MAXIM
He leaned against the pantry door, feeling tense all over.
Ava was speaking to her dad right outside the room he was hiding in. He held his breath, wondering what would happen next.
Whether he'd get caught.
When Maxim heard their footsteps moving toward the party, their voices receding, he finally exhaled, relief washing over him.
He closed his eyes, feeling extremely grateful that he hadn't been discovered. Maxim sighed before pursing his lips.
That was way too close, he told himself.
Here—hiding in her parents' pantry during the anniversary party he had crashed—was definitely not how Maxim had wanted to reunite with Ava.
He raked a hand through his blonde hair, knowing he had almost ruined everything with his reckless decision to join the party tonight.
But Maxim didn't regret any of it, including his impulsive choice to pay fifty thousand dollars for fifty dollars' worth of clothes.
After all, the waiter's uniform had allowed Maxim to successfully infiltrate the house. As soon as he had done that, he immediately grabbed a tray of drinks from somewhere along the kitchen counter to complete the disguise. Then, before any of his "co-workers" could out him as an impostor, Maxim went in search of the love of his life among the party guests.
At first, Maxim was a bit apprehensive that someone might identify him, but that ended when he noticed people paid less attention to him and more attention to his tray of drinks.
It kind of disappointed and offended Maxim a bit. He was usually the center of attention in every room he walked into.
Anyway, it took him only about two minutes of disguised serving to locate Ava, who was smiling as she posed for pictures with her parents.
Maxim went completely still, staring at her.
She was even more stunning than he remembered, he thought.
He smiled in her direction while guests absentmindedly took drinks from his tray.
Ava's features were softer than they had been five years ago, her hair was longer and shinier, while her figure was fuller.
Yet some things about her hadn't changed, Maxim noticed.
Like Ava's warm, cheeky smile.
And the way she became shy whenever a camera was pointed at her.
For a moment, it was like it was five years ago again, when he'd been so monumentally in love with her.
When Ava finally stepped away from her parents, Maxim had to fight the overwhelming urge to run to her, pull her into his arms, and never let her go again.
Instead, he resigned himself to his decision not to reunite with her yet and blended more into the crowd, especially when Ava suddenly stopped and looked around the room.
A small part of Maxim wondered if she'd somehow sensed him... or perhaps his longing.
Wishful thinking, he knew.
Still, Maxim craned his neck to look at her again, only to see Blake standing at her side now.
He gripped his tray tighter, a bitter envy settling over him, accompanied by a powerful wave of rage.
This guy again, Maxim thought to himself. The simp couldn't stay away from Ava for one minute, he thought with contempt.
And if anyone should have been standing that close to Ava, it was most definitely him, Maxim thought.
And only him.
Feeling himself getting angrier and angrier, Maxim was about to retreat to the kitchen to cool himself down before he could do something stupid when he noticed someone else joining the ill-suited couple—a small, scantily dressed woman.
Maxim watched curiously as the three of them began talking.
Judging by the annoyed expressions on both Ava and Blake's faces, the girl seemed to be bothering them.
The atmosphere around them gradually became more hostile, so much so that nearby guests began paying attention to the group. A sharply dressed older woman even joined them.
The next moment, Maxim heard the girl accuse Ava of being a thief. Then she walked away from all of them.
Maxim's jaw clenched.
How dare this girl insult his woman?
He started thinking about how to put her in her very insignificant place without drawing exposing himself.
When an idea came to him, Maxim didn't hesitate.
He started walking toward the girl, still carrying the tray with several glasses of red wine.
The next moment, he deliberately crashed into her, tipping the drinks in her direction.
Red wine spilled all over the front of the woman's dress and even onto her face a bit. A cold satisfaction washed over Maxim at her outraged shriek.
But he didn't stay around long enough to hear her complaints or insults.
Several people had already begun turning toward the commotion he'd caused, including Ava.
Keeping his head lowered and striding quickly, Maxim rapidly made his way back toward the kitchen.
He didn't want to risk Ava—or anyone else identifying him.
Not yet.
When Maxim entered the kitchen again, he was just about to sigh in relief when he noticed Ava's dad talking on the phone not so far away.
Maxim froze.
He knew that if Harvey Morgan saw him, he would recognize him immediately, and his plans would be shot to shit.
As he stood there, Harvey inevitably began turning in his direction, still on his phone.
Without thinking, Maxim slipped into the open pantry beside him, quietly pulling the door shut behind him.
And not a moment too soon.
The next thing he knew, Ava's voice sounded as she entered the kitchen and began talking to her father.
Maxim held his breath the entire time, hoping against hope that neither of them would need anything from the pantry.
The next moment, he heard the father and daughter duo leaving the kitchen.
Once Maxim was sure Ava and her father had left, he took a breath before turning and opening the pantry door a little.
He slowly stepped out, satisfied that no one paid him any attention.
Maxim then crossed the kitchen and exited through the back door he had come in through, loosening the tie from his uniform as he went.
He walked out of Ava's parents' home and toward where he had parked his car.
He was done at this party.
Maxim knew he couldn't risk staying there any longer. Someone might still identify him if he did, and he didn't want to push his luck.
He wasn't mad about leaving though. On the contrary, Maxim was satisfied as he had seen everything he wanted to see.
He had seen Ava.
But then again, this wasn't the last time Maxim planned to see his woman tonight.
He looked forward to seeing her again in a few hours—this time with a lot more privacy.
---
AVA
She sat down around the long table with her family, shoveling cake into her mouth.
It had been a long, tiring night for Ava. The program for the party had gone on slower than Ava preferred, though it wasn't exactly boring.
Anyway, now it was the dinner part of her parents' anniversary party, and she was glad to finally take a pause. Not that she was particularly hungry.
No.
The thing was, ever since she'd seen the waiter, Ava had been running on autopilot, saying and doing all the appropriate things even though her heart really wasn't in it.
She needed a break from that.
Ava found that she still couldn't get the guy out of her mind, still startled by how eerily he looked like Maxim.
Blake, who was sitting next to her, tapped Ava's shoulder lightly. She looked at him, breaking out of her reverie.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Just nervous about whether my parents will like my slideshow," she whispered to Blake.
Ava planned to present her anniversary gift to her parents as soon as the dinner was over.
As she used it as a flimsy excuse, it both occurred to and astounded Ava how much she had been lying to her loved ones lately. As she always did when this happened, she told herself not to think of it like that.
Little white lies rarely hurt anyone, her mind argued.
Ava stemmed her guilt as Blake spoke to her again.
"Don't worry, babe. Your parents will love it," he said. He then paused. "Do you want me to go set it up while you prepare your speech?"
Ava nodded, grateful that he had offered. Her mind was too scattered to deal with the technical parts of her gift.
She didn't want to risk messing it up.
"Alright, just give me the signal whenever you're ready," Blake said.
After that, he wiped his mouth with a napkin and gracefully stood from his seat. He then turned away from her to carry out his words.
Ava's hands automatically went to the speech she had prepared in her lap, adjusting the pages for the hundredth time.
If it wasn't clear yet, Ava was nervous.
She'd thought she had gotten over it, but seeing that waiter earlier had thrown her off her game again.
She suddenly regretted writing the speech and even making the slideshow altogether.
She should have bought them a tacky, expensive gift, she thought, but she quickly realized she couldn't afford it.
She looked up from her lap in frustration, only to see Mandy sitting opposite her.
The girl had found the nerve to come back even after her humiliation.
It didn't help Ava to see her.
She shifted her gaze toward her parents.
Her mom was feeding her dad some food with a fork, as if he were a little kid. This made her smile despite herself.
Her parents were the best and such a special couple. They deserved all the happiness in the world, Ava thought to herself.
And just like that, all her nervousness disappeared.
She could do this, Ava knew, taking a deep breath. And she didn't need the stupid speech, she thought putting it beside her butt on the chair.
She was going to speak from the heart to her parents.
Ava turned to Blake, who was standing near the large flat-screen TV on the wall. She nodded at him to do his thing.
He gave her a thumbs-up in response.
Knowing that this was her cue, Ava stood up from her seat, picking up a glass of champagne and a small spoon as she did.
She then gently clinked the spoon against the glass.
"Excuse me, everyone," Ava said with a smile, raising her voice slightly. "Can I get all your attention, please?"
Almost everyone went quiet immediately, looking at her.
When they did, Ava's heart skipped a beat, feeling all those eyes on her, including her parents'.
She let out a quiet breath to give herself courage.
Ava was about to speak again when she spotted a blonde waiter entering the room discreetly.
Her heart stopped altogether.