(TW: Mentions of murder, suicide, and depression)
"Before I awoke in this body, I was a 24 year old guy named Jacob Trennings. My life was pretty great, as I had two loving parents. They weren't around much, but they never made me feel unloved. If anything, I had a third parent of sorts, Heather, she was my nanny." He starts off nice and simple, not wanting to overload Cole.
"Wait, you awoke in this body?? That shouldn't be possible..." Cole asks completely confused by the notion. "Yeah..the old Evan committed suicide from all the bullying and his depression simply won over. It's why I blew up on you when we first met.." Evan trails off, a little uncomfortable with saying that information out loud.
Lost in thought, Cole gestures for Evan to continue on, having no plans to explain the impossibility of his situation just yet. "Anyways, I got into a great university and found a new passion for entertainment management, completing a program and gaining a certificate. Honestly, my university life is where my life really turned around as I met the woman of my dreams. Her name was Mary Ann Felis and she looked EXACTLY like Mary Sia, which is why I flipped." Cole still seems a bit confused however, "Wait, so why did you freak out?"
"Ah...you see we were together for about three years before I decided to propose. I loved her with all my heart, as did my family, and that love blinded me completely. She had begun to change, from being satisfied with cute walks along the beach, to wanting to shop at designer stores using my money. God, I was such a fool." Evan berates himself, feeling dumber than a brick for never picking up on the signs. He just didn't want to believe the woman he loved for so long would end up using him for money.
With a long sigh, Evan pushes through with his story. "We got married pretty quickly as Mary Ann was insistent. With my marriage came shares from my mother's company, who was the CEO at the time. 30% shares of the company, might I add. It was so attractive to Mary Ann and at the time, I wanted to give her the world. Eventually, we attempted to move in together but her parents were insistent that we didn't, as she was still too young to them. We lived in an apartment complex, with our rooms nearby. I feel as though that decision was part of the downfall." Evan can already feel the tears forming in his eyes as he reaches the betrayal portion of his story. Cole, who had been thus silent, holds his hands as a way of comfort, noticing the utter pain in Evan's eyes.
"I..she began acting really w-weird and I followed my instincts, knowing something was up. I decided to follow her, which maybe I shouldn't have been so doubtful, but my guts weren't wrong often. A-anyways, she blatantly lied to me by saying she was just hanging out with her friends, when she wasn't." The tears are streaming down his face by this point as Evan finds it increasingly difficult to keep speaking. He holds onto Cole's hands tightly, finding the warmth from his hands grounding.
"..I...I later found out she was staying at another man's house and confronted her, saying we were over..and t-that we should get divorced. I-I left soon a-after..I didn't k-know she followed me in her car. T-the last thing I r-remember was being crashed i-into and her c-car being the culprit, s-she was g-grinning.." By the end of his story, all of Evan turned into a blubbering mess. He hadn't really gotten over his death, he just tried to forget about it. He believed if he focused on his new life and distracted himself, maybe he wouldn't get stuck on the fact that he was killed by a loved one and removed from all he'd ever known.
"I t-tried so h-hard to let m-my new life me, thinking m-my new parents c-could fill the a-aching hole in my chest....b-but everything's b-back full force..." Evan whimpered, his ears curling downwards as his tail wraps around him for additional comfort. He couldn't ever replace his parents but he just didn't want to feel that loneliness anymore. It consumed in a way he never wanted, leaving him with thoughts of death just to find them again. Those thoughts only really appeared late at night when his mind wouldn't shut off. They were dark and reminiscent of when he first arrived in this new world.
Cole pulled Evan into a tight hug, his heart breaking from the heart wrenching sobs flowing from Evan's eyes. He somewhat understands the pain, just not in the same capacity. Whispering small words of 'it'll be okay' and 'don't worry', Cole tried to calm Evan down, but his efforts were futile. Evan was in no shape ready to calm down and his day had already been pretty shit.
It took an entire hour before Evan finally calmed down a bit, somewhat embarrassed by his breakdown but luckily, Cole was taking the entire ordeal seriously. He didn't not expect his friend to take his situation seriously, but Cole was more of a jokester at times and it was hard to pinpoint when exactly he was serious.
"Well..now you know my life story, hope that clears things up." Evan nervously stated, still surprised he let it all out. The depression is still lingering deep within his soul, but talking about it in its entirety has lifted a massive weight off his shoulders. He'll probably never be okay, not entirely, but knowing he can fully confide in someone is more than enough for him.
Exhausted by his breakdown, Evan falls backwards onto Cole's bed and looks up at Cole pleadingly, wanting to just fall asleep. His friend groans, not really surprised that Evan's dead on his feet and allows him to fall asleep.
Cole watches as Evan's eye close with a flutter as he really digests what he's been told. It's a lot to take in and he's still reeling over the impossibility of simply waking up in a new body. Otherworlders are transported to this world, they do not however take over someone else's body. He'll make sure no one ever finds out the truth about Evan because it could spell disaster if any royalty across the 7 continents find out the truth, having used otherworlders in the past for their knowledge and magical nodes.
A fire lights up within Cole's eyes as he promises to protect Evan with all the power invested in him.