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The premise of general relativity is very much as you suggest things may be..it just is.... if asked for a simple explanation of general relativity one could answer that it is a concept that attributes space with certain properties "that just are" particularly that space is "bent" by mass.
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Alex,
That's news to me.
Try thinking of space-time instead of space.
Here are some fundamental differences between space time and space.
(1) An object that is stationary in space moves in space time.
(2) An object that moves at a constant velocity in a straight line in space moves in a straight line in space time.
(3) An object that accelerates in a straight line in space moves in a curve in space time.
(4) An object in free fall in gravitational field moves in a straight line in space but in a curve in space time.
(5) The Earth's orbit is nearly circular in space has a helical orbit in space time.
The question as to why mass bends space-time is totally meaningless if
you notice that (3) and (4) are the same statements. This is the equivalence principle of GR at work.
Regards
Steven