Max was standing behind her, examining the guards’ bodies. “What are you doing?” she asked. He sharply answered he was searching for security cards and IDs to exit the building without any more casualties, and that he would then get rid of the bodies. Valentia got scared of his deep and horrifying voice, which differed so much from his usual gentle calm voice. She couldn’t retain a slight jolt as Max ordered her to hurry and get the disk she had originally been searching for.
A few minutes later, Valentia got out of the J-700 storage room with the said disk and the young man hold her the clothes of a guard, along with a cap to hide her face from the cameras. They went through security without any problem and easily escaped from the archive center.
• • •
Once at Max’s, they greeted his parents and Valentia rushed him towards his bedroom and locked the door behind them. Max collapsed on the chair in front of the door, at the other end of the room, closing his eyes for a moment. “What the hell was that? Valentia said violently after a few seconds of heavy silence. What happened to you in there? How come you have switched behavior in such a way?” Max got up with a start, looking panicked and terrified.
“What… What are you talking about? Max asked, confused.
— Don’t you dare kid about that with me! Don’t think for a second that I…
— Val! If I knew what you are talking about, I’d tell you. But…
— But you don’t want to, obviously! She interrupted.
— I don’t like it when you’re angry at me for nothing! Stop assaulting me that way and explain me what’s going on!
— Piss off! You very well know what’s going on! You usually are a nice and calm boy and you hate any kind of violence!
— I am! So what? What’s your…
— So why did you turn into a cold-blooded killer at the archives?
— That’s not funny, Val! Max said worried by the turn this conversation was taking.
— You killed a man, Max! You even got rid of his body! Even though I don't know how you managed that... If that is not violent, then maybe we have a bit of a problem, don’t you think?
— I… You’re saying… Really? But… No! That’s impossible! I would never… Stop it, Val! It is not funny at all! Max answered confused.
— Yes, you did kill that guard. And you perfectly remember how you did it, Valentia said while trying to calm down.
— I... That's a prank, right?
— Wait, you’re telling me you really do not remember what happened?”
Max had fallen on his knees as he had caught himself on the bed at the last moment. He seemed genuinely confused. Valentia lowered her head to think: “How can he deny such a behavior? It’s impossible he had forgotten about it, except if he’s suffering from some post-traumatic memory loss… It can't be that he's compartmentalising that well, it takes years of training and that doesn't match his personnality. Even I still have a hard time with all that stuff. So it is there, somewhere, in his mind. He must be doing this on purpose, lying to me, or to himself. Anyway, that's not the Max I know, not how he would actually react in a normal situation. But then again, he seems really confused…”
Valentia closed her eyes to consider the situation further as lots of other ideas came to her. After a few seconds, she slowly raised her head, thinking about what she would say: “I am sorry, I did not mean to tell you all that. Maybe it was just a bad dream after all.”
She had kept her eyes closed as she was speaking, not to have to look at Max. When she opened them, she realized he was sitting on the floor, his back on the bad, crying his heart out. After a few seconds of confusion, Valentia went to sit next to him, shoulder to shoulder with him. As she was trying to find the word to comfort him, Max turned to her and leaned his head on her shoulder. His tears were flowing from his eyes, wetting her top as they dropped.
She took him in her arms, trying to hide the fact she was totally not at ease in this situation. Emotions. She always had a hard time dealing with those. To Valentia, emotions are just a waste of time and energy when they overpower logic and reason. And that was exactly what was happening to Max at that moment. She never knew how to comfort people in pain or lost in sadness. She never knew what to say to them, and so she always tried not to get involved in such situations.
But this time, she had no escape, she had to confront Max's emotions heads on because freezing at such a moment was not the solution. So she decided to continue hugging him, not saying a single word, until he stopped crying.
After a couple minutes, the boy's tears went to an end, and he murmured “Sorry, I think I ruined your shirt...”. Valentia giggled a bit and Max took his head off her shoulder. His eyes were red. His checks still wet were reflecting the soft light from the only lamp switched on in the room.
As Valentia was loosing herself on the details of his face, Max had got closer to her and was then inches away from her: they were face to face. When she realised that, Valentia started, a bit surprised and stumped: “I…”. Max calmly said: “Don’t say a word… I... I can't remember a thing you're saying I did, and I certainly could never do such things. I don't... I don't want to talk about this anymore.”
Their foreheads were now touching. They remained still for a few seconds that seemed endless minutes of pure happiness. Although she was still deeply disturbed that he apparently did not remember, Valentia was enjoying this moment she had been dreaming of for so long. She had always refused to recon it, but she had been found of him from the very first time they met. She remembered all the best moments she had spent with him since their first day, until that awful change that happened back there, in the archives. She was not sure any more of what she wanted. Unsure of how she now felt about him, whether she would let him get to know her better. Maybe she was not ready to abandon herself to him after all.
Valentia was having second thoughts, which Max felt instantly. He reassured her and Valentia put her right hand on Max’s neck. Their faces were getting closer by the second and after a few moments of tension, their lips brushed each other. Valentia could not wait any longer. Max sensed she then had no more doubt about what she wanted with him. Their lips finally touched and they kissed.
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