"Hey, Max!" A girl calls out among a crowd to an unaware man. "Max!" she continues, roughly pushing her way through the crowd. As she gets closer she sees that he has headphones in, hidden partly by his medium length hair. She keeps pushing through the sea of people, only reaching her target after pushing some grumpy people out of the way.

She puts her hand on his shoulder and shakes it, making him flinch and turn around swiftly. "Ah, Ayana! You scared me!" he says in a short breath. "What're you doing here? I thought you were in Romania or something."

"I was... but then I came back. I dunno, I just wanted to come back is all..."

"It's ok, you don't have to explain," he looks around at the people giving him loaded looks due to the fact that they're stopped in the middle of the crowded mall hallway. "Hey, wanna go to Angel's and get some coffee? It'll be quieter and less crowded there."

She simply nods and in silence they both begin to walk in the same direction, going with the flow of people again until they reach a more open space. They walk with a distance between them, almost as if they're strangers that are just so happening to be going the same direction. They keep silent and don't look at each other, both hearts beating rapidly. They make it to their prescribed destination, he holding the door open for her and letting her in first. Only after they order their things and sit down do they make eye contact again and begin to talk, both wanting to find the right words to say.

"Sorry I left so suddenly... It was kind of last minute, and I kind of regret going," she says with a small and uncomfortable laugh.

He shifts in his chair, "yeah, no, it was your choice not mine, so don't apologize."

"Yes, but I didn't even have time to say goodbye to you or Kelsey in person... besides that, how's Kelsey doing?"

"Oh... well, I decided to break up with her..." he says, shifting his eyes down to his pale brown drink.

"Oh... I'm sorry," she pauses, looking for the right words to say, "may I ask why?"

"Yeah, no I don't care, but it's a long story..."

"I've got time," she says a bit too quickly.

"Ah... well, it's something I've been thinking about for a long time. I guess I've just been waiting for the right time to do it. I mean, it's harder than I thought to break up with someone, especially someone you care about, just not in the way they care about you."

"Yeah, I get it..."

"I feel that's something many people sadly understand... and have experienced. Well, it's just that I've been thinking lately..."

"Oh, that's never good," Ayana says, laughing alone.

"Well, I thought about how my life was going on a meaningless path. If I had kept on it, I've probably graduated, got a job, married Kelsey and lived a life that probably ninety-nine percent of people that have been and ever will be have lead to some extent. There would be nothing special about it, nothing interesting or noteworthy. Just... existence..."

Ayana looks down to her feet through the glass table and wiggles her toes in her strappy sandals, "Yeah..."

"I guess I did it because I'm afraid that I'll be stuck and I'll die and be easily forgotten. I just want to do something... something else I guess..."

"Like... make your mark on the world?"

"Yeah... I guess."

"But you do so much... much more than me, and even if you'd have continued on that path you'd have made a bigger mark than I would ever make..."

"That's not true," he says under his breath in a harsh tone. He bites his lip and shifts in his chair again, keeping his gaze downward.

"Huh? I couldn't hear you."

"I said that's not true!" he says in a raised voice, making some heads turn and voices quiet down, "It's not true... I mean it was you who was invited to Europe, not me. And it was you who got the scholarship, not me. And it was your papers that the Professor always looked to for a good example. Don't say you're not making your mark, cause you are... you'll get hired by some big name company in who knows which country and make something that will change the world and you'll be remembered on a page of a textbook after you're dead.

"Me? I'll just become some employee of a company here and work my way to the top, making millions, but will I ever change anything or make life better for someone? No. I wouldn't I'd just be a blip in people's daily lives where they hear my name once and then they forget about me, just remembering the basic details. I would give anything to go back and make the choices you did, and learn the things you did..." he takes a deep breath and leans back in his chair, putting his face into his arm to help hold off the tears that are threatening to spill out.

"No." she says with a stern look, "you don't want my life. You don't want what I have, cause it's awful..."

"How so?" he almost shouts, this time silencing the small cafe and making people turn their heads for a fleeting second.

"Because... it's lonely. So lonely. Even though I'm surrounded by people praising me and wanting my help, there's no one who wants to get to know me. They all want to know the genius and the brain behind it all, not know who I am as a person," she pauses, taking two very deep breaths. "Everyone wants to use me, not befriend me. You're the one friend that has stayed by my side, who still wants to talk to me."

A silence fills the air of the cafe, only whispers from a few others can be heard in the air. "I'm sorry... I didn't know you felt that way. I just..."

"No. I did hide it behind smiles and jokes, so I don't blame you for not knowing, besides even if I didn't hide it, I wouldn't expect you to know..." she pauses with a deep breath, "but I did come back with a purpose. The higher-ups at the company who hired me want a business student who's your age. And you'll be working with me..."

"Are you serious?" he asks in a whisper, tears now spilling slowly and silently down his face.

"Serious as cereal," she replies with a smile now on her face.

They cry silently together, having both gotten what they lacked; a good friend and their support, and a place in the world.