Here's the truth: Aarib has changed.
And maybe he has the right to. Life didn't hand him anything easily. Maybe he earned this attitude, this aura, this coldness.
But it stings.
It stings when someone you saw as ordinary becomes the person everyone watches. It stings to be forgotten by someone who used to sit two benches away, sketching in silence, hoping no one would notice him.
And it stings more when you start noticing what they've become.
Aarib is no longer the guy in oversized clothes with his head down. He's the main character now. And I'm just... background noise.