Maxon and Sebastian were out for an early morning run, doing laps around their neighborhood. It was still early enough that it was almost glacial, the sun was not yet high enough to punish them with its vehemence but the thick snow was deep enough to tire them quickly.
Yet Sebastian ran, like winter breeze colliding into inanimate objects and snowy fog descending towards the ground. His long, brown locks whipped back and forth with him as he flung himself over faux sharp rocks and heavy tree trunks placed in the park for good cardio.
Although it was gratifying to spend some time outside of the prison bars, even if jogging with Maxon was absolutely killing him. He wanted nothing but to get away from his childhood best friend.
The duo received some appraising looks from some of the girls they passed, which Sebastian ignored but Maxon was eating up. He waved and winked at them, really hamming it up. Sebastian just rolled his eyes and kept jogging. He was in no mood for a female company or any company for that matter. But Maxon just wouldn't leave him alone. Because Sebastian was circumventing, Maxon tried even harder which irked Sebastian even more. It was either following Sebastian to a quaint dinner across the town for dinner or following him to a bar or even to his own house, since yesterday. Maxon refused to leave Sebastian alone and he knew his friend was doing it out of guilt.
Even that morning, Maxon had ambushed him on his jog. Sebastian was still mad, furious even, he thought Maxon knew what Damien was capable of. Sebastian believed that no matter what happened, Maxon won't snitch to Damien but he had. Sebastian almost felt like Maxon had stabbed him in his back. And the big black scar on Sebastian's right cheek was a good resultant of Maxon's snitching.
"So," Maxon tried to interact again around the sixth mile. "I know I shouldn't have let the cops take you away. I'm sorry. I should've been the one in the prison, not you."
"Maxon, I-" Sebastian sighed in exasperation, then regretted it, since it messed up his breathing rhythm. He took a minute to get himself back on track while Maxon kept his pace, looking at his friend expectantly.
"Let it go, Maxon," Sebastian said at last. He had given up and it was hard to believe, even for himself, because Sebastian Lee never gave up. After numerous debates with his conscious last night, he'd come to an interpretation that explaining himself to Maxon or Kimberly was an utter waste of time. They said that they understood his situation but neither of them had a father like Damien.
Maxon looked shocked. "That's all?" He demanded but one look at Sebastian calmed him down. He breathed in, closed his eyes, and maintained his patience. "I'm sorry you had to go to jail instead of me. It was all my fault. I know you're mad because you had to take the fall for my mistakes but I swear I'll fix this."
Sebastian shook his head, swerving to one side to avoid an elderly man, walking his dog. He almost scoffed bitterly as his gaze settled on Maxon for a fleeting moment. "You think I'm mad at you because I had to take the fall for you?"
"No?" Maxon squinted.
Sebastian scoffed again now even more begrudgingly and with a heavy discontent. "We've been friends for more than twenty years almost since we were babies. I think by now you should know that I'd take the fall for you in a heartbeat."
Maxon was overwhelmed with deep sentiment, he had truly misjudged Sebastian's anger and he was beating himself up over it. But he wouldn't give up until Sebastian forgave him. "That's-thank you. I'd take the fall for you in a heartbeat too."
Sebastian managed to smile but it wasn't genuine, more like obligatory.
"I just need to know, why are you so mad then?"
"Because you let Damien bail me out. Every favor that he grants me comes with a price."
"Seb, I-"
"We promised to get each other out of complex situations, we promised to never ask for help from our fathers because we know how cruel those sons of bitches are. But you still did. That wasn't your call to make, Maxon."
Maxon sped up to run alongside his friend. "I did that to get you out of prison. Ruxton wasn't bailing you out, the police practically forbid me to see you, Damien was my last resort."
"Well, your last resort failed." Sebastian was shaking his head in disbelief now. Although he had the entire night to come to terms with the fact that he was being banished to South Korea, he still couldn't accept it. "I would've preferred rotting in prison than going back to South Korea."
Maxon yanked his friend off his pace, halting their jog as he looked at Sebastian in astonishment, jaw agape. "Wait, what? I don't understand."
"Damien is shipping me off to South Korea." Sebastian rolled his eyes. He had tried to brew up plans which would make Damien reconsider but he couldn't think of anything that would prevent his exile. So he had to come to the inference that he had to depart.
Maxon was shaking his head in disbelief now, a thin frown settling on his lips. "What the fuck?" He said. "He can't do that."
Sebastian snorted. "You and I, both know that he very well can."
"Fuck, I screwed up." Maxon finally accepted, waving his hands hysterically as he smacked his forehead. "I screwed up big time. I shouldn't have called that bastard. God, I'm so stupid."
Sebastian gritted his teeth in acknowledgment. He knew Maxon shouldn't have called Damien but he had, and Damien had bailed him and now he was being shipped off to South Korea. There was nothing that they could do but accept this redundant reality.
So Sebastian began running again, quickening his pace this time, hoping that he could outrun his reality. But Maxon kept up with him.
"We have to do something," Maxon wheezed as his burning lungs gasped for air. "All these years with Kimberly, I know a thing or two about blackmailing."
Sebastian slowed to a stop, pulling up short under the shade of a tree. He leaned forward, bracing his hands on his knees while he caught his breath, and Maxon did the same. Sebastian wiped the sweat off his forehead, sighing heavily. The last thing he wanted to think about right now was blackmailing someone like Damien. He was a little surprised that Maxon, of all people, was thinking of blackmailing someone.
"Thanks, man but we can't blackmail Damien Lee. That's suicide. And I'd rather be shipped to Korea in one piece, with my hands and legs intact than cut up in pieces." Sebastian finally said, taking a deep breath. His legs felt numb and unsteady, painfully sore. His throat felt dry, uncomfortably dry. It was probably the burdensome stress which was taking a toll on him.
Maxon nodded, looking unusually thoughtful. He agreed with Sebastian to a certain point but he'd go to the ends of the world to fight for his friend and Sebastian knew that.
That's what made their friendship stronger.
"Maybe I can't blackmail him directly, maybe someone else can. Someone equally powerful. Someone with strong leverage against Damien."
Sebastian pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. He hoped it was just dehydration and not another migraine attack.
"I don't know, Maxon. Everything about this plan already seems sketchy." Sebastian huffed a cold puff of air as he straightened up and leaned his back against the tree trunk. "I mean, where would we even find someone as strong as Damien?"
"Georgina." Maxon's eyes lit up as his mind started generating pictures of his future victory.
"Mom?" Sebastian almost chocked on his gulp of water as he attempted to stabilise his balance. "No, no, no. That is a bad idea. That woman is a selfish bitch. And I'd rather let Damien punch me in the gut than meet that wicked witch again."
"Do you want to spend the rest of your miserable life playing errand boy for the Lee Corporations, when instead you can inherit it all?"
Sebastian bit his lip in anticipation. Maxon had some weight to his words, he did not want to play errand boy for the empire he was destined to inherit. He would not throw his future in a trash can just because of his pride, so he gulped trying to reason with the fact that he'd had to see his mother again.
After almost twenty years.
"Where would we even find Georgina Lee? We don't even know what part of this planet she lives on."
Maxon crossed his arms across his chest, taking a place beside Sebastian as he leaned on the tree trunk. "If only we knew someone who could find anyone on this earth."
As if on cue, both of their eyes widened in a mixture of shock and sudden realization. Maxon's lips curled into a smirk and Sebastian synchronized his grin with his friend's as they both said in unison, "Kimberly!"
"Call her. Call her right now." Maxon urged, practically shaking with happiness. He couldn't live without Sebastian and he was aware of it. While Ahren maybe his brother by blood, Sebastian certainly meant more to Maxon than Ahren.
Sebastian immediately pulled his cellphone and with a few taps, the call was transmitted. He put the phone on speaker, waiting for their rescuer to pick up.
"Kimberly-" Sebastian began but was soon cut off by a very angry female on the other end of the call.
"Sebastian, no," Kimberly warned cutting him off mid-sentence as the boys could practically envision her rolling her eyes at them.
That's when it hit them, they hadn't told Kimberly the real reason for Sebastian's arrest and Maxon hadn't told her how Sebastian was bailed either. And Kimberly hated being left out.
All of this could only mean one thing: the volcano was about to erupt.
Maxon looked at Sebastian and he nodded with a sigh.
"At least, let me-"
"No."
"Kimberly this is preposterous. You cannot-"
"I can." The sternness in her voice was a clear cut indication that she was not playing around, that she was somber.
"You're being stubborn, Kimberly. Where are you right now?" It was Maxon who was speaking now, from the other side of the call.
"Maxon, I don't understand why you both are not willing to tell me the truth." Kimberly walked as the boys heard her black pumps make a pitter-patter on a marble ground.
Maxon hissed as he looked at Sebastian, but his friend only shrugged. Sometimes Kimberly acted like a stubborn child and Maxon could not stand her. It was moments like these when he questioned his untitled feelings for her. He was aware that what he felt was deeper than friendship and physical attraction but sometimes, just sometimes he thought all of it was just a fallacy.
Maxon sighed, contemplating whether to tell her or to stand his ground.
"It's okay, man. We tried." Sebastian sighed and Maxon hadn't seen Sebastian give up so easily in their long term friendship.
"I'll tell her. Everything." Maxon clenched his fists. Having to tell Kimberly about Moira's infidelity was not something he was congenial with. He wanted Kimberly to have good memories of his mother but she was just going to have to swallow the bitter pill and try to move on as Maxon had.
"She loves Moira. For Kimberly, Moira is this perfect woman who raised all three of us." Sebastian argued, snatching the phone away from his friend's hands. "Don't do that to her."
"If I don't, I will lose you. And who knows if Damien or Ruxton will even let me visit you in South Korea." Maxon sighed, grabbing the phone back from Sebastian, and this time Sebastian didn't resist.
After a few deep breaths, Maxon finally gritted. "You want to know the truth? Fine. Come back and we'll talk."
"I'll be there in-."
But before Kimberly could even finish, Maxon had disconnected the call. He knew Kimberly was going to throw a tantrum over this but he was prone to handle it.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
Maxon and Sebastian were in their lair in the living room where Maxon was getting his ass handed to him at a game of Mortal Kombat 11. They had mostly been chatting about their classes for a while but Sebastian had started getting Maxon caught up with their plan to date Eliza.
"I really don't know how I'm going to do it," Maxon said. "She's gorgeous and the sex was amazing but she made it pretty clear that she wasn't looking for anything." His mouth curled into a frown.
Sebastian smirked, not taking his eyes off their game. "When has that stopped you? Make her fall in love with you, it's child's play for you man."
Maxon sighed leaning back against the couch cushions. Just the mention of this topic was enough to make his head spin. He honestly wondered what was wrong with the three of them.
Don't open that door, he scolded himself as he punched a few buttons on the controller.
"I don't know, Seb." Maxon sighed, his voice lower than a whisper but Sebastian heard him just fine.
"Maxon, you look like a screensaver on every girl's phone. You may be a drunken douchebag but you have a pretty face." Sebastian kicked his feet up on the coffee table.
"I honestly don't know if I should thank you or take offense for that."
"It was a compliment."
"Thanks?"
Maxon swore as his player died, killed by zombies. He blamed the current topic of conversation for his lackluster playing. He could write a book on this and call it 50 shades of drama.
"Even if I manage to score a date with Eliza," Maxon began. "What about Max? The moment she finds out that her friend is out with the guy who screwed her cousin and didn't call her back, Max will warn Eliza. Our plan will crash even before it can take off."
"As you said before," Sebastian smirked, still fighting to keep his player alive. "All these years with Kimberly, we know a thing or two about blackmailing. We just have to find leverage."
Maxon looked at Sebastian for a good minute before opening his mouth again. "That reminds me - where is this girl? It's been an hour since we called her."
Sebastian revived Maxon's character and they both got absorbed in the game for a minute, leaning over their controllers and mashing buttons as they attempted to kill all the zombies.
After a beat, Maxon risked taking his eyes off the screen to give Sebastian a sidelong glance. "If Kimberly manages to track down Georgina, you're going to have to face her."
"It's all ifs and buts at the moment, Maxon. We don't even know if she's alive or dead."
"Trust me, if Georgina Lee was dead, the whole world would know it." Maxon shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Aren't you even a little bit happy to meet your mother?"
Sebastian looked at Maxon, staring intently at his friend with disbelief. At this point, he didn't even care if he died in the game. "Georgina is not Moira, Maxon. Moira was a good mother, Georgina didn't even care to stay. She just..left."
Maxon swallowed, working up his nerve. "If you think Moira was a good mother, you're mistaken."
Sebastian laughed his easy laugh. Maybe Maxon was right but infidelity was nothing compared to what Georgina did to his own son. "Even I would cheat on Ruxton if I was his wife. That man is screwed up. He ruins everything he touches. Not to mention his Grand Canyon-sized arrogance. Honestly, you're lucky that that bastard isn't your father."
Maxon kept looking at Sebastian trying to understand his point of view. "Nonetheless, she kept me from my real father and let someone like Ruxton raise me instead."
"Maybe that man was a crazy son of a bitch too?"
"Crazier than Ruxton?"
"Hell, no. No one's as crazy and scary as that cunt."
"I feel like- it's ?" Maxon dropped his controller, walking over to the large French windows overlooking the beautiful morning of New York. "Strange, isn't it?"
"What?" Sebastian managed to sneak a peek at his friend who'd had forfeited from the game.
"That there's no way to find out the true identity of my biological father. That I will never receive the answers that I deserve." Maxon sighed, digging his hands into the depths of his pant pockets. "I can never get closure."
Sebastian dropped his controller forfeiting the game, walking towards his friend as he placed a hand on Maxon's shoulder.
"I think, I know how to find your father."