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Chapter 8 The Final Goodbye
I stood on the deck, staring down at the man who once radiated so much brilliance but now appeared completely broken, and not a single ripple of emotion stirred inside me.
“Give up on you?” I repeated his words, coldly.
“Mason, you gave up on me first.”
“Or maybe you’ve just gotten too used to standing on the pedestal I built for you, looking down on everything–including my feelings.”
Mason swayed, his massive frame shaking with confusion and pain.
“I didn’t! I never thought of giving up on you!”
“Suzie… Suzanne is just an idiot!”
“It’s her, she’s the manipulative one! She’s the one who caused all of this! She’s the problem!”
“And work… I’ve been so busy, I’ve been so tired, I didn’t consider how you felt. But I swear, I never fell for her! I never betrayed you! Not physically, and not mentally!”
He desperately defended himself, pushing all the blame onto Suzanne’s “scheming” and his “overwork,” as if he were the innocent victim caught in a trap. He painted himself as a man deceived, completely removed from any responsibility.
I couldn’t help it. I laughed, the sound bitter and cruel.
“Heh…”
“Mason, you’ve been acting for so long that you’ve forgotten how to be a real person.”
He snapped his head up, his eyes wide with shock.
“Betrayal?” I took two steps down from the deck, getting closer.
“You think betrayal only counts when it involves an affair? You let her invade our private space over and over again, allowing her to share moments that were supposed to be ours–just ours. You defended her, showed her affection right in front of me, letting her creep closer and closer until she was like a vine, wrapping herself around you, draining the attention and security that was supposed to be mine. Isn’t that betrayal?”
“You enjoyed her admiration, Mason. You liked feeling needed, relied on. Maybe to you, that’s not betrayal. But you’ve simply forgotten who you were before all this.”
My voice wasn’t loud, but each word cut through him like a blade.
Mason’s face drained of color as the images I painted hit him like a ton of bricks–scenes he’d either ignored or buried deep in his mind.
The rehearsal room lights late at night, the damp walls of our cramped apartment, the eyes following him on the stage… the countless nights I spent beside him.
I think for the first time, he realized that his smooth journey in showbiz wasn’t just because of his talent and hard work. It was because I had been the wall behind him, protecting him from the outside world, allowing him to focus solely on the spotlight.
He had grown accustomed to that wall, so much so that he had forgotten it even existed. But now, as it crumbled down, he saw just how exposed he was. He realized how fragile he was, vulnerable in the storm he had created.
I wasn’t saying any of this because I still had feelings for him.
I knew how language worked, how an actor’s performance could twist things. But most of all, I understood Mason, and I wanted him to see what he had lost.
“Cece…” His voice trembled, reaching out to grab my wrist. “I was wrong… I really know I was wrong… I’m such a jerk! I got caught up in all those empty titles, I ignored everything you did for me… Give me one more chance. Just one more! I’ll fire Suzanne right now, Chapter 8 The Final Goodbye
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I’ll…”
I jerked my arm away from him, putting more distance between us.
“Mason, in my view of love, there’s no room for any ‘side distractions.‘ A shift in the mind is more disgusting to me than physical betrayal.”
“As for your mess,” I looked at his face, which had drained of color, “That’s something you, Wendy, and your ‘manipulative‘ assistant need to worry about. It has nothing to do with me.”
I turned to Granny, who had been standing silently beside me, her expression cold and watchful. “Let’s go inside, it’s getting windy.”
Granny nodded, bending to pick up the hammer she had dropped earlier. Without sparing Mason another glance, she turned and headed for the house.
The wooden door gently closed behind me, shutting out Mason’s last desperate figure, and sealing off the past ten years of our entangled lives.
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Inside, the soothing scent of the ocean mixed with the warmth of a cup of tea that Granny handed me. For the first time in a long while, I felt peace, the kind that comes from truly leaving something behind.
Chapter 8 The Final Goodbye
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