Serena avoided his gaze, looking anywhere else than at him as she wasn't able to meet his eyes out of guilt.
Of course, she knew what he was talking about. Not just her but the whole high-class of the Berlin city knew about it.
After all, Max is crowned as dog-licker king by their younger generation, though no one dares to say it to his face fearing his family background but this well-known "secret" among them.
Which is strange as normally, a rich 2nd generation like Max can do whatever they want, and no one would bait an eye as being the heir of an apex family like the Winchesters gives him that privilege.
Even if this is just the Cadet branch of the Winchester family from the capital, It still holds tremendous power in this city.
So logically, those rich younger generations in this should have been flaunting over Max, trying to gain his favor, and they actually do, or at least they try.
But Max was so infatuated with her that he ignored all their attempts to socialize with them which were mostly about drinking in bars and fooling around with beauties.
So the fascination turns into hate and when they saw his behavior trying to please her in various ways, while she was still rejecting him, they found a reason to vent their anger and start making fun of him calling him dog-licker, spear tier, beta man, simp etc.
This is their way to hide their own incompetence.
"....Sorry"
Serena after a moment looked at him and genuinely apologised to him, As she knows if not for her, they wouldn't be able to make fun of him.
"Why are you apologising? You made it clear you did not want it, I still did all that on my own free will, If anyone should apologize then it should be me bothering you all this while."
Max looked at her confusingly not understanding why she apologised.
It was him who kept bothering her even after her numerous rejections, as this is the classic dog-licking villain routine.
Always go around bothering the heroine till on she starts disgusting his mere existence.
In that comparison, Serena was still quite good to him, even if she rejected him, she did not throw his gift in trash or something, Every gift he ever gave was promptly donated to orphanages and people in need under his name.
And then always say sorry for rejecting him in person later in a day, Means every day, 365 times a year for 10 years straight this was her routine, If it was anyone else they long since have tore off their faces.
But Serena still keeps a cordial relationship with him.
This may be because of her illness of only thinking logically while her emotions taking backseat, that she didn't let disgust and fustrstion overcome her actions, the case remains that she did nothing wrong.
"No, I share the equal responsibility, If we do not have any relationship and if you still keep bothering me , yeah. It was just your wishful thinking, whatever happened to you because of the consequences of your actions."
Serena did not accept Max's apology as she accepted it was her fault too before starting to tell what that is the case.
"But we did have a relationship. It was not even a normal one either. You are my fiancée and so if you want to bring me gifts and take me on dates, Then it is all within your right to do so."
Serena continued speaking as she explained why she apologised to him.
After all, He is her fiancée, by the social standards they are already half married. The relationship has to be confirmed in the legal terms.
So what's wrong with him wanting to spend time with her and bringing her gifts? There is nothing wrong.
Which is why she never became too harsh as in her eyes he was not doing anything wrong.
"Huh?! Why did you keep rejecting me?"
Max was not expecting her to say that, in his eyes she was keep giving him a face because of the Winchester family behind him, for logical minded people like her, he was not worth offending a big family like the Winchester's.
But hearing her reasoning made him genuinely confused. If she thinks this way then why did she keep rejecting him? Wouldn't logically it be better to just go on one date with him and be done with it?
"You are asking me that?! Don't you know the reason yourself?"
Serena flared up hearing him ask that question so innocently as if he was ignorant of the reason why she did not accept his proposal of going on date with him and his gifts.
She really wanted to throw hands as she was the victim here yet he acting like she wronged him.
"What do you mea- Ohh!"
Max jumped out in fear from her little outburst, Thankfully his acting was not affected as he stayed still, staring at her in his love filled gaze.
He then gave a thought of why she said that but then he immediately regretted it.
He recalled that when their engagement got fixed, He asked to be her desk buddy in high-school.
Serena too didn't think anything wrong in it as they were engaged but that was her biggest mistake.
Afterwards that whole year he made her high-school life a living hell. He kept following her like shadows throughout the school, pestering her, heck he even wanted to go with her in the girl's washroom, not wanting to leave her for a second.
She was so done with this that she worked hard and directly skipped a school year to escape from that hell.
There was one time she accepted his gift of chocolate and sweets but then she regretted it immediately.
From that day on till today, He was just sending the same chocolate and sweets non-stop, Just because she once accepted those gifts.
Oh, there was the first and last time she agreed to go on a date with him in the park. He blocked every road that goes to that park for hours, making people not only frustrated by it, but the city lost millions of UC.
If not for his family coming forward paying the loss, He would have needed to spend days behind bars.
So now Serena has PTSD from accepting anything or agreeing with him as she could not say what he would do after he did it.
"*Ahem* About th- "
Max became so embarrassed wanting to find a crack in the ground to hide, He did not understand what kinda brainless villain he transferred into.
"No need, Wait till my secretary comes here with transfer documents, You can use them as collateral to take out a loan to save your company."
Serena stopped him from saying whatever he wanted to say as she really didn't blame him for all those things. In her eyes it was his way of showing his love to his future wife, If anyone has to blame then it was her for not breaking off the engagement early.
"Wait stop, I don't need it."
(A/N : I was notified this book was featured in Fresh novels today (16 April 2025) Did any of you see it? Because I couldn't find it.
Like always thank you for reading and have a good day 😁.)