Chapter 2 First Encounter

Maria was waiting for him at the dining table to serve his favorite meal before she began eating hers. Mr George arrived with his face looking refreshingly good but unfriendly. She could see the impression but wasn't sure what it meant, so she decided to ignore it and go ahead with the serving.

"Maria, have you eaten, or have you been waiting for me before you ate?" He asked in a rhetorical way.

"Yes father, I can't eat when you haven't," Maria said.

He knew she would also wait for him to come just like her mother before she passed away.

"Where is Max Maria? I haven't seen him anywhere in the house?" Mr George asked.

"He's probably sleeping in his little room right now, we both waited so long for you to come back, but he got tired of waiting and went to sleep."

It had been 4 years now, when she met Max on a very fateful day while she was coming back from school, she was stopped by a group of boys led by their arrogant leader, Marvin John.

Marvin is 24 years old, he is tall and handsome, he has a deep voice that keeps on getting deeper as years come and go in school. He is the son of a billionaire in London, the owner of 'Hamtex', a very huge manufacturing company in London where Maria's father works as an accountant.

He had been looking for a way to make beautiful and elegant Maria his only girlfriend, but she stood stern in her decision, right in front of the whole class to never be his girlfriend.

Ever since then, he had tried many advances towards her but all to no favorable result, so he made up a plan with his friends to force her after school where no one would be able to disturb or save her from him.

They waited for the right time before they traced her. Immediately she left the school premises on a narrow street that is always silent during the day, they carefully and slowly walked up to her without making any sound.

"Hey! Look who's here alone guys," Marvin said.

They all advance to the front to block her path, making sure she can't go through.

"Marvin, what's all this? You had better tell your friends to move their bodies before I report you to the authorities right now."

She quickly reached for her phone and she was about to dial an emergency number when one of the boys quickly snatched the phone away from her hand and smashed it on the floor so that she wouldn't be able to use it.

"Somebody help me." Maria shouted so loudly.

No one was around to help her, so they laughed uniformly at her and Marvin ordered them to hold her. They walked up gradually towards her and one of the boys stretched his hand to grab her, but the sun shone on her when they were about to catch up with her, there was a very loud barking of a dog echoing through the empty street behind them.

He barked at every advance they made and changed his teeth, widely opened and ready to attach anyone that lay their hand on her.

Marvin was a spoiled rich man that couldn't stand the barking of a dog, so he had to hide himself behind James. His best friend, James, who was also so scared of the dog who was pissing all over his pants, pushed him away, but the dog never stopped barking at them.

His continuous barking sent an alarming message to Peter, who was also going home after a stressful day at school.

He stopped and ran to the scene as he heard the continuous barking of the dog, thinking the dog might be in danger, but unfortunately he saw all of them and a girl in their midst, who looked so scared.

"What are you all doing here?" Peter asked.

They were shivering like a snow man wearing only his undies in the snow.

"Peter, please help us from that thing that is barking at us, I'll give you anything you want." Marvin scarily said.

Peter got in front of them and dropped his textbooks on the floor, he stretched his right hand to the front and calmly approached the dog without rushing to him.

"It's alright boy, calm down, they won't hurt her, I won't allow it." Peter said.

Immediately, they saw him in the front guiding the dog away from them. They quickly ran and escaped from the scene, leaving Maria alone with Peter.

He was able to calm the dog till he left without hurting anyone. After the dog left, he picked up his textbooks and Maria's bag on the ground and handed it over to her.

" I guess this is yours? Peter asked as he handed her bag to her.

"Yes, thank you for saving me," Maria said.

Her heart filled with coolness as she showed gratitude for saving her.

" You are welcome. I am Peter Kelvin, by the way. What's your name? Peter said.

She responded to him very fast like she'd been waiting so long to hear his name.

"I am Maria Henshaw," Said Maria.

They exchanged good pleasantries, and then we were able to go home with smiling faces together before they went in their different directions.

When Maria was about to enter the small iron-made gate of their home, she saw the shadow of the dog that had been following her since she left the narrow street. She stopped and walked towards the dog who had saved her with a chocolate in her hand.

She stretched the chocolate to him. He bites it from her hand immediately like a hungry man, then she took him in ever since then and named him Max because of his abilities.

The hall was silent before the arrival of thousands of different students from different families, each holding their backpacks and textbooks, some of whom were freshers, like Maria and Peter.

All the walkways became so busy from different lectures on all kinds of studies and school activities that prevented the students from being bored, which is also the main reason for being there.

Peter, in his black T-shirt, was sitting quietly under an apple tree listening to a good melodious song coming from an A-list artist in London. His head was moving along with every sound coming out of the song.

He loves listening to music while reading and studying as well. His full attention was on the music playing in his headphones, but his attention was caught when his blue pen dropped on the grass floor. He attempted to get it up and continue with the poem he was writing in his black diary.

A fair-skinned leg in red shoes staring at the edge of a long white gown, and two beautiful eyes looking directly into my eyes.

"Beautiful Maria," he said.

He could hardly take his simple eyes off her for a minute, forgetting to greet each other.

"Morning, Peter." Maria greeted him.

He was still amazed to see Maria in front of him, their body language was so different, the hot weather became cool and calm, he gently picked up the pen and acknowledged her presence.

"Good morning, miss Maria. I'm Happy to see you again," Peter said.

She sat down beside him, and he asked him what he was writing. Without hesitation, he explained the poem from the beginning to the end of it without having finished it.

While he was busy explaining the whole poem to me, I was looking directly at his dancing mouth, and it never stopped.

I was fully into his words and expression of the characters in the poem, and I was imagining each one just like me. In my mind, I know this is the right man for me.

As she was reminiscing about the moments she had with her only best friend, Mr George's smile was odd, his pretense couldn't hold heart again.

His heart was beating faster in his chest because of the unexpected message he was about to convey to his darling daughter, who wasn't aware that her father had been on a long-term contract because of her and now there was a new development on the contract.

"Maria, I have something important to tell you, but I don't know how you will take it. Please, I need you to try and understand what I am about to say to you right now."

She dropped her spoon at that moment and focused her eyes on her father, looking at him directly as she moved her two legs outside the dining table facing them to the direction he was sitting.

"Father, what happened?" Please tell me. She asked anxiously.

"Dear, I have offended you in many ways. I have offended you when I was unable to save your mother because I didn't have money for her heart transplant, which led to her death. I blame myself for her death every day and night and, ever since then, I have promised to ensure you have the best education in a perfect environment."

"What did father just tell me?" Maria said loudly.

Mr George was trying to explain things but her curiosity and eagerness wouldn't let her rest, so she stopped him from the long talk and asked for the main reason he brought up the topic.

"Just go straight to the main point, dad."

"I have signed a contract today," Mr George said.

Maria adjusted herself and relaxed for a while with her mood swung into a happy one.

"Wow! That's great news, father. For the first time, your hard work has been rewarded. This reminds me Dad, I have good news. I have been waiting to tell you, father." Maria said.

She was so excited to hear such good news after a long time of their everyday struggles.