Her side of the story;

It was her unique deep voice that made me remember her. She never spoke if not spoken to, never did she laugh and smiled only once in awhile. She transferred and came in our final year just one year before graduation. She had excellent grades but was never sociable and always kept to herself. She was either in the library or in the classroom all alone during break. We were once paired up for an assignment and that's when I saw her eyes, they were such a beautiful pair of eyes...it sparkled yet looked mysterious. I tried befriending her but she was cold and unapproachable.

She responded to people in a few words and only nodded and said "hmm" most of the time. So it made it very difficult to communicate with her. I knew nothing about her though we've spent a few months together. I tried hard to be-friend her and slowly after six months I got her contact number yet I dared not contact her, for fear of annoying her unless I had a good reason.

Then one day I received a call from her in the middle of the night, she said she was glad to have met me and that I tried so hard to be-friend her. She then said, she was moving away from this place and that she's about to leave right then...As she said her goodbye she hung up the call giving me no chance to say anything.

I searched for her address but she had really moved away, she cut off all contacts with those few she knew which were only me, our homeroom teacher and her house owner. I was dejected and wanted to find her and ask her personally why she had suddenly left but she never picked my call...

Then as I sat on the staircase of her house ,the house owner came and seeing me, she told me to go back and that she wouldn't return anymore. I asked her the reason which she reluctantly told me after so much persuasion.

Her father was a alcoholic who relied on her to earn his living and his booze money after the death of her mother when she was young. Her mother died saving her in a fire which explains the scar on her arm, her father unable to accept his wife's death began drinking and soon lost his senses and became a lunatic beating up her whenever she refused give him money for booze.

She started earning at the age of fourteen, as soon as her mother died and she learnt to be independent while managing her studies with a little help from the school. She ran away from home at the age of fifteen yet, her father came in search of her wherever she went and as a little girl she could never go far.

As she reached eighteen, she finally went out of her city and came to my city two years ago but then her father persistently searched for her and forced her to go back home with him which explains why she suddenly left .

I suddenly realized my life has been so good and that her life has been a living hell.. I've never worked for feeding myself not to mention pay for my fees. I lived in my comforts under my parent's care and had always been dependent on them.She must have had such difficult times and she had her reasons to being so aloof was what I thought as I heard the house owner say all those unimaginable things about her.

After my graduation I began working and went to her city on impulse. I never thought I would meet her in such a bad condition...she had become so thin and pale, her voice was frail and weak. My heart ached as I saw her in this state. She pretended not to know me yet I insisted that I knew her and that I was her friend to which she finally admitted.

I tried to meet her daily but my work schedule was very busy so I could seldom see her and she always tried to avoid me. I felt that she might even dislike me but her life made me want to be with her and be her trust worthy friend, I wanted her to get the warmth I got from my family. I liked her sincerely and wanted to be a part of her life which kept me going back to her.

She started warming up to me after a few months and we became closer that's when I realized she had faced much more than what I've seen and heard yet I didn't want to force her to share but was willing to wait until the right time. For five years we've been friends yet we were never close I genuinely tried hard but she kept on pushing me away.

Then I became busy with my work as exams drew nearer for my students and I had to work till late night that's when she began showing her concern for me, she came to pick me up daily when I came home late and would bring something warm for me to eat. I felt her genuine love though she tried hard to conceal and I felt happy about it. I thought my persistence had finally paid off..

As she came to pick me often people began suspicious of our relationship yet we were the best of friends nothing more not to mention I'm straight and I think she too was or so...She smiled a lot more and laughed occasionally her laughter was filled with pure happiness and I felt really glad.

Our friendship had gone for ten years and we began to live together that's when she told me everything about herself ....She was blamed for her mother's dead, and her father forced her to work and earn for his booze, he beated her up if she didn't bring home her daily wage and starved her for the night. Her grades had to be the best and she was not allowed to go out of her house or make friends those she befriended were treated harshly so they no longer tried befriending her....

Her teachers liked her yet they couldn't help her much, her relatives all neglected her and their neighbors who tried to help were insulted badly by her father. Her life was a living hell, she tried running away several times but her father reported her missing and found her back everytime. He hunted her down everywhere and tied her down as his servant, he blamed her for her mother's death and daily reminded her she was supposed to pay back for her evil deed.

She lived in fear daily and her next few words filled my heart with warmness... She said she was scared when I tried getting close to her then slowly she didn't want me to lose me so she tried to ignore me so that she could prevent herself from becoming dependent on me. She said I was the only ray of 'sunlight' in her dark life and that she envied me dining with my family daily and having to laugh and cry together with my family. She wanted to have a family as warm as mine to pick her up on rainy days from school when I forgot my umbrella and to take her away from school as I was taken on my dad's back when I got sick in school. She envied me a lot when I smiled and laughed without any worries and that, I had relatives I could go to If my family went somewhere else. She then tried pushing me away because she said she was afraid I would leave her alone like all her so-called friends did.

Sad that she had such a tough life and it's not getting any better but at least I know I'm not going to leave her alone. For better or worse we're best friends forever and I thank God for having met a beautiful soul like her.

The end.

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