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TWENTY FIVE
________
Niall
Fingers ran through my hair vigorously twenty-four hours later as I stood in the front doorsteps of Elle's apartment door. I tried denying myself about feeling nervous for today, but it was hard. Really hard. It felt risky, but adventurous. Even felt idiotic for feeling timid taking the babysitter out, but I just felt like it was good idea.
It took a good minute to finally realize who I was as a man and regained my confidence level up to knock on the door, ready to face Elle like if I hadn't been around her consecutively the last two days. It was so normalize to be with her now; it shocked me how much can happen within 48 hours.
"Hello, how may I—oh my."
It was common sense to expect Elle at the door the moment I knocked, but when I came across an unfamiliar face at sight, I began to re-think if it had been a good idea to show up at the doorsteps in surprise at exactly 3PM with no reminder or shit myself for getting the wrong apartment.
Scratching the back of my head of the embarrassment, I cleared my throat and pursed my lips.
"Erm, hi? M'sorry, I must've gotten the wrong apartment," I said confusedly.
I was Niall Horan, I didn't know why I felt so exposed and unguarded at the moment. It was like if all my dignity went away when it came to facing unplanned situations, but I tried to save myself.
The women greeting was tall and it wasn't hard to identify bright, green eyes at view behind the glasses she wore. Yeah, she seemed a bit older to be eyeing out, but there had been something about this certain person that familiarized in my head that I couldn't connect.
"Oh, no, you're at the right place. I'm guessing Elle has been keeping my identity hidden!" The women joked.
Her accent was soft, but also hard at the same time. It was almost a mixture of Irish, which was obvious because we were in Ireland, but there was something hinting that I was facing her mother.
I felt relief come off me knowing that it wasn't the wrong apartment, nor it was Elle right away, but instead it was just her mom.
"Here, you can come in. Elle will come out any second. She likes to take her timings off, so I apologize. She must've gotten that from me."
My hands stayed in the pockets of my pants while I entered the home, recognizing the place I've once been in before and stood mid-living room, waiting for greetings.
