The Charming Max (2 page)
Authors: Desi Lang
She giggled.
“In that case why don’t you join Cora and I for dinner after you submit your FYP? We’re planning to try out this new Korean BBQ place in the city.” The idea just immediately came out from her mind. She needed to see him, no matter what. She needed to cure this acute longing. The feeling had cancerously spread all over her body, with symptoms of weakness, impatience, moodiness, and general laziness.
“Great! I love Korean. Text me again the exact time and place later on yeah!”
How happy…Sybille was floating on cloud nine. He didn’t reject her impromptu invitation. Even though he’s busy, he still answered her call. He’s really nice … he’s really nice … he’s really nice … Sybille was so high up on the clouds she’d started to forget to come back down to earth.
When Cora came, she immediately broke the news. “Make your next Friday night free. We are eating Korean.” She said authoritatively to the bewildered Cora.
“Eh???” Cora stood paralyzed on the door, looking confused. “I don’t like Korean!”
Ah…
How nice it was to be in love. The beautiful Friday night atmosphere in the riverside restaurant, the neon city lights sparkled around them, the chat and laughter from fashionable people along the riverside promenade, and above all … Max’s laughing face, right in front of her, looking so happy among the BBQ meats, lettuce leaves, soups and kimchi sides. Sybille rested her chin on her palms while fixing her gaze at his handsome face. It’s so dreamlike, this happiness.
“This is such a great idea!” Max beamed. “The food here is cheap and delicious. Buffet on top of that. You girls are marvelous!”
Sybille grinned happily at the compliments, ignoring Cora who has been putting on sour face the whole night.
“We should come here again!” she suggested.
“Sure. Count me in!” Max agreed easily.
Now she had him in the palm of her hand! Sybille was dancing on the clouds.
Her obvious happiness invited suspicions from Cora. On the way back to their room, after Max safely returned them to their hall after their long dinner, Cora finally decided to interrogate her.
“Are you in love with Max?” she eyed on her suspiciously.
Sybille jerked. How could she see that? I thought I had everything under control! “Obviously not!” she denied, rather too strongly.
Cora still kept her suspicious gaze on her. “Well, you better.” She finally let her go. “Christian Skyped me the other day. He asked why you are always offline nowadays.”
Her last words were like a bomb to Sybille. It immediately evaporated every last bubble of happiness she’s been in. she knew, she just knew … dreams would eventually end and realities would bite in. she was just hoping she could dream a little more.
“I’ll Skype him later.” She answered short and cold, then went into the room.
Cora only stared at her back without saying any more words.
“Hello…”
“Hi Sybille! Are you there?” A boy’s face appeared on the Skype video screen. He’s about the same age as Sybille, cute in a way with glasses and unkempt hair, sat facing his computer in his black Megadeth t-shirt. Sybille sighed at the familiar face she knew too well. “Hey Christian…”
“How are you… hey, turn the video on!”
Lazily, she turned on her camera and let herself being seen from the other side.
“Where you been? You haven’t contacted me for weeks!”
“Sorry, very busy with studies.” Sybille replied easily, ignoring Cora’s angry glance upon hearing her blatant lie.
“I miss you …” Christian’s voice mellowed down. But suddenly he seemed alerted. “Is Cora there?”
“No.” another lie came out of Sybille’s lips easily.
“I miss you like crazy, you know…” he then continued his mellowness. Cora seemed uneasy sitting at her study desk. She started to consider leaving the room.
But Sybille didn’t really feel anything by his words. Maybe she’s cold, maybe she evil, but you couldn’t fake these feelings. She just sat there, listening to him opening up his romantic side. “When are you coming to Germany?”
“Christian, we both know when.”
“I was hoping you could still change your mind and make it this summer instead.” He sheepishly reasoned. “It’s so boring here without you. I got studies and all, very busy, of course, but I still miss you sometimes, you know.”
“I will go for Christmas like planned.”
“I can’t wait that long.”
“So what do you want? I got school too.”
“I…sorry, Sybille, I shouldn’t throw it out on you.” He held back and smiled sadly. “It seems like I’m still not used to you being so far away, unlike in high school when we were so near. Sorry…”
Now Sybille felt a little guilty. It’s not his fault that Christian missed her so badly. She’s the one who got distracted and didn’t contact him for weeks like they promised before he left for his studies in Germany. But Christian being so nice as always, he put the blame on himself.
“It’s precious, you know, the relationship you have.” Cora was trying to have some serious conversation with her later on, after the Skype date was over. “I think you should treasure it.”
Sybille knew what she wanted to say, but pretended to not know anything about it. She just kept quiet.
“You guys were together for two years already right? Since high school? And now just because he goes overseas, doesn’t mean that you can’t keep the relationship.”
“Who’s talking about breaking up?”
“You know what you are doing, I don’t have to spell it out for you.” Cora looked at her straight. “The fact is that you are an attached girl, and flirting with other guys is disrespectful towards your boyfriend, you know.” She continued.
“I’m not flirting with anybody.” Sybille stood up, feeling fed up with Cora’s counseling session. “You are imagining things.” With that, she left the room.
She knew she’s fooling nobody but herself. She had feelings for Max; probably even already in love with him
(*gasp*)
. Nowadays, nothing would make her happier than getting in touch with Max. All her feelings were pouring out for him, there was no more left for Christian, her boyfriend of two years who’s now studying in Germany. Maybe it’s the long distance, or the loneliness…she’s trying to find an excuse. But one thing for sure, the attraction to Max was getting stronger. His charms were like magnet, kept drawing her closer and closer to him, day by day. And what could a helpless girl do?
“What do you think about cheating?”
You would be surprised at how varied the responses from various people were when this question was asked.
Girl A: “Definitely not worth it. You don’t only lose your boyfriend, but also respect from your friends and future crushes. Boys look down on cheating girls.”
Girl B: “Once a cheater always a cheater.”
Girl C: “Why not? We are young, unmarried, and we only live once. Heck, I’d even consider getting married several times to live my life to the fullest!”
Girl D: “It’s complicated.”
Girl E: “It depends.”
On what?
“On how cute the new guy is.”
Sybille was contemplating the idea. If you compare the two, Max surely won. He’s more good looking, mature and charming than the nice but sometimes too boyish Christian. Christian walked around in unwashed torn jeans and metal bands t-shirts; Max was always neat and manly. Christian had thick glasses and unkempt hair, Max’s hair was cut stylishly and he sometimes wore rimless glasses, interchangeable with his contact lenses with situations demanded it. Christian treated Sybille like his buddy, and Max treated her like a lady.
But Christian loved her, and Max probably didn’t.
She’s sipping her coffee in a daze. In rainy days like these, one couldn’t help to be mellow. Her phone hadn’t rung for days. There wasn’t even an SMS from Max. She hadn’t seen him since that dinner weeks ago. Didn’t he miss her?
I miss you.
That was the single line e-mail that Christian sent her this afternoon. It was rare that he sent e-mail, knowing that he’s not the literary type at all. He’d call instead of SMS, he’d Skype instead of e-mail, that kind of thing. He preferred oral or direct communications as he’s very bad at writing.
So writing this e-mail would have required a lot of effort for him.
She smiled.
And after the coffee, she started to type furiously on her computer, replying his e-mail.
I miss you too.
Sybille was walking down the lecture hall together with the rest of the Principles of Economics students when she spotted a figure that instantly made her heart fluttered. “Max …”
Max looked up from his book, and he smiled his brightest smile. “Hey! You just finished a lecture?”
Why is Max here in the Social Sciences building? She’s couldn’t stop but wonder. Is what I’m guessing right? Is he … is he looking for me?
“What ‘hey’?” she pouted. “You didn’t contact me for weeks!”
“You didn’t contact me, either.” He replied, in a rather sad tone.
Thump!
I didn’t realize … Sybille felt her cheeks reddened. I didn’t realize he’s also waiting for my call…she felt a little guilty. But what the heck? Why am I the one who has to call?
“Anyway,” Max packed his book back into his backpack and helped carrying Sybille’s thick textbooks. “Let’s have coffee together to celebrate the reunion.” He winked.
Don’t Sybille. You’ve made up your mind to stick to Christian. You can’t buckle now; you have to resist his temptation.
She sighed, and then looked up to him. “You’re paying?”
That day Sybille returned to her room at 11pm. Cora was already in her pajamas, doing some homework armed with a big mug of chamomile tea by her side. She looked up at Sybille rather curiously. “You came back unreasonably late for someone who doesn’t have any clubs or committees.” She commented. Sybille ignored the suspicions between the lines. “Was at the study room.” She replied shortly, then picked her toiletries and proceeded to bathroom.
The truth was, after the coffee, she followed Max to the study room, the place where all university students have 24 hours access, and they studied there together until late. Well, it’s more like Max was studying and she accompanied him. She couldn’t really concentrate with him being so near. Although they didn’t talk much, she was really happy to be with him for such a long time. Max was fully concentrating on his books, and she was on him. The way he read, drank coffee, sighed, the way he held his pen and wrote notes, every little detail about him hypnotized her and made her gaze fixed on him the entire time.
They had dinner break together before going back studying again until almost 11pm. Then Max walked her to her hall before going home himself.
“Today was such a good day. Thank you.” He smiled.
And Sybille was charmed.
She hesitated, but when Max started to walk away, she decided to call him. “Max!”
He turned back. “Yup?”
“…Let’s do it again?” asked her nervously. She’s worried about his response, but somehow there’s a confidence coming from somewhere.
And true, Max smiled so sweetly as a response. He went closer to her and patted her head. “Sure, anytime you want, young lady.”
After the bath Sybille checked her computer for a while. She saw a few missed calls from Christian. Crap, she’d forgotten that their promised Skype date was today.
Oh well, I don’t care,
she decided, then switched her computer off and went to bed.
Next to her, Cora was watching suspiciously.
Recently Sybille had been having a good mood. Her studying spirits improved dramatically well, she didn’t skip a single class, and she didn’t hole up in her bedroom all day when she didn’t have anything else to do. Instead, she’d be out there, in the study room or cafés, full of vitality and happiness.
Max was by her side, studying together almost every day after classes. They had been amazingly close. He seemed settled by the fact that she would be his studying companion until exams, a fact that made her full of joy. She had forgotten about Christian altogether. Her head was full of one and only person, that handsome, charming guy who’d recently spent almost all his time together with her. They were
de facto
a couple already, she thought. It was just a matter of time until he asked her out officially.
Of course this new habit had not escaped Cora’s attention. Sybille was very careful not to mention who her studying companion was, or why she never seemed to have time to eat together with Cora anymore nowadays. She wanted to be alone for better concentration, she had reasoned. Although she didn’t think Cora fully believed her, at least she didn’t ask further question.
“Christian Skyped me again,” Cora looked at her suspiciously as Sybille opened the room door after another all day studying session with Max at study room. “You’ve broken the promised dates for so many times, and ignored him for a few weeks already. He’s extremely worried. He thought you were sick or something.” Her gaze to Sybille was more accusative than the tone that she used.
