Melted: A MaxTul AU story

Eighty-seven: A Good Test

Author's Note: Above is Min Pechaya Wattanamontree. She is one of my favorite Thai actresses, and I love the lakorns where she is paired with Weir. She is a great comedic actress and also be fierce. I think she'd be great in the role she plays in this chapter. If this were a show, she'd deserve a spin off. Remember, there are no small roles only small actors.

**

Max sat in front of Metinee Pakorn thinking to himself that he knew this was a test. She was testing him to try to make him do what she wanted. It was something she probably did often and usually won.

There would be only two people who wouldn't be surprised at how calm he was in this moment: Michelle Bagnet and Itthipat Thanit. They knew that Max was always at his most calm during the most stressful situations for others. Also, they would be able to read his face. They would know that the level of antipathy toward the woman in front of him was matched only by how little he cared about what she thought or what she could do to him and his.

Max genuinely wasn't afraid of Metinee at all. Metinee Pakorn had completely miscalculated the power and influence she had over him. Maybe if she had arranged this confrontation a week ago or even four days ago, before Max knew all about NMR, she might have had a shot. However, Metinee did not know this. She only knew that she thought she had a chance of getting back into her husband's good graces. As much as she didn't want to, she felt that if she could return Tul to Shilapath and, thus, to Channarong, her husband would forgive her and understand how good she was for him.

Once she broke through Max Nattapol's fake veneer of boredom, she believed that Max would do as she wished. She had placed several pictures in front of Max. She even smirked to herself a little bit, waiting for him to react. The pictures were of Tul kissing Max in front of his apartment, of them holding hands and laughing outside of Tul's house with Apasiri, and a picture of Max whispering in Tul's ear outside the new offices of Team 2. However, Max didn't react. In fact, he seemed to be unimpressed in general.

She placed a packet in front of him, opened enough so he could see the large sum of cash in it. The money packet offer was the first time she got a reaction out of him, and she smiled to herself. Money. It was always the thing that moved people in the end. She had put more in that packet than Max Nattapol could earn in a year, or so she thought, so she was feeling good until she realized that Max was laughing at her. This bastard and his mentor. How dare they laugh at her?

"You think my offer is funny, Nattapol?" she asked. Her voice smooth, but the anger in it was obvious. "It's more money than you've probably ever seen at once."

"I just find it funny that you're acting like the stereotypical villain in a lakorn," Max replied calmly. His amusement only slightly covering his annoyance. He had always wondered how Kuhn Bagnet handled situations like this with such utter calm, and now he knew. She really didn't care about these people. When the person in front of you meant nothing, it was easy to be calm.

He continued, "But please go ahead. I'm curious about what you really want and what you really expect me to do with that packet of money. I want to see how much you keep to the script."

Metinee bristled, but she knew she had to keep calm. She needed to have everything in place to break and expose Tul or at least threaten to do so. She would agree to keep quiet about his relationship with Max Nattapol as long as he came back to the company with his people. 

Half the board was already outraged at Tul's move to develop an independent company, and half the board was surprised but resigned to it. All of them blamed her for not being stricter in the details of the original agreement. There were some, though, who had begrudgingly or openly admired Tul's plan and thought it proved that he could be the successful heir to Shilapath in the future. Channarong had handled them all admirably, but she could see the sadness in his eyes afterwards. She was going to get him his son back AND protect his reputation with the board. Channarong could not, did not, have a gay son.