Love after Five

Chapter 3

     Max felt his ears heating up as he ushered the handsome uncle and sniffling girl into the office. Nong'Heart stood, looking confused.
"This is one of the teachers, Ms. Sachdev, she teaches the pre school classes." Max explained, watching nervously as Tul gestured for Bright to wai at her.
"Introduce yourself honey." Tul whispered. "Be polite."
"'Lo. I'm Bright and I'm five." She said, sniffing and rubbing her running nose, smearing snot across her face.
      "Well it's nice to meet you. I think I have some wet wipes, want to wipe off your face so everyone can see how pretty you are?" Heart asked, leaning over to talk to Bright at eye level. Bright looked over at Tul nervously, and he nodded encouragingly, so she followed Heart back over to her desk, climbing up onto the desk chair at the next cubicle and letting Heart begin to wipe off her face.
     "How about that coffee?" Max asked, eliciting a nod from Tul, who was nervously watching his niece and wringing his hands together. "Don't worry, Nong'Heart is really good with kids."
     "Well I'm glad someone is." Tul said, hanging his head. Max clasped his hand on the other man's shoulder in solidarity.
      "I'm sure you're doing fine." He said.
      "I can't even brush her hair right." He said in frustration, watching as Heart took the elastic out of Bright's hair and began smoothing it back into a nicer bun while seemingly listening to a story Bright was telling very intently.
     "One of my sisters is a hair dresser, I'll give you her number." Max said gently, pulling a chair out for him and pouring a hot water into a mug, mixing in some coffee mix and setting it in front of him.
"Thanks." Tul replied, looking over at his niece, clearly preoccupied with her.
"Do you want me to make sure she's in Nong'Heart's class? She's one of our most sweet teachers. I can make sure she's there since she seems to be getting along with her.
"You wouldn't mind? I don't want to be a bother at all." Tul said, rubbing his face. He looked tired and drawn, as though stress were eating him alive, which made sense since Max couldn't imagine what it would be like losing your family and having to become a father without warning.
"It's not a bother. I do have a bit of pull in this place after all." Max said with a chuckle, patting the top of his hand gently.

Tul looked down at the school administrator, finally taking the time to really take him. He was handsome, with tanned skin and wide shoulders which made it clear he worked out. His face was framed with a side swept mop of black hair, kind eyes and thick brows atop a strong, somewhat prominent nose. He was incredibly handsome, but in a kind approachable way.
To be honest he was fairly attractive, despite the fact that Tul really didn't have the time or energy to think about romance.
He'd always been rather undiscerning with his sexuality, dating people he liked without any sort of thought of their gender. He'd once joked with Jeen about it.
     "Guys are hot, girls are hot, why should I bother to limit myself?" He'd laughed, and she'd shaken her head and chuckled, elbowing him in the ribs before pointing out attractive men for them to compare together.
     The memory slid in and out unbidden, and he blinked back tears. Jeen would have thought Mr. Max Nattapol was rather handsome indeed- they'd always liked a similar type. He blinked back his tears sighing deeply. He didn't have any time to grieve if he were being honest with himself- he needed to focus on Bright. Which meant he also didn't have time to think about any attractive people of any gender.
     "It's going to be okay, you seem like a great guy, so your niece is lucky to have you." Max said consolingly, patting his hand again.
     "Ha! There's no way you could know that, we just met." Tul said.
      "You took your niece in, tried to brush her hair, and brought her an hour before the school even opened to make sure she'd be okay." Max said with a shrug. "I'm a pretty good judge of character and that's more than most people would do, so I think I can safely say you're a good guy." He stood up. "Ms. Sachdev, how about we bring Ms. Bright here down to your classroom, and we can set her up for the day?" He said.
    "How does that sound sweetie?" Nong'Heart asked, handing the girl a juice box from a collection on her desk. Bright looked over at Tul with wide eyes and he gave her a thumbs up before downing his coffee.
     "Don't worry sweetie, I'm coming with you." He said. She gave a terse nod and slid to the floor, smoothing her navy blue skirt before grabbing the juice box delicately in both of her chubby hands, looking down at her feet.

    Max had to leave to actually go check on the list and start greeting students so he didn't get to see how Bright was doing until a few hours into his day, when he went down towards the preschool wing to see Tul nervously standing outside of the door to the classroom, checking through the window anxiously.
     "You're still here?" Max asked, coming up behind him, causing the other man to jump, his hands coming up into a Muai Thai defensive posture. Max held his hands up and gave a little laugh. "It's just me killer."
     "Oh, sorry, you startled me." Tul replied, awkwardly putting his hands back down, shoving them into his jean pockets.
      "Shouldn't you have gone to work?" He asked.
     "I promised Bright I would be here all day just in case so I took the day off." He said.
      "Listen, it's just a half day for the preschoolers, so they're done soon, you should go do something fun together. I'm sure that she's having a great time with new friends and you can reassure her that she'll be fine without you here tomorrow. You can tell her I'll look out for her when you aren't here." He offered.
     "That's very kind of you." Tul said, smiling wanly.
      "Hey, this might seem weird, but do you want to come over for dinner with my family? My sister can help you with Bright's hair, and my mom absolutely loves kids and my sisters have a bunch of kids that could be good friends for her, I bet that you'd enjoy a bit of a break too, and nothing distracts kids more than other kids." Max found himself offering before he could think his words through. There was something about this man's dark circles and exhausted demeanour that made him want to take care of him.
    "You don't need to do that." Tul said, shocked.
    "Oh don't worry at all, we have a big dinner with my sisters and aunts every Saturday, it's really the more the merrier. What's your number? I'll text you the address." He offered. Tul told him the number, and Max texted him, his phone pinging.
     "There, add me to your contacts, you can text me whenever."
     "That's really nice of you." Tul said. "I imagine you don't want to give out your phone to every parent who comes through the doors."
      "Oh definitely not, but I think we could be friends." Max said, clasping his elbow with his hand in a friendly manner. "You seem like you need one, and I'm always looking."
     "Thanks." Tul replied with a weak smile. "I do. Need one that is."