Melted: A MaxTul AU story

Two: Two Questions (Tul)

Tul walked out of the Chia Group meeting with two questions on his mind: Why did his brother invite him to the meeting, and who was Max Nattapol visiting?

He knew he should concentrate on the first question because he hoped it was a sign that his stepbrother and his stepmother would finally let him work at the company in peace.

When his father brought him to Shilapath Corporation after he finished his treatment at the alcohol detox program in the States, he knew that he would have to prove himself. He didn't mind that, but there had been open hostility by his stepmother and suspicion from his stepbrother, and to be honest, he wouldn't have hired himself either. Sure, he had done stellar work when he got his MBA (also in the States), but that was after he had met Pimchanouk, and his best friend had convinced him that to impress her, he should probably get his act together.

But when the scandal with Pimchanouk happened and she was out of his life, Tul began to seriously fall apart. Instead of going back to the playboy partying of his early undergraduate days, he sank into depression because his bright future didn't seem to be happening with her gone. His best friend, Tor, who had been a steadying force for him in university had won a prestigious internship in Australia. His university mentor had seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet and had only reappeared later with his own tragic story. 

Without them, Tul's life lacked the balance they had provided.  He felt completely alone, despite Tor's frequent outreach. To forget Pimchanouk, Tul began to go to bars, not to party but just to drink more. Soon he started to drink more at home alone. Then he was drinking to go to sleep. Then he was drinking to wake up. Soon, he didn't want to start his day without a drink. He was ignoring all the outreach from Tor. He fought with his father. When he showed up to an event drunk, his father insisted that he admit he was an alcoholic and forced him into treatment.

After 18-months, with nine months being sober (which included a 90-day treatment program and a 6-month stay in a sober house), Tul came back home to Thailand. His father insisted that he take on a leadership role at Shilapath despite his protest and willingness to work his way up. Surprisingly, his stepmother had agreed. She even asked her husband to be allowed to find a spot for him.

His father was happy with this because he used this to continue the delusion that someday his family would be one cohesive unit. He saw this gesture by his wife as an attempt to mother and mentor his lost son. However, Tul had no such illusions, so he wasn't surprised when he read the bios of the members of his newly developed team and learned that they all had been kicked out, moved out, or demoted from other teams in the company.

He knew that his stepmother and stepbrother had always disliked him; when he tried to look at it from their perspective, he could understand. To his stepmother, he was the reminder that she was her husband's second choice (if she was even a choice at all), and when she saw her husband being nice to him, it was like her husband was showing how much he still adored his first love, despite never speaking of the other woman.

To his stepbrother, he was probably seen as a rival not only for their father's affection but for the company. His brother would taunt him all the time when they were growing up, despite Tul being older. He found ways to make Tul look bad or make himself out to be a victim of Tul's anger by provoking the older boy and then crying when others appeared. The servants knew, but none of them would speak up against the young master, especially when they were all afraid of the mother.

When he was younger, Tul also hadn't helped his own situation. He made himself an easy target for his stepmother's disdain and a hard person for his father to defend. He was reckless with a chip on his shoulder because people would whisper about him being a bastard and make up all sorts of stories about his mother.

Being a Pakorn got him "friends" initially, but this would change to cold civility when his stepmother or stepbrother inevitably revealed the "true" story. People couldn't afford to completely offend him, but most chose the legitimate family rather than the bastard son.

As Tul made his way down the hall to his department, he thought about the strife in the family over his status because of the assumption that just because he was a family member he somehow wanted a large piece of the company. However, to be honest, he didn't want to take over as his stepmother seemed to think.

Tul looked at the lives his father, stepmother, and stepbrother lived and knew he didn't want that, but no one believed him except Prin and Tor. He might like to run his own company someday, but it would be small where he knew all of his staff members and trusted them. He didn't want to feel like he had to look over his shoulder all the time the way everyone in his family did.

Here and now, he just wanted make enough money to live comfortably and to search for his mother. Through the years, he had overheard some rumors that she might not be dead as he had been lead to believe when he was young. Recently, he had more reason to believe this to be true. So his interest in Shilapath was merely because he wanted a well-paying job, and with his past bad behavior, there weren't many places that would give him a director position at his age with such little experience even with his connections.

Tul wondered whether perhaps, his brother was finally believing that. He had studiously kept him out of important meetings before. He seemed to be extending and olive branch now, but Tul didn't know whether to be relieved or wary.

The other question was more delightful: Max Nattapol. He knew that he found Max attractive, who wouldn't? Everyone in the lobby had been drawn to Max's smile. He also had no issue with finding himself attracted to a man. He'd known he was bisexual for years, but he hadn't been interested in anyone since Pimchanouk.

He wasn't celibate. He'd dated around a lot before Pimachanouk, and he hadn't been lacking any form of "companionship" since she left. He was extremely good looking and a Pakorn. His father insisted on providing him with a nice car, an apartment (that he really wouldn't be able to afford on his company salary), and a credit card for expenses. Many women and men were eager to be his date or spend the night. When he first started at the company, people tried flirting with him all the time--only stopping when they realized he would just ignore them. But Tul knew those experiences had just been attraction and maybe sex. There had been no real interest.

For some reason, he wanted to know Max. The man made him curious. The man made him care. Tul wondered if Max had a headache from getting hit in the head and whether the medicine he had given him worked. Tul wondered whether the bump on his head was sore or had gotten any bigger. 

Also, why was Max here? He had said he had to meet someone, and he clearly had presents. Who was he visiting that he ignored the possibility of having a concussion so he wouldn't miss the appointment? And why did that not sit right with Tul?

As he continued down the hall back to the offices for Development team 2, he decided that he'd ask Prin to do a complete background check on Max. The people in the lobby would be able to tell them who he was going to meet, and Prin could go from there. He was determined to find out who he was and to see him again. He'd have to figure out some pretext for the meeting, but he wouldn't worry about that now.

"Prin?" he said to the man walking next to him who was checking the schedule on his iPad.

"Yes?"

"I want you to check on Max Nattapol, the guy who got hit in the head. Find out who he is and why he was visiting."

Prin raised his eyebrows but didn't say a word, only jotted something down in the iPad. He didn't comment on the fact that Tul had already asked him to do this earlier.

Tul knew that look. He knew that Prin probably saw right through him but would not say anything at work. He was the consummate professional. But Prin was that mentor that had disappeared years ago, and he knew Tul better probably than anyone with the exception of Tor. Prin would have his own ideas about this curiosity of Tul's.

But right when he was going to ask Prin about the eyebrow raising, he realized he was hearing something he never really heard in this hallway—raucous laughter. Was it coming from their office suite?