little do you know // niall horan au

chapter 16; do you know? (part ii)

Mona sighed to herself when that conversation was over. She started walking around again in search of Harlow, who was nowhere to be found. Mona figured she must have been upstairs helping Deepa get ready. She scanned the crowd again only for her eyes to land on a familiar pair of blue ones. Niall smiled at her from across the room and, again, she sighed to herself. He shouldn't be allowed to look that good.

She smiled back at him, heat flooding her skin as the memory of his lips on hers from last night came back. Her fingers tingled and she glanced down to take a look at her mehndi stain again, which seemed to be getting darker by the minute. Niall started to walk towards her, and she found her legs moving to head towards him as well.

Until someone stepped right into her view of him.

Mona froze. It felt as if her blood had iced over in her veins, and whatever sense of calmness she had started to feel quickly evaporated into thin air. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't even think. The moment she'd been dreading was finally here and now she didn't know what to do with herself.

"Hey, Mo," Nick said to her. He smiled easily, and it seemed earnest and a bit nervous. Despite it, Mona couldn't find anything in her to send him a smile of her own. "It's been a while, huh."

Mona wished the ground would just swallow her whole. This was her brother, for crying out loud, and she couldn't even say a word to him.

It turned out, she didn't have to. Niall was stepping in beside her, and even without looking at him she could tell he was in protective mode. His shoulders were squared, standing up to his tallest height, despite Nick having a couple inches over him. When she looked up at him, he was already sending her a concerned look, brows raised in a silent question: Is everything okay?

Mona sighed. He could always see right through her.

Niall was getting ready to say something—probably scathing—to Nick but she stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Niall," she mumbled, "this is Nick. My brother." At that, Niall's demeanor had softened significantly, but his shoulders were still tense. Mona turned to look at her brother. He was watching them carefully, but even she couldn't ignore the hope in his eyes. "Nick, this is my friend Niall."

"Hi, Niall." Nick immediately held out his hand, his megawatt smile taking over his entire face. Mona had forgotten how charming her brother is. "Nice to meet you."

At that, Niall's icy exterior completely melted, and he sent Nick a smile of his own. "Likewise, mate." Mona didn't miss the way Niall inched closer towards her, a silent reminder that he noticed her internal panic. "Sorry for being a little defensive back there. Mo just looked a little spooked when she saw you is all."

"Yeah, no, I totally understand," Nick laughed, his eyes on Mona. "It's just, uh." His voice softened. "It's been a minute since we've civilly interacted." He inched the slightest bit closer to her, and Mona was beginning to lose her nerve. Nick held his arms out for her, an easy smile on his face, but even she could see from his eyes that he was nervous. "For old time's sake?"

Mona tried to swallow through the very large lump that had grown in her throat and was failing. Memories of the last time she spoke to her brother flooded her mind and she could feel her fingers starting to shake again. It was the oddest thing, how someone who had once meant the world to her, who was supposed to protect her from everything, now made her feel the most on edge.

Her silence, and stillness, had him faltering, but before he could fully put his arms down, she took a deep breath and stepped towards him, timidly walking into his open embrace and loosely wrapping her arms around his middle. When he tightened his arms around her shoulders, her heart gave a harsh twist. She and Nick may not have had the closest relationship, but she had always looked up to him.