Nina's eyes flickered with distress as she gazed at Max. Her voice came out low and trembling with emotion, "When my grandpa had his heart attack, he ended up in the ICU. He went into a coma from loss of oxygen to the brain. He was on life support... until... he passed away about two months later. From complications due to pneumonia and sepsis."

Her tragic story sank into Max like a thick, oppressive cloud. This shit was starting to get heavy. Real heavy. He barely knew how to respond. Max often thought that he was someone who had experienced more than his fair share of trauma growing up, but, now, he was beginning to suspect that Nina might have him beat by an arm and leg. And then some.

All he could do was respond with a very meager and inadequate, "Fucking hell, I'm so sorry, Nina..."

She shrugged despondently. "That's what everyone always says to me, but it's no one's fault, really."

He reached for her hand and caressed her palm gently with his thumb. "I'm sorry... all the same... for everything you had to go through with your grandpa. That shit sounds heartbreaking, and I wish we had met a little sooner, so that I could've been there for you when you needed a friend."

Nina gazed at him steadily. "That's very kind of you, Max."

Max cleared his throat and glanced away. Her expression was so intense. It was hard to concentrate when she was looking at him in such a soul-piercing way. He focused on playing with her hands, lacing and unlacing, twining and untwining, his fingers with hers.

He coughed. "So, um, what happened after your grandpa passed away?"

Grief crossed her pretty features. "Oh, God. Where do I even begin?"

"Wherever you want."

"Alright," Nina murmured, "I guess... at the time... I thought my grandpa's death was one of the worst fucking things that could've ever happened to my family, but, then, right after his funeral, the hospital bills started piling up. Insurance covered 90% of my grandpa's expenses, but the remaining balance was still a scary six-digit figure. After spending many, many hours on the phone with a countless number of hospital reps, I managed to negotiate down some of those costs, but, even then, my grandma and I couldn't pay it all off right away. This was when Ethan's mom reached out to me. She did this behind his back and offered to pay off every penny of our debt. As long as I agreed to break up with her son."

Outrage burst through Max. He couldn't quite bring himself to believe what Nina was telling him. "What the fuck? Ethan's mom sounds like a villain from those stupid telenovelas that my mom is always watching! That's beyond low, yo. I feel sick to my stomach just hearing you talk about it."

"I know, right? I wish I was making this up," Nina said grimly. "At the time, I didn't tell Ethan anything because I was seriously thinking about accepting her offer. In the end, however, I didn't take that bitch's money, and I broke up with Ethan, anyway, because the whole situation felt beyond repair at that point, and I was already dealing with a crazy amount of stress and grief from losing my grandpa. I simply didn't have it in me to try and sort things out."

Max burrowed his face into Nina's hair and squeezed her tight. "Oh, Nina, I can't even imagine how horrible that must have been for you..."

"It's okay, Max. I don't want your pity," she said in a sad voice. "Obviously, I survived."

He grumbled angrily, "I feel like you should've told Ethan about what his mom did. That bastard deserves to suffer."

Nina seemed conflicted. "You know, I felt like that for a while, too, but, now, I keep asking myself—what good would come of it? If I ever told Ethan the truth, then he would need to pick a side. If he defends his mom, then it would only hurt me more. If he chose me, then his family would never forgive me. They'd probably try to sabotage our relationship, and, honestly, the drama doesn't feel worth it."

Max blinked. "Oh, wow. I didn't think about it like that. What you're saying actually makes a lot of sense."

"Does it? I dunno. I'm just trying not to get sucked back into his world."

An urgent thought suddenly popped up Max's mind. "Oh, shit! Did you... need to borrow some money? Because I have savings, not a whole lot, but..."

"No, no, that's not necessary," Nina insisted. "But... thank you! I think my grandma and I have the situation under control now. That's why I sold my soul to the devil for two years with that job on Wall Street. I lived at home with my grandma and continued helping out with the restaurant. The two of us scrimped and saved, and, now, we're almost in the clear with those fucking bills."

Max pulled away to stare down at Nina in awe. This sad, beautiful girl sitting in his arms was even stronger, braver, and more badass than he ever imagined possible. He suddenly had an overwhelming urge to show her just how much he admired her, how much he wanted to take away her pain...

Max brushed his lips across her temple in a way that he hoped would be considered friendly and reassuring. Nina didn't seem to mind. At least, she pretended not to notice.

"You and your grandma are goddamn superheroes, Nina," he told her intently.

Nina gave him a flicker of a smile. "Thanks."

The sentiment bubbled out of him before he could catch it. "I'd love to meet her someday."

Nina's eyes widened in surprise. "Who? My grandma?"

"Yeah," he replied somewhat shyly. "She sounds badass."

Nina laughed. "She'd probably eat you alive. Ethan used to call her 虎姑婆in secret."

"Hǔ... gū... pó?" Max repeated. The Mandarin words felt awkward on his tongue, but he liked the sound of them.

"She was a shapeshifting tiger from Taiwanese folklore that ate children at night," Nina supplied helpfully, "in case you were wondering about how Ethan felt about my grandma."

Max chuckled nervously. "Well, it's a good thing I'm not a kid anymore. I should be safe around her."

Nina eyed him with a bright gleam in her eyes. "You sure about that? Sometimes, you can be pretty immature."

"Only because you bully it out of me."

She smirked. "A real man would take responsibility for his own actions. He wouldn't blame his immaturity on someone else."

Max noticed this was probably the first time since they returned from the party that he had seen her look even remotely at ease. He decided to continue teasing her some more. Max wanted to cheer Nina up and help her take her mind off of her troubles.

"Oh, yeah? Then, I guess I better take full responsibility for what I'm about to do to you..."

Max pounced over Nina and proceeded to show her just how "immature" he was by holding Nina down on the couch and tickling the hell out of her for the next few minutes. Her armpits, her neck, her stomach. Nothing was off limits. Nina yelped and screeched and tried to squirm away to no avail.

Max didn't let up until she was thoroughly out of breath from squealing and giggling and yelling, "No more, no more, please, stop, stop, stop, I can't take it anymore!"

The moment he backed away, she shot him an accusing glare. "Oh, my God! You're such an ass! You almost made me pee my pants! Just you wait, Max, I'm going to get you back when you least expect it! It's on like Donkey Kong!"

Max grinned like an idiot and sad nothing. He let Nina rage at him. He was simply happy that she was acting more like her old self again.