Max jump out as he quickly denies the share she still wanted to offer.
Those shares are hot potatoes, getting those means signing his death warrant as he did not have any means to fight back against Rick, the protagonist of this novel.
Not to mention at least this thing is explicitly mentioned that he had to reject the shares to complete the mission task.
So those shares he would not accept no matter what.
"....Stop messing around Max, Don't let your ego come between this, big deal after your company crisis solved just return it back to me."
Serena became irritated by his insistence to keep rejecting whatever she was offering him, First money and now shares.
His company is on the verge of bankruptcy, if he didn't do anything his years of hard work would be lost not to mention the tremendous debts he would be in.
She did not see any logic in him rejecting taking monetary gain from her other than the ego of man, That's the only conclusion she can come up with.
"It's not ego Serena, It's principals, I did not loved a eldest miss from big family, Nor I did I loved the ceo of multi-billion UC company, I loved the little girl from my childhood, And now that same girl come to me wanting something, How can I take anything in return?
So please Serena, don't insult my love by putting a price tag on it."
Max looked at the irritated Serena as he explain to her in his affectionate tone, telling her he did not want anything.
After all, no matter how much she gave him, it would be useless as he was being targeted by the protagonist. Trying to stop it using money is like throwing money in the fire to warm himself.
At best he would gain a few more days before ending up in the same position.
"But- "
"Shhh-! No buts, I accept your proposal of breaking off the engagement, And don't worry I would make sure no one can point a finger at you."
Serena wanted to say something but before she could, His index finger once again landed on her soft lips preventing her from speaking any further.
Then he looked at her in the same infatuated gaze before delivering the speech accepting her proposal of breaking off their engagement.
"...."
Serena just looked at him in neutral gaze, though she was still uncomfortable with him touching her but it was a lot less than before as most of her brain power was wasted trying to look for any sign of logic in his actions.
Unfortunately she did not find any, logic clearly states what he was doing was clearly foolish and yet he is still doing it.
"Here done, I declared to the world."
While Serena was thinking about it, Max at one point pulled out his smartphone from his pocket and started fiddling on the screen for a moment before he raised his head up as he delivered the news to her.
*Ding*
Serena frowned not understanding what he meant but before she could ask her smartphone notification rang in her purse.
She felt something amiss, she quickly pulled out her phone just to see notifications immediately started pouring in.
She ignored all those and moved past to the last one which triggered all these events.
"Max Winchester and Serena Frost are no longer in the relationship."
"Max Winchester changed his relationship-status to single."
"Max Winchester uploaded a new post."
"That bitch broke off our engagement, Just because she caught me fooling around with a cute little beauty in a compromising position.
Did she not know it is not cheating if we are not married.
#DoubleStanders #NotCheating ."
".....Why? I am not worth it."
Serena looked at his weird post he just posted from his official account then at him before she couldn't help but ask him why he was hurting himself to keep her happy? Didn't she tell him many times she did not love him, never did and never would?
So why does this madman keep burning himself to keep her warm? This does not make sense at all.
"Haha, You don't know your own worth, Anyway it's time to part ways."
Max just casually threw this sentence as matter of fact, After all she is the main heroine, She indeed does not know her own worth.
'Why aren't rewards distributed yet? Didn't I complete the task? Or maybe the affection was still not enough?'
While he was acting Max couldn't help but asking himself about the rewards, He already completed the task so it was reasonable to distribute the rewards now as he needed that for his next step of plan.
Then he remembered affection was also necessary, So maybe he did not show much affection hence why the task was not completed.
"What do you mean by 'parts ways'? Aren't we still childhood friends? We can still be friends."
Serena who was keep reading his post being ignoring the message which were send to her by other "well wishers" overwhelmed by the unfolding of the events yet she was still reading his initial post.
But when Max said it was time to part ways, She couldn't help but yank out of in shock as she hurriedly asked him.
What she hates the most is unpredictability. She loves to prefer things as they are, even changing the position of a miscellaneous thing like a pen holder from its usual position makes her super uncomfortable.
So it can imagine how she was feeling cutting of the 2 decades of daily meet up just like that.
"Friends ? Maybe in the future, it would be too painful to spend time with you after these days for a while. Don't get me wrong, I am not blaming you even a bit."
Max respectfully rejected her idea as he wish to live a little bit longer.
Being near her is the most safest and dangerous place simultaneously for him.
So unless absolutely necessary. He wants to stay as far away as possible from this scourge.
"Where?"
Serena wanted to say many things but the moment he bring out pain, A guilt she was suppressing was overwhelmed her as she swallowed those things as she asked where he wants to go.
"In a bar, find a few women to help myself to forget you under the bedsheet."
(A/N : Guys it would get better, just bear with me.
Like always thank you for reading and have a good day 😁.)