MY HEALING SOULMATE

TWO SIDES

Erin's POV

"Hey Erin! Over here" I heard Mia beckoning me towards her for lunch. 

She was sitting with a group of people I had met yesterday.

 "Hey guys" I said joining them. 

"Oh my god! Doesn't Adrian Payne look so handsome today." said Daisy, a girl with blonde hair and freckles covering her nose. 

"I know right, I wish I could talk to him." said Rachel another blonde dreamily. 

"Well, why don't you?" I asked, surprised. I thought that he will be more than happy to talk to them given how he was yesterday. 

"Girl, you don't know Adrian Payne" said Danny, a guy with a round face and large specs. "He literally doesn't talk to anyone."

 "Well, why not?" I asked. This was new to me. 

"I don't know actually. He transferred here about a year ago. He doesn't really interact with a lot of people, he's always very distanced and reserved" replied Mia. 

"A lot of girls have a huge crush on him and many have even asked him out, few practically threw themselves at him but he's rejected all of them stating that he's not really interested right now." continued Daisy. 

"He sits at the table over there, at the centre, where all these football jocks and cheerleaders sit, but never indulges much or talks to anyone. He has created his own quiet world where no one really is allowed." finished Rachel, a little sadly. 

"Just look over there" said Danny pointing at a table.

 I turned around to see where he was pointing you. By a table at the centre, was a large group of guys and girls sitting and laughing, except Adrian. He was sitting with his head bent down towards his food, earphones in his ear hardly paying any attention to anyone.

He was wearing an orange hoodie with black jeans and light blue and orange sneakers. The outfit looked quite smart. For the first time, I noticed the sadness and pain in his eyes which I hid in mine. He had disguised it with his smile and laugh yesterday or perhaps granny was one of the few people who got to see his genuine smile. A wave of sadness rushed over me seeing him like that. I noticed that many tried to talk to him and make him laugh but he hardly spoke much and even if he did smile, it was a sad one. Rest of lunch passed by quite nicely with us laughing and talking about the most possible random things. All of us nearly died of laughter when Danny spilt milkshake all over his pants which made it look like he had peed. 

"Granny, I'm home" I said on reaching home and removing my shoes and socks. 

"Hi sweetie! How was school?" 

"It was good. But I noticed something unusual today. Is everything okay with Aiden?"

 "Why do you ask that?" asked Granny. 

"I don't know, he just seemed really down at school hardly looking at anyone or talking to anyone. Rather different from yesterday." 

Granny give me a sad smile. "He wasn't always like this. He was quite different before you know. He was truly a beam of sunshine. It's unfortunate that he isn't that way anymore. I miss his bright smile. I can't tell you what happened my dear, it's not my story to tell. Maybe, one day he'll trust you enough to tell you himself. You must have noticed that his eyes carry a very similar pain to yours. I hope you both can be there for each other and heal." 

"I hope so too granny." I said with a small smile. 

That day, I did my everyday schoolwork and routine but my mind was only half paying attention. The other half was wondering as to what could have happened to make the ray of sunshine my granny was talking about the way he is.