Kings On The Horizon (Vol. 4-6) ✓

125 | Mistletoe

     "Chef Randy outdid himself," Max comments.

     "Are you going to cook for me?" Gavriil then asks, making Max chuckle.

     "As much as I would love to, I can't. I'm just going to microwave your food, if that's alright with you," Max says as he pulls a container out from the fridge. "Is beef bourguignon okay with you?" He then asks.

     "That would be lovely, thank you."

     Max nods his head and walks towards the microwave to defrost the meal. While waiting, Max decides to make mashed potatoes from scratch, so he takes a few potatoes from their cold storage and starts peeling them.

     "You can cook?" Gavriil asks while waiting, and Max just shakes his head and says, "Honestly no, but I learned to peel potatoes thanks to Cj. This was during our suspension. I also learned a lot when we were helping at the kitchen so I'm able to at least cook something as simple as mashed potatoes now."

     "You're still peeling it wrong though," Gavriil teases, making Max feel embarrassed.

     "W-Well I didn't say I was good at it now did I?" Max immediately defends, which made Gavriil laugh. He then stood up from his seat, removed his gloves, and then washed his hand before grabbing a peeler to help Max.

     "You don't have to. You're my guest after all," Max insists, but the vice president ignores him and takes a potato instead so he could start peeling one too.

     "I cook for myself so I'm a bit of an expert," Gavriil says so Max wouldn't be too bothered by it.

      Max thankfully doesn't say anything anymore, and the two start peeling the potatoes.

      "My mom used to cook all the time," Max shares, making Gavriil look back at him. "She always told me that before you scold anyone for not doing their job right, you should be able to do the work yourself first. She was the perfect chairman, but I never got the chance to learn anything from her. Now look at me, I can't even peel potatoes right."

     "Come on, not being able to peel potatoes doesn't make you less of a man," Gavriil manages to joke to lighten up the mood, which thankfully worked since Max ended up smiling because of it.

     "I'm being serious here you know," Max says, and Gavriil laughed and continued peeling again.

     "I'm sorry, please do continue."

     Max playfully nudges Gavriil in irritation, but he continues anyway. "I don't remember much about my mother, but every time I do remember her, it's mostly the times when she was still in her prime. She was the perfect trophy wife in my memory. It only got tainted from all the stories I heard from other people."

     "I would agree with you, but compared to her or your father, Mr. Denzel was always the friendlier one," Gavriil reveals, instantly making Max laugh out loud.

     "Are you serious? The old man? The friendlier one? That father?" Max asks in disbelief. "I don't even remember seeing him laugh or..." Max suddenly stops talking when he realized something. All his memories of his father were the opposite of his mother's. Towards him, he was always filled with anger and hatred, but recently, he's been more understanding. Is this because his memories are slowly coming back?

     "Leigh?" Gavriil calls out when he noticed that Max suddenly dazed off.

     Max blinks and looks back at Gavriil. "I-It's nothing. Let's finish this so we could start cooking," he says instead, and Gavriil just nods his head and did what he was told. After a while, the two finished cooking, and Gavriil started eating the simple dinner that Max was able to prepare for him. It wasn't much, but Gavriil enjoyed it till the last bite.