all strings attached || n.h au

part four

"Travis."

"Fine." He huffed, but there's a trace of a smile on his lips. "Mum told me to get you. You're lucky she asked me and not dad."

Travis didn't wait for them to follow him as he left the kitchen and went into the dining room. Kyra was about to follow Travis when she felt a hand wrapped around her wrist. She looked at Niall over her shoulder. "Hmm?"

"We're telling everyone now?"

Kyra pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. Would tonight be a good night to tell her parents that she had been dating Travis' best friend behind everyone's back? And not to mention, her ex-boyfriend was also here tonight. So, probably not. "Just Travis for now."

Niall's gaze hardened for a moment but he quickly pasted a smile on his lips. "Okay then."

Kyra gave his hand a squeeze and a quick kiss on the corner of his mouth before they walked into the dining room.

"Hey, saved you a seat," Ryan waved at her as soon as he caught her eyes. She looked at Niall, but he's avoiding her eyes as he took a seat next to Travis – the only seat left. Kyra pulled her lips into a smile as she approached Ryan who got up from his seat and pulled the chair out for her. "Thanks. You didn't have to do that."

"I want to," he smiled as he helped her get into her seat. Once she's seated, he returned to his seat and patted her thigh the way he always used to do. She flinched a little but he must have not noticed it as he kept his eyes trained on the food in front of him. "This feels a lot like the first time I met your parents years ago. Except there were less people in this room back then and I was so much more nervous."

He just had to make that comment, didn't he? Kyra tried to catch Niall's eyes to let him know that that thought hadn't crossed her mind at all but he busied himself by playing with Eliana. The sight brought a smile to her lips, but the fact that he's avoiding her eyes bothered her. As someone who knew her inside and out, Niall knew how she felt about Ryan. Knew that at one point, she'd do anything to have what she and Ryan used to have back then once again. But surely he knew that she no longer felt that way, right?

"Everything smells so good," Ryan continued. "I've missed your cooking, Joan."

"And we've missed having you around."

Before everyone could start reminiscing about the old times, strolling down the memory lane, Kyra stepped in and said, "Let's start eating, shall we? I don't know about everyone else, but I'm starving."

Even with food in his mouth, it didn't stop Ryan from talking about the past, the past and the past. It's like that's all he could think of. Kyra looked to her brother for some help, but each time Travis stepped in to redirect the conversation back to the present, Ryan somehow managed to bring them back to the past. That man was good with words, Kyra gave him that. She didn't realise how talkative he really was. Back then, she hung onto every single word he said like the lovesick girl that she once was. Now she just wanted to shove bread into his mouth so he could shut up but she had no doubt that even with a whole bread in his mouth, he'd still find a way to speak.

Whilst Ryan talked, Kyra snuck a glance at Niall. He seemed to be listening to everything Ryan was telling them. Like the first time he met Kyra (they bumped into each other on the first day of uni – meet cute, yeah, she knew) and like the first time he asked her out (apparently he spent weeks to work up the courage to ask her out because he feared she'd say no but she didn't so yay to him!).

Kyra didn't know why he's retelling these old stories. None of those moments he'd just talked about seemed to matter much to him when he broke up with her a day before their final year of uni and those moments certainly didn't sound like such treasures to him back then. Now he's talking about them like they're his most cherished possessions.

They're just about to get to dessert and Ryan was just about to talk about the time he and Kyra visited a museum for their second date when Niall excused himself. Said he had a meeting he needed to prepare for. But something told Kyra that it was an excuse he just made up seconds ago.

"Let me pack up some desserts for you to bring home."

"That's okay–"

"I'll bring it over to his house later." Kyra gave him a look that said I'm still coming over to your place later and she hoped he got it before he looked away and apologised to everyone for having to leave early.

As soon as he left the dining room, Travis kicked Kyra's foot under the table. She didn't say anything because she knew what her brother was trying to say. Niall had never said it out loud, but beneath the confident exterior, there's some insecurities lying in the crevice of his bones (who didn't have that, anyway?). He'd done a brilliant job at concealing them but he's just human. Every now and then those insecurities reared their ugly heads and you'd have to deal with them. And this dinner might have just done it for him.