That night, Mason doesn't sleep.

It's been a few hours since he settled at the window banquette in his room with his knees pulled up to his chest, eyes staring at the garden blankly.

He knows he's overthinking again. He knows.

And he's also painfully aware of the fact that it does him no good. It never has. The exact opposite, actually. It makes him think about how there might be parts of him that have changed and developed over the past few years, but he sometimes gets into these moods where he wonders if he's actually any different from what he used to be like.

He allows his mind to overthink one question and he's right back to being the scared, closeted kid who got through life with his head down.

The burn of the lingering thought is present in his chest like heated needles pierced into his skin: He's already been rejected by his own parents. If he contributes even the tiniest part to Ayaan's parents doing the same to him, he might never be able to forgive himself for it.

But on the other hand, the thought of being with Ayaan... it makes his chest bloom. The very idea of it eases the ache of the uncertainty, even if he's aware that they don't know each other that well.

In the past few weeks, Mason got to see a lot of different sides to the guy, and it's no secret that once you get to know him, he isn't really all that scary.

Endearing, almost.

Mason closes his eyes when the night breeze caresses his face, as if soothing him by taking all of his unwanted thoughts away with it, and tucks his knees under his chin.

Like a slideshow, the image of every little thing that Mason has noticed about him plays inside his head; the way Ayaan leaves exceptionally huge tips for the servers whenever he eats outside, insisting on driving Mason home every time they meet for work. The fact that people think he's this powerful, influential, scary man who employs a considerable number of people around the city but in all honesty, although he lives up to the first part of the belief, he's a talkative drunk and secretly loves sweets.

He adores his sister and laughs at the lamest of her jokes, likes to stand under the night sky and stare at the moon because it calms him.

A little smile makes its way to Mason's lips.

Yeah, he really wouldn't mind getting to know Ayaan better.

-

"Hey, Mase?"

He looks up from the newspaper he was focused on.

Gwen looks uncharacteristically timid, so Mason leans back in his seat and gives her his undivided attention. "Yeah?"

It takes her a moment to find the words, now yellow-painted fingernail tracing the edge of the dining table. "Would you... like to... maybe... y'know," a shrug, then a sheepish smile that has Mason folding his arms across his chest, she takes a pause again. He waits patiently. "...do you... wanna meet this guy I'm seeing?"

If Mason wasn't paying attention, he would have missed the last part of her question. His expression softens and there's a dull ache in his heart because of the reminder that if Gwen is his only family, he's the same for her, too.

Losing her adoptive family at the age of eighteen in a crash hadn't been able to break Gwen McCrae.

She doesn't talk about them much, but Mason knows she's had to be made of steel to put the heartbreak that had come with their death into creating the business that flourishes with full force today.

Mason isn't the only person she's saved.

So with the brightest smile on his face, he tells her, "I would love to."

Gwen's face lights up with a smile that matches his own, and Mason can't help but reach out to poke her cheek when her face flushes a little.

"Look at you," he teases. "All grown up."

She smacks his hands away, laughing a little. "Shut it, kid. I'm turning thirty soon."

"Sometimes I wonder how you're more childish than I am when you're like... eight years older than I am."

Gwen rolls her eyes and gets up to clean their plates off the table.

Mason immediately follows to help, folding the newspaper and setting it aside for her to read later.

"What's this guy's name anyway?"

They set everything in the sink and Mason gestures for her to go away when she reaches forward to wash them. She turns around to rest her back against the counter as she replies, "Coen Sanders."

Mason smiles, nodding as he reaches for the soap. "I recognize that last name from somewhere. Go on."

Gwen tilts her head to one side and begins talking as if she's checking items through a list. "He's twenty-eight. Architect. No, he doesn't have an accent." Mason laughs at that.

"His last name sounds familiar because they hired us to plan his sister's wedding that happened around three months ago," she adds. "You even told me it was the most fun you've had working on anything so far. He was the one that came to me with his sister to talk about how everything was supposed to go. We've been... sort of talking since then."

He watches her talk, almost gush, about this guy for a few more minutes, until she stops with an embarrassed, "Oh, my God, I sound like a teenager with a crush."

Mason shakes his head, chuckling. "I'm not commenting on that."

She takes another plate from him and dries it off with a dishcloth. "Speaking of teenagers with crushes... how are things going with Ayaan?"

Mason lets out a louder laugh and flicks water in her face. "There's no way I'm talking to you about that. Especially after the way you creeped me out last night." She shoves him and he does it back. "Maybe if you tell me how you knew about the whole thing, I'll let something slip."

She thinks about it for a minute.

"I pretended to be all secretive because, for the most part, I thought it wasn't my place to say anything, y'know?" she says finally. "But now that he's probably told you he likes you, I guess it's okay..."

Mason doesn't even blink as he waits for her to continue.

"It started jokingly because Tanvi mentioned he wouldn't stop talking about you." There's a grin on her face that widens when Mason quickly turns back around to hide the tinge of pink on the top of his ears. "And then I guess the conversation got serious when she told me that it was obvious Ayaan didn't want to go through with the marriage. I felt so bad. So did she. She'd been wanting to do something about it for a while now."

Mason takes a breath and without looking up from the bowl in his hands, says, "And then he said no himself?"

Gwen nods, and there's a silence between them for a while.

And then Gwen speaks again, her voice gentle as she reaches out to place a hand on Mason's shoulder. "I know you don't like complicating your life and... and I think we both know that's bound to happen with what his parents are like."

Mason nods quietly.

"But I just... I really want you to know that it must have taken a hell of a lot of courage for Ayaan to come up to you and confess despite everything." She squeezes his shoulder a little before dropping her hand. "It's completely your choice. I want you to remember that. But consider giving him a chance if possible." Mason looks at her and she passes him a little smile. "You're a smart kid, Mason. But sometimes, you let your mind be so cruel to you, I..." She looks away and shakes her head when her voice cracks. "Do you know how giddy Tanvi was when she talked about how much happier Ayaan has been since you guys met?"

Mason takes his bottom lip between his teeth at the revelation.

"And I know you've been more outgoing since you first met him," she adds and tilts her head to look at his face. "You've been more willing to meet people on my behalf and I'm so proud of you."

He smiles shyly when she ruffles his hair.

"Plus, I don't know. Call it mother's intuition since you jokingly go around calling me your mother anyway."

Mason breathes out a laugh before she continues.

There's a smile in her voice.

"I think you guys would be really good for each other."