The Truths Behind the Life of Maeve Sun Lively

35

CAMERON'S PARENTS SAT IN FRONT of me and Cameron, and they both had what seemed to be the most disapproving looks.

They had flown all the way from New York to Beijing right after me and Cameron had announced we were dating to the media, and this was the final part of our plan. His parents.

"So you're born here in Beijing, Ms. Lively?" Their English was frighteningly fluent, and I don't think I've ever been timid around many people in this lifetime, but I have to admit if I were to create a list, Cameron Li's parents would be on it.

"Yes, Mrs. Li."

Tabitha and Arthur Li were definitely very...constricted people. And it was a great deal of surprise to me that their son turned out to be a fine young man. I glanced to my side at Cameron, and he reminded me of a shy boy who had been caught with his hands in the cookie jar.

"So," Arthur Li cleared his throat. "You act for a living huh, Ms. Lively?" He was in a full bodied suit even though it was summer, and he had the eyes of a marksman. "What do you like about our son?"

I think I expected that question but when it came, I was unprepared. I peered at Cameron, and if it wasn't because I sat so close to him, my hips touching his, I wouldn't have realized his shaking. It was the first time I saw Cameron so scared.

I looked back at both his parents and I smiled my charming smile that has worked for years. Clearly, it affected them too, because you can see their expressions soften just the tiniest bit. "Everything if you asked me, I love every single thing about Cameron." At this, I looked at Cameron again, took his hand, and gazed at him with great affection. And even if I don't love him that way, even though I'll probably never be able to love a man that way, I meant what I said in the purest way possible. "I love the way his dimples deepen when he smiles, I love the way he is so gentle with everything, I love the way he talks when he has done something wrong, I love the way he can make your day by just telling you a joke, I love every single thing about your son, Mr. and Mrs. Li, and when I tell you that, I really mean it."

Cameron's apartment has never been more silent. Cameron was smiling, but even as good as he was at acting, I saw the fear in his smile.

When we both thought we had lost all of this, that whatever we had gone through was all for nothing, that he and Mason will have to continue their relationship in some other way with more hiding; Mrs. Li stood up and smiled. She gathered my hands into hers and I hadn't realized that the lady could even smile.

"Please, Maeve, tell us a little more about yourself."

In the corner of my eyes when I looked back at Cameron and Arthur Li, I knew I had just about won. As always.

THEY'RE ALL CALLING YOU a disgraceful daughter."

Mason was sitting on Cameron's lap with a coffee mug in his hands behind the kitchen table, while Cameron was trying to soothe him because he was frowning his often placed frown again. I wanted him to not frown so much, to maybe feel less stressed, more free. But somehow he always finds something to worry about. Or maybe I was just too problematic and he had to always watch out for me.

I stood next to the coffee maker and made myself a new batch of coffee, the noise of the maker seemed calmer than the quietness as I faced my back toward Mason. "I found an apartment in good condition around L.A. that we can rent. And for the plane tickets I've——"

"Maeve."

I turned around. "What?"

"You can't pretend this isn't happening, you can't just change the topic."

I threw my hands up, rolling my eyes. "So now I can't even talk about my career when I'm clearly being invited to act in Hollywood?"

Mason got out of Cameron's lap and came over to me. "You know what I mean. Your parents, I mean those two people that Mr. Wang threw at you. Joseph and Adele."

I knew what he was talking about of course, I've known since the day when that paparazzi ruined my dinner. How could I have not considered them?

"I think I'll leave this to the two of you," Cameron kissed Mason on the cheek and left us.

The coffee maker stopped making its incredible loud noise and I poured the finished work into my mug. My mind was elsewhere though, so when my hand tipped and the hot fresh made coffee burned my hand instead of falling into the coffee mug, I dropped the whole glass onto the floor from both pain and surprise. The Thump! of the first fall seemed to stop in time, but then time continued as it always did and the glass and everything shattered into thousands of pieces. It was a surprise I wasn't hurt except for the burn on the back of my hand.

"Jesus," Mason, as usual, started cleaning up the mess I had made.

"I didn't mean to..." And instead of helping, I sat helplessly on the kitchen chair. It was only a few minutes until he finished cleaning the mess and came over to me again, sitting on the other chair across from me.

"I know they're not your most likable choice of people to talk to on a weekend, but if you don't, it won't be soon until they use this timing of the media to spread lies about you for self gain."

I was looking at the table, but then I looked up at him, and I think my face might've been almost deadly. "You know, what they're saying about me isn't wrong either. I am an ungrateful daughter, I left my own mother."

He tilted his head at me and reached for my hands. I took them off the table instead.

"That isn't true, she had hit you. She abused you."

"What if I told you that it didn't hurt? What if I told you I left her truly because I was just sick of that village and I wanted a beautiful life because I was deeply and sincerely ungrateful?"

"I know that's not true, you're hurting right now."

I stood up from the chair and I went over to the sink to wash my hands with cold water. The part the coffee had spilled on the back of my hands was bright red. "What does it matter? I'm famous, none of them can hurt me now."

He came over to me near the sink, turned the faucet off, and looked at the burn on my hand. Without saying anything, he led me to his room where he kept his medical kit, took a cream out, and started spreading it on my hand as we sat on his bed. There was a minty smell and it felt all too comfortable.

"I know you're famous now, and I know you're going to be even more famous after you start taking projects in the U.S.. But I also know that fame isn't enough to make someone happy."

He finished putting the cream and was packing everything up from the medical kit. His Adam's apple swelled in a way I knew that seventeen year old boy never really had. He was grown up now, and I guess I was too.

He put away the medical kit, came back over to me, examined my hand, and looked into my eyes with a warmth only he could offer. "Maeve, you're my best friend, and I only want the best for you. That's, I think, all I've ever wanted since I've known you. Even when I was only your simple assistant, when I met you, I saw this loneliness in your eyes and I don't think you even realized it. Did you know that?"

"This is nonsense," I turned away, about to leave, but the feeling of his hand so gentle on my shoulder stopped my trace.

"I want you to have what you want, and if becoming the best actress ever known in history is what you think will make you happy, then I want that for you."

I turned around, and I hadn't realized I was starting to tear up.

"But if any of us want that for you, we'll have to do this one step at a time. And now the first step is to make a negotiation with those two people."

His room wasn't big, in fact it was the smallest room in our large apartment, and even when I asked him to pick the better ones to choose from, he chose this one. He said that some people can be blinded by luxury once they've got it for too long, and that if he could avoid that he will.

I took a deep breath, my tears long gone, and looked at him. "Alright then, how are we going to do this?"

He smiled, "Of course the old fashioned way."