Mai Legacy
1.22 - Grey Hairs
In the story of everything, there is one fundamental truth: time passes, and with the passage of time, everything changes.
Joaquin Le Chien had a relatively peaceful childhood- Rosaline and Bronson were great parents and he was surrounded by friends. From the moment he started to understand things, he was taught that it was his job to lead his family’s legacy.
He’d always pursued that idea, and started to see himself as better than those around with him. He rose to the top of his high school’s food chain, and practically ruled all. It helped that Joaquin had learned how to be a great DJ, and when he threw a party, the whole school came out to have a good time.
Until he met one guy that turned that all around. Sergio Romero was his name. Fresh out of being homeschooled. At first, the two had fought excessively, something the whole school watched in awe.
Then, one day, Sergio had invited Joaquin over to his place. Joaquin, surprising Sergio, actually showed up. And, well, one thing led to another and before either of them knew what was happening, they were making out.
Joaquin had always suspected that he wasn’t completely straight. But that wasn’t what he’d been taught his whole life. The heir of a legacy typically married someone of the opposite gender.
“Times are changing, mom, dad,” Joaquin told Rosaline and Bronson. “And this is my boyfriend.”
Rosaline and Bronson were shocked, but they accepted it. Joaquin did have a point, times were changing, and their personal legacy rules had nothing set against it.
Joaquin became very close with Sergio’s parents as well. They were significantly less uptight than his, but still managed to maintain the general classiness that Joaquin was well used to. Rosaline and Bronson weren't the biggest fan of Sergio’s parents, but didn’t want to push their opinions of them on Joaquin. They were worried he’d grow to hate him completely.
At school, everyone was surprised to see two who’d been bitter enemies start dating, but eventually, everyone grew to love the two of them, and they even elected them both to prom king during their senior year.
There was one person Joaquin had grown close to during his senior year that was the voice of doubt. And her name was Hajar Cresques.
“Are you sure you really love Sergio?” she would whisper. “Do your parents really approve of you being in a relationship with another guy?”
Come graduation, Joaquin was still dating Sergio despite Hajar’s whispers. At that point, even Rosaline and Bronson gave up and made nice with Sergio’s parents.
While Hajar went off to college, Joaquin decided against following her lead and instead proposed to Sergio. Sergio said yes, and moved in with Joaquin. The two got married and spent four very happy years together. Rosaline and Bronson came to love Sergio just as much as they loved Joaquin, and the four of them were a happy little family. The whole issue of children was a very distant worry for all of them.
But, one day, there was a knock on the door. Joaquin opened it up and was greeted by Hajar, fresh out of college.
That was when the whispers started again. Except, this time, they actually worked. Little did Joaquin know, Hajar had roomed with a witch in college and had picked up a few charms that would work in her favor. One that would sow seeds of doubt, another that would simulate the start of romantic feelings for her, and finally, one that would keep him from complaining about whispers.
Rosaline and Bronson watched as their little boy lost his mind, spending less and less time with Sergio, more with Hajar, occasionally spending days locked up in his room, only opening up the door when Hajar came bearing food.
They met with their good friends, the Fengs, on occasion, but the Fengs could do nothing more than shrug and tell them they hoped Joaquin and Sergio made up soon.
The day came when Joaquin filed for a divorce from Sergio.
Rosaline and Bronson sat by helplessly as Hajar directed Joaquin to reconstruct their house to make sure any trace of Sergio was gone. They were simply to old to go against their son.
Hajar eventually married Joaquin. Rosaline and Bronson never loved her as much as they loved Sergio, something that clearly bothered Hajar. But, she didn’t let it bother her too much. She’d married into the legacy family of Windenburg, she had power now. Two disapproving parents mattered nothing to her.
Everything changed when Joaquin came home from the ancient ruins seething, complaining that the couple who’d moved in next door recently were trying to found a legacy of their own. This clearly meant something to Rosaline and Bronson, so Hajar sat down with Joaquin and the two decided to take them to court.
Hajar broke into their house, just to give them a good scare, make sure they were unnerved enough to definitely lose the court case that threatened her new found power.
But the couple had the nerve to win! When it became clear that Rosaline and Bronson were going to do nothing, Hajar relied on the old stories of the Le Chien vs the Shallots, and headed for the Von Haunt Estate with Joaquin in tow. Joaquin, although clearly uncomfortable with her plan, allowed her to waste several years in the lives of James’s children.
Then James and Susan had the nerve to steal their legacy statue. Joaquin and Hajar didn’t care that the two insisted they hadn’t, the family knew no one else who’d do such a thing.
The four of them lost their court case, then sat in silence as hours ticked by, until eventually, enough time had passed that Joaquin’s time as heir was officially over. A legacy that was centuries old had been lost- all because of these newbies who thought they could move in next door.
Rosaline and Bronson died of grief.
Hajar had to pull the weight in the family as Joaquin slowly let himself go. She was the one who had to convince him to have children so they could start over the legacy.
After Hajar had him help her set up microphones all over the park Akira and Salim were to be married in, Joaquin told her he was sick of always trying to end the Mai family, and that he was done.
Hajar did manage to obtain some crucial information, however. Seth was questioning his sexuality. She was ready to approach the news, but Joaquin put a stop to it, remembering his relationship with Sergio. Hajar, suspicious, dug through Joaquin’s things and found a photo of him and Sergio that she quickly threw out. Her magic only worked as long as Joaquin didn’t start to pine for Sergio again.
Hajar had him sit by the phone when she went and canvased the Dishmans, but when her plan to expose Seth as gay fell through, Joaquin dropped the pettiness for good. Hajar responded by burning the Dishmans alive, which shocked and horrified Joaquin, but he wasn’t going to report his wife to the police. They had three children now, and he didn't have it in him to be a single dad.
It was right after Hajar’s hair started turning grey that things started to get bad. Joaquin walked in the front door and found her collapsed on the floor. After he rushed her to the hospital, she was diagnosed with a severe form of cancer. Hajar was incredibly bitter, she was now too weak to carry out her revenge. When she was at her worst, Hajar managed to have Joaquin promise her to take action against the Mais again.
That news seemed to rejuvenate her. Although she was still incredibly ill, the doctors released her as long as she promised to stay at home. Joaquin was left with a promise hanging between them that he knew he had to keep. He just wasn’t sure how.
He watched as James’s hair turned grey, just as Hajar’s had, and as the poor Jocelyn girl, newly pregnant, cried about how her child was never going to get to meet it’s grandparents.
It was during a birthday party Susan threw for James to celebrate his old age that Joaquin started to consider something new.
He saw many come and go from that house, time and time again, people would arrive and comfort or laugh with the Mai family. Even the Fengs, who had been good friends of his parents, were proving to be better friends to the Mai family than they ever had to him.
For the first time, Joaquin considered the idea that in the process of defending themselves, his family had wound up as the villains of this story.