My Love Until the Last Goodbye (Mary and Maximus) novel Chapter 1050

[Months Ago, The Maldives]

“Come on, Dad! Hurry up…!” Paul said as they arrived at the airport and his father made his way through customs.

“Paul, wait, just let me sign this and we’ll go. If that girl’s already waited this long, I’m sure she can wait a few more minutes…” Maximus replied, rushing to catch up with his son.

Maximus and Paul were staying on the same cluster of islands where Alden had rented out an entire villa for their trip.

Paul didn’t wait for his dad. He just dropped his bags in the room and headed straight out to meet Nadia.

Maximus, with no other choice, decided to change clothes because of the heat. Between changing and heading out to look for his son, he quickly found him sitting in the lounge.

“Paul? What are you doing here?” his dad asked, puzzled.

“Leave me alone, Dad…” Paul said, staring into space.

What caught Maximus’s eye was the glass in Paul’s hand.

“Paul! What the hell are you doing? You’re not old enough to be drinking. Since when do you drink?”

“Since today, dammit!” Paul snapped.

“Watch your language, Paul! You’re not talking to just anyone—I’m your father. Now tell me, what happened?” Maximus said, caught off guard by his son’s attitude.

Paul finally looked at his dad. His face was streaked with tears.

“She didn’t love me. She didn’t wait for me. She’s already with some other tourist…” he said before taking another sip of his drink.

Maximus watched as his son’s face crumpled. It was obvious he had no clue how to handle alcohol. He was drinking something amber-colored—probably whatever he found first.

Any other dad might’ve scolded him or taken the drink away. But Maximus just placed a hand on his son’s shoulder, gave him a couple of pats, took the drink from him… and tried it himself.

“This isn’t how you drink this,” Maximus said, heading to pour a proper one. “If you’re gonna drown yourself over a girl, you better do it right. But listen—just once. After that, it’s wipe the slate clean and move on.”

Maximus dumped the drink. He got another glass, added a few ice cubes, and poured in a small amount of whiskey. Then he poured himself a slightly stronger one.

Maybe it wasn’t the best decision, but in that moment, he knew the only thing to do was to sit with his son and talk—man to man.

“Here… Now, are you gonna tell me what happened?” Maximus asked as he made space for himself on the couch next to Paul.

“You’re not gonna yell at me?” Paul said, still not believing it.

“For what?”

“For… this?” Paul said, glancing down at the drink in his hand.

“You think that’s the worst of it? After a nearly 11-hour private flight that cost us a fortune, you left me stranded at customs, I show up at the hotel and you’re already gone… That’s a whole list of crimes, kid,” Maximus said, taking a sip of his own drink.

Paul, watching him, took a sip too. To his surprise, it tasted a lot better than the last one.