My Love Until the Last Goodbye (Mary and Maximus)

"I want to know-who was she? What happened to her? How did you two end up separating? Didn't she love you?" Paul asked, full of curiosity.

"Paul, maybe I could tell you how I met your mother instead..." Maximus said, uncomfortable just thinking about that distant past.

"No! I want to know about the woman whose heart you broke... Please," Paul insisted, refusing to let him change the subject.

"Do you enjoy hearing about other people's pain?" Maximus asked, raising an eyebrow at his persistence.

"I just want to know. It helps me not think about what I saw..."

"Paul, that's a very convincing excuse, but I don't want you to follow my example."

"Dad, I know you messed up, but look at you now-you have a good woman by your side."

"Diana?"

"Yeah. I like her. Besides, I'm sure you and Mom didn't love each other anymore," Paul said with confidence.

"Paul, I will always love your mother. She brought you into this world, she gave birth to your siblings-how could I not love her?" Maximus said, surprised by his son's assumption.

"But you two were always fighting."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I didn't love her. Sometimes, as adults, life moves so fast that we become harsh and impatient. I think that's what happened between your mother and me."

"Aha...! But still, you had a lot of women," Paul said as if it were nothing.

"Paul!" Maximus shouted, shocked.

"What? I'm not saying anything that isn't true, am I?"

Maximus sighed in resignation. There was no point in ignoring it now. He sat down.

"Her name was Mary. Mary Preston... She was about ten years younger than me.

I met her through your grandmother, Catherine."

"She never liked Mom, did she?"

"No, she didn't. Your grandmother was very strict, and your mother was rebellious

by nature," Maximus said, carefully choosing his words.

"Keep going..."

"Keep going with what?" Maximus asked.

Paul rolled his eyes.

"With Mary... Who else?"

"Paul..."

"What? I'm just curious about this woman. I want to know how you ended up married to Mom if you fell in love with someone else."

"What's important isn't who I married or why. What matters is that you understand that in life, you'll meet many people. But when the right one comes along, you'll just know."

"Dad, you're dodging the story you were about to tell me."

Maximus sighed.

"What I can tell you is that she was young, like you. She fell in love with me. I thought I loved her too, but the truth was, my heart belonged to your mother.

"That's why I told you that sometimes, without thinking, we hurt the wrong people.

"I suppose that whatever Nadia was doing in that moment, she wasn't fully aware of it either.

"I'm not saying she'll regret it now or

even tomorrow, but you should know something-when we're young, we do stupid things. Sometimes, we get the chance to apologize, sometimes we don't. But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt." noveldrama

"Did it hurt to lose Mary?" Paul asked, intrigued.

"To be honest..."

"Yes, tell me."

"When I realized the damage I had done, it hurt me to my core."

"Did you apologize?"

"I did. But it took me many years... Sometimes we get the chance to say sorry. Sometimes, we don't."

"Laura and Serenity were right..."

"About what?"

"About all of this."

"They told me she wasn't a good girl."

"But if you hadn't experienced it for yourself, you'd probably be blaming everyone

else. Things happen for a reason this was your first real lesson."

"She was my first girlfriend..." Paul admitted, lowering his head.

"I know. But you'll see, with time, it will pass. This was just one experience. When you find the right one, you'll know.

"Though I have to warn you-finding her doesn't mean everything is set in stone forever.

"You're still young, and when you grow up, you'll learn to recognize the difference between real love and an illusion. That's why you need to be wise and learn to tell them apart."

Paul leaned back against the couch, let out a deep sigh, and took a sip of the drink his father had given him.

"Dad, let's go back to Valentia. I don't want to stay here another moment."

"Alright... Paul, let's go home."

[Present Day]

"Back then, that was your biggest pain, Paul..." Maximus murmured, getting up

from his seat and walking into his dark bedroom.

Tonight, more than ever, he missed

Diana. He wanted to hold her, to hear her advice, to see her

smile-something, anything. But she had to travel back to Valentia and hadn't been able to return yet.

As Maximus took a shower, his mind drifted back to the moment he had finally

realized his marriage with Mary was doomed.

That damn honeymoon in Santorini had brought more pain than happiness. He had no one to blame but himself.

In the end, both he and Mary had found their own paths, but there was no denying it—his failed marriage had been entirely his fault.

'Oh, Maximus, you really thought karma would never catch up to you,' a voice echoed in his head.

He let the water run over him, hoping it would wash away that damned guilt.