The Truths Behind the Life of Maeve Sun Lively

26

MY EARS FELT LIKE THEY were going to shatter when Adele and Joseph threw all of my belongings out of their place right after they found out what has become of me. That I had been a waste of their time and money. I should've been wiser to keep my bank account away from them, but it was too late. All the money I had made while working on Descending 99 had been transferred to their account before I even got to the bank. So here I was, no money, no job, no home.

As worst as it was, I wasn't about to go laying around on the streets. And even stripped from my job, I went crawling to Mason's doorsteps. I felt embarrassed, not only because I had been practically fired in an unfair way, but also because now that I no longer have any connections with Mr. Wang, that also meant I had no more connections with Mason. He was no longer my assistant or manager.

His apartment, which I've never exactly been to, was very old, vines growing on the sides of the building. When he opened his door and found me, I could smell the terrible scent of cigarettes from his roommates.

He closed the door behind him instead of letting me in, and I still remember those pair of furrowed eyebrows he wore so often. Mostly at me.

I didn't have any right to go to him, and it felt like he wanted nothing more to do with me now that he didn't have to. He could tell me to go right now and I think if he did, I would have done that. I would have packed my things and gone back to my mother.

"What are you doing here?"

It was a surprise he still hasn't seen the Weibo I posted. Correction: forced to post.

His eyes wandered to the duffle bags and suitcases behind me.

"Do you still want me?"

He stared at me, and for a long time I was starting to wonder if I even asked that question. If it was just a dream, if maybe I'm out on the streets right now and this is a dream. And if it was a dream, I knew he'd take me in, because in dreams you can wish for the things you want. And that was what I wanted, Mason to tell me he cares for me, that Mr. Wang has never been the reason he looked out for me.

It was not a dream.

But dream or not, he was Mason. And he had a heart that was too big for this world.

"Maeve, what are you saying? I'll forever be here with and for you."

He didn't ask me what happened, or as obvious as it was, I was homeless. But he never really asked me things unless I told him it myself, he never pushed. Now I do wonder if that is good or bad.

I let myself sink into his arms, I let him wrap his warmth around me so that I felt once again alive. And right then even with all the loss I had, at least I had a best friend.

LET ME TELL YOU this: the conditions were horrible.

I moved into his place, and I felt more trapped than ever. The apartment itself was already small, but adding on his two roommates, or was it three? The place was cramped, and in addition to that they had a terrible attitude, complete opposites of Mason.

"How the hell do you deal with these people?" I asked him, laying on his small queen bed I had been sharing for about a week with him. Most days, while Mason still worked for Mr. Wang, now as Bridget's manager and assistant, I locked myself in his tiny room. But even that, the smell of cigarettes from outside managed to escape in. I hated those brats.

He chuckled when I wrinkled up my nose at the smell of that toxic lung-filling thing. "Have you never been through any kind of hardship before?"

I didn't smile back. I had been through hardship before, I had been hungry to the point I ate my own fingernails. I had been hit where the next day I had to limp when I walked. But he didn't know that. I haven't told him anything and he hasn't asked. I knew he would be wondering though, why my own parents had kicked me out. And I know I couldn't keep all of these things hidden from him forever. Mr. Wang knew all these things about me, and how could I know that he knows while probably the only person who cares about me right then didn't know?