the hall where they had the party to fetch Nat's motorcycle. They went back to work and dealt with their bosses. Nat was stuck in traffic when his phone rang again. Park was trying to reach him. He finally answered the call while waiting for the light to turn green. "Good morning Than. I'm on my way to the office". Nat didn't sound friendly and cheerful like he always was. "Good morning Nat. I called you because I want you to be at Ai'Poppy's house. We are all here to discuss something. Come here as quickly as possible." Park said. Nat hung up and sighed. He drove off towards Poppy’s house not knowing what to expect. As Nat pulled in front of Phakin Manor, Max came from the other side. They parked their vehicles outside the manor, exchanged a confused look, and walked inside. They were escorted to Poppy’s office by a bodyguard. “I’m glad you both could make it Nat and Max.” Poppy said with a huge smile on his face. Nat and Max greeted him and stood before Poppy, Park, Mark, and Zee. “Why did you call us here Than?” Max asked Mark. “We want to talk about what happened in the past few weeks.” Mark said. Anger boiled inside Max as he tried to keep himself calm and have an even-tone while talking. “You told me the truth last night. What else do you need to say?” Nat looked at Park with an accusing look and asked, “Why did you have to send us on a wild goose chase Than? P’Zee assaulted me twice and Ai’Max had to rescue me both times!” Unlike Max, Nat could not hide his frustration. “We apologise for all the inconvenience you both had to go through. We didn’t expect things to escalate this quickly. We thought it would all be finished in a few days. We are truly sorry for what happened to you Nat.” Park apologised to Nat. Nat sighed in frustration and asked Park, “Is P’Zee going to be jailed for rape?” Park and Zee exchanged a look, probably not expecting Nat to press charges. Max noticed that Zee, Park and Mark slightly nod to each other as if plotting something. Park got up from his seat, pulled out the handcuffs from his pocket, slapped it on Zee’s wrists and said, “Zee, you are under arrest for raping Nat.” “I’m sorry Nong Nat for what I did to you. I got carried away. I should have controlled myself but I didn’t. I've been in love with you ever since I saw you at the academy 5 years ago and kept trying to get close to you, but Max always kept interrupting just like last night and before that at my home. I really am sorry.” Zee apologised to Nat, but Nat dismissed the apology. “You deserve to rot in jail.” Nat said stiffly. Zee winced slightly at Nat's tone, but knew it was coming. “Is there anything else you want to tell us?” Max asked curtly. “No, we had only called you both to apologise for what we did.” Mark said, unable to meet Max’s eyes. “Than, you all will have to pay a fine for helping P’Zee with this stupid plan. You all will have to come to the station with us. There is no need to go to our separate stations. Let’s just go to ours.” Max said. He and Nat put handcuffs on Park and Mark’s wrists and guided the 4 of them out of the office. They asked one bodyguard to prepare a car for the 4 men. “Follow us.” Max said to the bodyguard and walked over to his car. He saw a piece of paper tucked under the windshield wiper. He plucked it and read it. “What is that Ai’Max?” Nat asked curiously, walking over to Max and tip-toeing to take a peek into the paper. “Tutor and his siblings apologised to us for lying to us and being a part of the stupid plan.” Max said. They looked over at the house and saw Tutor, Ton and Mina waving at them right beyond the door. “We are sorry for being a part of the plan.” Ton said, coming near the door. “It’s fine guys, no damage done. It was nice meeting you all.” Nat walked up to the kids so that they were separated by the door. “Why are you taking Pa, Rung Park, Rung Mark and Rung Zee with you?” Tutor asked, seeing the 4 men waiting in their car. “They were all a part of a crime. I’m afraid we can’t tell you more than that.” Nat said. Max and Nat bid a farewell to Tutor, Ton and Mina, got on their vehicles and drove off to the station Max worked at. “Max, Nat, what are you doing? Why did you handcuff us and bring us here?” Mark couldn’t understand what Max and Nat were trying to do. “Than, if you are forgetting, rape is a serious crime. P’Zee will be getting 15 years jail time along with paying 30,000Baht fine. You 3 were a part of his stupid plan. Khun Park drugged Ai’Nat, Khun Poppy filed a fake kidnapping case, and you, Than Mark, tampered with the CCTV footage to suit the “kidnapping” story. Tampering of evidence is 3 years in prison along with 10,000Baht fine, Than. Khun Park, you drugged Ai’Nat, as a result, you will get 3 years in prison and Khun Poppy, you will be jailed for 5 years and are subject to 10,000Baht fine for filing a false case.”  Max announced the punishments for the 4 men that were found guilty in the “kidnapping” case. He turned to Nat and said, “Ai’Nat, please call P’Mike for me. He needs to know that we solved the case.” Nat called Max’s brother to their shared office. Mike entered the office wondering who the kidnapper was. Even though he was Max’s older brother and knew about the case, he knew he shouldn’t interfere in their case and let them handle it themselves. Though he was pretty curious who the kidnapper was and what happened to the boy that got kidnapped. When he entered the office, he was not anticipating his and Max’s boss in handcuffs or their seniors from the academy with a famous businessman. “Nong Max, Nong Nat, what is going on here? Why are Than Mark and the others handcuffed?” Mike asked, looking at them all for some sort of an explanation. Max and Nat explained the whole case to Mike and everything that happened in the past few weeks. Mike let out a low whistle and said, “I was totally not expecting this twist. I did suspect P’Zee to be the kidnapper based on the CCTV footage you got, but I was definitely expecting it all to be a lie. Great work Max and Nat, the case is officially closed now. I’ll take them to the prison.” Mike said and high-fived both Max and Nat, taking the 4 men to the prison. Nat let out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding and asked, “The case is closed. What do we do now?” He looked at Max who had collapsed in the nearby chair from exhaustion. “Maybe we can grab something to eat before deciding what to do next. We are way past lunchtime. Let’s go to a restaurant to celebrate our victory.” Max sounded positive and expectant. “Sure, let’s go. Let’s take your car. I’ll leave my motorcycle here and collect it later on.” Nat offered his hand to Max, who readily took it and took him to a restaurant for lunch.