♛

MAX SLOWLY OPENS HIS eyes after hearing someone knocking rigorously on his door. He didn't want to move out of the bed, so he kept his face buried in his pillow, ignoring the knock that grew louder and louder.

     After a few more knocks, the door finally opened, and a figure enters his bedroom, opening all the curtains so that the light could shine through. Max didn't even have to look to see who it was because only one person in this entire mansion could bravely enter his room without his permission.

     "Master Leigh, your breakfast is ready," Étienne, Max's most trusted butler, says as he approaches Max who was still cuddled up in bed.

     Max doesn't move nor answer him, so Étienne purposely removes the blanket from his master, finally making Max open his eyes. Max slowly sat up from the bed and massaged his eyes. And without any warning, he grabs his pillow and throws it toward his butler in annoyance.

     Étienne, who had the perfect reaction time, catches the pillow and gently places it back on the bed. "Good morning master Leigh," Étienne greets, and Max glares at him and lazily stands from his bed so he could walk towards the bathroom.

     "Étienne, for heaven's sake it's an early Sunday morning, and I don't have to visit the company today. At least let me rest," Max says, looking at his reflection in the mirror before washing his face.

     Étienne started fixing his master's bed for him and waited for him to finish. "I apologize master. I am aware that you are tired after the banquet you attended last night, but unfortunately, someone is waiting for you downstairs."

     Max just finished gargling so he spits the water out of his mouth and looks back at his butler with an annoyed expression. "It's the old man, isn't it?"

     Étienne didn't even have to tell Max that his guess was right. Instead, he takes Max's silk robe from his cabinet. Max wipes his face, and then he walks toward his butler and stretched his arms so Étienne could help wear them for him.

     "How's his mood?" Max asks.

     "It's good," Étienne answers. "It seems that his trip to Singapore went well."

     "The bitch was probably with him," Max comments before turning to face Étienne. When Max saw the unpleased expression on Étienne's face, Max sighed and quickly corrected himself, "My apologies, I meant his bitchy fiancé."

     "Leigh..."

     "What? You can't force me to like my father's mistress just because the old man decided to marry her. It would be terribly rude to my dead mother," Max answers as he starts walking towards the door.

     Max was about to grab the doorknob, but then Étienne asks him, "If you're concerned about being rude to her then why aren't you wearing her necklace anymore?"

     The question instantly made Max stop moving. He unconsciously reached out to touch the necklace, but then he realized, he wasn't wearing it anymore. When did he stop wearing it? He's been feeling his brooches all this time that he didn't even notice.

     "Why did you remove her necklace after having the resolve that you're going to start wearing it?" Étienne continues to ask, and Max clenches his fist and got ready to answer his butler back, but Max stops himself and just takes a deep breath instead.

     "That's none of your concern," Max replies as he finally steps out of his bedroom.

     Étienne sighed, but he followed Max anyway, finally dropping the topic.

     The two arrived downstairs in the dining room. Like what Étienne mentioned, a familiar face was at the table, drinking tea while reading the newspaper, while Marcus was busy with his phone. Max wanted to ignore his old man, but he takes a deep breath and greeted him anyway, "good morning."

     Marcus slowly looks away from his phone, surprised that Max actually greeted their father like that for the first time, but he doesn't comment anything about it and smiles at him instead. "Good morning," he replies on his father's behalf, and Max nods his head and takes a seat in front of him.

     "You look well," Denzel said without removing his eyes from the newspaper.

     Max doesn't say anything as maids rushed over to him to serve him water and tea. Max thanks them, and then he starts buttering his bread.

     Marcus, on the other hand, awkwardly looks at Max and Denzel. He then clears his throat and puts his phone down as he started eating his breakfast as well so he wouldn't be caught up with the awkward tension.

     The table was completely quiet, which was ironic since Max was at a banquet last night that was livelier than this. But after a while, Denzel finally puts his newspaper down and looks back at his two sons before taking another sip of his tea. "You're on your second term in school now, is that correct?"

     "Yes father," Marcus answers while Max continued eating.

     "How has it been so far? I was reluctant to enroll you two in Janus's school, but you both seem to be enjoying yourselves," Denzel tells them, which surprised the brothers since they weren't expecting Denzel to ask them such a question, let alone start a conversation with them that wasn't related to business.

     "It's been fine," Marcus answers again, and then Denzel looks at Max, waiting for him to give his reply too.

     Max wanted to ignore him, but Denzel wasn't letting it go, so the young heir takes a deep breath and looks back at his father. "It's been good," he answers, and Denzel gives out a small smile and nods his head in understanding. He then finishes his tea before standing from his seat.

     Denzel—who was actually already wearing a suit—fixes his tie and looks back at his sons for one last time before saying, "Well then, I need to go. One of the directors from the main branch in France is visiting today so I need to be there on time."

     Max and Marcus stare back at him without saying anything. Denzel looked like he was about to say something too, but then he takes a deep breath and nods his head before finally walking away.

     As soon as he was gone, Marcus puts down his bread knife and looked back at Max with a shocked expression. "Did we just have a normal breakfast for the first time in ages?" He sarcastically asks.

     Max doesn't answer and ignores Marcus's comment as he continued eating his breakfast, pretending like he didn't hear a thing.

     "Usually you two would end up fighting, but today was refreshing. He even smiled! It literally brought chills down my spine," Marcus explains, making Max look back at him like he was an idiot.

     "Can you put it down a notch? The two of us barely said anything," Max defends, but Marcus shakes his head, not letting it go.

     "You know, ever since that incident with Cj and the Mills family, you've been more...how do I say this...relaxed. You always had some sort of anger issues in the past, especially when it comes to our father, so I'm glad that you and dad are slowly trying to make things work again," Marcus says before happily finishing his food.

      Max takes a deep breath and thought about what Marcus just said. Max wasn't really trying to make things work with his father again, but somehow, after the serious conversation he had with him, his anger towards Denzel lessened.

     "During that incident...inside that very same car, you were there. Your very own mother, Luna, tried to die with you...She tried to kill you too." Max remembered what his father said when he got his inheritance back a couple of months ago.

     Max has been trying to forget such a gruesome fact, but somehow, he couldn't help but believe it. People always said that her mother became crazy, so it's possible for her to do such a stunt. And then there's the confession that Sky gave him before he left. The message was somehow cryptic, but Max could tell that it has something to do with his mother too.

     But the question now is...why? Why did Luna try to kill him with her? What was his mother so afraid of that she was willing to kill her only son?

     "Max!" Marcus suddenly shouted, almost making Max flinch.

     "S-Sorry, I was lost in my thought for a second," Max says before massaging his temple. "What is it?" He then asks.

     "I was asking about what happened last night with PHD. How was the banquet? Did anything happen?" Marcus asks, and Max recalled everything that happened that night.

     "I had a great time, surprisingly," Max answers.

     Marcus was already expecting such a real because Max came home pretty early last night, and he looked completely fine. If something bad did happen, Max would have already told him. "I know it's not my place to ask, but what did you ask for? What was the great Maximilian Leigh Sinclaire's greatest desire?" 

     Max chews on the food that's in his mouth first before giving an answer. Afterward, he swallows it down and takes a sip of his water before saying, "Nothing."

     Marcus furrowed his brows in confusion, and for a second he thought that he heard him wrong. "W-what? Did you just—"

     'I asked for nothing," Max repeats, and finally, it sank in on Marcus as he slammed the table and shouted, "What?!"

     Max was startled, but he just silently watched as his brother tried to make sense of what he heard. "Max, you had the greatest opportunity to ask for anything in the world, and yet you asked for nothing? You could have asked for points! PHD can give a maximum of four thousand points. That's enough to make you the new rank 3!" Marcus shouts, making Max massaging his temple because of how loud he was.

     "Marcus, relax. I already know all that. I'm not stupid," Max tells him.

     "Then why didn't you ask for anything if you already knew that?" Marcus then asks, still surprised that his brother didn't grab the opportunity when he could have easily taken it. After all, he finished the tasks fair and square. He had every right to ask for something in return.

     "Look, I had a lot of reasons, and one of them is that I wasn't willing to risk it," Max answers, and Marcus finally calms down.

     "Risk it? Risk what?"

     Max takes his cup and looks away from Marcus. While looking out the window, Max takes a sip of his tea and tells him, "Hee-joon asked me a question...he asked if I liked to gamble."

     "And?"

    "And there was just something about that banquet that felt odd like it was a lucid dream. The ambiance, the food arrangement, the way Joon ate after his members and finished the leftovers, and then the lobster..." Max explains, confusing Marcus even more.

     "The lobster?" Marcus asks, and Max nods his head and puts his cup down before looking back at his brother.

     "You see, Joon's allergic to seafood, just like I was, but for some reason, they placed that dish right in front of us. Don't you think it's quite symbolic?" Max asks, and Marcus just looked at Max like he has finally gone crazy. Was this the side effect of talking with Denzel in a civil manner?

     "Max, it's a fucking lobster. How symbolic could it get?"

     "N-no, it's more than that. The lobster smelled amazing, and it looked so delicious that anyone would want to taste it. It was sitting right in front of us, yet both of us couldn't even take a single bite. And then no one else at the table grabbed a bite of it either. Do you get what I'm saying?" Max asks, and Marcus' eyes slowly widened from realization.

     "I'm fucking going crazy too because I feel like I know what you mean now," Marcus says before grabbing his juice so he could drink it in one go.

     "What is your greatest desire? That was the question. It was too good to be true, just like that lobster. That's why I wasn't going to risk it."

     "You think it had a catch?" Marcus asks, and Max's face lightens up, glad his brother was finally getting it too. "Exactly. Like a genie, whatever you ask for comes at a terrible price. And you said it yourself, them asking for your greatest desire is a test too." Max says, and Marcus couldn't believe that Max was able to think of all that right after attending a single banquet.

     "I don't know if you're smart or paranoid, but knowing Joon, I think you might be right," Marcus says, and Max finished his tea and finally stood up from his seat.

     "Anyway, whether I got something from all that or not, one thing still remains; Kim Hee-joon is testing me. I don't know what it's about, but on the last day of our field trip, Joon asked me about how many points I have left before I enter the Elites. I think he's planning something, and I want to know what it is. I don't want to just become his puppet and do everything his way," Max says, and Marcus couldn't help but chuckle. Looks like his old brother is back.

     "I have to be careful around him. And besides, six months ago, when I was still trying to conquer Jokers, I acquired a troublesome debt from them. I'm pretty sure they're going to collect that eventually," Max then states, making Marcus widen his eyes from shock because he only remembered about it now.

     "The princes never forget Max. You have to pay the price eventually," Marcus warns, and Max smirks, showing Marcus that he knew that already.

     Max then turns around and fixes his robe. Before walking away, he tells his brother, "I know that. That's why I was also hesitant to ask anything from them. I'm not sure, but as noble as they may look, they're under Viktor's wings for a reason. And we all know what kind of king Viktor is."

...

Max heads back to his bedroom, yawning as he closed the for behind him. Max wanted to go back to bed and sleep again since this is one of the rare occurrences where he has nothing to do, but then he spots his phone on the side table, just beside Cj's cigarettes.

     "I guess one stick won't kill me," Max tells himself as he grabs his phone and the pack of cigarettes. He then walks to his balcony and looks at the scenery before pulling out a cigarette stick. He then places it in his mouth and looks back at the pack. Inside the pack was his lighter, so Max takes that too and lit his cigarette.

     The smoke eases him in an instant, and Max exhales the cold smoke from his mouth.

     While he was smoking, he looks at his phone to check if he had any important messages. But when he opened his messages, he instantly noticed his group chat with his friends. The last message that Max sent was during Valentine's day. Ari and Ervin sent him a reply, but Felix didn't.

     "I almost forgot to call him," Max says as he looks for Felix's number in his contacts.

     Ari said that Felix hasn't been himself for a couple of days now, and Max could only guess that it was about what happened with him and Keigo. Max didn't really hear what they were talking about at that time, but what was clear was that Felix looked really angry.

      When Max finally found Felix's number. Max pressed his name and called him with no hesitation.

     The phone rings and Max waits for his dear friend to answer. While waiting, he inhales the smoke from his cigarette, pulls the stick out from his mouth with his index and middle finger, and then slowly exhales the smoke. The phone continues to ring, and Max was moments away from ending the call. But after one more ring, Felix finally answers, immediately making Max throw his cigarette away in the bin.

     "Felix?" Max calls out, but Felix didn't say anything.

     "Felix? Are you there?" Max calls out again.

     The call was silent for a while, but then he hears Felix make a sound on the other line, almost like he was crying. That sound alone instantly made Max look serious.

    "Hello? Felix, what's going on? Are you okay? You can talk to me. I'm right here," Max asks.

     When Max asked him that question, Felix started crying louder. Max was flustered so he couldn't even say anything, but when he heard what Felix had to say next, an angry expression instantly appears on Max's face, almost like he was ready to fight anyone who dared mess with his dear friends.

     "M-Max...please help me."

- END -