Melted: A MaxTul AU story

Seventy-Five: Painful Truths

By the time Channarong returned to the Pakorn compound, all of his things had been moved to the Chinda House and set up as though he had been living there for years. He had, personally, always thought of the place where he lived as an estate. Not "the" Pakorn estate because in his mind that was where he grew up and where his mother and his older brother still lived with their mother, his wife, and her mother. Compounds were places that held prisoners or were owned (and lived in) by drug lords or other criminals.

However, as he drove past the main house and his wife, who was standing at the majestic stairs watching stone-faced as his car went past, he realized why everyone else called it a compound. All these years, he had thought of the moniker as a joke. He learned today with deep sadness that the joke had too much truth to it.

Chinda House was one of three main houses in the Pakorn Compound. None of the other houses were as large as the main house, but it was still fairly large with its own pool and servant quarters. He had built this house for Plustor with the idea that eventually Plustor and whoever he married would live in the house. The other house he had built for Tul. This way each son would have his own space but be close enough so that they would be able to visit easily and any grandchildren would play freely between the three houses. He remembered being thirty and thinking about grandchildren as he went over the blueprints with his older brother who had teased and teased him about it as if they were still kids.

He had been surprised when Plustor said that Taina didn't want to live there. When he had walked through the house with them when they were newly engaged, she had been very enthusiastic about the house, and her enthusiasm had seemed genuine. She had talked to him about the different rooms. They had even talked quite a bit about which one they thought would make the best place for a nursery to Plustor's embarrassment and, now he knew, to Metinee's annoyance.

As he took off his shoes in the room right by the entrance and put on slippers, he thought back to that time. Very soon after Taina had had an outing with Metinee, Plustor had told him that she had changed her mind about Chinda House. He wondered now if his wife had anything to do with Taina's changed perspective. He wouldn't be surprised knowing what he did now about his daughter-in-law's feelings about his wife.

When he had finished meeting with his wife this morning, he called home. He gave directions for Chinda House to be cleaned and for a list of his original servants, the people he had brought with him from his family's home, to report to the new house. The only person left behind was Apinya because she loved her kitchen. He had remodeled it to her specifications because he had been so grateful to her and her husband for moving to the compound with him and his new bride.

He had called her directly to tell her was moving because he knew that she would worry. She didn't ask any clarifying questions only said that she would send food over to the house whenever she prepared the meals for the main house. He would see how that worked for the time being. He smiled sadly to himself at the looks of concern his servants tried to hide, but also at the fact that no one seemed surprised. He wondered how much of the real Metinee they had seen and whether they pitied him, were infuriated by him, or both like his brother Phon.

He sat at the big dining room table alone eating his meal in silence, trying to figure out how he really felt about the whole thing. Earlier, he had felt fury and betrayal, but now? He remembered Michelle Bagnet's words when she said that Tul's real enemy had always been his wife. He'd known that their relationship was awkward at best. But Tul's enemy?

Metinee had not protested at all when he had asked to take Tul in. His friends had admired the fact that his wife would allow his son by another woman to live in the same house and go to the same schools as their son. Metinee had merely smiled and told him that she would take charge of Tul's schooling just like she had with Plustor. She had supported Tul's wish to do his MBA in the United Stated when Channarong has wanted him to stay home. She had been the one to help him see that Tul needed professional help for his alcoholism and had even found the best program. She was the one that had put the team together for Tul when Channarong had insisted Tul work for the company in a director position. She'd even taken him to get executive clothes and offered up the apartment for Tul that Taina and Plustor didn't want.