Melted: A MaxTul AU story

Seventeen: Pretending

Pong and Max moved everything from Uncle Pong's room the next afternoon. If Max hadn't been so happy about Uncle Pong's new situation, he would've been depressed at the fact that everything Uncle Pong owned didn't even fill the back of the pickup truck that they had borrowed from Sukrit's uncle. It had taken them only two trips up on the elevator to get all of the boxes into the apartment.

It also made Max sad that Pongpat didn't have anyone else to ask to help him. It appears that Pongpat had begun to distance himself from his friends after the diagnosis. Pongpat knew that the thing he wanted the most was to keep it a secret from Clara, so he really couldn't tell anyone else. Clara had kept in contact with some of their mutual friends, and he knew none of them would be able to lie to her.

He slowly stopped going out with the excuse that he was working extra hours which was only partially true. Then once he moved, telling people that he needed to be closer to work and was going to have a lot of out of town projects, he didn't really call anyone.

Pongpat had two very old friends from his high school days who he was still close to.  They were the only ones who knew. They had tried to convince him to tell Clara, but they supported his wishes in the end, and he had given them directions about contacting Max first if he were to die before Max came back and he couldn't tell him himself. Neither lived in Bangkok though—one now lived in Chang Mai and the other all the way in Narathiwat—so, they were not close by, and Pong didn't think his small amount of things was worth asking them to come from such long distances to help.

When he explained this to Max earlier, it made sense, but it didn't make Max any less sad.

After they had moved all the boxes into the room where Pongpat would be staying, Max got two bottles of water out of the refrigerator and handed one his uncle.

"What do you want to do next? Shall I go buy groceries while you set up your room?"

"No," Pong replied. "Wanna wanted to help, so I gave her some money and a list of groceries. She and Ann are going to bring them over after work when they come. Sukrit is going to bring over dinner, and then drive his uncle's truck back." Pongpat chuckled. "I think they all just want to see the apartment."

Max laughed, too. "True, but I also think everyone is really happy to see you settled in such a nice place. They didn't see that ratty room from before, but . . ."

"Humph. It wasn't that bad, and the landlady was very nice."

"Well, I'm going to get going then," Max said, finishing his water. "I need to shower and change before people come over for dinner."

"You could just shower here," Pong suggested.

"I don't have any . . ." Max was interrupted by a phone call. He checked, and it was from Tul.

He answered, and Pong smiled to himself seeing the brightened look on Max's face. He could guess who was on the line.

"Tul? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. I'm not meeting her until tomorrow. I just called to see how the move is going. Are you still carrying stuff up?"

"What stuff? EVERYTHING MY UNCLE OWNS COULD FIT IN A BACKPACK!" Max spoke extra loud on purpose, so his uncle could hear him. Pong had left the kitchen to put things in his bathroom and rushed back in.

"That isn't true. Put that Pakorn boy on speaker!"

Tul chuckled. He hadn't been called "that Pakorn boy" in years. He couldn't see, though, the horrified look on both Max's and Pongpat's faces when they realized what Pong had just said. After all, Tul was the boss AND a Pakorn.