Nong'Chili 🌶️🌵 Phi'Cactus (TulMax / MaxTul) - FF

#25 - 3 is a Crowd

When Tul woke up Max was already gone. It wasn't all that late and for once they could have stayed in bed as both were not going to work for a few days.

Tul felt a little rejected. He thought about the previous night and just for a second wondered if maybe Max was a little upset or disappointed with him.

He shook of the stupid thought. Max must be probably devastated, even if he had neither shown any such emotion, nor said anything to indicate he was upset about his house being ransacked. It was understandable.

He quickly got dressed and then saw the sticky note tacked to the mirror which read 'Check Kitchen Counter'.

Tul checked and found his sipper mug full of piping hot tea. Extra strong, extra sweet, just the way he liked it. He smiled to himself and rushed down the stairs.

Max seemed to have already thrown out most of the broken stuff and it was all lying in as neat a pile as possible on one side of the walkway.

"Hey Max why didn't you wake me. Why are you doing all this by yourself." Tul asked.

"Good morning doc. How are you feeling?" Max asked with a smile. He had plugged in the vaccum cleaner which seemed to have escaped damage and was working fine. "I woke up and didn't feel like sleeping so decided to clean up the mess."

"Let me help then," Tul walked to the kitchen area and started sorting the broken utensils from the ones which had escaped damage.

"Be careful of your hand baby. You had your tea? I left it in the sipper mug for you." Max said.

"Yes, thank you." Tul said holding up the mug for Max to see.

The two mostly worked silently to get the house cleaned up. Sometimes talking about random things. It was almost noon when they finished cleaning up most of the stuff. The house looked quite bare and empty now that Max had decided to get rid of all the broken furniture.

"Want to go shopping in the evening?" Max asked Tul his hands on his hips.

"I would love too." Tul replied promptly. "And we can even buy a new pot for my babies."

"Sure. We can buy a whole dozen alongwith some extra babies if you like." Max teased.

"Stop teasing me." Tul huffed. "Maybe I should put them in the rose garden till then."

Tul picked up the two plastic pots and walked towards the back door.

Max hurried to stop him, "Tul wait. You can just leave them here or I can put them on your Veranda. They will be safe there."

Tul frowned at Max's words. "Why what's wrong with the rose garden."

"Its nothing Tul."

Tul didn't miss the sadness in Max's voice. He left the plastic pots on the breakfast bar counter and made his way to the Rose garden. He felt like screaming at the devastating sight that greeted him.

All the rose bushes were not just trampled upon but it looked like they had been dug up and hacked. Many of the bushes had been uprooted and lay dying on their sides.

No wonder Max had been so silent since morning. If there was anything of value in the house it had been those rose bushes. Max's prized possession. Tul had seen in these past months the love and the care Max invested in tending to those plants.

Max came up behind Tul and rubbed his back. "Hey cheer up. Don't worry about it." This was the exact reason why he had not wanted Tul to come to the rose garden.

"Your precious blue rose." Tul cried.

Max walked in front of Tul and framed his face. "It's okay baby. I will grow them again. Most of them will survive. I have already draped their roots with wet burlap. Once I get some fertilizer I will plant them back."