Melted: A MaxTul AU story

Seventy-six: Routines to Departure

After all the launch week, the Team2Crew settled into a routine. Prin did have to spend the next two weeks managing press inquiries, but these started to die down. The team was methodically going through product research and production, work that they foresaw could last for the next year with all the new ideas they had—if the early products were successful. Kim, Sukrit's wife, signed an agreement with Tul to be in charge of designing everything for the new brand; this was great because she could do most of this work remote. And even though Pongpat had retired, the team kept him up to date on its work and consulted him whenever they had questions about areas of which he used to be in charge.

They didn't just consult him during the day, however. Instead, they would ask him questions during their visits in the evenings. Tul and Clara were amazed. It was as if everyone agreed that they would split up the evenings, so that neither she nor Max would ever be completely responsible for dinners and for Pongpat's feelings of connection.

Every Monday after that first Monday, Kuhn Bagnet would show up herself with food and food prep that she had worked on during the weekend.

On Tuesdays, Ann, Wanna, and Prin would visit. Ann also would bring her niece Mint along to Ramida's delight. The two had met before theTappitaks had went to Switzerland, but the two girls hadn't been friends because Ann and the Tappitaks lived too far way from each other for the two to go to the same school or visit much, but they became friends during the farm visit.

On Wednesdays, Sukrit and Kim would visit with the twins. On Thursdays, Itty and Chalida visited. Chalida always wanted to play games but Itty refused. He just liked to watch her battle it out with Ramida. He and Pongpat would just shake their heads at how intense they both were.

On Fridays, it was date night for Clara and Pongpat, so Max always took Ramida out somewhere or sometimes just drove her to the movies or the mall to hang out with Mint. Ohm had reconnected with some of his friends, so he would go out with them or sometimes he would just go over to Max's apartment to hang out for the weekend. Tul managed to attach himself to some of these outings with Ramida's help. None of them wanted to be in the apartment during date night.

Pongpat seemed to bask in the glow of the attention while everyone else just wanted to get their time with him as much as they could, knowing that the time seemed to be running out. Max worked during the day on his articles and on the book (not as much as he would like), but he made sure to try to get over to Tul's apartment as much as he could. Sometimes he got to see Tul. Sometimes not.

Tul was pulling late hours nearly every evening, and he tried to come home before everyone left. He loved coming into his apartment filled with conversation and laughter, but he was also trying to visit his mother as often as he could. He actually rented a hotel room near the hospital so he could stay weekends with her. On other evenings, he would video chat with her while everyone was there, so she could feel like she was part of the group, showing her what food Kuhn Bagnet, Kuhn Clara, or Max were making or show her the killer strategy Chalida was teaching Ramida for a game.

She especially liked to listen to Ohm practice the cello, which he frequently did in the evening. Ohm used to practice in his room once they were able to get a decent rental, but his father had started asking him to come play in the living room, so he could hear.

One Monday, Kuhn Bagnet was in the kitchen with Ohm unpacking the food she had made, separating out what was for that night's dinner versus what could be used for side dishes for meals that Max or Clara might make later in the week. She was concentrating and humming. Pongpat called to her from the sofa.

"Kuhn, you keep humming something. What is that tune?"

"Hmm?" she said to him, still distracted. She was eying Ohm because she was trying to figure out how much he was going to eat. He seemed to eat more and more each week. He had polished off a whole loaf of challah by himself last week, so she was really watching what he was doing so he wouldn't eat anything before she had actually figured out the exact food situation.