matchmaking for experts || h.s au

eighteen

Maia winces. "Sorry."

"S'fine," Laura brushes off her apology with a wave of her hand. "Anyway, we went out for drinks and I asked her if she's okay—"

"—and she just told you?"

"Of course not," Laura replies in a way that says 'as if you don't know Grace'.

Grace has got to be the most tight-lipped, most private person in this office. Maia is pretty certain that although she's close to her, she only knows several things about her. Which makes her wonder how on earth she and Niall could happen when the two of them are the complete opposite of each other. Niall's an open book and Grace is, well, a closed one —  the fact that Laura could get Grace to open up about it is a big deal and a surprise on its own. This must be the case of opposites attract.

"After the third or maybe fourth drink, she finally told me that she had been sleeping with someone, didn't say who but we already knew that, and things blew up because of something, didn't say what, and I'm guessing it's because one of them wants more? Obviously, it's not our Grace."

Laura has a point. As secretive as she is when it comes to her personal and love life, Grace has never made it a secret that she's not looking for a relationship. She just wants to help people get in one but has no intentions whatsoever in getting herself the same thing. 

Niall, on the other hand, has been on a lot of dates — casual ones, he claims — and although his title as a serial dater might make him seem like a commitment-phobe, he isn't. At least Maia doesn't think he is because he had mentioned before that he was in a long-term relationship prior to moving to London a few years ago and that gives her the impression that once he's met the right person, he's in it for the long haul.

"Do you think I could get something from Niall if I get him drunk?" Laura asks.

If it's true that Niall wanted something more but Grace didn't then Maia can only imagine his heartbreak, which then explains why he's been looking like shit this lately. And she can imagine that he might not be so open to talking about it. If she were him, she wouldn't want to talk about it either and she'd appreciate it if she'd be left alone to tend to her heart. 

For some reasons, she has a feeling that's what Niall wants.

"I don't know," Maia answers. "I don't think it's a good idea? I just feel bad for him."

Laura glances over her shoulder to look at Niall's vacant desk as well. "Yeah... Poor Niall."

"We might be wrong." Laura gives her a look. "Okay, all evidence points to that but I think we shouldn't interfere."

"Ouch," Laura clutches her chest in mock pain. "You know I love to interfere."

"Of course."

"But you're right," Laura agrees with a nod of her head. "My intervention might've worked for you and Harry, but I don't think it'd work for them. Their case is too... complicated."

"And Harry and I?"

"Nah, you two were just too blind and, I say this lovingly, stupid to realise that you're in love with each other."

Maia almost chokes on the air she's breathing at the mention of the word 'love'. Now that... that is the specific word, or rather emotion, that she hasn't confronted and confirmed yet. The same emotion that she's been ignoring each time it begs for her attention, which is almost all the time because she feels it whenever she's with Harry and she's with him a lot lately.

In her head, Maia sees love in capital letters. In her heart, she feels it expanding inside of her, pressing at her rib cages, nearly overwhelming her each time she's with Harry. But she's not ready to voice it out yet. She wants the moment when she finally says those three words to be perfect.