Melted: A MaxTul AU story

Chapter Forty-Three: Preparing for Dinner

Tul arrived at his family's house early. He was hoping to get there before his mother returned home; he wanted to visit the people in the kitchens without her knowing.

Everyone looked at him with delight. The old staff all liked him very much. Even during the hard years when he was at his worse drinking, he had always treated them better than his stepmother and stepbrother.

Many of the staff had been with either the Pakorns for years or with Metinee's family for years. The difference between the two was that Channarong's servants were truly loyal to him while Metinee's weren't really loyal to her but to her family. It was hard to be loyal to her with the way she treated them, so they, too, had been easily won over by the quiet, polite, motherless boy who had shown up on their doorstep years ago.

This attitude was true for the newer staff as well. They had all heard stories about Tul. However, since he was always unfailingly polite to them, and they saw how warm he was with the older staff, they were inclined to like him. It didn't hurt that he was so good looking.

Tul had a reputation at work for being cold, and he was usually withdrawn when visiting his family at what he thought of as "the compound." It was a habit that he had developed for his protection growing up there. However, he had always been able to relax with the staff—as long as Metinee wasn't around. She didn't like for them getting close to him, but since she was rarely in the kitchens or the gardens, this had never been much of a problem.

Tul never was comfortable eating much with the family, and this didn't sit well with the cook, Apinya. She had been the first to notice how quickly the boy Tul began to lose weight after arriving. He hadn't been that healthy looking in the first place. She could not bear the idea that someone would waste away right in front of her face.

At first, she thought maybe he wasn't used to Thai food. She knew that he had lived abroad. However, after questioning the other staff, she realized that might not be it, she had asked to speak directly to Channarong Pakorn. She had worked in the kitchens under his mother's cook, and only ten when Channarong had been born, she had helped watch over him as they both grew like a younger brother. It had broken her heart to see the change in him when he married Metinee, so she agreed  and convinced her husband to agree (he worked in the gardens) to move with him to the new house hoping that her food would bring him some comfort. Her long-standing relationship with him, allowed her to be a bit more honest than some of the other staff.

Thus, Apinya was able to state up front that she didn't think Tul was eating properly and seemed to be picking at his food because he was uncomfortable in the new surroundings. She asked if she could invite him to come and have some food in the kitchens before meals and at other times. She noted that the boy seemed to be used to getting up earlier than the rest of the family and was probably hungry before them anyway.

Channarong had actually looked relieved at this suggestion. He hadn't like the way Tul seemed to be getting thinner and sadder than when he had arrived. Channarong couldn't blame his son. He knew first hand what it was like to lose Apasiri, Tul's mother. But he had hoped that Tul's physical health would improve over time not the opposite. He knew that meals with the family felt a bit awkward, and the more Metinee commented on Tul not eating the less the boy seemed to eat.

So that was how Tul became embraced by the kitchen staff and then by extension the other staff of the compound. He was a different person in the kitchen, eating and laughing despite the sadness that seemed to always be a part of him. The kitchen is where he went first on his birthdays and on his mother's death anniversaries. 

As much as his father tried to embrace him into the family, Tul couldn't help but notice and feel Metinee's reaction to his father's kindness, so he never really felt comfortable receiving it. On the other hand, he was free to like anyone in the household that Metinee didn't care about or couldn't do anything about. Apinya had clout with Channarong and with the Pakorns. Metinee learned early on that it wasn't worth trying cross her.