After a few days, it was Triston's parent's death anniversary. He sneaked out of the Mansion early in the morning and left for Reese's house.
Every year, Reese's family and Triston would visit the homeless shelter and provide free food to give tribute to Mr. and Mrs. Cliff on their death anniversary. When they were alive, they would regularly visit this shelter to feed the homeless, and after their death, Reese decided to do it on their behalf.
After spending some time with the people at the shelter, Triston promised Reese to meet him in the evening and left for his college.
When Triston opened his locker to get his books, a bunch of tissues fell out. The students around him burst into laughter, and Fred sneered, " We were worried about you, little brother." He then faced their friends and said in a sad tone, " Guys, Triston must be very sad today as it's his parent's death Anniversary."
" Are the tissues enough, or do you need more?" Jeff asked Triston in a mocking tone.
Evelyn, who was just about to enter the locker room, stopped in her tracks when she heard about Triston's parent's death anniversary. She was furious seeing the twins mocking someone's death and wanted to punch them on their smug faces, but when she saw Triston running away, she decided to follow him instead.
Triston ran out of the college building when Evelyn stopped him. " Triston..."
Triston almost broke down, not wanting Evelyn to see him like that. " N-Not now. I-I want to be alone," he whispered, not looking at her.
"I just wanted to say I understand how you feel," Evelyn said in a soft tone.
" Y-You won't understand!!!" Triston cried out, tears flowing out of his eyes. " You won't understand how it feels to lose someone who loves you the most. You won't understand how it feels when you want someone to hold you, but no one is around. You won't understand how it feels to see your life crumble in front of your eyes. You won't understand!!!"
Evelyn was surprised at his outburst and tried to approach him to console him, but Triston backed off. " Please, Evelyn, I want to be alone!!!" He turned around and left the college grounds to get away from everyone.
Evelyn was left there standing alone, and to her surprise, even she was in tears. She felt terrible for Triston as well as herself. She knew how it felt because even she felt the same.
Triston was just walking around the city lifelessly, and soon he was in front of one of his Dad's Hotels. This was his Dad's favorite as it was his first. Initially, it was only a restaurant; later on, they expanded and turned it into a luxurious Hotel. He badly wanted to go inside, but he was scared his Uncle would see him. He felt so helpless right now as he could not step foot into his own property. Twelve years ago, on this day, he not only lost his parents, but he also lost his home, his belongings, his property, his happiness, and even his life. Now he was nothing but like a dead man walking with no goal in life.
The following day, Triston was stopped by a few bullies right at the college entrance. One of them, Brad, tried to snatch Triston's bag when Evelyn warned him, " Don't you dare."
" Oh!! So your savior is here," Brad sneered and then faced Evelyn, " You think you are great? I know all about you now."
" What do you know?" Evelyn asked, disinterested.
Brad didn't reply, just chuckled along with his friends and left.
" Come on, let's go," Evelyn said to Triston and went inside the gate, but Triston didn't follow. He recalled how he behaved with Evelyn the previous day and was ashamed to face her.
When Evelyn saw that Triston was not following her, she turned around and looked at him, confused. " What happened? Why are you not coming?"
" I-I am sorry," Triston stuttered.
" What for?"
" Yesterday... I - I..."
Evelyn placed her hand on Triston's arm and smiled. " It's ok. As I already told you, I can understand."
Triston felt his heart skip a beat when Evelyn placed her hands on him and saw her angelic smile. He was in a daze when Evelyn dragged him inside the college towards the classroom.
As they entered the class, everyone gave them weird looks and muttered among themselves. Evelyn felt something was wrong, but still, she ignored them and moved to her seat, Triston following right behind.
Once they were seated, they looked at the class board. Evelyn clenched her fist, trying to suppress her anger, while Triston was shocked.
A cartoon image of Evelyn was drawn on the board with the words, 'Our University's Charity case' written in bold.
Candice and Madison suddenly got up from their seat, smirked at Evelyn, and spoke in a tone that clearly showed fake concern. " We got to know that you spent your entire life in an Orphanage. Awww, we feel so bad for you."
Triston couldn't believe what he heard and stared at Evelyn with wide eyes.
" Guys, Don't you think we should help her? " Candice said to her friends, trying to ridicule Evelyn.
" You are right, Candy!! Madison said dramatically and took a few dollar bills out of her bag and threw them at Evelyn.
Evelyn was enraged and was about to curse them when Triston unexpectedly held her hand and whispered, " They wouldn't know our pain, but I do, and I am with you."
Evelyn stopped when she heard those words, and the anger suddenly vanished. The fact that she had one person in the awful college who understood her and her pain was enough for her to fight the rest of the students. She shouldn't be so bothered by the words of those who don't even care about her nor matter to her.
Evelyn placed her hands on Triston and smiled at him. " Thank you," she mouthed and got up from her seat and moved towards Candice and Madison. As Evelyn stood near them, they were scared for a moment, thinking Evelyn would hit them, but instead, Evelyn went towards the table where the marker and duster were kept.
" Are you going to rub it?" Candice sneered, and her friends giggled. " Do you feel like crying now?"
" No," Evelyn said in a calm tone while Candice and Madison were shocked seeing her lack of reaction.
" No?"
Evelyn took the marker and moved towards the board.
" My hair is not so short," she said and drew her hair a bit longer. " She then rubbed her nose and redrew it to a proper shape. "Now it's fine, though; the one who drew it clearly lacks in this skill," she observed and kept and marker on the table and turned around to go back to her seat.
Evelyn stopped when she saw the dollar bills fallen on the floor and picked them up. She placed the bills on Madison's desk and remarked, " Don't waste your parent's hard-earned money just like that."
The girls looked with their mouths open, unable to respond. Evelyn sat on her seat, beaming at Triston, and he smiled back, looking at her proudly. The Professor entered the class, and everyone went back to their seats.
When he saw the board, he shook his head in disappointment. " Who did this?"
Everybody was silent, looking at their books, while the Professor muttered under his breath, " Kids these days..." and rubbed everything on the board and continued with his class.
Later that day, Triston opened up to Evelyn about his parent's death, and Evelyn shared about her being left at the park by her mother.
" Maybe they are still alive, but unfortunately, they don't want me," Evelyn said sadly.
" They are the ones who are unfortunate," Triston said.
" How come?"
" They lost such a great daughter, but I am happy I am fortunate enough to meet you," Triston said sincerely, and Evelyn instantly cheered up.
" How do you manage to be so lively and strong even though you don't have a family?" Triston asked.
" Who said I don't have a family? I have a huge family, and I will take you to meet them someday," Evelyn said with a smile, thinking about Grace and the Orphanage, James and his family, and her best friend, Ava. Indeed she had a very big family though none of them was related by blood, but by heart.
Triston's days at his college had significantly improved. Evelyn was always stuck to him and the bullying drastically reduced. No matter what tricks the students tried, Evelyn managed to beat them to it.
The twins and his gang were royally pissed off at seeing their efforts going to waste. They tried to vent their anger on Triston at home, but Triston was adamant not to let go of his newfound friend.
By now, Triston had realized that he liked being with Evelyn, and for the first time in his life, he was willing to risk getting punished for someone.