Chapter 31: 31. The best brother
Maxwell couldn't concentrate anymore. He wished he could just ignore the dessert and go to Gerry right now. He wasn't even a fan of sweets. But he knew how Chobis was, she would not take it if he did not eat everything he was served. So he sat quietly and finished his dessert.
Maxwell quickly went to the kitchen after he was done. He met Gerry clearing her area.
"Mrs Gerry..." He said as he took slow steps towards her. Gerry turned and smiled.
"Maxwell." She said and reached him for a hug. She had missed this sweet boy. And their last meeting kept haunting her until now. So when she saw him, she felt so relieved. "I'm sorry for what happened back then. I'm sure none of you planned for that to happen. Miriam told me everything that happened that day, and..."
"Its okay, don't say anything, Mrs Gerry." Maxwell said and stroked her back softly. "What matters is I'm fine now."
They broke apart from the hug and looked at each other.
"So what happened after that? Did you stay in the hospital for a long time?"
"I stayed for 6 weeks. I wouldn't have stayed for that long if not for my mom. She insisted I felt a lot better before I was sent home."
"Was...was it that serious?" Gerry asked worriedly. "I remember you were... you were bleeding from this side of your head." Saying that, Gerry took Maxwell's head in her hands and turned it this way, and that, to check where she remembered the cut to be. Maxwell chuckled and pointed to the right side of his head and parted his hair a little to reveal a scar. Gerry's stomach churned and she cringed, sucking in air sharply. The scar was not so big, but she could see that it must have been a deep cut. "I'm sorry." She whispered.
Maxwell pulled his head from Gerry's light grip and looked at her. "I'm fine now. Let's not talk about this anymore." He said with an assuring smile. "So... So how is Miriam? And her brother?"
Gerry smiled. She clearly remembered how he liked Miriam. And how Miriam would smile whenever she talked about Maxwell.
"She's doing very well. Lordy too. They're both okay."
"So where's she now? I really would love to meet her."
"She's in school now. In this city. So it won't be hard meeting her. I'll tell her that you're around. I can already imagine how happy she would be to hear you're back, and okay." Gerry said and smiled.
"Okay. So, are you always around? I want to come and visit sometimes, if you don't mind." Maxwell asked.
"I don't mind at all. And I am here all the time till 5pm each day. So you can come around, anytime."
"That's great. I'll be visiting you more often."
They both talked for a while about random stuff, and Maxwell went back to Chobis and Oliver. They talked and laughed about different stuff before they finally decided to leave around 3pm.
Chobis walked them to the car and bid them farewell. She watched as their car sped off before making her way back into the mansion.
Back in the car.
"Honestly I didn't know she was working here." Oliver said when he saw that Maxwell was quiet. He wanted to clear the air of any misunderstanding.
"No, it's fine. I know you barely visit home so you wouldn't know the workers. And you didn't know her back then. I'm not holding any grudge, if that's what you think."
"That's a relief. So what next? Now that you've seen her mother? Where is she?" Oliver asked the ultimate question. At the end of the day, it was Miriam he was looking for.
"She said she is in school. A university in this city. There are three universities here so it could be any of them. I'll be visiting again. She told me she will inform her and get back to me."
"Sigh, let's hope it goes well. You know, its been years. Anything can happen, so brace yourself for any outcome."
"I hope so too."
There was silence for the rest of their journey back home.
They lazed around till it was somewhere around 8pm. And they felt a bit hungry since they had not eaten after they had lunch at the Wright mansion. They ordered some pizza and munched on it while watching tv.
Their moment was interrupted by a call on Maxwell's phone. He lazily reached for it from the coffee table and answered without even checking who the caller was, as he knew any random person couldn't call on that line since it was a personal line.
"Hey, kiddo." A feminine voice came through and Maxwell furrowed his brows. He brought the phone down and gasped when he saw the caller.
"Lois??!!" Maxwell screamed in surprise and sat up straight, drawing Oliver's attention to him. When Oliver heard the name, he rushed towards Maxwell and told him to put the phone on speaker. "Lois, is that really you!?"
"Yup, it's me." She replied with a faint laugh.
"What happened to you? What happened to your phone? I've been calling you for several days now but your line was unreachable." Maxwell questioned seriously but he sounded worried as well.
"I'm sorry I should have told you when I left the country. Must have been the reason my line was unreachable."
"You got us all worried sis. You shouldn't do that again, please." Oliver joined in the banter and went back to sit at his previous place and continued watching tv.
"Oliver!!! Hey I miss you guys so so much!!" Lois shouted from the other end, and since it was on loud speaker, Oliver heard it clearly.
"I missed you too, sis." Oliver shouted back.
Maxwell then put the phone off speaker and brought it to his ear.
"Sigh, Lois, honestly why would you leave the country without telling anyone?" Maxwell asked.
"I left for business purposes." She answered flatly with a shrug. "And who are those 'anyone' you're referring to? Who cares? It's not like they care to know where I'm at or what I'm doing?"
"Don't say that, Lois. We care about you, a lot." Maxwell calmly said.
"Don't spoil my mood with those talks, my dear. I'm in the South city now. I'll visit you tomorrow in North city. Its quite late. I would have come tonight. Or if you don't mind I can start right away and come there now." Lois was talking non-stop in an excited tone.
She had really missed her brother, the only human who genuinely cared about her, or so she thought. Okay her dad cared about her. But her mom, she still doubted she was her biological mother. She had secretly ran a DNA test which showed that they were related, and that had really come as a surprise. Because she had expected the results to be negative.
"Missed me that much, huh?" Maxwell teased. "Where are you right now?"
"My apartment. I feel so bored. And I really missed you." She replied as she put the call on speaker and lied on the bed, facing up, and crossed one leg over the other.
"Alright. Don't worry. You don't have to come all the way to the North city to meet me." Maxwell said and Lois furrowed her brows.
"Tsk, what is that? And here I thought you were going to say I should come. You're so annoying! I won't visit you tomorrow. You're no longer my best brother. Hmph." Lois said, all grumpy, and Maxwell laughed.
"Tell this to my face when you see me." Maxwell said, and without waiting for her reply, he hanged up, leaving Lois all pissed and so annoyed.
Oliver had returned to his seat at the middle of the call, so Maxwell turned to him and said.
"I want to surprise my sister. Will you join me?"
"Um...I think I'll pass. I have some notes to put together. I'll join you guys some other time. Do send my love to her."
"Alright. I'll get going now." Maxwell went upstairs and changed into some black denim jeans and white Lacoste shirt, leaving the first two buttons undone, and put on a white pair of sneakers. He applied his musky and minty cologne and made his way back downstairs. He grabbed his car keys and phone and left for his sister's apartment. Since she didn't know he was in the same city, he wanted to surprise her by going there without telling her.
He soon got in his car and drove for about 45 minutes to her place.
Lois was there in her bedroom. She had just gotten out of the shower in her bathrobe with a towel tied around her head to soak the water that was dripping from her wet hair when she heard the doorbell. She creased her brows. Who would be visiting at this time? It was almost 9pm. And she was not expecting anyone. So she ignored and went about with her things, but the bell was persistent, so she quickly wore some panties and tightened her bathrobe belt and made her way grumpily downstairs to check who was there.
Before she got to the door she decided to check on the security cameras to see who it was. And when she saw it was Maxwell, she squealed excitedly and rushed downstairs. Opening the door, she ran towards her brother at top speed, barefooted, and threw herself on him for a bone-crushing hug.
Maxwell staggered backwards a little with the impact, but held unto her sister tightly as he hugged her back. He smiled and whispered into her ears.
"Now tell me, who is the best brother in the world?"
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