"Maxwell, what's wrong?" His best friend said. Romeo knew something was wrong because his best friend was distant, and had started smoking cigars again.

Instead of getting a verbal response, Romeo got a glare from Maxwell.

Romeo knew, or had an idea, about what was making Maxwell the way he was. "It's that Willow girl isn't it? Come on, tell me. You've been off ever since that party."

Maxwell groaned. "Yes. That's the problem. It's always about her."

"What do you mean?" Romeo asked confused. "It's always about her. I can't escape her. No matter how hard I try, she can't get out of my head. God, why does she have to be so perfect?"

Romeo was speechless. He never thought the day would come. The day where he saw his best friend whipped for another girl after he had sworn off to relationships.

"Her perfect brown eyes. Perfect hair. Perfect facial structures. Perfect body. Ugh. God really took his time creating her. She is just sculpted so perfectly. Not to mention how sweet she is. Like come on. She's beautiful and caring? There's no way she's real. How is she so perfect? What is wrong with me?" Maxwell frowned and let out an irritated sigh.

"Maybe you're pushing yourself too hard. Ever since that incident with you know who, you've sworn off to love, and even started putting up walls. You overwork yourself. You deserve happiness too. Just think about what your mother said. You've been grumpy as shit lately. Firing people from your business even for the tiniest mistakes. Everything triggers you easily. It's like you're a ticking bomb that's ready to explode." Maxwell didn't say anything, so Romeo took this as a sign to continue.

"I mean come on. The poor girl was just trying to help you when you were hurt, and you snapped at her. You yelled at her. She was just making sure you were alright Maxwell. I know that's how you approach things, but she was just trying to help." Romeo said remembering what Maxwell had told him after the encounter with Willow.

His best friend did have a point. The beautiful girl just wanted to make sure he was alright, but he started yelling at her, saying all of those mean things. Not to mention the way she looked after he snapped. She looked hurt.

She was everything pure and good in this world, while he was the exact opposite. He was cold and ruthless. Everyone was terrified of him. Everywhere he went, people look or walk the other direction, but everywhere she went, she lit up the whole room. She was kind and caring, everything he wasn't.

It's crazy how they only met three times, yet he couldn't even stop thinking about her. The way she looked at him, as if he was human. No one has ever looked at him like that. Everyone always looked at him with fear in their eyes, and he was fine with that.

"I'm such an asshole." Maxwell groaned. "That you are Maxwell." Romeo laughed and patted his back.

"I understand you're naturally a prick. But seriously? Someone tries to help and instead of saying 'Thank you' you snap at her. Yeah you're fucking Maxwell Moreno, but she was just trying to make sure you weren't fucking dying."

Maxwell grunted and replied, "Fuck off you ass."

Instead of replying, Romeo bursted out laughing.

"I'm serious, if this girl is stuck in your head as bad as you claim, you might want to reconsider being nice to her, maybe even start by apologizing or something. Obviously apologizing is out of your nature, but I'm just being honest man." Romeo said as he put his hands up, surrendering when his best friend gave him a hard glare.

"You're fucking delusional. I never apologized, so why would I start now?" He said with an eye roll.

"Just think about it." Romeo reassured as he walked off.

"My baby!" Maxwell's mother, Maria, exclaimed as she walked up to her son.

"Hey Mama." He replied as he gave his mother a hug.

Maxwell may be cold-hearted and rude, but he will always have a soft spot for his mother. His mother was his everything and there's nothing that he wouldn't do for her.

"Maxwell!" His father, Antonio, strode into the kitchen and have his son a pat on the back.

"Hello Father." Maxwell and his father had a weird relationship. They loved each other, they both knew that, but they never really showed it. Both their love and affection were going towards Maxwell's mother.

His parents were retired and resettled in France. After his father handed over the company to his son, they traveled the world together, Maria and Antonio, until his wife fell in love with France and wanted to settle there.

"Why're you here Mama? Not that I don't want you here, it's just, you didn't tell me."

Maria had missed her son and wanted to check up on him, which is why they came unexpectedly.

"I can't see my baby? I missed you Maxwell, how are you?" Maria said, giving her son a peck on the cheek.

"I'm okay Mama, I missed you too." He said as he hugged his mother.

"How's the company going son." Antonio said as he wrapped an arm around his beautiful wife.

"It's going well father." Maxwell replied. "Enough business talk," the lady scolded her family, "We came here to spend time with you, not talk business." She said as she glared at her husband.

"I'm sorry mi amore." Quickly giving his wife a kiss on the forehead.

The family of three caught up with each other, talked about their day, overall they talked about their lives, of course, leaving business out of the conversation as Maria was quite a scary woman. Her husband and son towered her as she was 5'4 and they were over 6'0, but she was very terrifying. One could say she wore the pants in the relationship, and indeed she did. As scary as Antonio may be, he was terrified of his wife. She was the boss in the family, and whatever she says, goes.

The rest of the evening was lovely for the family. They spent time together. It was a peaceful night, which was something that never happened in Maxwell's life; he lived a hectic, complicated life, always doing paperwork, attending meetings, fights, etc. However, he was grateful for his family.

🪂