I named the picture" Glimpses of us."

Slight Violent content ahead:

"I guess Pip...I mean Ashley didn't tell you anything about her?" Maya asked.

"Just bits and pieces," Taehyung replied looking at her.

She was very pretty to look at. She had that straight brown short hair with a pair of azure eyes. She was tall and there was this elegance in her appearance. She radiated maturity and beauty at the same time.

"Let me tell you from the beginning." She smiled.
" Though Pip would never admit it, she is not an orphan to be exact."

Taehyung  stared at her, "But she told me....."

"I know," she stopped him.

"Her mother was a single mother. And her family never approved Pip and marked her mother as a disgrace to their pure catholic traits. Her mother cared more about her future rather than Pip, so she left her to this orphanage just after her birth and went on to rejoin her family. I heard she got married according to her family's wish again and is a mother of two children now."

"Did she know it?" Taehyung asked.

He never could imagine someone being so hated that she had to live like that even when she had everything!

"Not at first, but yes, eventually she found out. She had no friends while growing up. She practically had grown up all by herself.
You know, perks of being smarter than your age, and suddenly you become the outsider in your group!"
Maya sighed.

Taehyung nodded, tried to fit himself in her shoes. It's just too sad.

"She had one friend though, his name was Jimmy. They were practically best friends until Jimmy got adopted. But unfortunately, nobody ever wanted Pip. She was not pretty or childish enough or whatever you call it in parents' eyes."

Taehyung didn't say anything.

"Sometimes I went to pay a visit to the orphanage with my father. I noticed Pip every time, along with her sketchbook or any storybooks, totally alone in her little world. I made friends with her then. And still am!"

"Ash is lucky she has you, you know that noona?" He smiled at her.

"That's opposite, Tae," she spoke softly, "I am lucky that I have her."

"Anyway, she was a quiet girl, an introvert who tried to fit in and was tired of trying it. She never had fitted in the mold we created and never was loved by anyone."

"She is still a quiet girl," Taehyung smiled at her thoughts.

"She was a gifted child. She never studied much, actually, she never had any interest in studies. She spent her days reading storybooks, painting, and spending time alone just wandering around.
But she always topped at class. I was jealous that she was getting every teacher's attention, good grades without even trying and I had to work hard to catch up with her," Maya gave out a small chuckle, "how naive was I !!"

"Everything was fine and she got approved in a reputed med school. This time, her mother came to the orphanage to take her back."

"Just like that? After all these years?"  Taehyung asked, surprised and a bit annoyed.

"Yeah. Just like that. But you know what? She refused it. She even refused to see her or know who she was. She just said that she was ok off alone, she didn't need anyone's mercy to live on."

"It's totally like her," he admitted. Yes, she had that personality, that fire hidden inside her. You can't see it but definitely can feel the heat.

"The orphanage was already closing down then. My father and other sponsors decided to pull off the donations I don't know why. I and Pip started the orphanage again a few years ago though. But after the closing of it, she was left alone with nowhere to go.
But she never backed down. She could have gone with her mother, that could have solved all of her problems but she refused to bow down. She took students loan for continuing her studies, but she was underage to do any part-time jobs back then. The age limit is lowered now, but that was not for her back then.
By the way, her mother's family is one of the wealthiest families in our country. She knew it yet she decided to not go with her. She refused to go to any foster home as she had the excuse of living on her own in uni dorm with students loan, etc."

Taehyung was silent at this point.

"She didn't have any money to feed herself, for clothing, for bus fare even. Most of the time she walked the distance of four to five miles on foot waking up early in the morning to attend the classes as she managed to afford a place to crash. It was far away from the city in exchange for tutoring the two grandsons of the owner."

Taehyung was just thinking of her smile. A person can only smile like that when she was all along with the winner in her journey through ups and downs.

"She was doing three to four tutoring a day. Had no part-time jobs, so she took the work of copying the notes, drawing the practical books, writing assignments for our fellow coursemates, and anything she could do at that time for a living. It was hard enough for a fourteen years old girl while we were almost at the end of our teen years.
She was supposed to have fun, enjoy the lives at that age." Maya paused to see Taehyung's expression.

"She was my friend, but she never let me know what she was going through. I just found out when she took the job to babysit my youngest sister at my house."

"She must be feeling terrible when you found out," he tried to smile but couldn't.

"That makes her different, Tae. She didn't. She just took that as a job, not as something she should feel embarrassed about. Not even for a second. It was me who felt terrible for not knowing it all along," Maya sighed.

Taehyung didn't know why it was hurting so much.

"She barely had time for studying after her works. She had to cook for herself too. She often stayed late at the library to catch up with her study and the works. She didn't have money to buy books. No money even to have a membership so that she could borrow those expensive books for a day or two. So she studied there as long as she could until it closed down. She never applied for the school's help fund or never asked for anything. She never wanted someone to help her out of empathy or sympathy." She smiled bitterly before starting again.
"You remember Jimmy? Her best friend from the orphanage? He came into the picture this time. He was already a junkie and spoilt brat in his foster home. This time he tried to reconnect with her, but she couldn't. She was too busy to make a living. He was very clingy from childhood and this time he came out as a possessive paranoid boy who thought Pip was not giving him time for her other friends and her successes. And he thought she should be only his friend, his possession. This possessiveness went so far that he even had to put under a restraining order after trying to abduct her once."

"God!" Taehyung whispered. What more this girl had to go through?

"But after all these, I was surprised yet more than happy seeing her get the honors marks at our first professional exam after one year. You know what honors marks are?"

"No,"  Taehyung shook his head.

"It's getting at least 85% marks in every subject." She smiled. "In the medical course, 50% marks is pass marks, and believe me when I say that even getting 50% marks is tough enough for someone to repeatedly fail in the exam. She got 91%."

"She is indeed a gifted one." Taehyung smiled.

"But the difference is, this time it was not only her talent, but it was also more of her efforts. She made a promise to herself to never bow down to anyone, never break down or back down no matter what happens."

"I feel so insecure noona." Taehyung looked down. "I am no match for a fighter like her."

"Shhh...Tae, don't think like that. It's you who made her feel something again. Not anyone else!" she scolded him a bit.

He tried to smile. Thinking, Did he deserve this girl?

"It all started when we were in our third year of the medical course," Maya paused for a moment taking the surroundings in.

"There was this boy."

"A boy?" he looked at her.

"Yeah, Right. Neil. He was an amazing person. One of the most wonderful persons I had ever seen in my life," Maya sighed.

"He was a year senior to us. He was a simple person with an amazing personality. He was the one who first broke Pip out of her shell. He helped her in the library with her study since the day she first went there."

"They liked each other?" Taehyung tried to sound curious. But he sounded more somber expecting the answer would be no.

"Yes, they did," Maya's eyes were tearing up but she didn't let them fall.

"He was the reason behind Pip's personality today. He taught her to fight, to adapt to her surroundings. He taught her to be strong. You know, he never helped her in her time of need. He just let her help herself, let her get back up on her feet whenever she falls all by herself. He was just there, by her side, every day."

"He is an amazing person," Taehyung couldn't but agree with her. It's hard to find someone like him.

"Yeah," Maya agreed with him.
"Their story is something very different from others. A pure and beautiful one. They never confessed their feelings to each other. But we knew that was deeper than anything, purer than anything.
They didn't tell, cause they didn't have to. They could understand each other without even saying anything. Nothing could bring two souls closer. They were soulmates.
He had that depth in him, that purity. It was a matter of time they confessed."

"But they didn't?" Taehyung asked.

"I wish." Maya again blinked her tears away.

"We were interns at that time. She was only 19. He was already a medical officer there. They knew each other for five years almost.
One day Neil came to me. He was ready to confess. He came to me with a ring."

Taehyung remained silent. His expression was unreadable, just a glimmer of shadow was in his eyes.

"I was surprised seeing him going on the direct proposal, not less. But he wasn't surprised at all. He told me, "what we have is more than a relationship, Maya. She is my best friend and I am hers. We don't need those formalities or time to know each other." He wanted me to help him find a good location for him to take her."

Surprisingly this time Taehyung wished these two got together. It seemed like they were meant to be together. No one could suit her better than him.

"I watched her looking at the stars with the old telescope Mrs. Simpson, her old mother figure at the orphanage gave her. So I suggested him to take her to stargaze." Maya paused for a second,
"And that was the last time I saw him."

Taehyung looked at her.

" He was killed that night. In front of Pip. She couldn't do anything but watch."

"No!" Taehyung whispered.

"The police arrested a maniac Jimmy and  rescued her two days later."

"No!"

"She was tortured, repeatedly. She was raped. By the time the police rescued her, she was in shock due to blood loss, he cut her to draw patterns on her skin playfully, he stabbed her multiple times before getting caught. He wanted to kill her, with the hatred he was keeping inside for the past few years, he wanted to destroy her even more. The Doctors managed to save her life, but she was in a coma for almost two months."

Taehyung couldn't say anything. He was silent. The room was too silent to bear. He could hear his breathing even. He wished somebody would tell him that these were all nightmares, these never happened.

"But the thing is..." Maya was almost sobbing now, "when she finally woke up, she didn't ask anyone anything. She just shut herself from everyone. She never complained, never cried, never broke down. She just carried on with her life as nothing happened.  Lived, Studied like a machine, got herself busy like crazy and completed her post-grad in the speed of lights, worked nights and days just getting rid of all the emotions one should hold onto."

Two drops of tears fell from Taehyung's eyes on his hands that were hanging low resting on his knees.

"Sometimes I just wish her to cry. For once maybe. She has an ocean of loneliness trapped inside her. She is surrounded by this hollow nothingness but she never cries, not even to herself. "

"She cried in front of me," Taehyung whispered.

Maya reached for Taehyung's hands,  "Really? She did that?"

"Yeah, I sang to her and she cried on the first night we met," Taehyung replied.

"She is all happy, joyful, and a kind person outside. She is all positive, forever smiling, But she is not living Tae. Just getting busy like crazy to forget, to forgive. She is always there for others, but never for herself."
Maya tried hard not to break down again,
"She never lets any men get close to her, never allows them to touch her unless she lets them. She doesn't trust them anymore.
She took a self-defense course with me and the last time she got drunk, she beat the crap out of someone who tried to touch her. It just left her with her subconscious, it's just too dangerous. Too dark. There's no love left, only hatred and regrets. She blames herself for Neil cause Jimmy was after her. "

"And why she ran away with the mere hint of weakness for you? Tae, I have never seen her thinking even to like someone. This feeling killed her inside, it broke her.  She doesn't want to be broken again. She is afraid that she won't be able to handle it if she gets hurt again."

"What if I hurt her again, noona? Will you forgive me?" Taehyung's voice was barely audible.

"I don't know Tae. But all I know that I  will not let her run away again. I have seen her expose her heart in front of someone again, tearing down the fort she built around herself after all these years. And I am not gonna let her ruin that again.
She struggled more than anyone back then, but she lived, but her life is now everything someone could ever imagine as theirs, but she is not living now. Her life ended that night, she never came back from that. Living in the same nightmare every single night, every day."

"Noona....." Taehyung's voice was low,
"will she trust me? "

"I don't know Tae, she is just too afraid to open up again."

Taehyung wiped his tears, "I want to see her, noona. I want to be there for her. I am not gonna run away. Never."