Even though Max had been completely sure that Alex had returned to him from beyond the grave just a few seconds ago, the sound suddenly sounded ridiculous even to his own mind.
How could a person return from the grave? This was no fairytale.
Plus, everything about the Alex standing in front of him seemed to be wrong. The voice that had called out his name was all wrong. The hands wrapped around Max felt wrong, even Alex's scent, that Max would recognise anywhere in the whole world, felt wrong.
It was then that Max pulled away and his eyes took in the complete appearance of the man standing in front of him. A man wearing a black t-shirt and leggings.
"Alina?" Max called out, uncertainty etched into every letter.
Alina hung her head and stepped back, fiddling with the end of her t-shirt. "I'm sorry." she said, her voice barely audible, "I had no idea how it would seem like to you. I just did it so that I couldn't go back on my word. So that I would never again feel weak."
Max shook his head as he took in Alina's appearance standing before him. She squirmed under his watchful gaze and was about to launch into another apology when Max spoke, "We'll have to do something about your voice."
"Huh? My voice?" Alina had no idea what this man was talking about. Max seemed to regain more of his senses as he nodded, "Yes. I hadn't realised it till now, but your voice doesn't sound like. . . . ." Max's voice trailed off as he struggled to get out Alex's name. "him. Not really. Maybe you'll pass off as him to an acquaintance, but we'll have to do better if we want to fool the people in the mafia. They've faced life and death situations with . . . Alex." he finally ground out with some difficulty.
Alina nodded as he continued, "Your built is also a little leaner than when Alex was before . . . . it. But that shouldn't be an issue. The people will see you after six months after all. Plus . . . . ." Max's voice trailed off.
"Is there anything else I need to work on?" Alina prompted. "You smell completely different from Alex." Max let out a long sigh as he finished his sentence.
Alina was taken aback a bit. Her scent? "Of course no one except me will notice that. So that's fine I guess." Max finished as he turned towards all the food Alina had prepared while he was in the shower.
"You cooked all this while I was in the shower?" Max asked, changing the topic. Alina shook her head as she began to take the dishes to the dining room, "Mrs. Dawson left all this and a lot more in the fridge. She wanted me to eat while she was still here, but I was. . . . " Alina's voice trailed off as she exited the kitchen.
Once the two were seated on the dining table and picking apart the food in their respective plates, Max said, "We should start working on changing your voice from tomorrow." Alina nodded before she pushed the plate of food away and said when Max raised a questioning eyebrow, "I don't think I'll be able to stomach it. I'll just keep it in the fridge and eat when I'm hungry."