Chapter 19: MARKED BY MISFORTUNES:
Ezra's mother met a tragic end while on assignment for her journalist job at the construction site of the city's future tallest skyscraper. Despite assurances from the site workers about a safe and sturdy environment, a seemingly poorly erected pillar claimed her life in an instant amid this significant project. In the aftermath, she stood as the sole casualty, leaving others with only minor injuries and bruises. Ezra, who held a deep admiration for his mother, was profoundly affected by the sudden and devastating loss.
Upon learning of his mother's demise, Ezra insisted on seeing her crushed body, despite the impossibility of discerning any facial features. His father, desperate to spare him from further trauma, pleaded with him to refrain, emphasizing that their recovery depended on avoiding such a harrowing sight.
Maximillian, upon receiving the devastating news, hastily made his way to the hospital where Ezra's mother had been taken. Upon finding Ezra, he enveloped the grieving boy in a tight embrace, his heart aching as he felt the uncontrollable shivers coursing through the distraught body in his arms. Overwhelmed with a sense of helplessness, Maximillian grappled with the enormity of the situation, unsure of how to console the shattered soul before him.
The funeral unfolded in a sorrowful and gloomy atmosphere, with a multitude of people gathering to bid their final farewells to the beloved woman. Each person who spotted Ezra extended heartfelt hugs, offering reassurance, but the shock of the sudden events left the young boy still overwhelmed.
As life continued, it underwent a sudden and profound change, forcing Ezra into an accelerated maturity. The impact of the incident made him grow calmer with each passing day. Maximillian, recognizing the weight of the situation, dedicated himself to providing unwavering support to Ezra. He reassured the grieving boy and made every effort to help him cope with the tragedy. Ezra, in turn, strove to cooperate with Maximillian's efforts, attempting to alleviate his lover's concerns.
For a while, there was a semblance of improvement, a respite from the relentless waves of sorrow. However, this temporary relief came crashing down one day when Ezra's seemingly healthy and robust father unexpectedly succumbed to a heart attack. There had been no prior symptoms, and medical examinations had not revealed any abnormalities during surgery. The sudden loss left doctors puzzled, mirroring the confusion that permeated everyone else's understanding of the inexplicable tragedy.
Ezra, though visibly sad, held back his tears this time, choosing silence over words. He withdrew from others for a while. Maximillian did everything he could—holding hands, giving hugs and kisses—trying to be there for Ezra. The boy acknowledged the efforts but stayed without a smile for a long time. Maximillian, feeling helpless for the first time in a while, was burdened by pain and self-hatred.
After months, Ezra seemed to recover, now under the care of Celeste's single father, effectively his uncle. He looked surprisingly well, not at all like someone who had lost both parents so suddenly. No one mentioned it, letting Ezra handle grief in his own way. But grief didn't stop knocking on his door, a constant, unwelcome visitor.
Tragedy struck again when Ezra had a terrible accident, injuring his leg and robbing him of a crucial modeling opportunity that could have brought much-needed financial relief. Motivated to contribute to his Uncle, cousin, and Aunt who had been selflessly caring for him, Ezra had put his heart into winning that opportunity.
However, things took a darker turn when a nasty fall down the stairs at school left Ezra with a horribly broken leg, pushing the prospect of recovery into the distant future. He had to put off his part time job for quiet some time and focus on recovery. Maximillian, sensing Ezra's despair, stepped in, offering not just physical assistance but emotional support. He moved Ezra in his wheelchair and dedicated whatever little free time he had to be with him. Yet, despite their shared hope for a break, the world seemed to play a cruel joke on them.
The heartache continued as Ezra's Uncle met a tragic end, accidentally tripping and falling from the ceiling at his workplace. This devastating loss left Ezra and Celeste under the guardianship of their Aunt Evelyn, the sole surviving member of the Ashton siblings.
As Ezra's uncle was rushed to the hospital, Maximillian couldn't ignore the haunting sight of Ezra amid the chaos. In the midst of wails and turmoil, Ezra sat quietly, his crutches beside him, an exhausted and shocked expression etched on his face. His lips quivered, eyebrows knit together in pain, yet he uttered no sound and shed no tears.
Maximillian, overwhelmed by the heart-wrenching scene, dropped to his knees in front of Ezra. Cupping the boy's face in his hands, he pleaded with a hoarse voice, "Cry, Ezra. It must be painful..."
Ezra gazed numbly into Maximillian's eyes, the corners of his eyes reddening, but tears remained elusive. "How?" he whispered.
Unable to bear the anguish, Maximillian pulled Ezra into a tight hug, as if attempting to shield him from the harsh reality. "I'm so sorry. I am so very sorry."
Throughout the funeral procedures, and in the time both before and after, Maximillian remained steadfast by Ezra's side. The grieving boy, seemingly oblivious to his own fragile state, moved tirelessly, providing solace to others. Maximillian had to eventually guide him to his room, gently laying him down. Sitting at the edge of Ezra's bed, he tried to comfort his weary beloved, hoping to coax him into a much-needed and elusive slumber. The room echoed with the silent weight of sorrow, a poignant reminder of the overwhelming grief that enveloped them both.
As life continued to deal harsh blows, Ezra had grown somewhat numb to the incessant hardships, facing them with an eerie calmness. When Louis kidnapped him, forcing the painful end of their years-long friendship, Ezra found himself in a perplexing state of mind where reality felt elusive. Meanwhile, Maximillian became increasingly tense and stressed, showing heightened concern for Ezra's well-being and mental health.
Ezra, though, felt he could now face any adversity life threw at him with a newfound calmness, sensing that his mental strength was on the rise. This resilience manifested when, one day, his car suddenly lost control, and the driver, leaving Ezra behind, leaped out of the window to save himself.
Ezra was not quick enough to follow him and the car was now too fast to jump from. Alone in the fast-moving, uncontrollable vehicle, Ezra managed to refrain from panicking. Despite his attempts to regain control proving futile, he somehow skillfully steered the car away from the path leading to a crowded area, redirecting it to safer ground were no people in sight could be harmed by the car.
As his car hurtled towards a tree at a dangerous speed, a recurring thought echoed in Ezra's mind, "If I die like this, Max will be left with the memory of his worst time, a relationship plagued by misfortunes, ending only with the death of one partner. I didn't even get to enjoy life alongside him much, as life just kept playing cruel tricks on us."
Ezra curled up into himself, arms tightly covering his face and head as the car collided with the tree. A darkness enveloped him, and the world turned black and white before his tightly shut eyes. A sharp ringing echoed in his ears as his vision blurred, and even in his increasingly unconscious state, the suffocating pain in his back suggested severe injury from the broken window.
As consciousness faded, a slight pang of regret seeped through, "I want to go back to him. I want to love him more..."
Despite the resilience he had built from enduring the absurd events in his recent past, everything crumbled when Ezra miraculously survived the car crash. As he emerged alive, hope flickering back into his heart, that flicker was mercilessly extinguished by a single text from Maximillian – a breakup message. In that cruel moment, Ezra teetered on the brink of madness, his hysterical laughter piercing through the heavy air and taking Aunt Evelyn by agonizing surprise.
As the boy eventually calmed down, the laughter transformed into uncontrollable sobs. Aunt Evelyn pulled him into her arms, her own tears blending with his.
"Aunt Evy... What have I done wrong? Why does this keep happening to me? Aunt Evyyyy... It hurts so badly. I want him here to make it better... Aunt Evy, I want him so much right now," Ezra cried, the weight of heartbreak and the pain from the accident converging into an overwhelming emotional storm.
Ezra wept bitterly into Aunt Evelyn's arms, who held him gently while reminding him through her own tears, "Your wounds... Your wounds will reopen if you cry so harshly. Ezra, my sweet boy, my poor angel, take deep breaths."
She kissed the top of Ezra's head, offering comfort, "It will get better now. He didn't deserve you, Ezra. Forget him." The pain Aunt Evelyn felt for these two boys weighed heavily on her heart, and the truth was, even now, she harbored no ill feelings towards Maximillian.
During Ezra's coma, Maximillian remained unwavering by his side, forsaking sleep and defying pleas from Aunt Evelyn and Celeste to go home. His tired and dejected expression, coupled with a stubborn determination to stay, resisted even the efforts of his siblings to pull him away. Aunt Evelyn, recognizing his commitment, had no choice but to comply.
Yesterday, when Aunt Evelyn and Celeste entered Ezra's ward, Maximillian was found kneeling on the floor, his head rested on his arm on Ezra's bed. His free hand gently played with Ezra's, occasionally kissing it affectionately. His eye bags bore the weight of sleepless nights, dark and painful. As he stood up, reluctant to look away from Ezra's face even for a second, he softly informed the two, "The doctor just told me he might wake up either today or tomorrow... She said he's out of danger now and has somehow made a remarkable and miraculous recovery." The relief in Maximillian's voice clashed with the lingering shadows of exhaustion and sorrow that clouded his eyes.
When Aunt Evelyn and Celeste heard the news, immense relief washed over them, as the recent history of their family had left them prepared for the worst. Maximillian, too, had braced himself for the possibility of a tragic outcome. Thankfully, Ezra had made it out alive and safe from this predicament.
Before Aunt Evelyn or Celeste could express their feelings, Maximillian spoke first, "I owe you all an apology..."
Celeste looked very confused, asking, "What do you mean?"
Aunt Evelyn, fully engaged, slowly went to Ezra's bedside table, placed the food she had bought down, and began arranging it. "Why don't you have some breakfast while we talk? You must be starving, my dear. You too, Celeste, come here and have a seat."
Maximillian accepted her suggestion, quietly sitting at the table and trying his best to eat, though he quickly felt full after a few bites. Aunt Evelyn did not press him, only asking softly, "So what did you mean earlier? Why did you apologize to us?"
Maximillian, visibly exhausted, rubbed his face before speaking in a cracked voice, "I know this might sound absurd, but please listen till the end. Ezra... well, he has been blessed and happy for most of his life until his mother's sudden death, right? At least from what I could tell from his words and behavior, he had a lovely life. He said so himself."
Aunt Evelyn nodded softly, her voice almost a whisper, "That is right."
"For all his life… until he met me." Maximillian felt his voice cracking.
Celeste looked skeptically at Maximillian upon hearing that, wanting to interrupt him and ask her own questions. Still, Aunt Evelyn gave her a look that asked her to stay quiet for a while, so she had to calm down and listen carefully.
Maximillian continued with a complex yet blank expression, "At first, it was not a thought on my mind, but eventually, I noticed that all these incidents kept happening only when our relationship would get back on track. Every single time, without fail. Don't they all seem unnatural to you? The pillar was said to be sturdy by the workers but somehow still fell; his father was initially very healthy but suddenly passed away from a heart attack. Even when you think about Louis, he was never really the type of guy to go so far as to kidnap someone... I also distinctly remember that the car Ezra had last ridden in was in perfect state. I checked it thoroughly when I sent him off from my house that day, only for it to suddenly get out of control. And there are many other points of suspicion... almost like some supernatural phenomenon... Sounds absurd, right? But you can no longer convince me otherwise…"
Maximillian peered deeply into the shocked eyes of the other two, "You noticed it too, didn't you? Him associating with me has brought about one disaster after another… As such, I will be asking you to play along with me. Act like we never had this conversation. Do not tell him about this at all when he wakes up… Let him stay in the dark… Act like you are not at all aware of the reason behind why I broke up with him…"
"What?" Celeste asked incredulously.
He softened his gaze as he looked at Ezra, speaking in a low voice, "I will break up with him tomorrow. When I do… I will make him hate me enough to not want to ever meet me again… And I too… will try my best to stay out of his life from now on."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone