A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Third Person POV

While waiting for Tul to get back to their unit, Max took a quick shower and then went to prepare breakfast for Tul and himself. He was hoping that by the time breakfast was ready, Tul would be home.

Max cooked the eggs in two different ways because he and Tul had differing preferences on how they wanted their eggs cooked. Max preferred his eggs over easy while Tul liked his sunny side up.

Then Max took out a package of apple and garlic flavored turkey sausages from the fridge and cut them up into bite size diagonal shapes.

He sprayed the surface of the pan with a thin coat of canola oil and dropped the sausages and stirred them every now and then until they were browned.

Max glanced at the kitchen clock as he transferred the browned sausages into a platter. It was ten minutes before nine. Where was Tul?

It was more than an hour ago since Tul had texted him that he was already at the checkout counter, so what was the holdup? The drive from the supermarket to their unit was only five minutes, eight minutes tops, if you got caught in traffic which was highly unlikely.

Max walked over to where the electric kettle was and plugged it into the kitchen outlet. He tried not to feel anxious. He did not want to call Tul in case he was driving and got distracted by his call.

Max told himself that perhaps he was already in the building parking lot.

When the electric kettle light changed, Max took out a tea cup from the kitchen cabinet and took out a bag of green tea.

Max suppressed the urge to call Tul as he took the first sip from his green tea.

Just as Max told himself that he wasn't going to wait any longer and was going to give Tul a call, the front door opened and Tul walked in with his grocery bags.

"What took you so long?" Max asked angrily.

"And a good morning to you, too!" Tul replied, setting the grocery bags onto the kitchen counter.

Max calmed down.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I was worried sick that something had happened to you."

"Nothing bad happened to me," said Tul. "Stop being a worrywart. Now help me put away these groceries."

"Okay," said Max, walking over to the grocery bags. "By the way, I have prepared breakfast for you and me."

"Thanks," Tul replied, "it smells good."

When all the groceries had been put away, Tul sat down opposite Max at the breakfast table.

They ate in silence. Max had a lot of questions on his mind but kept them to himself.

"Where are you going?" Max asked in alarm when Tul suddenly stood up from his chair.

"To make myself a cup of tea," Tul replied. "Where did you think I was going?"

"Oh... n...nothing... I mean... nowhere." Max stammered.

Max wanted to kick himself for forgetting to make a cup of tea for Tul. He had been so lost in his thoughts that he had made a cup of tea only for himself.

"Are we out of hibiscus tea?" Tul asked as he scrounged around the kitchen cabinet for the box of hibiscus tea. "I only see a box of green tea."

"It should just be there," Max said, leaving the breakfast table to walk over to where Tul was.

As Max stood very close to Tul to help him look inside the kitchen cabinet, the smell of a woman's fragrance reached his nose.

Max stepped back involuntarily and looked wide eyed at Tul, his heart beating fast and furious in his chest.

"What?" Tul asked, when he noticed the strange expression on Max's face.

"You wanna talk about it?" Max asked, hating himself for how his voice quivered in pent up emotion.

"Talk about what?" Tul couldn't hide the edge in his voice.

Max took a long deep breath. He asked himself over and over whether he should put it out there and risk rocking their already shaky relationship or to just keep the peace.

Max took another deep breath before saying, "I think it's time that you and I had a heart to heart talk."

Tul closed the kitchen cabinet door, restraining himself from slamming it shut, and then turned to face Max.

"How about you start the talk," he said.

"Gladly," Max replied with a smirk. "Let's start with 'when did you change your aftershave cologne to a woman's fragrance and why'?"

"One question at a time," Tul said, his face also taking on a smirk. "Let me answer the last question first, the question Why. Why? Because I'm gay."

Tul was not prepared for what Max did in the next second. He found himself being dragged by Max and being slammed against the kitchen wall.

"What is this game you are playing, Tul?" Max hissed into Tul's face.

"And what is yours?" Tul countered, not at all fazed by Max's angry questions.

"Okay, I guess it's time for straight talk," Max said, not letting go of his tight angry hold on Tul's collar. "Who is this woman you are seeing? Is she someone I know? Is she someone from your past?"

Tul was obviously not prepared for the straight talk, because suddenly his blood rose up to his neck and upward to his face, reminding Max of how Tul looked like when he had eaten that beef dish that Max had cooked for him on which he had sprinkled several leaves of the thyme herb. Tul himself had not known at that time that he had an allergy to thyme. From that time on, they had avoided using thyme in any of their dishes.

"Ah hah!" Max exclaimed, noting the redness that had crept into Tul's face. "I was right on target, wasn't I?"

Max let go of Tul's collar and watched as Tul slumped against the kitchen wall.

"You know what," said Max, "now I know why these past several days your behavior towards me has changed. Now I know why you have turned cold and uncaring towards me."

Max rushed towards the bedroom, not wanting Tul to see the tears running down his cheeks

He grabbed whatever clothes he could find from the closet and stuffed them willy nilly into a suitcase. He walked over to the dresser table and opened the bottom drawer, grabbing all the boxer briefs and boxer shorts and throwing them onto the bed just as Tul walked into the bedroom.

Tul quickly gathered all the boxers that were strewn across the bed and stuffed them back into the drawer.

"What are you doing?" Max asked angrily.

"Those boxers are all mine," Tul replied, "yours are in the drawer just above the bottom drawer."

Max started to laugh, at first quietly, and then hysterically. Tul had to grab his shoulders and shake him hard before he stopped laughing.

Tul looked him straight in the eye before saying, "How about you do your own explaining to me? How about you tell me whose strange fragrance you smell of every time you come home from work?"

"I smell of a strange fragrance? Every time I come home from work?"

"Yes. It's always the same fragrance that you came home with that night that you got back from your company anniversary dinner. Who was that woman who brought you home that night when you were drunk as a skunk?"

"Aaahhh.... aaahhh... ahahahahaha!" Max broke into hysterical laughter once more. "Debbie. Oh my god, Debbie. Debbie our newly hired receptionist, who was the only one kind enough and concerned enough to go out of her way to take me home that night. She always wears that strong nauseating perfume which transfers on to anybody who goes near her, and unfortunately I have to interact with her everyday before I leave work because I have to give her the documents that she has to make several copies of, for distribution for the following day's meeting."

Again, Tul had the grace to blush guiltily. He had been making all the wrong judgments on Max all this time.

Tul felt the deepest regret for what he had done at Naree's house before leaving her on her doorstep. He had held her in his arms and had kissed her tears away before moving down to her lips, all the loving feelings that he had felt when they were still together, rushing back into his chest.

And now...... and now...... what was he going to do now......