"Sorry?"
Max shifted in his seat, a fleeting image of red still lingering within his glossed-over daze. He had just been... Max shook his head slightly, and closed his eyes. That wasn't... he turned fully in his seat, placing himself at Melania's full attention once again.
"Sorry," he apologized sheepishly, shaking his head again slightly for good measure. Max rested his hands in his lap, and reached into the back of his mind to pull anything out of what Melania might have been saying to him in the past few moments. Luckily, he had been listening more than he thought.
"You're worried about Oliver?" Even mention of Melania's youngest brother made Max's stomach drop. An uncomfortable subject he had trying to avoid as of late, but that was difficult to do when said subject
lived with you. Max wasn't entirely sure how it had all come about, because it had seemed like one day Oliver just appeared and all of his things along with him as if he had been within Melania's expansive house the entire time. But, that was Melania's family, he had come to learn over the years. Just popping up and out of seemingly random places in the world in connection to almost random people...
Max bit the inside of his cheek. It hadn't been for very long, but he had been sitting on a very delicate piece of information about Melania's baby brother. And he wasn't sure, yet, if it would be appropriate to tell Melania despite it being something he believed she should
know.... but it wasn't exactly a secret he should be telling, was it? He had only figured out because, whilst during one of her previous rants about her brother last week she had mentioned how
outrageous it was the amount of tattoos Oliver had, including a very old
rabbit which he apparently had had for
years....
Perhaps Melania was fretting because, a small part of her, already knew?
No, of course not, if Melania actually knew... she didn't. There was no way. Only he, Max Fancourt, was burdened with this new, yet very old, piece of information. And because of this, instead of pressing his friend on further, Max simply swallowed thickly and pressed his brow further in attentiveness and concern.
