Norah & Daniel

Chapter-22

"You certainly are a piece of work, Daniel."

"Why thank you. I'm glad my problems work as a source of amusement to you." He put a hand on his heart, looking offended. "So you've decided to spend this day with the one and only, amazing me?" 

"Eh, I still feel a little sleepy so I could use a day off, I guess," I answered but there was still a guilt nagging in my brain for skipping school. 

Nodding, Daniel settled down on one of the chairs and I noticed something in his hand.

"What are you doing with that?" I asked, referring to the box of jigsaw puzzle now lying in his lap.

"Oh there's a really cool recipe I saw on the food network. It's called 'crispy puzzles' and I thought I should try it," he explained and I made an impassive face. "It's a puzzle. What do you think I'm going to do with it?"

"Where did you find it?" I asked, ignoring his sarcasm again.

"It was on your table. I was getting bored seeing you sleep so I went inside to find some coffee and found it," he enthusiastically remarked.

"Dork!" I sang.

"Don't care!" he sang back. "So wanna do it together?"

"Alright." I slid down to the ground to reach on the level of the small wooden table. "I didn't even know I had a puzzle set."

"But as you can see." Taking off the lid from the box, he inverted it making all the pieces to topple one over another on the table.

The picture on the lid was of an English style cottage and we immediately started to assemble it together in silence but after a few minutes, it was beginning to get more confusing to know which part belonged where.

"This is really tough," I complained. "It will take us years to sort these thousand pi-"

My words were barricaded in my mouth as I looked over Daniel's direction and saw that he had already put together a large number of pieces together and judging by the picture, it looked like he was doing it right.

"Nerd!" I reiterated. Shifting his gaze from the puzzle to me, he pouted adorably.

"What? I am good at puzzles," he stated, shrugging and went back to the work in hand.

It was kind of nice to see him engrossed in anything, even if it was just a puzzle.

I was still pretty much staring at him when his voice made me realize me realize what I was doing. "I know that I'm in no position to ask question but I really need to ask you something."

"It's not a give and take thing, Daniel," I clarified. "You can ask what you want to."

He turned his body to face me better. "Why are you always alone? I know that your mom...I mean where's your dad and your..."

He didn't finish his question. He didn't need to. Both of us knew what was being asked.

Chewing my lower lip, I directed my eyes downwards. "My dad is in New York right now and Emma..." I felt my words being blocked but nonetheless, I tried to continue, "um, she...she passed away three years ago."

I wasn't looking at him but yet I can tell the change that had been brought in his demeanor.

"How?" he asked in a whisper.

This was it. Either I could tell him that it was an accident, which was what everybody thought. Or I could tell him the truth, which nobody knew.

And I don't know why but I really wanted to confide in him.