Chapter 21: 21. WRH X: Time to go.
Miriam just fell silent, with so many emotions flickering in her eyes as she stared back at him. This boy...He was doing something to her...And she couldn't figure it out. Yet. She had never felt this happy cooking or baking before. She couldn't understand or explain all these foreign emotions swelling inside of her. She had many friends, yes, but she had never felt this way towards any of them before. This was foreign. And it felt...it felt good. It indeed felt good. She didn't want to leave his side. And it seemed he also felt the same, if not, more. Her young heart couldn't understand what was going on.
Maxwell kept staring at her. He had never felt this happy with anyone before. Not even with his parents. Definitely not with his friends, nor his only sister, who was seldom at home. He wanted to be closer to this girl. And know more about her. All about her. He felt like she was the happiness he was looking for, that he himself didn't even know he was.
Miriam was the first to snap out of her daze. She stole her gaze from his face and cleared her throat after some time to ease the tension that had started building between them. Maxwell came back to earth after she cleared her throat, and scratched his head awkwardly. He checked the time on his wrist watch, and it was almost half past 1 in the afternoon.
"Um... would you like to look around? We couldn't do that the last time, and we have some time left till the birthday starts, so we might as well look around." Maxwell said.
"That sounds amazing!" Miriam replied almost immediately with pure excitement written all over her face. "Wait, let me tell mom first. I don't want her looking for me and getting worried."
Miriam rushed towards the door to go to the changing plus rest room for workers, for she knew that was where her mother would be by that time. She opened the door absentmindedly without looking, and accidentally, she knocked Edith with the door, who was just about entering the kitchen.
"Hey!!!" Edith sneered angrily, checking her pedicured toenail that got knocked by the door. And then, turning towards the little girl, in attempt to shout at her for almost ruining her expensive pedicure, she came face-to-face with her son, Maxwell.
"What in the... Maxwell?"
"Yes, mom, it was me, I'm so sorry. I was in a hurry. I didn't check to see if someone was at the door."
"Are you trying to cover up for her? I clearly saw her! She almost ruined... Hey, little rascal, are you..."
"Mom, you saw wrong. It was me at the door, and I already apologized. Please forgive me."
Edith didn't know what to say. She knew she didn't mistake seeing his son for this girl. She clearly saw her. But it looked like Maxwell wanted to cover up for her. That thought alone made her angrier. Just who was this girl, who was making her son do all these things? She wanted to scratch that face of hers right now!
Seeing what her son was doing, she knew pushing further would just be useless, so she decided not to press any further. At least, for now.
"Alright, just be careful next time. I hope you are not hurt?" Edith said as she squatted to her son's level and checked his face, running her fingers in his hair and turning his face from side to side.
"I'm fine, mom. Nothing happened to me."
"That's good." Edith smiled and pecked his cheeks. Miriam just stood behind Maxwell, not knowing what to do, to either remain standing or walk away. Maxwell was holding unto her hand ever so securely, all this while, and when she attempted pulling her hand, she felt his grip become tighter. So she just remained standing with her head bowed, and waited for the mother-son duo to finish with their conversation.
"The designer just brought your costume...," Edith said, still in her previous squatting position and holding Maxwell's face. She glanced briefly at Miriam, and her gaze travelled downwards and fell on their intertwined hands. She bit her inner cheeks to prevent her from saying anything. "...and you have to come with me to try it on."
"Alright, I'll be there shortly." Maxwell said in a curt tone, clearly displeased with the turn of event. They were this close to going out to look around and this happened!
"I mean, right now. You should come with me right now." Edith said in a firm tone and stood up, not leaving room for any negotiations, for she knew how stubborn her son could be. And since this girl came around, he had been disobeying her. But not this time.
"I understand, mom. Just give me some few minutes. I'll just talk to her and come around."
"You've been talking with her since morning. Just come with me now or forget about talking with her for the rest of the day!" Edith threatened.
"Give me ten minutes. I'll be..."
"Two minutes."
"Make it five minutes. I promise to be there."
"You have two minutes, young man." Edith said in a tone of finality and turned towards the door and walked away.
"But..." Maxwell was about to refute back but he felt a slight squeeze on his hand and turned towards Miriam. She had a pleading look on her face.
"Don't talk back at your mom like that."
"But I need more time to be with you and she only gave me two minutes."
"That's thirty seconds of your two minutes gone." Miriam joked. Maxwell sighed. He was becoming addicted too soon. He couldn't bring himself to leave her side. "Come on, you have to go now."
"What? You want me to go?" Maxwell turned to face her fully with disappointment.
"No! I don't want you to go. Your mom wants you to go. Not me." Miriam chuckled at his childishness. "You know, you look so cute when you do that."
"Do what?"
"This face, right now. Like you're sad."
"Are you a masochist?" Maxwell asked and Miriam frowned a little.
"What does that mean?"
"I mean, are you happy when people are sad?"
"What? No! I'm just saying you look cute. That's all." Miriam cleared the air quickly. "Thanks a lot, Max." She said out of nowhere after some few seconds, and Maxwell frowned.
"What for?"
"For covering up for me back there."
"Oh, that? That's really nothing to thank me for." Maxwell shrugged. "I just saved the world from another round of yapping." He added and giggled.
"But still, I need to thank you. You could have just ignored but you stepped in. I'm grateful." Miriam sincerely said with a smile.
"Fine, you're welcome, anytime." There was a long pause, then he said. "Well, then I think..."
"I think you should go now, Max. I don't want your mom to come back here and get you. Please, Max..." She pulled her multimillion dollar puppy face. He needed to leave, else the tigress will break lose and cause a ruckus. And she didn't want that.
Maxwell sighed heavily. He was so displeased about this, but it looked like he had no option. The earlier he went, the better. He needed to get it done and over with in order to get back to her as quickly as possible.
"Alright. I'll be right back, okay? Wait for me." Maxwell said and slowly turned to leave.
"Okay." Miriam nodded.
Miriam looked on with a heavy heart. She felt like she wouldn't be meeting him any time soon.
Maxwell had barely reached the door when he turned and walked back to her, took her hand in his and looked straight in her eyes and pleaded in a soft voice, "Don't go anywhere...please..."
Miriam chuckled. "Of course. I'll be around." She said, but Maxwell kept on staring at her. He sighed for the nth time and replied.
"Alright."
"Time to go." Miriam finally said. They slowly loosened their grip on each other. More like, Miriam slowly loosened her hold on his hand. Maxwell was a bit reluctant, but soon they let go of each other. Maxwell walked to the door and turned to her with a smile. Miriam felt some heat rush to her face, painting her face all red. She smiled back anyway and nodded as an assurance that she'd still be there. But Maxwell was still standing there, looking at her. And Miriam couldn't help but chuckle.
"Just go already." Miriam said and chuckled again. Seeing his reluctance, she walked up to him and slightly pushed him towards the door. Maxwell reluctantly left and hurried his way to the third floor where their rooms were.
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