"As you can see, Stefan, Elena is my girlfriend, so she'll be coming to the party with me."
Silence swallowed the place, replacing the cheerful air with suffocating tension and awkwardness.
------------------------------------------
Stefan blinked, then said, "Max… I didn't expect to see you here." He then looked at Elena with a confused expression and added, "And I didn't know you had a boyfriend… Elena."
Max smiled mockingly and replied, "Yeah, I'm a guy full of surprises. So, what did I miss here?"
He glanced around and noticed Bonnie, Caroline, and Matt staring at him with expressions ranging between confusion, shock… and pride.
"Well, well, look what we have here—Elena's close friends. Bon-Bon and Blondie. And my dear brother, Matthew Donovan."
Bonnie and Caroline rolled their eyes at the nicknames Max gave them and didn't respond.
Matt, however, looked at him with a proud gaze, thinking intensely, Yes! That's my boy! Put the flower boy in his place and claim your right to Elena by force!
As for Elena, she was lost in her own thoughts, overwhelmed and confused by the situation as a whole.
She didn't move away.
That was the first thing she noticed.
Max's arm was warm around her shoulders—familiar, steady, grounding her in a way her body recognized before her mind did. For a brief moment, the world went quiet, as if everything had returned to where it belonged.
But something was different…
Not wrong. Just heavier.
His presence wrapped around her like a memory she hadn't finished mourning yet. Safe, yes—but also full of echoes. Of things left unsaid. Of nights she tried not to think about.
She felt him holding onto her—not gently, not desperately—just firmly enough to remind himself that she was real, that she was still there.
And she let him.
Because pushing him away would hurt him.
And because she wasn't sure she could do it.
Her eyes flickered, just for a moment, involuntarily, toward Stefan.
The look on his face made something twist in her chest. Not guilt. Not regret.
But confusion.
She didn't belong to anyone in that moment. Not to Max. Not to Stefan. She belonged to the space between what she felt and what she wasn't ready to name yet.
Max smelled like home.
Stefan felt like a question.
And all Elena could do was stand there, caught between a past that refused to loosen its grip and a future she was afraid to reach for.
"Max, what are you doing?"
Bonnie's question snapped Elena out of her thoughts. She looked at Bonnie with a pleading expression, silently begging her not to tell the truth about how she felt toward Max—because she knew exactly where that would lead.
Bonnie ignored Elena's look and stared sharply at Max, her expression a clear warning that he'd better back off Elena and stop lying.
Max looked at Bonnie with sarcasm and said, "What does it look like to you, Bonnie? I'm just doing my duty as a good boyfriend."
He pulled Elena closer and kissed her forehead.
Elena shuddered violently at the gesture and tried to step back, to create some distance between them—but she couldn't, trapped by Max's tight grip on her body.
Max looked at Stefan with a mocking, arrogant expression and thought, You want to take Elena from me?! That's not happening while I'm here! Elena belongs to me—me alone!
"But I thought you guys had—" Caroline said in a confused voice, glancing between Elena and Max.
Max looked at her and finished her sentence, "What? Broken up? Pfft. Please, Caroline, don't make me laugh! Elena just needed some time after her parents' death, and I respected her wishes and gave her space and time, just like she asked. And now that summer's over and she seems fine enough to hang out with you and meet 'new boys'—"
His tone sharpened when he said new boys, and Elena flinched slightly.
"So that automatically means I'm back in the picture, right, sweetheart?"
He smiled at Elena.
Elena trembled and looked at Bonnie, silently asking for help. Bonnie met her gaze and made a small gesture Elena understood clearly: Tell the truth. Or at least make it clear that things aren't the same anymore with Max.
Elena slowly turned toward Max and saw him smiling at her with a soft, almost affectionate expression—but in his eyes she saw fear, insecurity, sadness, and a sense of… betrayal?
Her resolve melted.
She lowered her head, nodded slightly, and said in a low voice, "Yes. That's true."
Stefan's heart jolted, a dull ache forming in his chest. He had thought he'd made a good impression, that Elena had started to like him. But clearly, things were far more complicated than he'd assumed.
Still, he didn't react. Not even a flicker crossed his face when Elena said it.
To him, Elena falling for him was only a matter of time.
She had never mentioned Max even once during their time together. She spoke to Stefan comfortably, happily. And the situation itself felt strange—he could clearly see Elena's discomfort, the way her body trembled near Max.
Stefan wouldn't give up easily. His return to Mystic Falls—and the risk of mingling with human students despite his struggle with bloodlust—was all for one reason: to get to know Elena.
And as far as Stefan was concerned?
Only half a day had passed since he'd grown close to her.
He had eternity.
Bonnie sighed in disappointment at Elena's reaction, then shot Max a look of disapproval. She hadn't expected this from him. He hadn't spoken to Elena all summer, hadn't even called her—yet here he was, jumping in at the first sign of threat and acting like an alpha male.
Caroline blinked in confusion at Elena's response. She couldn't understand what was really happening since she hadn't talked to Elena about Max yet—but she could definitely feel that something was very wrong.
Vicki watched the scene with deep concern. She knew her brother well. Max was acting confident and possessive, but in reality he was just pretending—driven by insecurity and a deep fear of losing Elena to Stefan.
Vicki also felt a slight sense of disappointment. As a young woman around nineteen or twenty, she could tell at a glance that Elena no longer loved Max and was, in fact, beginning to be drawn to Stefan.
But Max was exploiting Elena's sympathy as leverage, manipulating the situation to push Stefan away.
Despite all the pain Max had gone through, despite Vicki's heart breaking for him daily over his depression, she couldn't accept this behavior. It was unacceptable.
She decided she would talk to Max about it later.
Unlike the girls, Matt wasn't thinking about Elena's feelings or whether Max's behavior was right or wrong.
All he cared about was pulling Max out of his depression and bringing him back to how he used to be before their mother left.
And if that meant Max acting like a jerk? So be it.
Matt didn't care much for Elena anyway. He found her annoying—someone who kept lying to his brother. Instead of telling Max the truth two years ago—that she no longer had romantic feelings for him—she kept lying, feeding him false hope.
Whenever Max talked about Elena, about how much he loved her and how he planned to propose to her right after graduating high school, Matt felt nothing but sadness and pity for him.
He'd tried more than once to warn Max and Vicki—but they either ignored him or simply didn't believe him.
Max looked arrogantly at Stefan after Elena confirmed their relationship and said, "What's wrong, Stefan? Why did you stop smiling? Is something wrong?"
Elena flinched at Max's words.
Bonnie looked at Elena with concern.
Caroline glanced between Stefan, Max, and Elena, utterly confused.
Matt's grin widened with growing pride as he looked at his brother.
Vicki stood frozen, mouth open in an O-shape, shocked by her depressed brother's behavior.
Stefan raised an eyebrow and smiled calmly. "No, nothing's wrong, Max. I'm just a little surprised—I didn't know Elena had… a boyfriend."
He finished his sentence while glancing briefly at Elena, expressionless.
Elena trembled slightly but said nothing.
"Yes," Max replied sarcastically. "That would be me. The first and the only."
Stefan shot Max an amused look and said, "You're very lucky, Max. Having a beautiful, cheerful, kind, and caring girl like Elena as your girlfriend—you must've won the golden lottery in life."
Everyone stared at Stefan in shock at his description of Elena.
Elena looked at him in disbelief. She couldn't believe that was how he saw her—they'd met for the first time literally just eight hours ago.
Stefan caught her gaze and winked flirtatiously.
Elena shuddered, her cheeks flushing as she lowered her head shyly.
Stefan glanced at Max mockingly and thought, "You think you can challenge me? You've got a long road ahead, kid. I've lived for decades and dated countless girls—long before your parents were even born".
Damn it! Matt cursed inwardly, watching Stefan with concern then thought with anger. "This flower boy is using his looks"!
Bonnie looked at Stefan in surprise, then smirked when she noticed Max's expression.
Max's features shifted completely—anger, despair, and a hint of fear replacing his confidence, especially when he saw Stefan openly flirting with Elena and her blushing response.
Then Max did something no one expected.
He suddenly smiled sarcastically and said, "Yeah, I guess I am really lucky to have a girl like Elena."
Then, in a flash—before Elena could react—he grabbed her cheeks, turned her face toward his, and He pushed his face towards her, and then the distance between their lips disappeared.
Elena's eyes widened in shock, her entire body freezing.
Caroline's mouth fell open in disbelief.
Matt struggled with all his might not to burst out laughing—especially when he saw Stefan's face.
Stefan's expression did a complete 180, as if he'd just eaten a tank.
All he could do was watch helplessly as Max continued kissing the paralyzed Elena.
"I'm sorry—I need to leave," Bonnie said suddenly, standing up quickly before she threw up. She couldn't watch this disgusting scene any longer.
Max deliberately slow pulled away from Elena, then shot Stefan a mocking look.
"Trying to take my girl?! Not while I'm here!" he thought arrogantly, striking dominant poses just to irritate Stefan further.
Stefan sighed and stood up. "I should go. My uncle Zach is waiting for me at home."
He headed out of the Mystic Grill, but before leaving, he heard Max call after him mockingly, "Bye! Have a beautiful day!"
Stefan's shoulders tensed, and he paused for a moment—then continued walking faster.
Elena glared at Max furiously, stood up without a word, and followed Bonnie.
"Hahahahaha!" Matt burst into laughter immediately, pounding the table in delight.
Max's smile faded, his expression returning to its usual state.
Cold. Emotionless. Lazy. Depressed.
Vicki shook her head and went back to work, having no idea what she was going to say to her crazy siblings.
Caroline remained frozen in place, confused, then asked softly, "What… what just happened?"
Max looked toward the direction Elena had gone, then decided to follow her and talk to her this time.
He knew she was furious—but that didn't matter to him.
All that matters to him is the fact that he had completely crushed Stefan under his feet and humiliated him.
That alone should be enough to anger any normal guy and keep him away from Elena for good.
Except that Stefan isn't a normal guy.
In the first battle between him and Stefan—
Max had won.
By A crushing victory.