"So, are you going to tell me what’s going on?" Mason looked at Elara, who sat quietly, looking out of the window.
"Your favorite cold coffee is here too," Mason said, and Elara finally looked at the table before sighing loudly and leaning back in her seat.
"Things changed after you went abroad, Mason," Elara started with a solemn expression.
She remembered Mason was like a twin brother to her, always sticking close to her and having fun together. When she had started to train for combat, he was the first person she had thrown to the ground.
She trained him in combat, and he was always grateful for that. He always wanted to be an actor, and she used to say he would ace it because of how good he was at feigning hurt when he didn’t want to train further.
They were good friends because their parents were good friends too.
The first time he had arrived to meet her was when she had woken up from her accident when she was a kid. His parents came to visit her, and that’s where their friendship began.
Five years ago, Mason went abroad to train to become a better actor and to show his talent to the world.
That was precisely when things changed. She wasn’t someone regular either. She was famous, at least her talent was, even when her face was unknown to the world.
However, when she was in Francisco, she met a person, the man who changed her life for the worse.
Tears brimmed in Elara’s eyes as she described how the man made her life a living hell with his constant pestering and stalking.
She could deal with goons and everyone, but how could she deal with a man whose background was so dark that even cops didn’t dare lay their hands on the family?
The family haunted her, and when it started threatening her life and her family’s well-being, they came up with a plan.
They would declare her dead.
She had committed suicide once because she heard her father crying and wailing helplessly to her mother about how they were unable to protect their child.
That day, when she had gone to the secluded side of the beach to calm her mind, she hadn’t thought death actually would scare her that much until her foot got entangled with the moss.
That was why she was so grateful to Andrew. Falling in love with him was one thing, and pestering him for marriage was another.
When his grandfather learned of her background, he presented a proposal and was inclined toward their plan to make her disappear from the world.
Thus, they held the world’s funeral. She had lain in her own coffin even when she wasn’t dead, just to make that family’s subordinate believe she was dead for real.
They had considered continuing this act for a couple of weeks until everything was sorted.
She lived like a ghost, never going out, never showing her face to the world, and Andrew’s negligence was somewhat in her favor.
But then her growing affection for Andrew and his promise that though he might not be able to love her immediately, he would be a good husband came in between.
If he had stayed true to his words, maybe she wouldn’t have returned even now, but the humiliation she suffered, the mistreatment she suffered when they deemed her even less than a human being, was too much for her to handle.
And if that wasn’t enough, Andrew’s growing affection for his best friend and the loss of her kid was the final blow that made her come out of her shell and face the world again.
By the time Elara ended her story, to say Mason was shocked would be an understatement. He could’ve never thought his best friend suffered so much in his absence.
He looked at his phone, which blinked red, a clear indication that it was recording everything and that the person on the other end was hearing what Elara was saying, and he couldn’t help but feel a little guilty.
When he called that person, the purpose was completely different, but after hearing her story, he felt like a prick for backstabbing her, or at least doing something like this without her permission.
"I am sorry you had to go through so much. But now that I am here, I’ll ensure no one bullies you anymore." Mason placed his hand on hers, and she smiled gratefully.
As he thought about everything she said, his hand on the coffee cup paused.
"Does that mean you haven’t met your parents since that time?" Mason asked.
Elara shook her head.
"George keeps asking me to come back, but I am afraid, Mason. What if that man returns and threatens my parents again? But how can I tell him about my fears? As a brother, he will try his best to protect me, and that’s exactly what I don’t want to happen," Elara nipped at her nails before taking a trembling breath.
After this show, she’ll come back to the screen, and they will know. And when that would happen—the thought alone made a shiver run down her spine, and she swallowed hard before looking out of the window.
"Hey. Cheer up. Nothing will happen. I am here. Haven’t you been watching the news? I am getting better at stunts and fights." Mason showed her his fists, and Elara chuckled.
She wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes before laughing slightly and shaking her head.
Mason’s heart skipped a beat when he saw her smiling through her pain like this. He extended his hand before wiping her cheeks with his thumb.
"Now that I am back, I’ll ensure you keep smiling like that more often," he whispered.
Elara’s laughter turned to a smile, and she shrugged.
"I don’t know what the future holds for me anymore. I thought I had it all planned, and every decision I took was for my family. But I don’t know anymore. Was I a coward back then?" She asked before sipping her coffee.
"Sometimes, I even wonder if Andrew was the one who betrayed me or if it was me who kept the truth from him. I know it’s stupid to think. But I can’t help overthinking. There’s just so much I’ve lost," Elara said, moving her straw in the glass with a sad sigh.
Mason mimicked her actions before shaking his head in denial.
"You were naive. And scared. But not anymore," he assured her.