90 Sunday's reasearch 1

Earlier in Elizabeth's apartment…

Max and Liz spent most of the afternoon with their laptops, reading and taking notes.

Liz was reading through number of research articles related to latest advancements in neurosurgery and comparing them to her practices as a preparation to write several articles of her own.

She is frustrated that since she joined Franciscan Medical Center, she only assisted Dr. Kaviraj on four surgeries and didn't get a chance to operate on her own. One of those four occasions was actually her patient, but as a junior surgeon she needs to assist for some time before she can be the main surgeon in the operating room.

Liz told herself not to rush, but the time is running out. She has one year to achieve her goal and one month in, she feels like she didn't make any progress. In New York she was performing several surgeries every week, and this feels like a huge step back.

How can she expect to be invited to the symposium of neurosurgeons as a speaker if she is only doing checkups and assisting others? The most action she sees is in the Urgent Care, and those are mostly head-bumps and back sprains. It's not that she wants people to get hurt, but she needs to do something impactful that will allow her to shine.

Seeing that it will take a while to get hands-on into neurosurgery, Liz decided to focus on research. She can publish number of articles and use that to get into the spotlight. If Dr. Snow can get famous by writing articles, she can do it as well.

Max is stretched on the sofa with a laptop, scrolling through various business news. He spent his time checking on latest advancements in the areas his company is operating, and he admits that he squandered a lot of time.

Max logged into the Alpha group internal network to see what his father is up to. Based on the online notes, he can see that his secretary is doing most of the work for Nathan, and Max finds it comforting that poor woman didn't get fired in his absence. He should probably apologize to her first thing tomorrow morning and hope that she will accept to work for him diligently.

Max is preparing for tomorrow, when he goes back to work. And this time he will go for real, not just to pass time and pacify his father when he is close to blowing a fuse (and excluding him from the inheritance).

He is troubled to see how much he missed. He remembers being excited about the work and company, and always being on top of the latest developments, but last few years he was only skimming over it. Now that he sees how much he slacked, Max understands why his father does not let him handle anything important.

What makes the whole thing more frustrating is how quickly he cought up with everything. He was always a fast reader and his brain soaked in the facts after one glance. And instead of using those skills to do something productive, something to help people and be proud of himself, Max spent years chasing skirts and cheap thrills which faded away as soon as they were done.

Max glanced at Liz who was nibbling on the pen while focusing on the screen in front of her. She is beautiful.

Max smiled while confirming silently that this is the right thing to do: spending time with Liz; getting back on the right track; making his father's nagging turn into praises not because of schemes but because he really stopped squandering away his life. And he has that accident from a month ago to thank for meeting Liz who inspired him to look at what he is doing and fix himself. All with the goal of being worthy of her.

It was late in the afternoon when Max asked Liz: "What should we do for dinner?"

Liz looked at him blankly. "What?"

Max chuckled. Liz is adorable. It's obvious that she was so much into her work that she didn't hear him.

He repeated, this time with more details: "Do you want us to go out for dinner?"

Liz's eyes darted nervously for few seconds. She remembered the reason why she rejected the afternoon outing, and dinner sounds riskier than that, so…"No. I don't want to go out. Let's order a delivery."

Max didn't miss her awkwardness when she refused going out for dinner. It reminded him of the way she avoided his gaze earlier that afternoon, when she said that she wants to go home. It didn't take much for Max to connect the dots and realize that Liz does not want to be seen in public with him.

"We can go to a low key restaurant. No one will recognize us.", he offered.

Liz swallowed hard while wondering if Max saw through her. Well, he probably did. She noticed that he is good at reading her mood but there is no way she will admit to it. "What? No, that is not a problem. It's just that I have more things to do, and it's more convenient…"

"OK.", Max agreed, but her nervous response only confirmed that he is right. After all, reading people is one of his greatest strengths.

He remembered the last time they went for dinner, and he wondered: will Liz ever forget about the online backlash it caused? Or at least give him a chance to take her out and to prove how it will not end up being a complete mess?

Max sighed. Seriously… so many women would fight over a chance to go out with him, and here she is: Elizabeth, his girlfriend, hiding him like she is ashamed of him.

Max paused at that thought. Considering who she is, and who he is… Elizabeth is probably ashamed of him.

No matter what, as a good boyfriend, he should not put her into an uncomfortable situation. And he decided not to talk about it.

He suggested few places (other than that Asian) which deliver foor, and Liz picked one.

After dinner (in her apartment), they went back to their laptops.

It was dark outside when Max noticed that Liz is stretching her neck and grimacing.

"Come here…", he placed his laptop on the side and patted a spot on the sofa next to him.

Liz was not sure what he is up to, but the whole afternoon they barely spoke. She felt guilty because of that and decided to obediently follow his instructions.

Max instructed Liz to turn her back to him and to relax.

"Mmm…", she moaned in satisfaction when he started skillfully pressing her shoulders and neck. It was just what she needed: a neck massage.

"Where did you learn to massage like that?"

"I picked it up.", he said smugly.

There is no way he will tell her that he took massaging courses because he heard that massage relaxes ladies and scores points. Well, that was when he started his 'playboy career'. Now he does not need to do these things to get the ladies to submit to his charms because his reputation and a charming smile are more than enough.

"You are a man of many talents, Mr. Anderson."

Max chuckled at the sudden praise and the way she addressed him reminded him of the movie Matrix. He can definitely be Neo, and she will be his Trinity.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.

Liz exhaled in satisfaction. Max's hands are magical. She frowned when he stopped massaging her. "Is it over?"

"I didn't know that you are so needy.", Max said while continuing to apply pressure on her shoulders.

The silence was occasionally broken by Liz's soft moans which put a smile on Max's face. Yup, a good massage is definitely scoring him points.

Max decided to talk to his father and seek guidance in handling all the online sites which are publishing information on him. It's not that it's false, but it's done without his permission and even though those are not proper journalists, there should be something he can do to take them down and to prevent any future entries. He does not want Liz to go through a smear-campaign ever again.

Max is not sure if his father will be willing to help him out. After all, he messed up so many things, and he disappointed his father too many times. He will need to prove his sincerity and that he is ready to be the man his father always hoped he will be.

He knows that he has a long road ahead, but he needs to fix things and he will start by removing everything that is making Liz uncomfortable.

Max was thinking of various things he should do to appease his father when he felt that Liz leaned onto him.

He craned his neck to look at her and sighed when he realized that she slept off.

His arms moved around Liz and he held her gently, careful not to wake her up.

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