Melted: A MaxTul AU story

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Assumptions and Predictions

Metinee Pakorn had been watching Pongpat Tappitak through her hidden camera as he sat outside of her office. She always liked to observe the people who sat waiting to see her. It gave her an advantage to look at them when they thought no one was watching because it often revealed things about them that she could use.

She had seen Pongpat's picture in his file, but it was an older one from about ten years ago. Obviously, he was older in person than in the picture, but she had expected much more deterioration after reviewing his medical file.

Pongpat was just the kind of old-fashioned worker that made Metinee wary. He had been hired before her time and had worked with many of the companies and partners with whom she had either broken ties or had bought out. Her research on him didn't find anything negative really but that he had refused to look the other way when things got unpleasant and often took the side of workers and clients. For this reason, he hadn't been seen as a team player by some of the people she had hired and had slowly been shifted around as a result. He couldn't be fired because they hadn't found anything wrong with his work performance and because so many of their clients were still loyal to him.

Also, for some reason, Channarong liked him. The first time Metinee had heard of Pongpat was right after she had started at the company. Channarong had praised him to her because he had heard that Pongpat had refused a promotion that would have increased his travel because Pongpat didn't want to be away from home so much when his kids were small. Metinee had smiled at her husband but had secretly thought Pongpat a fool.

She wondered, when she had seen his medical file, if he was now sorry he hadn't taken the opportunity to make more money when he had the chance.

Metinee had initially asked someone to find out about his medical records when she learned that Tul had invited him to stay at the apartment. She was suspicious right away. Why would Tul do that? And why would Pongpat move in with his boss? She immediately thought maybe the illness was fake and Pongpat had other motives—like spying or maybe hoping to get something on his boss with which to bribe him later. But when the medical records showed that Pongpat's illness was much more serious than the rumors were saying, she was even more surprised. What was Tul up to?

Tul was continually confusing her. She found that Tul was living a very boring life despite his former drinking and carousing reputation. She had liked that Tul. That Tul was never going to be a threat to her or to her son and his rise to power. She knew Plustor was competent, but he wasn't that smart. He didn't have the same gifts as Tul, who seemed, even as a child to naturally win people over—teachers, neighbors, servants—and had the book smarts to back up that charm. She had had make sure that he didn't have an easy time of it, resulting in him becoming a sullen teenager with few friends.

But since he had returned to Thailand from rehab, Tul had only had a couple of overnight escapades with women, and her sources said that Tul often didn't even have sex with them. They were also women that couldn't be bought because they were members of elite families and all seemed to retain a sense of fondness for Tul.

Recently, Tul seemed to be working better with his team. They had been doing well for a while, much to her chagrin and to the surprise of many others. But most people in the know, assumed that it was because of his team leader, Ann. However, after the Japan trip, Metinee wasn't so sure. She had seen Tul's interview on Japanese television, and she saw much of the old Tul, the Tul she had tried to stamp out, smiling and charming the hosts and the viewers with his mother's face—the face that she still hated.

She knew that Plustor was behind the spying in the hotel room because she had confronted him about it, and she had suspected that he had been behind some of the spying in the home office, but was surprised at the details that Tul had shared over dinner. She had called Plustor in to her office the next day and berated him for his sloppy work. She knew that she had surprised (and possibly scared) Plustor when she told him that she didn't care if Tul found his mother.