which he is, often, as anyone that's been waiting for new paolo music (where is it??? where is it paolo???) can tell. i won't rely on the potential oddness that meeting through zahra could bring, if i do end up working out an ex line with her, and will say that max has been living in los angeles since around 2017 because that's where his daughter is, and he has felt out of place every day so they can have had a random run-in in the city of some kind?