Amy and I submitted our project the next day. It was the second period and I was having a heartburn as I ate that spicy ramen late at night yesterday. 

"Drink some hot water," Amy suggested. 

"Yeah. We will get some from the filter at lunch," I said and leaned my head above my hands on the table and closed my eyes, the dying echo of my professor's lecturing reverberating in my ears. 

After two hours, Amy shook me lightly, making me wake up. I tore my eyes open and looked at Amy.

"Did I sleep for two hours straight?" I asked while yawning and stretching. 

"Yeah, you did. Now come. We can get water for you." Amy took my hands in hers.

We went to the canteen and saw Zinnia, Lily and Andrew seated at our table. I frowned a bit as I saw Andrew sitting with us. It was new and unexpected.

"Hey," I said as I put my bag down. "I'm having a heartburn so, I'm gonna get some hot water."

"I'll also come," Amy said, taking a flask from her bag. 

"No, it's fine. I'll go," I said, flashing her a smile and taking a peek at Zinnia. 

She gave me a sly smile and asked, "Are you sure?"

"Come on. I'm not a baby," I whined and stomped my feet playfully. 

They all laughed and Andrew said, "You sure are."

I gave him a stare to which he went numb and apologized immediately. I chuckled at his reaction and Andrew was relieved that I didn't mean that stare.

The filter was near the ground. I walked towards the filter and was waiting for the flask to be filled with hot water. I closed the lid and turned around to bang my head on a hard rock chest. 

"What the fuck!" I screeched. 

I looked at the person and there he was. The one who was trying everything to get on my tits.

"What the heck is wrong with you, moron?" I yelled.

"Hey, Shorty. I saw you were alone so I thought I would give you some company," Danish said, smirking. 

"Yeah and this is the way you give someone company! By giving them a heart attack," I huffed. "You have done the same thing before. And this time, you gave me a heart attack along with a bash," I said as my hand went to my forehead. 

"I'm sorry. And I don't think it hurts that much. You didn't hit your head on a wall," he retaliated. 

Not gonna lie, I was exaggerating a bit. 

"Not a wall but a fucking chest of a muscle pig," I retorted. 

He chuckled. I rolled my eyes and walked past him, shouldering him brusquely aside. I stomped towards the table at the canteen and stood in front of them. 

They all smiled and said, "Hey, Danish."

I frowned and turned my head around to see Danish standing behind me. 

So he was following me all this time? Or as he said, keeping me company? 

"Did you guys come together? Is this why you insisted Amy to sit here and go alone?" Lily asked, poking fun at me.

I shot a death glare at her before sitting down near Amy and drank the water. Danish sat beside Andrew and started talking to him and Lily. 

Amy noticed my long face and asked, "Hey, what happened?"

I shook my head and held my chest indicating that I was frustrated with my heartburn. But it wasn't the heartburn though. I took a glance at Danish who was smiling and talking to Andrew and Lily. This guy was a headache for sure but something in him was also intriguing. 

On the way home from college, we got the essential groceries and other stuff. I made sure I got ramens for a month because I would be damned if that night was going to happen ever again. 

»»---------------------►

Me, Zinnia and Lily were sitting in the living room watching random shows. While we were watching, Zinnia got a call from Sandra. She attended the call and went to her room for privacy. After some time, I asked Lily about Andrew. 

"Oh, yes. You were busy with your project yesterday," she said and turned towards me.

"Yeah. What is it that I need to know about him?" I asked.

"It's personal. No one knows about this except me, his roommate Daniel and Danish. It's about his life."

"But you are sharing that with me and Zinnia. Don't you think it's inappropriate?" I asked.

She shook her head and said, "Andrew knows that Zinnia knows about him. He knows that I can't keep any secrets from you guys. And he said it was fine with you both knowing as he wants you and Zinnia to know him and also because he trusts you guys."

"Owwkay," I said. "So what is it?"

"Well, this happened when Andrew was twelve. He has an elder brother, Boston, who is five years older than him. They were not like other siblings, they always fought and yelled as Boston loathed Andrew. He always put Andrew in trouble, throwing tantrums and all. He never saw Andrew as his brother but was ashamed of him. Boston isn't the one to blame here because he grew up seeing his own parents loathing and despising Andrew even though he's their own son. He was always an unwanted child to them. Andrew was a weak kid, both in academics and social life while Boston was the exact opposite. He was good at studying, athletics, literally everything and was also a social butterfly. He made his parents proud and brag about him when dining with their friends and relatives, unlike Andrew. His parents saw Boston as a trophy while Andrew was nothing but a liability for them."

"Parents like that still exist?" I asked, ridicule crawling up my face.

"Apparently, yes," Lily replied. 

I shook my head and asked, "And?"

"One day they were fighting over a small thing. Boston was annoying and yelling at Andrew, making a huge fuss about that silly problem. Andrew kept quiet everytime his brother quarreled. But that day Andrew reacted. But that twelve year old boy didn't know that his reaction would make his life at stake."

I furrowed my eyebrows at Lily.

"During that fight, Boston started pushing Andrew. He couldn't take it anymore and without thinking, Andrew pushed his brother with all his strength, causing Boston to fall from the connected balcony of his room."

My eyes widened hearing that. I was expecting something bad to happen but this was much more than I expected. 

"Did he die?" I asked abruptly. 

"No, but he's in a wheelchair. His legs are paralyzed. That accident left him crippled and the family devastated."

I nodded my head.

"What about Andrew?"

"Ever since that, Andrew's parents became cold towards him. They were already cold but after that accident, they became Arctic cold towards him. They blamed him for his brother's condition. They were against him and abandoned him. Not only them, their relatives and friends and also Boston's friends were against him. Boston's girlfriend even slapped Andrew when she visited him at the hospital."

"What about Andrew's friends?"

"Andrew didn't have any friends. He was in the same school as his brother. And since his own sibling sees him as trash, then why can't others? He was bullied every single day. And after that incident, everything got worse. Everyone called him names like killer, murderer, slayer and all. He bottled up his feelings, anger and everything. Can you imagine a twelve year old boy going through all this shit alone?"

I signed. To be honest, I was out of words. I couldn't believe that I was misjudging him and being rude towards Andrew when he went through all this mess. Well, how could I know about this in the first place?

"He left his home right away when he became eighteen," Lily said, snapping me out of my thoughts. 

"He slept in a subway for more than a week when he left. He tried all kinds of jobs. And then he met Daniel on the metro. Daniel took care of him as his own brother. He gave Andrew a shelter, clothes and a part time job. After a year, it was Daniel who sent him to college. And that's why Andrew owes a lot to Daniel. If it wasn't for him, then Andrew wouldn't be even alive."

"This whole thing sounds like a movie," I said.

"I know," Lily agreed.

"How's he now? Has he moved on from his past?"

"No, he hasn't. He's still facing problems like building a relationship with people. His parents always saw him as a misfit which made him see himself as one. He says that he's not good enough." 

"So how's it between you two?"

"To tell the truth, our relationship isn't normal. Well, which relationship is normal anyways? There's a wall between us. He thinks that I'm going to leave him one day. He said all this to me after two months of dating as he didn't want me to ditch him like his ex. His ex left him saying he hid a thing like this from her. So he told me this beforehand and gave me space and time to think about continuing our relationship. He says that I deserve better at times. And when he says that, it kind of scares me."

"And you decided to continue?"

"Yeah. What he did wasn't intentional. He was just twelve. He was suffering before that incident and more after that. He's really a good guy and I know it because I have seen it. I know as a matter of fact that he isn't going to leave me like my exes. I'm a broken person and so is he. We both are broken but fit each other perfectly. I'm not going to leave him just because of his past, Elka. I love him," Lily said. "I love that Andrew Wyatt with all my being."

I smiled at her for a few seconds and went to give her a hug saying, "I'm really proud of you."

She chuckled and pulled back.

"If you really think he's the one for you, then don't step back. Show him there's still a light of hope where he can be eternally happy and loved. And it's gonna be you who is going to hold his hand and step him out of darkness and into that light. And if he's telling you that he doesn't deserve you then trust me, Lily, he's the only one that deserves you," I said, clutching her hands.

A tear rolled down her cheek which I wiped away with my thumb.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you too."

We hugged again and just then Zinnia came. She screamed 'group hug' and ran towards us and jumped on me and Lily. We three pulled back and made ourselves comfortable by squeezing and cuddling each other on the couch and watching random movies.

"Elka?" Lily called me to which I responded without taking my eyes from Johnny Depp from Cry Baby. He was just hot as fuck. "What about you? Planning to stay single forever?" she asked, this time making my head turn towards her.

"Can we save this for later? I don't want to miss this hottie," I said, pointing at Depp who was standing there with a lollipop in his mouth. 

"Yeah, sure," she said, giggling and looking at the T.V.

Even though it looked like I was drooling over Johnny Depp, my headspace was somewhere else. Somewhere in the middle of a battle between my mind and head, to reveal the secret to my best friends.

Well, my boyfriend's in a band
He plays guitar while I sing Lou Reed
I've got feathers in my hair
I get down to Beat poetry