Chapter Sixty-Four-2

That's why I fear the outcome of him finding out about the engagement and what it can lead to because the way he swore to stop the engagement didn't indicate the slightest bit of pretense. Once he makes his mind up about something, he promises to go through with it. "I just... I hate how he has to come back. I hate how he's here, how once we finally overcome the problems the arranged marriage brought into our lives, we have to deal with this bullshit. I just hate how something so simple became so complicated again." I sobbed, screwing my eyes shut as the tears started to sting even more "I hate this place that we're in. I just wanna get away from it. I just want it to be us." "I just want it to be us," I repeated like if I said it enough times and shouted it to the void, it might come true "I just want it to be us, is that too much to ask?" He tightened his hold on me, almost as if he too was afraid that I'll slip away from his fingers. He didn't say another word after that as we let the silence calm us, but life was anything but peaceful right now. We can't just wish for things to go away, we can't just hope things will settle down the second we try to run because life is always going to find a way to pull us back to where we started. It's just the reality we have to deal with, no matter how painful. "... But what if?" Gazing up at him as he slowly pulled away to look at me, his eyes glossy though there was a certain emotion there, determination almost "What if we can? Just let it be us?" Furrowing my eyebrows in confusion, I was baffled by his question. But before I could question him about it, did he grab my shoulders and stared at me with wide eyes, as if a sudden realization dawned upon him. "What if we just ran away, from here and everyone else, and started new? Where no one can stop us from being happy, where we can start fresh and have a new beginning. What if, Maggie?" Despite the overbearing weight of my sadness still crashing me, I momentarily snapped out of my stupor to look at him with an incredulous gaze, like what he was proposing right now was just downright absurd "Evan, we can't just run away from our problems because we want to-" "But what if, Maggie? God, we've let our parents control our lives enough as it is, I'm sick of all of it and I know you are too. I know you just wanna fucking leave everything behind-" "I do but that doesn't mean I just can!" "Because what? Because your mother is left without any money? My parents are already helping her with the company so it's guaranteed she'll be supported financially, while we both still have years of college to go through before we manage our family's businesses, we can use that to get away from all of this shitfest. They can't do anything about it and if they try to fucking find us, we'll keep running until they get tired, until we get tired. But we'll keep running until there's nothing or no one we have to run away from anymore." I blinked, once then twice, still registering his words and thinking how I've never heard something more reckless, insane, stupid, and yet... inviting. "We both wanna go to New York, right? Then we'll save up enough money to go there, we can stay at a relative's house, I have tons who live in different states, heck, I have one who lives in London right now. We can go anywhere we wanna go, I have my allowance saved up in my bank account and I'm guessing you have one too, we can use that because why the fuck not?" "Evan-" "Think about it," he pressed on, laughing softly, "Think about how it would feel like to be free." I let the seconds pass by as I thought about it, like I really thought about it, feeling my heart pound and mind spin as I find myself leaning into the idea. Free. To be away from it all, just him and I. With no one else to pull us back. I swallowed at the knot forming in my throat, my voice trembling as I tried to speak "I... fuck." I cursed, smiling through the tears "You're so fucking crazy." His eyes lit up at my response, almost as if he already knew "So is that yes?" I nodded, letting out a shaky laugh "Y-yes, fuck yes, let's do it." He pulled me into his arms and hoisted me up, hugging me as he spun me around as I let my feet float in the air as we let the sound of our roaring laughter bounce off into the dead silence of the night "Then let's go, let's run away now. Leave everything behind because at this point, I don't care what road I'm on or where my feet take me, as long as it's you I'm with," he declared, the elation in his tone not faltering, meaning he was sure about this. This. This crazy fucking idea that I can't help but anticipate because much like him, I also don't care anymore. As long as it's him that I'm with, I'm okay. I'm fucking okay. "B-but when?" I asked, putting some distance between us. "Tomorrow, we'll do it. Heck, if you want we can do it right now, I'll stop by my house to contact my aunt from San Francisco and we can go there, and if they find us, we'll go to Washington DC. We'll keep running until our feet give out and we can no longer run." he said, "What do you say?" I didn't even hesitate this time as I nodded, no fucks given whatsoever. "Yes, absolutely, yes." * * * The car jerked to a stop as soon as we were by the driveway of my house, I unclicked my seatbelt open as I turned to look back at Evan, the smile on my face from hours ago still not leaving my face. We're doing this. We're really fucking doing this. "Remember, we'll meet at the same park, okay? I'll contact my aunt right now and tell her we'll be going to hers, and it only takes what? A five-hour drive to San Francisco from LA? We'll make a whole fucking road trip out of it, you'd want that?" I laughed "Yes, yes I do," "Then go! Pack your things and I'll meet you at 7:00 AM, okay? Get some rest, write a letter to your mom, just do whatever it is you need to do, and I'll be here waiting for you." I nodded once more as I leaned forward and kissed him "I love you, I can't wait to do this." He smiled against my lips "Me too, baby. Me too." I stepped out of the car and waved at him goodbye, as he then drove out of the neighborhood and I made my way into the house, my adrenaline kicking in as I opened the front door in a hurry, about to make a beeline to the stairs and up to my room, pack my things and- "Someone's in a hurry." The sudden voice that arose from the living room caused me to freeze in my tracks, my heart slamming against my chest as I was halfway upstairs. With heavy footsteps resonating inside the house, the deep, daunting voice of my father spoke once more "Where do you think you're going, Maggie?"