9. Finally home!

Maxwell made his way back to the university. He had plans on surprising his best friend, Oliver. Maxwell had been away studying in a different city for almost fifteen years now, and he decided to surprise his family by coming home without them knowing. To make it more epic, he had told his parents on phone that he had some projects to do and that he would not be able to complete his studies that year. So they had no idea he was coming home. He needed the help of his best friend to make the surprise lively.

His family had not seen him in nearly ten years, and so he wanted to make the surprise worth it. He decided to drop first at Oliver's place, as he didn't have plans on spending the night in a hotel. He needed to plan it out well, and Oliver was the only person he knew could help him. He was a young lecturer in the university, in fact, the youngest one, and he had his apartment close to that area.

Oliver was the only person who knew about his coming, but Maxwell's didn't tell him the specific day he would be coming, and so he was also in the dark that Maxwell had already come home.

Maxwell got to Oliver's apartment and rechecked the address to be sure he was at the right place. While still in the car, he gave Oliver a call. After two rings the call got connected and his deep voice came through.

"Yo, Max! What's up?" Oliver said in a relaxed tone, and a slurping sound was heard as he sipped his coffee. He had swung his left arm around the backrest of the couch, his back touching the arm rest, and had his left leg stretched on the couch with his right leg hanging, like in a half-lying-half-sitting position.

"Hello, Oli. How're you?"

"A little bit tired, but I'm fine. And you?"

"I'm a bit tired as well. I just got to my best friend's house after a four-hour flight and after driving for almost three hours from the airport."

There was silence on the other end. Oliver was trying to digest the information he just received.

"Which best friend? You got yourself another best friend?"

Maxwell laughed and replied. "If I recall clearly, I have only one best friend, who's name is Oliver Wright, a lecturer at Sky High University in South city and..."

"Whoa whoa... wait, hold on..." Oliver jolted up on the couch and stood up. Maxwell could hear shuffling sounds as Oliver dropped the tea cup on the coffee table and took hurried steps to the window facing the entrance of his apartment to peek, and Maxwell couldn't help but chuckle. He had his eyes glued to Oliver's gate, waiting for him to come running to him.

"Bruhhhhh!!!!" Oliver exclaimed in a loud voice, which made Maxwell redraw the phone from his ear and laughed out loud. Did this guy want to break his eardrum? He stepped out of the car and leaned on the door. His left hand tucked in his pocket and his left leg crossed over the right, the phone still on his right ear.

The call ended and soon after, the gate was pushed open and Oliver's surprised face was seen, his jaw almost touching the ground and his eyes nearly out of their sockets. Did Maxwell not tell him he would be coming the following month? And he told him he would call him to pick him up from the airport!

Oliver's feet were rooted to the ground. He couldn't believe his eyes. Maxwell was smiling all this while. He was happy his surprise worked on him. He couldn't stop himself anymore as he burst into laughter and approached Oliver with arms open for a hug.

"I'm home, Oli. And I really miss... Ouch!!" Oliver kicked his leg with a deep frown on his face. "Oli...!! What was that for?!"

"That was for not going with our plan, idiot." Oliver said, scanning him from head to toe. Then after some few seconds he threw himself in his arms for a bone-crushing hug. "I missed you so much, silly. How could you mess with me like that?"

Maxwell laughed and hugged him back. He missed this silly friend of his. He was with him in the North city when his parents sent him there for studies. Oliver was also brought there and they both went to the same high school, but he was brought back to South city into a different university. They hadn't seen each other for more than 3 years. And seeing him now brought him so much joy.

They broke up from the hug and Oliver checked him out once more.

"You look...manly now." He said with a teasing smile on his lips. Maxwell attempted hitting Oliver's arm but he was quick to dunk and they both burst into laughter.

"Silly. So I looked womanly before? Wait, is that a pimple I see?" Maxwell gasped dramatically, pointing to Oliver's face. "Looks like someone's growing now!!" They laughed even more as they half-hugged each other and made their way to Maxwell's car to drive it inside the apartment.

When they got inside they both hugged once more as they made their way to the balcony. Oliver ordered a middle-aged woman in the house to get them a bottle of wine and two glasses.

"Max! I can't believe you are finally home."

"Yeah. I'm back for good." Maxwell said with a smile. "I need to take over the company by next year."

"Finally? Already?"

"Yup. I had wanted to come next year. And that's what my parents know. In fact, that was the original plan. They have no idea I'll be coming this year and that too, I'm already here."

"Wait, they don't know you're here? Bro what kind of game is that? I thought you were coming from home. Do you want them to die out of shock?"

"Haha... I really enjoyed the look on your face when I got here. And I can't wait to see the same look on their faces as well."

"That's insane. I nearly had a heart attack, you know. I wasn't expecting you at all."

"I know, and that's the fun of it. You should be shocked." He laughed when he remembered the shocking look on Oliver's face. He was indeed shocked to see him there.

They had talked the previous day about Mawxell wanting to come back home. And he remembered Maxwell telling him he'd be coming the following month and that too he would be the one to pick him up from the airport on that day. He didn't know this guy had his own plan and was going to toy with them.

"Enough of your silly antics. So what is your plan? You can't just sneak on them like you did with me? They'll freak out to death."

"I know, and that's why I came here. I want to surprise them tomorrow and I need a perfect way to do that."

"Gosh, this is going to be...sigh... I mean you've been away for almost 7 years and..."

"The last time I saw them was 10 years ago."

"What, what??"

"Yup. And all these fifteen years I've only seen them like three times, or so. I can't quite remember."

"No way!!"

"Okay I think I saw my dad several times when he visited his company branch over there or when he came there for other business purposes. But my mum, just three times. And Lois is an exception. She used to visit frequently since she started working on her own." He shrugged as he received a half-filled wine glass from the woman Oliver sent earlier and took a sip.

"Wow!" Oliver whispered audibly.

"But we do talk on phone most of the time so..." Maxwell shrugged. They paused and drank their wine for some minutes.

"Lets come up with a plan." Maxwell said, looking toward Oliver.

"Okay. Let's go surprise the oldies." Oliver said and smirked wickedly.