M+B, 1

{MAYA}

Maya drove while humming alongside the music on her car, she had connected her Bluetooth to her car and it was none other than a song from her favorite singer whom she knew every lyric to her songs.

The ice cream was not that far and there was no traffic so she arrived there fast when she parked her car in her favorite spot, she got out, locked it, and walked to the ice cream shop.

She walked into the ice cream and when she arrived she found Brent at the counter, "Hi Maya, take a seat at our favorite place and give me a few minutes I will be there."

Maya nodded at him and walk to the place they have been seating since they joined the university. She took a seat and read what was written on the corner of the seat, "M+B, 1."

They had written that as a joke when they first found the shop and since then they kept coming as they had liked the service at the shop. Maya run her fingers across the initials, she was surprised that after all those years, the words have never been rubbed off or any other written on top of the words.

"I always make sure no one touches it," Brent said to her and gave Maya her favorite ice cream, lemon ice cream.

"In the house." They said together and laughed. Brent promised he was going to come back soon and Maya replied that it was okay, Brent walked back to the counter to take the order the customers were making.

She looked at Brent and waved at him smiling, Brent hold up four fingers and Maya smiled. That was his way of replying whenever Maya waved at him when he was behind the counter and she was at the table waiting for him to come and join her.

The four meant they were finally in their fourth year, when they were in the second year Brent would hold up, two and when they were in their third year he could hold up three fingers.

Maya scooped the ice cream and hold her jaw as she got herself ice cream frozen, she looked up and saw Brent staring at her, she showed him one finger and Brent shook his head. Maya chuckled and look at her ice cream.

She couldn't help herself but remember when they met.

**

[FLASHBACK]

"Mother, I want to go through the same process the others are going through I don't want to be one of those people who miss out on their experience because their parents have connections and all that."

Amelia and Blake stared at their daughter and nodded, they knew Maya was not going to let them walk to the Dean as he was their friend and help them finish faster the first-day registration activity.

"Okay, but you will tell us if you get exhausted, yes?" Amelia asked her daughter. She knew very well how the day would go, it was going to be the most hectic day as they had to into different offices.

They walked with her for a little bit and when they began getting tired they asked Maya if it was okay for her to do it by herself for a few minutes and when then they would meet her.

"Dad, mom, come on. I am not a baby, I am a big girl, I am sure I will find my way."

Maya's parents looked at her and then at each other, they were not supposed to worry, but since they were parents and that is what parents normally do for their kids, they asked if she was not going to get lost.

Maya knowing that her parents were worried about her, told them reassuringly, "mom, dad, I won't get lost I came here last month and if I do get lost I will look for you at the Dean's office." Her parents had then agreed half-heartedly and watched as their daughter walked away with a paper in her hand looking happy.

"Call us if you get lost." Her mother had even shouted at her. Maya didn't get embarrassed or anything, it was her first day and the word lost was used around by most people, some of them were parents and others were students.

Maya walked to the finance offices and that is where she found a long line, she stood there for almost an hour and by the time it was her turn to be served her parents called asking if they needed to come to help her.

She had told them she was handling everything well, she finished that and walked to where she saw the big writings, "HOSTELS."

And that is where she met Brent. Brent had walked to her and asked, "hi, I am Brent, have you gotten a room?" Maya had said no, she hadn't even thought about that since her parents hadn't mentioned it either.

"I have not gotten either," Brent had said to Maya and Maya could hear the pain in his voice and she couldn't help but feel bad for him. It was as if she felt the pull to help him so she told him, "Hey, can we go to my parents, I think they might help."

Brent hadn't said no. They had walked to the Dean's office who had been glad to see Maya.

"Mom, here I am I didn't get lost. Mom, dad, Dean. This Brent, I have just met him."

Maya's parents had looked at her with a proud look as if their daughter had invented something. Brent greeted them with a polite tone, "Hi, I am Brent."

Maya's parents had taken a liking to Brent at that exact moment and they had gone ahead and asked him how he was and if he was with anyone. After Brent told them that he was alone, and he was having trouble getting a hostel, her parents told him they will pay for him.

"Mom, me too." Maya had said to her parents who had looked at her as if she was crazy.

They had left the Dean's office so they could finish things related to the first day, arriving outside, Maya had asked, "mother if I am not going to stay at the hostel where will I stay?"

"An apartment."

"Why?"

"Because that means when your brothers want to visit and I know they will so many times you won't have to suffer to accommodate them." Maya had understood and they had taken her to an apartment that already had everything in it.

And then they had gone and paid for Brent's hostel, and for the next months Maya and Brent had grown to like one another, and they became good friends.

**

"Maya were you," Brent called while waving his hand in front of a zoned-out Maya.

"Oh, sorry you are here. I was thinking of the first day we met, not that you asked."

Brent smiled and took a seat opposite Maya, he went straight to the point as he was at work and this was just his break, "it is my mother." Hearing that Maya relaxed a little bit, it was not what she thought Brent was going to tell her, and yeah even if the news about his mother was bad, Maya had to relax.

"What is wrong?"

"She is back."

And from how Brent said it, Maya knew that his mother being back wasn't good.