The forgotten groom

chapter 24

MAX

"Hello?" I say

"Max? Its Kish" he says and I freeze the lust haze clearing from my face as I indicate to Nik to excuse me. He nods absentmindedly and i hurry to go and answer the call.

"Kish hello!" I say my voice unnaturally high cause I was nervous or feeling guilty or both.

"Max, you have abandoned me" he says

"No kish,I....." I try to say

"Its fine,I know how busy you can be,I'm better, Staying with Lucas's family is great" he says

"I'm glad to hear that" I say genuinely happy he is better. The shock he got must not have been easy.

"Have you seen him?" I ask tentatively

"Not really, but I know he's around somewhere, I can't face him yet" he says

"I get it, take as much time as you need" I say

"Thanks Max, what would I do without you?" He says

'That last statement! What would he do without me? I should be out there supporting him,he's had my back so many times that I can't even imagine! He's seen me at my worst,picked me from the ground, been there since day one! And here I was gallivanting around with Nik! Nik who wasn't there all this time!

"Hey, are you okay?" Nik asks putting an arm around my shoulder startling me

"Yeah, I'm fine" I say shrugging off his hand and going to the living room and grabbing my jacket.

"Are you leaving already, I thought we...." He says wringing his hands pointing at the living room and seeing snacks on the table

"You thought what?" I turn on him angrily

"Max!" He says taken aback, 'what happened? Everything was fine before you received that call" he exclaims

"Look, I'm leaving" I say storming out

"Max!" I hear him shout after me.

Nik

"What just happened? I think falling back  on the couch clueless.

Max was fine till he received that call, suddenly he's angry and treating me like a stranger!
Is this what it means to be with someone you really want? Because I'm sure I was already half in love with Max. I knew that because I was feeling hurt about what just happened...I thought we were fine!

I just switch off the living room lights and go to bed. I guess the rest of my plans were ruined. I thought we would catch a movie and then maybe go to the Oceania zoo but I guess that was also off the table. I send my assistant a quick message to cancel the reservations. I even had the whole place shut down an hour Early because it was meant to be our first date....

I sigh and get into bed but I end up restlessly tossing around unable to catch up on any sleep and finally fall asleep in the wee hours of the morning.

I wake up reluctantly because I had a meeting later in the day and I couldn't ignore it.

A few hours at work and everyone in the office was on tenterhooks. I was in a terrible mood and no one dared to cross my path or even peek in, till there is a knock on the door,

"Go away!" I bark

"Jeez! What crawled up your ass!" I hear Valerian saying.

"What do you want?" I ask annoyed

"We are going ring shopping today, have you forgotten?" He asks

"Wait, that's today?" I ask shocked