Summary
Mila, a cheerful girl who believes in love ,stories meets Eli, a quiet transfer student with a painful past. She becomes determined to make him smile again, not knowing that his secrets could break her heart — or change her life forever.
Chapter One — The First Rain
The rain started the same morning Mila met Eli.
She wasn't supposed to be late — not on the first day of term — but her umbrella had broken, and her sneakers were soa
ked through. Running across the courtyard, she nearly slipped when she saw him standing under the old oak tree.
A boy she'd never seen before.
Headphones on, hands in pockets, staring at the sky as if the rain was his only friend.
Mila stopped for a moment. Something about him made her heart slow down, like time had paused just to let her notice him.
Later that day, in class, the teacher introduced him.
"This is Eli Kaden. He just transferred here from another school."
He barely looked up. No smile. No words. Just a quiet nod.
Everyone whispered about him — the new boy who never talks. Mila sat two seats behind, wondering what made someone look that sad at seventeen.
During lunch, when a group of boys mocked him for eating alone, Mila felt something twist inside her chest. She walked up to him, holding out half her sandwich.
"You don't have to eat alone, you know," she said softly.
Eli looked at her for a long second. His eyes were gray — like storm clouds that had forgotten how to rain.
"Maybe I want to," he replied quietly.
It should've ended there, but somehow it didn't.
Because every day after that, Mila kept finding herself near him — sitting beside him in class, waiting after school, talking to him even when he didn't answer.
And slowly, without realizing it, her sunshine started melting his rain.
Chapter Two — The Wall Between Us.
For the rest of the week, Eli stayed quiet.
He sat by the window during class, always sketching something in his notebook — never talking, never laughing. But sometimes, when he thought no one was looking, Mila caught him staring outside like he was waiting for someone who'd never come back.
She tried to talk to him again on Friday.
"You draw a lot," she said, leaning over his desk after class.
"They're really good."
He closed the notebook before she could see.
"They're just sketches," he murmured.
"Still," she smiled, "you have to be talented to make rain look that pretty."
That was the first time she saw a hint of a smile — small and almost shy, but real.
At lunch, Mila's best friend Nora teased her.
"You keep talking to the quiet boy. Don't tell me you like him already."
Mila rolled her eyes.
"It's not like that. He just looks… lonely."
"Sometimes lonely people want to be left alone."
Mila thought about that all afternoon. But something inside her refused to believe it.
After school, she found him sitting near the soccer field, watching the rain fall again. The sky was gray, just like the first day they met.
She walked up quietly and sat beside him.
"You really like the rain, don't you?"
He didn't answer right away. Then, softly:
"It's the only time everything feels quiet. Like the world stops pretending."
Mila looked at him — the sadness in his voice, the way he never met her eyes.
"Eli, did something happen? Back where you came from?"
He stood up, picking up his bag.
"You shouldn't ask questions you don't want the answers to."
And then he walked away, leaving her with the sound of rain and a heart that suddenly felt too heavy for her chest.
That night, Mila couldn't sleep. She replayed his words, wondering what kind of pain could make someone build walls that high.
For the first time, she realized this wasn't just curiosity anymore.
She wanted to understand him.
Even if it meant breaking through the storm to find the sunshine inside.
Chapter Three — The Sketchbook Secret
The weekend came and went, but Mila couldn't stop thinking about Eli.
The way his voice sounded when he said, "You shouldn't ask questions you don't want the answers to."
The way he looked when it rained — like the world had taken something from him that he could never get back.
By Monday, she'd made up her mind: she wasn't going to give up.
At school, Eli wasn't in class.
His desk by the window sat empty, the rain outside falling harder than usual.
Mila asked around, but no one knew where he'd gone. Even the teacher just said, "He's been absent a lot lately."
During lunch, she went to the art room — it was quiet, and something told her he'd been there before. On one of the tables, half-covered by a pile of papers, she noticed a familiar sketchbook.
She hesitated.
She knew she shouldn't look.
But her hands moved anyway.
When she opened it, her heart stopped.
Inside were drawings — soft, emotional sketches of a girl under the rain, standing alone with an umbrella. The same girl appeared on every page, but her expression changed: sometimes smiling, sometimes crying, sometimes staring at the sky.
And in the corner of one page, written in small letters:
"For Ava."
Mila closed the book quickly, her chest tight.
Who was Ava? His sister? His girlfriend? Someone he lost?
Before she could think, a quiet voice came from behind her.
"Why are you touching my things?"
Eli stood at the doorway, eyes cold, rain dripping from his hair.
Mila froze.
"I— I was just— I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"
He walked toward her slowly, taking the sketchbook from her hands.
"You had no right to look."
"I know," she said, her voice trembling. "I just wanted to understand you."
He sighed, his expression softening just a little.
"You can't understand what it's like to lose someone you promised to protect."
Then he turned and walked out, leaving her standing in silence — and for the first time, she realized that behind his sadness wasn't just pain. It was guilt.
That night, Mila sat by her window, watching the rain again.
She whispered softly,
"Whoever Ava was, she must have meant everything to him."
But deep inside, she also knew something else — that no matter what he was hiding, she couldn't just walk away anymore.
Because somewhere between his silence and hercuriosity, she had already started to fall.
Chapter Four — The Truth Beneath the Rain
Mila didn't see Eli for two days.
Every time she looked at his empty desk, her chest ached with worry.
Finally, on Wednesday, she found him sitting by the school garden after class — sketchbook open, raincoat on, drawing again.
She sat beside him quietly.
"You weren't in class," she said softly.
"Didn't feel like it," he replied, not looking up.
They sat in silence for a while, the soft drizzle falling between them.
Then Mila whispered,
"Eli… who is Ava?"
He froze. His pencil stopped moving.
For a long time, he didn't answer. Then, in a voice barely louder than the rain, he said,
"Ava was my little sister."
Mila's heart squeezed.
He kept drawing as he spoke.
"We were in a car accident last year. I was driving. I promised her we'd get home safe, but…"
His voice cracked. "She didn't make it. I did."
Mila didn't know what to say. The sound of the rain filled the silence between them — soft, endless, forgiving.
She reached out, touching his hand gently.
"It wasn't your fault, Eli."
He shook his head.
"It feels like it every day. That's why I draw her — so I don't forget her face."
Tears welled in Mila's eyes.
"She wouldn't want you to live trapped in the storm. You deserve to see the sun again."
For the first time, Eli looked at her — really looked.
And in that gaze, something changed.
Maybe it wasn't love yet.
But it was light.
Epilogue — When Rain Meets Sunshine
Months passed.
Eli started talking more, laughing sometimes, even joining Mila and Nora at lunch. He still drew in his sketchbook, but now there were two people under the umbrella — not one.
One afternoon, as they walked home together, it began to rain again.
Mila opened her umbrella, smiling.
"You still like the rain?"
Eli nodded.
"Yeah. But now, it reminds me that even when it rains…"
He looked at her, his eyes warm.
"…there's always someone who can make it feel like sunshine."
Mila laughed softly, brushing his hand with hers.
The rain fell around them, gentle and golden under the sunset — like the world had finally forgiven them both.
And maybe it had.
Because sometimes, when rain meets sunshine…
it doesn't make storms.
It makes rainbows.
THE END