all strings attached || n.h au

part two

"I–Uh, no." Niall's voice brought her back to reality.

"No?" Travis repeated. There's no reply on Niall's behalf and she could only guess that he simply offered her brother a nod. "As much as I don't really approve of your friendship, I know you two are somewhat close so I thought you've heard from her."

"Maybe her phone's dead or maybe she's already asleep."

"Yeah. Maybe," was all Travis said.

There's silence. For a moment, Kyra thought her brother had left but then she heard Niall clearing his throat and a question left his mouth, "Hey, what d'you mean when you said you don't really approve of our friendship?"

Unlike before, Travis didn't answer straightaway. It's like he had a sense that he's in a minefield – if only he knew how real that was because there's only a wall and a door separating him from his sister that he so badly wanted to protect.

Just answer the god damn question, she whispered to herself, because now that Niall had brought that question up, she wanted to know the answer too. But it wouldn't come as a surprise if Travis changed the subject – it ran in the family, anyway, changing the subject when you didn't want to talk about it or when you knew you'd get in trouble if you continued talking about it.

Niall must've pressed him for an answer because his voice filtered through the closed door a few seconds later.

"You know what I mean." Travis let out a chuckle. Kyra wanted nothing more than to materialise next to him and smack his head – and she preferred for it to leave a bruise – because what did that even mean? Had they talked about this before? Because if they had, why didn't Niall tell her about it? "You know I love my sister with all my heart but Kyra..." he trailed off and Kyra straightened her back and strained her ears to listen to every word that was about to leave her brother's mouth. "She's the opposite of you. And I know how you feel about her–No, you don't have to deny it. I'm your best friend, I've seen the way you look at her but just... If you're thinking of getting involved with her, it's not a good idea. She's not exactly a relationship type of person like you are."

So this is how it felt like to get stabbed in the back. Kyra could feel her heart dropping to the pit of her stomach. Whilst her brother's words held some truth to it, it didn't lessen the pain. It hurt as hell that Travis would say such things behind her back.

Yes, she admitted that she didn't have the best track record when it came to relationships and yes, in the past she wasn't serious in any of her relationships, always the one to end it. The longest relationship she'd ever had lasted for six months but she refused to think about that or about the person she was with in said relationship right now.

Anyway, in her defence, the guys she dated weren't Niall. They weren't her best friend and they certainly weren't someone whom she had strong feelings for. Feelings that had been harbouring in her heart for years. Come to think of it, she'd had feelings for Niall the moment Travis introduced him to their family five years ago at their family barbecue party.

The party was thrown for her, to celebrate her graduation and when Travis walked into the backyard of their house with someone next to him, Kyra couldn't keep her eyes off of him. It might sound like an exaggeration but it really wasn't. Travis had caught her staring and she remembered the look he gave her and the unspoken warning about how his friend, whom she found out later named Niall, was off-limits – much like his other friends. But that didn't stop her from talking to him, though technically, he was the one who talked to her first when he congratulated her for surviving university. Conversation flowed effortlessly between them before Travis stepped in and whisked Niall away from her. He's always doing that. In fact, he's doing that right now.