Chapter 197: -Home Alone with Talia-²
'He knows how to cook?'
Max held a small plate of scrambled eggs and toast as he walked out of the kitchen.
Just then noticing the pair of surprised eyes focused on him, he momentarily stopped to glance at Talia who was in a pink baggy shirt that reached her knees.
There was a brief silence, and Max realizing how he seemed from Talia's perspective decided to clear things up, while also raising the plate in his hand slightly.
"…Your Mom said I should treat here like my second home." he said.
"Oh…" feeling awkward, Talia almost stuttered but managed to compose herself, nodding in response as she watched him sit.
"-I left yours on the countertop."
Max's voice lingered in the air, causing her to freeze with a stunned expression and doubt that she had misheard.
One, two, three… five seconds passed.
Realizing Max wasn't going to repeat himself.
"--Thanks."
Talia whispered meekly, her cheeks a little bit flushed as she headed towards the kitchen.
Just like Max said, a plate of scrambled eggs and toast was patiently waiting for her with appetising aroma.
Calming her rush to have a quick taste of it, Talia carefully placed it in her mouth and suddenly released a "Hmmm–." sound.
Relishing the taste, she tiptoed to take a look at Max in the living room.
Seeing him focused on the TV, she excitedly walked back to the countertop to down the dish.
Minutes passed…
Other than the playing TV, the whole house was engulfed in silence.
Glancing down at the empty plate that once had scrambled eggs on it, Max crushed the empty can in his palm and stood up.
Just then, Talia walked out of the kitchen visibly flushed but stubbornly holding it together.
"Thanks." she whispered, walking past him.
Bewildered, Max raised his brows and silently began to clean up the plate, dumping the crushed can in the trash nearby.
When he was done, he found Talia occupying one of the couches while pretending to be invested in the movie.
With no word said, Max took his previous seat and watched.
About thirty minutes, the movie finally came to an end with the main character killing the King to build a new Kingdom.
'Although the production budget is insufficient, the narrative and characters' display of emotion are very raw.'
Max inwardly commented, doubting Talia felt the same way since it wasn't anything romantic.
However, to Max's surprise—
"What a great movie." Talia said under her breath, appearing very moved by the ending.
'Ehn?'
Hearing her say this, Max skeptically took a glance at her and happened to catch her gaze at the same moment.
"…Do you play games?"
Quickly breaking eye contact, Talia said.
Taken aback, Max appeared thoughtful before responding.
"Yes. The Rebels."
Hearing Max's response, Talia's expression froze and then lit with a happy glow.
"Good, I have two controllers and PlayStation X8 in my room…"
Cutting herself short, Talia held her breath.
"-I'll disconnect and bring it down here for us to play." she said with an apologetic flush tainting her cheeks.
"Huh?"
However, Max raised his brows.
"Won't that take a lot of time?" Max asked, causing Talia to bear a realizing look.
"Let's play it in my room then."
Quickly turning the other way, Talia stood up and walked to the stairs with Max tagging behind.
Seconds later, under Talia's guide the door of her room opened with a click, presenting the girlish interior before Max.
Pink walls, white ceiling. Bed, two separate sheets of white and pink colours. Reading desk and chair, pink and white. Wardrobe, pink and white.
'Does she think she's Barbie?'
Just as his eyes roamed through the details of her room with amused comments, Max's thoughts suddenly halted.
Because there, placed carefully and strategically, was a complete set of gaming setup similar to the one he had in his room but strictly pink and white, decorated with cat stickers.
"What a surprise." Uttering these words, Max nodded with an impressed expression.
"It has a split screen so we can both share at the same time."
Seeing Max's neutral expression become impressed, Talia felt smug and handed him a controller.
"Okay."
Loosening his introverted restraint, Max didn't shy from communicating as he checked out the buttons.
"Not casual, I'll link my account through the QR scan. Let's ranked."
Seeing Talia expertly fiddle with the pad as she shuffled through the menu option on screen for the casual mode, Max realized the game would be too easy and decided to link his account.
"Oh…"
Switching it back to rank mode, Talia sat down.
"UID?"
Successfully logging in, Max nudged his neck to draw her attention.
"01592…"
Swiftly stating the series of numbers, which was a surprise, Talia quickly picked a pillow and stuffed her face into it.
Just then, the series of numbers had been processed and generated a lobby profile.
(Baby…)
"Baby Pink?" Max muttered, his expression stunned as he read the name again confirming he wasn't mistaken.
Not by the fact of how childish it sounded but how familiar the name was.
Having already sent a friend request, Talia's pad vibrated slightly and the latter promptly dropped the pillow, freezing after in surprise as she read out the requester name.
"SOLITUDE001?"
Her breath hung as she promptly tilted her head towards Max who was silently looking at her.
"You're Solitude?"
'You're Baby Pink?'
Surprised, they both turned to the screen.
Who could have guessed that the top 15 and 16 Rebel players on the global ranking who never revealed their identity or let their voices be known were neighbours.
With both having realised who the other was, Max glanced at Talia thinking—
'She's the bastard who's always trying to snatch my spot?'
'It has been you all along.' Talia thought.
Silence reigned in the air until they both gradually accepted the reality and stood together in the same lobby just as they were in the room.
…
"Help me up."
"Over there, he's shooting from the tower."
"Not again. Help me up."
As reality would have it, Talia had never played squad before and Max, having to deal with stupid and idiotic teammates over the years, had learnt to carry the team.
Talia often cursed while he remained silent helping her up each time. Eventually, due to her voice, the room eventually got cozy.
From sometimes hitting his shoulder for not helping her up, sitting on her bed, their shoulders soon felt each other.
"There's a sniper camping around ther—"
Just as Max threw a smoke bomb to cover his tracks, starting from the bulb, the appliances in the room switched off, blanketing them in darkness.
'A blackout?'