ALL NOVEL Chapter 75: The Call
After training, Max went to the locker room of the boxing gym to grab his phone. There were two messages from Zara sent an hour ago, asking what he was doing and mentioning something about her work, promoting things on social media.
Max thought about it and decided to call Zara directly instead of endlessly texting back and forth.
"Hello, I'm Zara's coach. She's currently in a photo shoot and can't take your call right now." A curt male voice came through the receiver Max had placed to his ear.
"Hi, you must be Wolf. Can I know when Zara will be done with her photo shoot?" Max asked politely, which was unusual for him.
"I'm not sure at the moment."
"All right, I'll get in touch with her later then."
The call ended abruptly on the other end. Max felt that the coach didn't like him much; his courtesy carried an air of detachment.
But it didn't matter. Max wasn't planning to seek anyone's approval—he only needed to focus on Zara.
Max then replied to Zara's message and decided to ride around the city on his new motorcycle.
He'd been riding it for just over a week—a Kawasaki model. Max didn't know much about motorcycles, but his uncle Terry had given him several to lend to his friends. Since the weather was nice, he thought it'd be good to explore a bit.
Los Angeles, the second most populated city in the United States, spans five counties. Max lived in San Fernando.
The new Cobra Kai martial arts school would be located in a rural area surrounded by as much natural beauty as possible.
The goal was to allow students to undergo intense training camps, spend a few days without returning home, or simply have more impressive training routines.
Max wanted to create competitions and make his martial arts school nationally recognized to attract people's interest.
He aimed to create an environment where everyone could enjoy themselves, make memories, and grow.
He might not be the most qualified person to say he wanted to improve people's lives when he couldn't fix his own, but he could make other people's situations better.
Max rode his motorcycle, weaving between luxury cars. When he passed by his favorite restaurant, his phone rang twice.
"Are you focusing on MMA? Why abandon karate for MMA, which is much more brutal?"
"I can do more than just karate. Maybe we can train together sometime."
Max pulled over to the side of the street, looked at the message, and smiled faintly. There was no doubt Zara knew more than just karate moves.
"A coach will prepare me to debut in official competitions when I'm of age. For now, I'll stick with karate until I'm old enough to fight official fighters."
"And if you still want to train with me, I wouldn't want to hit the star of Iron Dragons and have your sensei come after me."
Ding! Ding!
Zara sent several more messages in quick succession, saying that MMA was a good option instead of unofficial fights and that it was an excellent path for someone like him.
A sport suited for me? Max thought about it carefully. He believed he could excel as a professional fighter—not for the money like everyone else, but because he was genuinely good at it.
"Have you eaten?"
"Are you inviting me to eat?"
"I can do that."
"Then I haven't eaten."
Max followed the advice of a friend who had failed in love numerous times and hopped from one meaningless relationship to another.
He wasn't ready for a relationship; he was too reserved. But he could try.
There were levels of difficulty in his relationships with others, but he wasn't so inept that he couldn't hold a proper conversation.
He had never tried before, but he hoped for some kind of sign that told him whether to keep going or stop.
But Zara accepted. She, at least, felt some kind of interest in him. Meanwhile, Max wanted to figure out what he truly felt about relationships with other people.