If You So Desire (sequel to Turn... and Walk Away)

Chapter 16

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Third Person POV

When Max finally managed to get his wits around him, he turned around and went back inside Debbie's apartment, leaving Godt to deal with the young man who had come out of nowhere and had started confronting Godt with his infidelity.

"Are you alright, Max?" Debbie asked when Max entered the living room.

"Of course, I am," Max replied.  "What makes you think otherwise?"

"Oh, I wasn't thinking otherwise," Debbie said, starting to walk in the direction of her bedroom. "I'm gonna bid you a good night. See you in the morning."

"Good night, Debbie," Max said. "I'm gonna turn in for the night as well."

Max had a feeling that Debbie had somehow sensed the turmoil that his mind was going through. He wondered if Debbie had seen the hug that he and Godt had shared outside the apartment building. 

Max was aware that he had nothing going for Godt but somehow he was feeling upset and hurt at the thought that Godt might have been just playing around with him, that bastard.

The following day at work, Max did his best to act professionally, like nothing had happened the night before. He turned down Godt's invitation to lunch, saying that he was going to be working on the advertising ideas for the latest company product over lunch. He said that he was planning to have a working lunch in the conference room.

"Alright," Godt said, looking very disappointed. "I appreciate that you are a very diligent and conscientious employee. Is there anything I can bring back from the BBQ Goodness restaurant for you?"

Max was very tempted to tell Godt that he would be happy to have an order of their grilled Atlantic salmon but decided to just say, "No, I'm alright, thank you, Godt."

Max kept himself busy the whole workday, trying to avoid having any interaction with Godt but Godt seemed very much like he wanted to explain something to Max.

At the end of the workday, although Max usually went into Godt's office to let him know that he was leaving, he decided to just go ahead and clock out without a good bye to him.

He stopped by Debbie's desk to inform her that he was not going straight back to the apartment but would be going back to the apartment later in the night.

"You better keep your word," Debbie said. "Do not keep me up all night wondering what happened to you."

"If I'm going to be super late, I promise I will call you  to let you know," Max said, blowing a kiss to Debbie before making his way to the company parking lot.

Max told himself that he was going to try one more time to catch Tul at his company building to invite him to have a talk and to hash out their grievances.

Max was disappointed to see that Tul's car was not in the company parking lot. Had he gone home early?

Max decided to walk over to the lobby to ask the receptionist if Tul was still in the building or not. Max had not yet reached the steps leading to the lobby when he saw Tul's supervisor walking out the entrance double doors. Max immediately sprinted towards the supervisor.

"Yes, may I help you, sir?" the supervisor addressed Max when Max had gotten close enough to be within hearing range.

"I was just wondering if I could come inside and talk to Tul," Max replied.

"Are you a client?" the supervisor asked. He was cautious about giving information to strangers.

"No, but I'm a very close friend," Max informed Tul's supervisor.

"Well, I'm afraid that you won't find him here at the moment," the supervisor replied. "I have asked him to go out of town to personally deliver the project binder that he and I had worked on, straight to our client's house. He might not reach the client's house until late this evening, so I am not expecting him to be back till tomorrow morning."

"May I know where out of town exactly has he gone?" Max asked.

"I'm afraid I can not tell you that because you are not an immediate family member. You said that you're just a friend, even if you claim to be a very close friend," the supervisor said, already starting to walk away from Max and towards where his car was parked.

"Wait, please!" Max called out.

The supervisor stopped in his tracks and turned around to wait for Max to say something.

"Do you know what time tomorrow morning he will be coming back here?" Max wanted to know.

"I'm not so sure, but since you said that you're a very close friend, I'm sure you have his contact number. You can always call him to find out whatever you want to know," the supervisor replied.

"But I've tried calling him several times before coming here and my call keeps getting directed immediately to his voicemail," Max complained.

"Do you have his new phone number or were you calling the old one?" the supervisor asked.

"What do you mean?" Max asked, his heart starting to nervously beat faster than usual. Shit, Tul had changed his number. Was Tul planning to cut ties with him for good?

"His old phone got damaged yesterday morning. He had not noticed that it had fallen out of his pocket just as he was leaving his car. It got slammed by the car door against the driver's seat. The phone screen got cracks all over it and it just stopped working," the supervisor explained. "I gave him part of the day off to go and buy himself a new phone."

"Would you please tell me his new phone number?" Max asked.

"I'm afraid I can't do that," the supervisor replied. "But tell you what. Why don't you give me your name and your phone number and then I will text it to Tul. I will let him know that you're trying to reach him. The decision to contact you will be up to Tul of course."

"That will work for me," Max said, grasping at anything that would enable him to get in touch with Tul.

The supervisor made several taps on his phone and then handed it to Max.

"Text in your name and contact number and I will forward it to Tul with a message," the supervisor said.

"Thank you so much," Max said, accepting the phone and putting in his name and contact number on the text screen and then handing it back to the supervisor. "My name is Max, by the way. I greatly appreciate your kindness."

At the mention of his name, the supervisor stared at Max with an expression like something had just dawned on him.

"And I am Mr. Chitsawangdee," said the supervisor. "I believe you are the person that I tried to contact a few days ago. I got the impression that you were more than just Tul's friend but I could be wrong."

With that Mr. Chitsawangdee left Max standing in the parking lot, looking at the supervisor's receding back with an unreadable expression on his face. Max had this sinking feeling that it might take a mighty long time before he and Tul could sit down and have that long talk.

With a heavy heart, Max walked back to his car.

Max had not yet started his engine when his phone started to ring. It was an unknown number. Max wondered whether he should take it or not.

Then he remembered that he did not know Tul's new number. Maybe this was Tul calling him now. Maybe Mr. Chitsawangdee had already forwarded his name and contact number with a message to Tul.

Max swiped his phone screen with a fast beating heart.

"Hello?" Max said in a hopeful tone.

"You bloody bastard! You homewrecker! Stay away from my P'Godt or I'll hire someone to slash you car's tires and break your windows and windshield!" said a very angry and agitated voice against Max's ear.

Max's phone went black before he had a chance to say anything back to the caller.

Max decided that since he could not have a long talk with Tul, he was going to have a long talk with Godt instead.