The Truths Behind the Life of Maeve Sun Lively

24

I LOOKED AT THE TIME on my phone when the bus was to leave in fifteen minutes. Which I knew by now the other girls would have all finished packing, leaving the perfect opportunity for me to see Klarise in her dorm that she'll soon leave behind.

I had so much to say to her, so much to help her with. I had already prepared in my head all the advice I will be giving her to survive as a C-Pop star, everything that will help her.

Mason had our own personal stuff ready in his car, leaving for the hotel near the airport that goes back to Beijing. But I told him to leave without me since I was going to meet him back at the hotel later myself. I wanted as much time as I could get with Klarise. And for one thing sure, I wanted to ask her what we were now. Girlfriends? Lovers? Whatever it was, I knew we were going to be together. To touch her and knowing that she's mine, to hold her and tell her everything will be alright. To be there for her whenever she needs someone, to be that someone for her. I had long forgotten the reasons I first came with Mr. Wang to Beijing, the reasons I needed to leave that village. All I knew was that I wanted to be with her, and no one was going to stop me.

A few girls, none of them in the Ascending8, had tearful faces as I passed by. In their arms boxes of clothes they'll never wear onstage again. It did make me feel bad, but also a relief that Klarise wasn't one of them. She had a different fate, she was going to be the greatest.

I reached the number dorm Klarise had told me, the names on the card in front of the room door still had her name on it.

I felt so eager, my hands shook on the door knob. I was going to hug her, kiss her, the moment I saw her, and congratulate her in ways I couldn't in front of the camera. I was so...(long pause) ignorant that time. I thought anything was possible, that together, as long as me and her were with each other, the world would somehow open its arms to us and welcome us. That people would all love us still, adore us the way they already had, that we'd be together and everyone would say 'okay, yay!' And most of all, I had been so ignorant I wasn't able to see the true expression Klarise had displayed to me when she won her second place in the Ascending8 spot. And I haven't been able to recognize that the tears in her eyes when she cried as she had kissed me were not because she knew I liked her back or any of that, but because of fear. I was blinded and drunk on love.

The door opened and Klarise wasn't there.

I blinked several times, thinking that if I opened and closed my eyes enough, maybe I'd see she's here and that I just wasn't looking at the right spots, or that my vision was blurry. But the room was small, squished with now two empty bunkbeds. A piece of paper was on one of the beds.

I went over there, hands trembling, and held the note up a little too closely to my face.

Dearest M,

I haven't been in the clearest mind, so you gave me time to think as I had asked of you. I needed to think. To be alone to think it through. But...as I did, it just hit me that we'll never happen. And when I got that spot in one of the eight, I realized even more that this could not go on. This isn't right, and I came to this show to become famous, and I'm pretty sure you became a C-Pop star to become well-known as well, if we want that, this cannot go on. Whatever we are—were—it has never happened. We're both so young, what we did was out of nowhere. You'll become more known, and so will I, whether if you'll still be a C-Pop star or change into acting as I have seen the potential in you for it, we will go our own separate ways. Do not try to contact me after this, it is best to imagine that we never met.

~Stay well, Your never existed K

I crumpled the note and started to rip at it. Furious tears were aligning with my cheeks, and the feeling of hot blood swirling within my veins, drove me madder. I was screaming and yelling like I never had before. Girls from outside the halls stopped by, watching in amaze, but I didn't care.