Melted: A MaxTul AU story

Six: A New Team Member

It's been almost a month since Max had arrived with presents at Shilapath Corporation. He has gotten used to freely coming and going with his own "employee" pass, and with access to the archive room, he felt he had been able to really develop an action plan for his research about the company. He had spent an equal amount of time in the city archives as well as making several trips to the Pridi Banamyong Library to look up historical information on the political connections the company had in its founding years.

He used this time to observe the mood of the company and the different relationships between the different areas. It was always interesting to see who ate in a company's cafeteria, who didn't, with whom, and when. Max made notes about these because he was just as interested in the relationships between staff members and how that can affect a company's bottom line as he was in new products or stock prices.

He used this time to prepare better questions for the meetings he was going to start having with directors the following week. He was curious to know what group to whom he had been assigned. The assignment decision was taken much longer than he thought it would take. He had no idea that there was a battle about that going on.

Many departments either really wanted him or really didn't for a variety of reasons. None of which would be good for him or frankly, according to Channarong Pakorn, Tul's father, good for the company. Channarong Pakorn had read Max's book when it first came out. He was interested in the legendary family companies in Korea and had studied there for a year in university. So when his communications director had brought in Max's proposal (one of many proposals and ideas to raise the profile of the company), it was the only document he actually read all the way through in one sitting. He believed that such a book had the potential to bring back the glory of the corporation.

He not only believed, despite some personality peccadillos, that his company ran like a well-oiled machine, but he also thought that any weaknesses revealed by the book would allow him to make changes in those areas because these would be public. He looked at Max's project, perhaps unrealistically, as a way to get an outside review done for free and without the stress and disruption that such a group could cause.

Thus, it surprised him when his personal secretary told him that it hadn't been settled on what department Max should shadow despite the fact that the writer had been present for almost a month. The only thing he knew for sure was that Max had requested not to be with Team 2 because they were his friends and he wanted to be able to be as objective as possible. Channarong had initially agreed with him, but hearing from his secretary about the arguments between his directors about Max made him wonder if they had both been wrong all along. How did his company run if everyone acted as though they were side characters in a lakorn?

His secretary had given the official reports about why people didn't want Max on their teams: too busy to introduce a new person to their projects because of deadlines or literally not having space because of models being built. His secretary also gave him what the rumors were. Many were eager to have him around because he was so good looking, but some managers thought that would be too distracting and others were jealous. It made him wonder if the best place to put him was with his friends after all.

President Pakorn decided to make a call. He generally didn't get involved in things like this, but he remembered the international response to Max's other book. He wanted the work to get going.

Pushing the button on his office intercom, he called to his secretary. "Send Tul here before the day is through and Max Nattapol as well. They don't have to come at the same time, but that would be preferred."

Max was surprised when he got the text from an unknown number. He was packing up and ready to head out to his bike, thinking that he really needed to catch up again and check on his uncle. Since the night with karaoke, Max had seen him quite often though they all had only had time to go out once together since. But he was sure that something was going on with his uncle. The man was keeping a secret from him, maybe even more than one. For example, Uncle Pong had yet to invite him home, insisting that his apartment was a mess, so when they ate together, they either ate out or they met at Max's tiny apartment.