Our Second Life

Chapter- 20

Winter's POV

The next morning started as gloomy as it could be. When Ian finally broke the news of Ryan's death to Aiden, as expected Aiden couldn't really understand what happened. He kept on bombarding his father with irrelevant questions like, "Is Ryan gonna come to our house?", or "Did Ryan fall down while playing" and etc. But I couldn't really blame Aiden for his lack of knowledge regarding life and death. After all he was just a five year old kid.

Finally Irene butted in to save the situation from getting anymore complex. She seated Aiden on her lap and whisphered to his ears that his bestfriend had turned into a star in the sky and so he would not be meeting him anymore in the future.

Aiden looked pretty perplexed at hearing this from Irene. He instantly got up from her lap and rushed towards me. He quickly came and hugged my legs tightly. Then in no time he suddenly started crying plus kept on questioning why he wouldn't see his bestfriend anymore with glossy eyes.

I didn't really have a proper answer ready to feed this five year old boy. So, I carried him up in my arms and somehow managed to make him understand that now that his bestfriend was a star, how could he see him on this earth. The only way he could see his bestfriend now was by looking up at the stars in the sky. The brightest star he finds in the sky would be none other than Ryan himself.

Although Aiden kept on sniffing for a long time, after almost an hour he had gradually accepted the fact that his bestfriend had become a star and so he won't be able to see him or play with him anymore from now onwards.

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We all were getting ready to attend Ryan's funeral in the afternoon when there was a knock on my door. Ian had left for his appartment a while ago to take a shower while Aiden was still with me.
So, I thought that may be Ian had come back and hence quickly rushed to open the door. But to my utter surprise there stood the teenage version of Ian.
It was Adam......

"Hi....", as usual it was always me to greet him first inspite of all the hatred he spewed towards me.

"Hi Winter....", Adam kinda look flustered when he spoke back. He wasn't the usual cocky, sharp-tongued, 'I don't give a fuck' type Adam. Instead he looked like he had just woken up and stormed right onto my door within the past few minutes.

"Do you need anything Adam?", I spoke up trying to thin out the air of discomfort that was building up in the moment.

Adam looked at my eyes sharply and then looked away before asking,"...Not really... Actually I was looking for Aiden.."

Okay so he finally decides to play the big brother role after this whole while.

"Yeahh suree... he is inside... Do you wanna come in?", I asked him.

"No thats not necessary... I just wanna know if he is holding up well.. Umm Dad actually called me in the morning and told me everything while I was at my friend's place. So, I rushed back here to check up on Aiden... But did you guys really tell him everything?", Adam nervously asked.

"Yeah we did tell him and he didn't really take it well. He almost cried a good deal for an hour and ultimately fell asleep while sobbing. But in the end he did accept the fact that he was never going to see his friend again... So yeah that's all what happened", I informed Adam.

"Okayy...cool...", Adam paused for a while and thought something in his mind. He then continued,"..Umm Winter please do look after Aiden and make sure that he is okay. My baby brother has always been a crybaby and the emotional one, so I know this event would put a deep impact in his heart. So...please take care of him coz I know that he does share an affectionate bond with you!!"
Adam spoke out the words in the softest tone possible and showcased his concerns for his younger brother. Also for the first time he acknowledged 'me' as a person since the time we met.