I remember // AU

Chapter 5

Suddenly the door flung open.

"Mom!" Said a young boy who looked like 17 or 16 with blonde hair and blue eyes.
"Oh! Niall so you're back huh?" Anne said as she smiled at the boy that I assume is Niall and told him to sit on the couch.
"Mom I've been searching you everywhere till Kendall told me you were here."

"Ah! and here I am boy with our beautiful neighbor Taylor," she told Niall pointing me out. "And Taylor this is my younger son Niall."

Niall stood up and stretched a hand towards me.
"I must say he's really cute." I said as I shook his hands, "how old is he?"
"He's 16"
"Ok and you have an elder son too."
"Yes, he's 19."
"What? But you look really young!"
"The credit goes to my genes and those creams... haha!" She faked a laugh.
"Really! So where's your husband?"
"Um... he's off to work. Would be there at night."

I simply nodded as a reply.

"Ok then see you tomorrow. Guess he needs some rest because he just came from his basketball practice." she said as she patted Niall on his back.
"No!!! I want to talk with Taylor." Niall replied.

It was extremely strange for him to say so. I mean we've just met and people do not open up these days so easily.

"Well." I said
"Football or basketball or chess?"
"Chess?" I asked surprised at the fact that a 16 year-old even dared to ask me to play chess.
"Yes, I'm a school champ."
"Fine then chess it is!" I said giving him a high-five.
"Are you sure?"Asked Anne
"Don't worry, I'll be fine." I said as if I were going in a boxing ring.

An hour later, I found myself literally scratching my hair. This Niall guy was actually a genius when it comes to chess.

"Ok you win again!" I said raising up both my hands.
"One more!" He shouted.
"No... am tired now."

He made a sad face and then said, "Fine. But thank you for being that patient with me."
"Patient?"
"Yeah, my bro tells me a person needs a lot of patience to keep up with me."
"Awww! That's rude."
"Yeah! I know but nobody else does."
"What do you mean?" I asked him queerly.

"Well, they just keep moving from one place to another, saying daddy's getting promoted or making other silly excuses. They don't let me make friends. Like when I make friends they suddenly tell me you can't play with them and then the next day they'd say we're moving out... I'm just tired of it."

I just sighed feeling sympathetic for this young boy. I can understand that he isn't aware of his parents' cruel intentions and is just a victim of the situation.

"But you know what? You're still lucky you've got such nice parents. I can feel your mother really loves you," I said trying to cheer him up.
"Maybe. But for the past few years, it seems like even she doesn't care for me anymore."
"Past few years?"
"Yeah since---"

Ding dong! The doorbell rang.

"That must be Anne." I said as I stood up from my chair to open the door.
"Wait... whatever happens don't tell her what I told you," he said in a shaky tone.
"Ok... I won't."

Then I opened the door and found Kendall who'd come to take Niall. Unfriendly as she was, she just went away. This lady is never gonna get into my good books.