an old friend short story

"What if I say it's too risky?" she asked. "Then I will respond with—you are worth every risk," he smiled. ... With a troubled past and financial issues, Maxim Warner never had it easy. Coming a long way from a small town, he never stopped despite the hurdles thrown his way. Charming and aloof, now the hotshot neurosurgeon has no use for emotions and even less use for love. However, things get twisted when he takes a familiar blonde as his tenant despite the jarring red flags in his mind. She is the same woman who once held his heart within her grasp. But she crushed it back then and he would be damned if he let her do it again. He would be a good friend to her. Nothing more. End of the story. Diana Chen, an American-Chinese heiress finds her life flipping upside down when she holds an infant in her arms. A tiny life that she is supposed to protect now but it comes at the expense of everything she has. Nevertheless, on the worst day of her life, she moves to another country and decides to start a new life. And probably it is a good sign that her new house owner is a familiar face. "Oh my god, Warner, I almost didn't recognize you!" She ruffled his hair but unlike how he used to laugh or blush in the past, he did not react and the atmosphere suddenly felt strained. Let her take it back. The new house owner being a familiar face is making things awkward because the broody neurosurgeon might not be the beautiful boy with haunted dark eyes she used to know once. He is a man now... mysterious and stunning with eyes that strangely smolder her. And she is beginning to feel things that she should not feel for him. God, is it too late to find rent somewhere else? Maxim has yet to get over what the young Diana did to him while Diana has a baby to raise in her penniless state. Amidst this, the last thing they want is to look at each other across the dining table like the world lacks oxygen and their mouths are the only strategy for survival. When the thin string of patience snapped, she made a proposal, "Take all my firsts," As he looked at her in stunned silence, she continued, "I want you to take all my firsts. If you can't, then I can go find someone who will—" her words were lodged back in her throat by his consequent actions. _ When the mysteries from the past unveil themselves gradually, will the two be able to get over their differences and own up to their feelings? Or will it be the final 'The End' for them this time?