Max stood there, staring at his phone screen, his finger hovering over the name "Mia" in his contacts. He had been thinking about her a lot lately and wanted to call her to see how she was doing.

However, the last time they spoke was eight months ago, and he wasn't sure if she would even remember him.

After much consideration, he finally mustered up the courage to dial her number. As the phone rang, Max's heart raced with anticipation.

The sound of the ringing seemed to go on forever, and he began to worry that Mia had changed her number or forgotten about him altogether.

Mia: “Max... Is this you?”

Max: “Yeah. Yeah, it's me. How have you been?”

Mia: “Max you’ve been gone for eight months and all you have to say is how I’ve been! Where are you? I would rather talk face to face than over the phone.”

Max: “I’m at my place.”

Mia: “Good I'm on my way.”

Call Ended

Max had been hoping for a different outcome when he decided to call Mia. However, to his surprise, Mia was already on her way to his place.

Max was still covered in a towel, so he had to quickly put on some clothes. He went upstairs to his bedroom, opened his wardrobe, and picked out a Samurai T-shirt, jeans, and a pair of pants. He then patiently waited for Mia to arrive.

When the doorbell rang, Max opened the door to find Mia standing there. She immediately wrapped her arms around him and said, "I missed this and you," not wanting to let him go.

Max hesitated for a moment before eventually putting his arms around her. They went back inside and sat down on the couch.

“I missed you too, Mia," Max said, trying to sound casual.

"Why didn't you call or send a message?” Mia asked, looking at him with a hint of disappointment.

He knew that he couldn't tell Mia the truth and he had to think of a convincing lie. “I couldn’t. There wasn’t any signal,” Max responded before following up. “But I'm back now.”

Max then turned the conversation towards Mia, asking her how she was doing and how things were with James.

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“Max. I missed you, not like how people say they missed you, whereas I used to go to your place hoping that one day you were in, but you weren’t.” A small tear began to fall from her eye as she said that.

Mia took a moment to gather her thoughts. “As for James, we’re still together, but things haven’t been the same without you around.”

Max took Mia’s arms and said to her.

“I know that I’ve been gone for eight months but I can assure you I'm back in Night City forever.”

Mia moved closer to Max.

“Then why don’t we make up for lost time?”

Mia leaned in for a kiss before the two lost themselves in a moment of love.

Max woke up the next morning feeling content and happy. He got out of bed and headed straight to the bathroom to freshen up. As he looked at himself in the mirror, he couldn't help but smile.

He knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Mia.

While lost in his thoughts, he felt an arm go around his chest. He turned around to see Mia standing behind him. "Thanks for last night. I love you, Max," she said, looking into his eyes.

Max smiled and offered her an invitation to come with him to the Christmas party that Tony had lined up. Mia happily accepted the invitation and headed back to the bedroom to put her clothes back on.

"What time do you want me to be there for?" she asked, as she finished getting dressed.

"I'll pick you up at your place," Max replied from the bathroom.

Before Mia left Max's apartment, the two shared another kiss, and Max closed the door behind her.

Max began preparing his outfit, his choice of outfit was a nice smart brown suit and black shoes that went along nicely.

With his outfit ready he texted Henry and Luca and asked what their plan was for the party.

Max

“I’m already for the party.”

Luca

“Congratulations what do you want a fucking badge”

Max

“Fuck off. What about you Henry? How’s things going with you and Jenny?”

Henry

“Don't get me started with her.”

Luca

“How come? She finally kicked you out of the house.”

Henry

“No, not yet. She’s claiming she doesn't have anything smart to wear.”

Luca

“Ha, women.”

Max

“And with that, I must leave. See you two at the party.”

A few days later it was time for the party.

Max got himself dressed in the brown suit he had laid out, and before he left his apartment to go pick up Mia, he put back on the ring that was given to him when he became a made man.

The ring is traditionally meant to be placed on the pinky finger on whatever hand you are more comfortable with, its main purpose is to show that you are a made man of the Almano crime family but also can be used as a weapon.

With the ring firmly secured on his right pinky finger, Max made his way to Mia’s house.

Waiting outside, Max passes the time by fidgeting about with a knife he had kept in his side pocket, a short while later Mia opened the door looking beautiful in the red dress she was wearing.

Max opened the door to his car allowing Mia to enter before entering the car himself.

With the two in the car, they headed to The Velvet.