The Secret

"Well, wouldn't that be something?"

"You want the guy to hit me? Wow! Now I am hurt, Ashley. H.U.R.T!" he joked as he emphasized on the last word.

"Are you serious? I was kidding!" She giggled.

"Ha-ha! I'm just messing with you! Who said you get to be the only one who jokes around?" he said winking.

She laughed once again. "You're such a jerk! where were we? So, what else do you like to do other than football?"

"Hmm, I like to write poems!"

"Oh a football player who is into poetry, that's interesting!" she said as she tried acting surprised though she already knew he wrote poems when she had stalked him on Facebook.

"Would you like to have a look at one of them? I hope you like Disney!"

"Of course!"

He pulled out his phone from his jeans pocket and finally after a minute or so handed her phone out to Ashley, his eyes twinkling with excitement as she began to read.

***

Many of people brought wisdom to me

Though none more so than the stories by Walt Disney

For all those stories he would make

There was a lesson I could always take

The Lion King taught me to learn from the past

And that no awful thing ever always lasts

Beauty and the beast reminded me how looks don't matter

And if it's true love that's all that matters

Lilo and Stitch was based on family

Despite being broken will always love unconditionally

Next on the list is Sleeping Beauty

Defeating evil is love's basic duty

There's Frozen which you just can't miss

How the love between sisters is something you can't resist

Ariel and Rapunzel teaching you how if you want something to happen,

You take a step right now!

****

This was one of the poems she had read on his Facebook timeline but it would be super creepy if she told him she had already read it so she said sweetly, "It's beautifully written!"

He smiled widely. "Thanks! It means a lot coming from you!"

"And just so you know, I happen to be a crazy Disney fan!" she winked at him.

"Really? Is that so?" he leaned in closer to her looking intrigued.

"Yeah! My brother and I used to watch Disney movies from the time when we were little kids and we had them on cassettes and we would play them on the VCR every day after school. My brother's favourite was lion king and after my sister was born, she and I would watch the little mermaid 2 on repeat." she told him excitedly as he enjoyed listening to her, seeing how excited she got as recalled her childhood.

"Hmm, so which one's your favourite?"

"I really can't decide for sure but my top five definitely are the little mermaid 1 & 2 both, Tangled, Mulan and Lion King.

"Do you plan on leaving any?" he smirked.

"Shut up, there are so many what are you even talking about?" she laughed out looking embarrassed. "These are Disney classics it's not easy to decide you know!"

"I am just teasing you!" He chuckled as he continued, "So you have an older brother huh? You told me he did medicine too right?"

"Yeah, He's four years older than me. He's kind of your senior as he did medicine from your med school," she answered politely.

"Oh wow! Is that so?" What is he up to now?"

"His final year exams ended in December so he went for electives as soon as they ended."

"That's nice! Are you two close?" He asked trying to figure out another side of his mystery girl.

"Close? Insanely and I honestly give my brother a lot of credit for that. He was always there for me, always made sure I knew I had him with me no matter what. He really is a wonderful brother, and sure at times we fight but he is also my rock."

"That's really sweet. It is rare to have a brother and sister close to each other. Two sisters I have are close. Brothers are close but a sister is close to her brother, that's really unique and awfully sweet I must say."

"So do you have any siblings?" she asked shyly. It was her turn to know his other side.

"Me? Ha-ha! yeah, two younger brothers! One of them is a year younger than me, his name is Ed and the youngest one, Hayden is 5 years younger!"

"Aw! Two younger brothers to look up at you? That's cute!"

He laughed out loud! "They don't look up at me! They team up against me to get me in trouble, that's for sure!"

"And what about your parents?" she asked interestedly as she continued "What are they like?"

"My parents are very very strict!" He laughed

"Strict as in?"

"Strict as in they wanted me to take medicine so I did that, they didn't want me to move to a different city after high school so I got into a med school in the same place, and as in they are totally against me getting into a relationship or even being too close friends with girls."

"Umm, what? They are against you being in a relationship? And you're okay with that?"

"I'm not okay with it but I figured it is not the time to discuss all this with them right now, you know? Right now they want me to focus on studies, medicine is something that requires your undivided attention, right?"

She nodded as he continued, "I mean right now I obviously don't intend on marrying someone right? So when it is time for me to settle down, I will talk to them about it. I will try to convince them that it's time."

"Oh" slipped from her mouth as she tried grasping the brand new information. "Do you think they will accept it if you fall for a girl and tell them you like her?" she added

He laughed out "My parents were in a relationship, they were friends when they eventually decided to marry each other. My mom, she's really understanding, my dad is super protective but my mom, I know she will manage my dad when it is the right time if that's what you're asking but since my last experience with my girlfriend was so heartbreaking and difficult I have decided though that I won't tell a girl I like her unless I am 100 percent positive that's the girl I wanna marry!" he laughed

"You won't tell a girl you like her even if you do?"

"No, I won't. I mean what's the point of telling someone you like her if you're not sure she is your one. I don't believe in telling your crush you like her unless you have figured it out that you want to spend your life with this girl. So, yeah I will only share my feelings with a girl if I know for sure she is the one I want to marry! There's no point in telling someone you like them only to spend a couple of months and to break up in the end. You can know someone by being their friend way better than being in a relationship and that's what I think!"

"Oh alright...I guess that's one way to go," she said dully as she tried to wrap her head around the new set of information.

The two stayed quiet for a minute as he studied her face and after a long thought finally broke the silence with a deadly serious voice, "Ashley, have you noticed something different about me?"

"What different?" she thought to herself looking puzzled at him, "What do you mean?"

"You don't know, do you?" his voice still deadly serious.

"Know what?" she asked.

He gently put his arm on the table in front of her as he continued, "You notice I have no hair on my arm?"

She stared at his arm in disbelief, he was right there was no hair on it but she had never noticed that about him before. She still couldn't comprehend where this topic was headed to. He continued as he took his glasses off his nose, "You notice how I don't have any eyebrows?"

Her heart skipped a beat. "What was going on?" She couldn't even answer him back as she stared at his face. "How have I not noticed this before?" She had spoken to him so many times up close face to face, always getting lost in his eyes but she had never noticed any of it before.

She nervously moistened her dry lips and chewed her bottom lip not knowing how to answer as he finally took off the cap on his head revealing several bald patches throughout the top of his head, as he declared I suffer from a condition called, "Alopecia Areata."