21 Their Stories

In the previous chapter-

"Yeah, though I don't believe that time is the only thing that defines how close two people are" I said. Noah's face brightened. It was meant for him after all.

"So... how did you become friends?" he asked.

"Heh, that's a long story. I'll tell you after you tell me how you learned to hack" I chuckled.

But he looked uneasy.

"Can we... not talk about this please?" he asked.

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"Oh- okay?" To be honest, I felt pretty uncomfortable by getting rejected like that after I asked him the first personal question about his life.

He noticed it.

"Look Jenny, I'm sorry... " he started

"No it's fine" I said to prevent the conversation from getting more awkward.

"Uh okay... um then tell me how you and Holly became friends?" He asked.

"So Holly and I met when we were in our freshman year of high school. I had just transferred there. I was new to everything. Everything seemed fresh to me, even though I was a loner. But Holly didn't feel the same way. I rarely used the toilet since most of the bullying happened there. No, they didn't bully me. I was fortunately, invisible. One day I reached the toilet just to hear a loud scream" I said.

"Yeah? What happened? It wasn't serious I hope" Noah said.

"Two girls were making a girl eat toilet papers. I recorded it. " I said.

"What?? But what about that girl? Why didn't you stop those two girls? " He asked.

"I did" I smiled. "They were expelled. By the way, don't call that student "girl". She's our dear Holly".

"Oh... she must have suffered a lot... oh my g..." he couldn't speak anymore.

"Yes. She was bullied for more than 2 years. Her father worked under one of those bully's dad's company, so they blackmailed her not to tell.  But now Holly's dad owns a company himself, probably even bigger than the one he worked for before" I looked at Noah. He still seemed speechless.

"Noah you okay?" I asked.

"Eh yes. Holly must have been lonely... just like I was back then... " he said.

"You were lonely? You can share things with me, you know... " I said mentally preparing myself for rejection.

But surprisingly he started to share things. "I'm from India, you're too right? "

"Yup" I chuckled.

"Heh, I was sent to Canada by my parents when I was about to enter high school. It was recommended by some annoying relatives. My parents wanted me to have a bright future but I, an ungrateful brat, wanted to stay with them and my lovely 5 years old sister back then" He said.

"How old is she now? Do you visit your parents often?" I was slightly envious of him... for having parents.

"Umm, I last visited them about 2 years ago, for about a week. They wanted me to focus on my studies more, as they spent a lot of money on it. So I seldom visited them" he said. His eyes were unfamiliar to me... they were not the Noah's eyes that I knew. They looked so down.

"Um... that must be hard... staying away from your family I mean" I said.

"I'm used to it now so no it isn't. But it was. I got to spend 1 week in the whole year with my little sis. She's a teen now and I don't even know her favorite color. My family called me once a week, later it became twice a month since they didn't wanna disturb my studies. We talk for 15 mins at most..." he said, trying to smile.

I was speechless... That was the guy's story whom I envied? I wanted to comfort him. But I didn't know how. I just hugged him and said, "I see... "

He was startled, then he hugged me back.

"Hm, at first I used to blame my studies for this. If only I wasn't good at it, if only those hateful relatives didn't notice that... The more I tried to get close to my parents, the more they pushed me away. Don't get me wrong, they wanted the best for me... I hope... except that wasn't the best for me. I started to envy my sister. It turned into jealousy even though she always cared about me." he said.

"Oh... how is your relationship with her now?" I asked.

"After a lot of misunderstandings, I made up with her. She's like my only family now" Noah said, smiling. This smile was a bit brighter than the previous ones. I wondered if he wasn't happy but was used to wearing a mask.

"Anyway, enough with this drama, it's time to get outta the bus" He said cheerfully. We've reached our destination.

I looked down and patted his shoulder. At least I had some good memories with my parents... unlike this guy.

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*Thank you for reading my story! I'm truly grateful.  I hope you enjoyed it!*