For the next few weeks i did my best to avoid Niall. I'd leave everytime i thought he was going to talk to me. I spent most of my free time hiding from him in the library. I also continued receiving stupid messages from that unknown number. I would just delete them without reading. After a long week it was finally the weekend. I was relieved that i no longer had to play hide and seek with Niall, but it also meant having to spent more time at home. A nightmare!
Saturday morning i was woken up with screaming and shouting, not surprising at all. Suddenly i heard a loud crashing sound. I literally jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs, only to find my mum on the floor, bleeding from where she had been pushed and had fallen onto the small glass table. My father brushing his fingers through his hair, swearing and telling her he hadn't meant for that to happen.
I quickly called for a taxi and took her to hospital. She needed several stitches. I wanted to scream and punch the wall but i managed to contain my anger. Once back home, i let my mum get some rest while my dad snored on the sofa as usual. I locked myself in my room and fell to the ground. With tears streaming down my cheeks, i grabbed the box i hid my razor blades in and started taking that anger out on myself. I cut deeper with every cut i made. I had nothing to live for. I was alone, all alone. I wanted to die. I must have passed out because the next thing i knew it was three in the afternoon. I got off the floor. I cleaned up my mess and put on some clean clothes and then headed out for a walk. I decided i wanted to eat ice-cream, so i went to my favourite ice-cream vendor. I sat down to enjoy my triple flavoured ice-cream on a bench outside the shop.
"Please don't leave without listening to what i have to say," a voice coming from behind me said. I didn't have to turn to know who's it was. It was Niall. He sat down beside me giving me a sad puppy look. I did not respond. He held my free hand and said, "Why are you avoiding me, what's wrong? Everytime i try to talk to you you run the opposite direction."
I didn't know what to say.
He grabbed my arm and demanded i reply.
I flinched because he was hurting me again. He immediately let go. He looked horrified. Before i could say anything he was rolling my sleeve up, exposing all the fresh cuts from earlier. Even i had to admit it wasn't very nice to look at. He stood up and said he'd be right back. I bet he wouldn't be coming back and that what he had just seen would be enough to keep him away from me for a lifetime. But i was wrong. Fifteen minutes later he was back, holding a bag that he started to empty out on the bench; antiseptic cream, a bandage and pain killers. Before i could protest he was rubbing cream over my cuts. It stung like hell although he tried his best to be as gentle as possible and kept blowing my wounds. Then he carefully wrapped the bandage around and secured it before pulling my sleeve down. He handed me the pain killers and suggested i take one every three hours. Little did he know how i used pain killers. But that was not the point. This guy had tended to my wounds, no one had ever done that before. He sat down beside me and i was still staring at him in disbelief.
"What?" he asked.
"Just why did you do that?" I needed to know.
"I couldn't bear to see you like that and you made such a mess on your arm, i couldn't just let it get infected could i?"
I could see concern for me in his eyes. It made me feel weird. He moved closer to me. Without even thinking i rested my head on his shoulder. When i realised what i had done i moved instantly. But he just took my hand in his and pulled me into his arms. Was it his way of saying it was okay?
What i felt being like that with him was out of this world. I felt safe. I felt like that was where i belonged, right there in his arms,sheltered from all the bad in the world.
After a while he broke the silence.
"Will you reply to my text messages now?" he inquired?
Wait. What? Those texts were from him? But how?
He explained that he had gotten my number from Zaira and that he had constantly been texting me but all i had done was ignore him and he had started to think that i hated him.
I promised i'd consider texting him. That made him smile. He had a beautiful, serene smile. The kind that made me melt.
When i got home i didn't feel like dinner. I went straight up to bed. My phone beeped. It was Niall. His text read, "thanks for the wonderful afternoon, i hope we can do that again sometime, without me playing nurse though this time <3."
That was it. I had made up my mind, i wasn't going to run from him anymore. So what if he had a girlfriend, we could still be friends, it wasn't like i was in love with him or something.
I spent the rest of my weekend texting Niall and strangely i found myself smiling. I felt happy inside. He had this effect on me that i found hard to explain.
Niall's POV
She was there eating ice-cream. How cute was that? But still i could see the sadness in her eyes. Why was she like that? I wished i could do something to make it go away. I needed to talk to her. I needed answers. I needed to know why she was avoiding me so much. What had i done? Before she could run on hearing my voice, i sat down beside her. I was very much tempted to have some of her ice-cream but that might just piss her off more. Right now i needed answers which she wasn't giving me, so i grabbed her. Her face changed. I knew that look. Damn, had she done it again? I needed to know so without even bothering to ask i rolled her sleeve up. The sight that met my eyes made me want to cry. How could this beautiful girl be doing this to herself? Why was she causing herself so much pain? Did she not realise how special she was? I needed to get this cleaned. I rushed to the pharmacy. I came back to her and bandaged her wounds. I couldn't bear to see her like that. I wanted to hold her. And tell her that i wanted to protect her, and be there for her, but i was scared that would just make her run further away from me. She put her head on my shoulder. It felt so right. I had some kind of connection with this girl. What exactly i didn't know but what i knew was that i couldn't let her go.
