Love Speaks Louder Than Words

2: Love Struck

BRAN

Bran walked home with a smile on his face.

That was the first time he'd ever been so close to a girl. Sure, he had several friends who are girls, even the president's daughter, Myrcella Baratheon, but he had never been drawn to any of them the way he was drawn to Meera.

Even when he arrived at his place in the Aquamarine, freshened up, and lay on his bed, he still couldn't stop thinking about her. The image of Meera was still spiraling in his thoughts. Her brown curls, her green eyes and, her warm smile.

The penthouse his parents had bought was a 250 square meter three-bedroom unit at the top floor of the Aquamarine. Its second floor was a mezzanine, which meant it was partly open to the floor below. In their case, it overlooked the living room below from the hallway with steel rail and tempered glass.

The three bedrooms were placed beside each other and they were all facing the railed hallway that looked down on the living room. The largest bedroom was built on one end, to which it overlooked the pool outside the balcony. The upstairs bathroom was right across the bedroom on the other end, by the staircase.

Bran took the largest bedroom, of course. His bedroom was larger, yes, but was nothing much. Sure, it had a king-sized bed that he slept alone in, a walk-in closet, and its own bathroom and remote-controlled fireplace, but everything else was pretty much similar to the things he had in his room in their house in Winterfell.

He had a work desk with two computer monitors; a corkboard on the wall right above the monitors for school notes; a comfy leather boss chair; a few bookshelves with his favorite books and file boxes; even an ottoman by his fireplace as he liked to sit there with a cup of coffee, especially when it's snowing.

The last person who occupied the master bedroom was his brother, Robb, while the other two spare bedrooms were occupied by his sisters. So when Robb graduated, Bran took the largest room. His sisters didn't even argue when he claimed it. And now, Beren Tallhart occupied the room Sansa used to own.

His bed had two nightstands with lamps on either side and he had even installed a lamp on his headboard because he liked to read a book before going to sleep.

But now even with the lights off, and it was quiet except for the cracking of fire in his room's fireplace, he still couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned but no, sleep didn't get to him at all.

Until much later, he heard a commotion downstairs. He assumed it was just his roommate, Beren Tallhart. But when he heard a loud bang, like furniture was being destroyed, he instantly got up. That could not have been Beren.

He heard about cases of burglary around White Harbor, especially in the suburban areas. But flats aren't that different as there were still reports on it. So Bran scrambled about the toolbox below his desk and took the largest and lightest tool he could find that can be used as a weapon, which happened to be a crowbar, before slowly tiptoeing downstairs.

The console table near the main doors was overturned. The glass flower vases and figurines on it were broken in pieces on the floor. The phone landline was disconnected from the router. And he could see a silhouette of a hunched person clambering on floor.

Bran tightened his grip on the crowbar ready to strike. As he got closer, he noticed the guy was wearing a familiar leather jacket. But before he could make the swing, he managed to step on one of the shattered pieces of glass on the floor.

The guy on the floor turned his head and raised his hands in surrender. "Hey, wait!" A familiar voice yelped. "Wait!"

He lowered down the crowbar. "Beren?"