The Truths Behind the Life of Maeve Sun Lively

118

HE SHOWED ME THE SCARS that remained from the cutting.

The one year Klarise and I had spent in Molokai, I left Mason alone. I could see my selfishness then as my fingers ran along the rough marks on the pale and soft skin of his arms. He desperately needed me after Cameron's death, yet I wasn't there. I hated him for leaving us for so many years without leaving any trace of contact or opportunity to reach him. But leaving him alone and telling him that it was all his fault; I was worse. His scars reflected my crime.

I looked up to meet his eyes, which was a shallow brown of sorrow.

"Promise me something?" I asked, brushing his sleeves back down and pulling him closer to me on the couch.

He nodded, settling into my embrace. Inhaling his laundry smell after Sarah gave him a fresh pair of clothes that were Jackson's, I rub his back the way Klarise once had for me.

"Don't hurt yourself again."

The whimpers then came, and I could feel him nodding again and again. I exhaled, holding him tightly while I thought about my own promise with Klarise.

"I miss him so much, everyday."

"Me too, Mason. Me too."

—————

Time moves, not caring whether or not you're ready for it. It never cared, because that's all time knows how to do and be. Move on, small seconds that breaths are taken into days and months where lives are lived.

It was obvious that Mason and I may never exactly recover from our lovers' deaths. But our existence for each other made us promise them and ourselves however secretly to get our lives together again.

We spent the first month with Jackson and Sarah, but after that, Mason proposed the idea of getting a place in LA and leaving New York. Jackson was reluctant to let his father figure go, and more or so unable to keep a watchful eye over me everyday. But after persuasion from Sarah, he had no choice but to let us. Therefore—a good thing we were finally off his back—he can now work on the company he has been wanting to build which he'll name Kong Industry for his sister and the company his parents once had but in his words: "I'll do it the right way". All of Klarise's assets and money was left to Jackson, and he'll now use it to build this company and also a charity for cancer under the name of his sister.

Things were turning toward the brighter side, and it was time for Mason and I to be better too.

Leaving New York and Manhattan was the better for Mason—maybe for me too. The haunting memories of our apartment and houses there left us always thinking of the past. Going back to LA—though we've once lived there together long ago—it was a breath of nice air; relieving us from the city of the car accident.

Orange County was now merged into Los Angeles supposedly, no longer being a city or county in itself. The views were good enough there and the houses felt more homey. Mason and I decided to buy a place there after selling our places in Manhattan.

After attending Juno's wedding, Mason left most of the in-charge things to Juno. After those arrangements, I never saw Juno Gallapher again other than hearing about him from Mason. I suppose change also came with saying goodbye to old faces in our lives. New life, new people. Juno continued to do well with his life, perhaps the only one out of us who came alive again.

Both Mason and I lessened our workload to spend more time with each other. We didn't go out too much; since the cameras and people confronting us about whether we were dating gave Mason a headache and he lost his temper easily to outsiders recently when mentioned about Cameron-related things. I understood him and I didn't blame, the knowledge that these people held so little about and then to make big claims and falseness wasn't fair. But I was famous for way longer than Mason was, and so I had been used to it all. Mason? He'll never be used to it.