When they arrived, Gabriel was surprised to know this dilapidated store was still standing.
"This place is ancient!" He exclaimed.
Max only laughed and opened the glass door with familiarity.
"Old chief, I'm back!"
She yelled like a delinquent and made a beeline to the beverages.
"Yo, Max! Ohhh- who's that pretty boy you got there?" An old man with bushy brows and beard went out from the backroom.
He looked as ancient as the store but still looked rather healthy.
"You don't remember him? The kid I regularly beat back then? Y'know?"
Chief's eyes that were hidden among his brows and wrinkles widened. "No shit, that skinny boy? You've grown well, son!"
Then he turned to Max again.
"You one lucky brat!"
Gabriel didn't have the energy to retort and Max didn't bother to explain.
After Max paid for the beer, snacks and some other trinkets, Chief went back to the backroom.
They then sat near the entrance of the shop.
Facing the frosted glass, no one would see them from outside. And it wasn't like someone would roam the back alleys at this time.
"You... still go here often?" Gabriel opened a topic.
"A bit, yeah."
And she resumed chugging beer down.
Gabriel only ate the junk foods she bought. His manager would probably scream if she saw him.
Max remembered that she hadn't eaten anything so she chomped down a sandwich.
Being beside this man, her brain was flying off to who knew where.
It was because she noticed all the differences of meeting him in his forties to meeting him in his twenties.
He looked taller because the world hadn't weighed down his shoulders yet.
His skin was a healthy milk color and his lips were baby pink as opposed to the wan complexion Max was used to.
His flab was yet to appear.
His hair was probably washed this morning.
One thing remained though.
His eyes. They were still the same clear ones, reflecting Max's image, giving her the illusion that only she existed in his world.
She didn't cut off her stare and Gabriel was getting more awkward as seconds ticked.
Who could tell him what was on Max's mind?
He avoided her gaze and looked down on the pack of cigarettes on the table.
He noticed the unlit stick on her left hand, her sandwich long gone.
"Don't have a lighter?"
It took her time to realize what he was referring to so he gestured to the cig she was fiddling with.
"Oh, just holding it out of habit. Besides, you don't like the smell."
Again, Gabriel was speechless.
Max had been smoking since high school and this place was her zone.
She would often drag him here just for fun and then smoke which would make Gabriel teary-eyed and coughing.
A slight smile hung on her lips at his reaction.
His gaze was drawn on her lips as she formed another set of words.
"Do you like him?"
He was caught off-guard by the question but understood that she was referring to the other man in his scandal.
"I... I'm a man!"
Max looked down at the table filled with potato chips and beer cans. So he was still in his denial phase?
"I'm not asking for your gender, I'm asking if you like him."
He fell silent so Max continued.
"You can cleanse your image in time." She didn't include that it was possible now because of her. "But after that, what? What's still important is your happiness so do you like him?"
Gabriel looked at her with trembling lips. "You also think I'm that person in the video?"
Her eyes widened in shock.
"Wha-... I didn't watch it."
She didn't?
"Why?"
Everybody would want to see the new thing.
"Would you like the idea of me watching it?"
He shook his head. Just the thought of everyone thinking that it was him disgusted him.
"So the video was edited." He heard Max say.
In her last life, she didn't ask him about this because she knew it was a taboo topic.
But realizing that his career ended due to a fake video infuriated her.
Why did he let another person have a tight hold on his life?
He only suffered because of it.
Gabriel watched her jaws clenching and her shallow breaths.
The tell-tale signs that Max was mad.
"What does he want from you?" Her voice was a low growl.
His lips parted in surprise. Was she angry for his sake?
"He... Uhm... Wants me to live with him..." He answered with ant-like softness.
"Threatening you with a stupid video, why didn't you report this to the cops?!" She hissed but upon seeing him flinch, she turned her head away.
"Mi-Mikee's a family friend. I... I..."
In the end, he also didn't know why.
Deep inside, he felt attraction to the charismatic man but he didn't want to admit it.
Outside, it started to rain. It was heavy.
But silence enveloped them both.
"... So you like him."
Gabriel detected a bit of accusation in her tone.
"I told you, I'm a man!"
"Sure," Max said patronizingly.
He gritted his teeth and abruptly yanked her close to him.
But he stopped when their lips almost brushed against each other.
He peered over the golden flecks on her pupils. Were they always this pretty?
Her eyes curved and her warm fingers touched his cheeks, their noses brushed together before she pulled away.
"I'm the last person you have to prove yourself to, Yel."
There was an unspeakable sadness in her smile.
She adjusted her ruffled clothes. "I'll deal about the issue, I won't let your image go down the drain. But it's your call what you want to do with the perpetrator."
Gabriel didn't know how to answer her. He was engulfed with shame all of a sudden.
Why did he try kissing her?
He stood up, wanting to leave.
Max didn't hold him back.
"Get the umbrella near the door."
He breathed thanks, not having the face to look at her.
But she still went outside to see him off.
Finally lighting her cigarette, she watched him leave... Once more.
And just like before, she didn't call his name or expected him to look back.
Whether this life or the last, she knew his choice would not be her.