Till The Count Of Five ✓

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

I'm not nice, no. I'm just a kid trying to grow up.

Nolan

3rd May 2019, Friday
18:22

When I opened the door, I didn't expect to see her, of all the people. My eyebrows furrowed and as I took in her attire. Untied mess of hair, fear-stricken eyes, red hands, heavy breaths, dirty shoes, just like the first time. Culprit, her attire had spoken.

"Nolan."

I met her gaze, took a step back and shook my head. This was Kiara.

"Kiara," I breathed. "Come in."

Kiara shifted on her sandals and avoided my gaze. Her fingers moved slightly around the polythene bag clutched to her chest.

"Kiara, come in," I repeated. We hadn't talked since Wednesday. So it hit me with huge surprise and a little hope when she stood here, at my house, in front of me. Still, there was a nagging feeling in my chest.

Then, I blinked. "How did you know where my house is?" Did she found from h-

She shrugged. "School records. I wasn't stalking you. I saw it once while making a list."

She stepped inside and I closed the door, leaning against it. Her back faced me. She looked around the place, turned to me and looked a little more, in what I thought could only be defined as awe. The polythene bag slipped out of her grasp and out of reflex, I jumped to help her. But my hands stopped, her dreadful voice telling me to leave echoed in my head. I cleared my throat and maintained my posture.

"Do you need some help?" I hesitantly asked.

She nodded with a look of desperation in her eyes. "Please."

When I tried to get the bag from her, I realized she did not refer to this but something else. I tugged at it but she shook her head. Heat rose to my cheeks. If this wasn't awkward, Lord help me, I did not ever want to know what truly was.

"I-" "You-" We spoke simultaneously and laughed at our condition.

While her laugh cooled the atmosphere in the room, my shaky laugh like a generator refusing to turn on cracked her up further. She broke into a full belly laughter, doubling over. The bag slipped out of her hands again and I grasped it before it could injure her feet. Although I got hold of it at the right time, I wasn't prepared for the weight.

"What do you have in here?" I asked through clenched teeth. "Dead body?"

She stopped laughing and played with her fingers. "Something like that."

My eyes widened and I stared inside. Frames. Placing the bag lightly on the glass table, I opened its knot and took a good look. Two canvases lay in the middle, each having a frame on its side. I didn't have to ask Kiara what it was, who it belonged to. Everyone at Dandelion Presidency knew these black coloured frames with golden design on them. We saw them on so many occasions, so often.

"I brought them here," Kiara mumbled.

Considering she stood in my house, with Ashiamma's paintings in my hand, of course she brought them here. The annoyance that had been covered by relief on seeing her resurfaced.

"They were supposed to be in the school," I said, not looking at her but the frames, whose corners were designed with a 5.

"I took them," she replied. "Picasso Club is renovating. I saw Shay removing this and brought it from her. Did you know Vee stood there the whole time, letting her remove it?"