Melted: A MaxTul AU story

Fifty-Three: Protection Concerns

Plustor felt pretty good, probably the best he had felt since Tul had landed the deal with Hongtai Farms. Finally, some of his spying had paid off. Before, the only reason Plustor came out to the terraces was to meet with people he didn't want to be seen talking to in the offices or to get information—gossip—passed on to him. He had come out one night recently hoping to get information from the person he had following the girl in team 2—Wanna—since she seemed to be the easiest target. Yet once again, he had been frustrated because none of his contacts seemed to be able to get anything from following the team members in the building.

That trip to that terrace wasn't a complete loss, for he had seen Tul sitting on one of the benches. He didn't seem to be doing anything but sitting, and it made him curious. Was Tul this sure of himself that he could sit and do nothing? Jealously curious, Plustor had taken to going out to this terrace in the evenings because Tul did. He had come out multiple times and still couldn't figure out what his stepbrother did up here. He hoped to catch him doing something odd or even sneaking a drink, but nothing happened. Tul didn't even seem to have his phone with him, or if he did, he didn't look at it.

Plustor stopped going every evening because it turned out that Tul was really boring. His stepbrother did nothing but sit and look at the sky. Plustor had enough curiosity to wonder why do it here? Why always at that bench? But he finally gave up trying to figure that out. He decided that he didn't have time to be interested in anything that wasn't going to help him sabotage the Hongtai deal. He didn't care if it had a detrimental effect on Shilapath. He would see to it that the company recovered. He had plenty of projects that he know would shine if they weren't under this Hongtai deal's shadow.

He had asked someone to report to him each time time Tul went to the terrace, so when he got a text that Tul looked to be heading up there again, he went. He had been there for about five minutes and was wondering how long he should wait when Ann Thongprasom showed up.

He wasn't close enough to hear what they were saying. Tul had never met anyone up here before, so Plustor hadn't bothered scoping out a good listening spot. But he could see that Ann came out looking concerned. Whatever she said must have startled and worried Tul as well because he stood up immediately as if he were going to leave. Plustor saw Ann reach out to grab Tul's arm and noticed how Tul concentrated on what Ann said afterwards.

Ann had let go of Tul's arm when she was sure that Tul wasn't going to run off. However, she had held on long enough for Plustor to see her grab onto Tul, and the sight reminded him of an angle that he had not followed up on in his ideas to distract and break down Tul's team. Clearly, there had to be something going on.

Plustor's annoyance at the fact that none of his contacts seemed to be able to get anything on any one of the team members dissipated. Seeing Tul and Ann together out here alone made him feel better. The entire team annoyed him because they seemed to do nothing but go to work and go home. He chuckled to himself as he went back to the office. True, even now, Ann and Tul hadn't done anything. However, if they weren't going to do anything themselves, he'd create a scandal. He saw how Tul had listened so carefully to Ann, and in Plustor's world, men didn't listen that carefully to women unless they wanted to sleep with them, were sleeping with them, or needed money from them. Tul didn't need money, so . . .

It didn't occur to Plustor that this might be the moment to follow Tul. Instead, he made a phone call to increase the surveillance on Ann.

**

Early the next morning, Prin walked into the hospital and was directed to the ward where Tul's mother was. When he rounded the corner to the hall, he stopped abruptly, wondering how to approach the two men he saw.