A/N
Niall's outfit on the side
There was a huge blanket spread out and three small fires burning which illuminated the place. The center of the blanket had lots, and I mean lots, of berries scattered and cushions uprooted from the airplane seats were lying around. There were two big leaves wrapped around something and I assumed that to be the fish. The two bottles of alcohol along with two chocolate bars, which I didn't think were hard enough to remain in their covering, were placed separately.
I turned to look at Niall. He was dressed in a plain white tee with a leather jacket and black jeans and he was flaunting his still-developing chest hair. There was a gut feeling in my stomach because he was looking perfect.
"Figured, why waste such a good jacket and a pair of jeans by never wearing them?", he smirked.
"Touchè."
I caught both his collars and pulled on it slowly.
"You clean up pretty well", Niall got his face closer and I thought he was going to kiss me but he kissed my cheek and said, "You dress up pretty well too. I love this", he picked the silver strap that lay on my shoulder and let it hit me back with a 'zztt' noise.
"Ow", I swatted his arm.
"I've always wanted to do that", he gigled and grabbed my arm.
"Heels in sand? What were you thinking about?", he kept them down and we walked to the blanket. He knew more about girls and heels then me I guess.
"Sorry mom", I teased.
I would say I was impressed with what Niall had done. It was simple but he thought of all this just for me, the thinking alone made me appreciate it. Plus we didn't have the best of sources but he made use of everything possible.
I sat down while adjusting the frills on my dress, when one went down and the next would pop up! I grunted and decided to sit Indian style and placed one of the seat coushin, which wasn't soft enough, on my lap. Niall sat down in front of me with the berries in between us.
He picked up two berries and gave me one.
"Let's start new yeah?", he tapped his berry with mine and we popped it in our mouth at the same time. The sweet juice traveled down my throat whitnin seconds.
"I'm Niall. What's your name?", he shoveled more berries into his mouth. I didn't know what he had in mind but I went along with it.
"I'm Taarika", I replied chewing on the berry and enjoying its fruity juice.
"Tell me something about yourself Taarika."
"Well", I dusted my hands and placed them on my cushion, "I'm a 19 year old lady, living by myself in London and am majoring in marine biology..."
"Ooo underwater world. Have you been down there?", Niall interrupted.
"No, but I will after I get my license for scuba diving."
I was surprised as to how Niall didn't know what I was doing professionally but then again when did I ever tell him about myself?
"What's your favourite colour?"
"Blue followed with green", so we are talking about all the little things? Perfect.
"Favourite song?"
"I have many, um let's see, the title track of Titanic, Please Forgive Me by Bryan Adams and there's many more but I don't remember them at the moment."
"Hmm. Favourite vacation destination?"
"Are we doing 20 questions? Because I want to ask you questions too."
"Okay you start", he got excited and so was I.
"Favourite colour?"
"Green. Favourite tourist destination?"
"Australia. Favourite dessert?"
"Oh god not that question again", Niall covered his face like I had asked him something very difficult.
"Why? What's wrong?", I popped another berry in my mouth.
"I just can't select one, they are all so bleady good you know? Its like asking a parent who their favourite child is, its just impossible to choose one", Niall fake cried.
"But every parent secretly has a favourite child", I answered.
"No, that's not true. My mum and dad love me and Greg equally. What about your parents?"
"Um", I knew this would happen. I didn't want to let Niall know about any of it but now he asked me point blankly. Just by the mention of my parents, my eyes got heavy, my stomach started churning. Don't cry and look like a fool Ta I told myself.
"Ta?", Niall called out to me and I looked at him. My vision was blurred because of the tears threatening to spill but I knew Niall was worried.
"What's wrong?", he scooted close to me and entwined his fingers with mine, his thumb rubbing circles on my palm.
"It's nothing", I wiped my eyes with my free hand. I didn't want Niall to know what had happened or else I would ruin this date and he had done so much for it.
"Tell me", he said it in a way which was both demanding and assuring me that everything would be fine.
"My dad left us when I was five. I don't even remember what he looks like anymore", I hiccupped and saw Niall getting alarmed. He knew that hiccups meant that I was about to cry.
"No don't cry. We'll talk about it later if you want but please don't cry babe", he rubbed my back and I leaned into his chest, his leather jacket was so warm.
"No I'll say it. Its time I said it out loud", I assured him. If there was a time for Niall to know about my parents, it was now.
"So my mom had to take care and bring up the two of us all by herself, my sister is a year elder to me. One day, three years ago, I got a call from the police station that my mom's car had been involved in an accident and they needed to identify the body...", I hiccupped again and Niall patted my back. His touch was so calm and soft.
"Me and my sister rushed to the station and the car was crushed beyond recognition. But I remember we had brought an 'All Girls Aboard' car sticker a while back and stuck it to the back of the car. So I looked for it. And there the shriveled sticker was lying behind broken glass. When reality hit me, I knew it was my mom's car, my sister lost it and began wailing, held by the lady officer. I had to be strong enough and prayed for my dear life that my mom wasn't the one who was under a white cloth, kept on a stretcher aside. I convinced myself that our car was stolen and it wasn't my mom who was driving. I walked towards the body and the officer picked up the white cloth and there was my mom, with her eyes shut, life sucked out of her with bruises and cuts all over her face. I touched her cheek while nodding, indirectly telling the officer that she was indeed my mom."
"I heard my sister shriek and I went to console her but the weird part was I wasn't crying. Not a drop of tear escaped my eye. Yes I was hurt and I realized my mom wasn't with me anymore. There was no one to come home to, no one to spoil us, no one to love us, no one to enjoy Saturday night's watching movies and eating ice cream, no one to go to when I needed help, no one to call mom anymore. She supported us in all ways possible, brought the both of us up as a single parent....."
I was so lost reliving that memory that I didn't realize Niall's hand was squeezing my thigh. I heard a sniff and I tilted my head up and saw his eyes shut and cheeks wet.
"Ni?", I placed my hand on his cheek, wiping away his tears.
"I'm so sorry Ta, I didn't know any of this. I'm so sorry you lost both your parents and I'm sorry I'm such an arse to ask you about them and I'm..."
I placed my finger on his lips and shhshd him.
"You didn't know. Its alright. She's in a better place now. There's no need for you to apologize because this is the first time I've spoken about her to anyone. I always shut my friends out when it comes to this topic. I needed some sort of closure, and believe me I feel like I've finally accepted it. All this while there was that weird feeling and now look, its gone. Thank you for listening to me", the image of my mom smiling kept playing in my head. It was a bittersweet moment. I never cried for my mom's death but today if it hadn't been for Niall, I would have. I looked up at the sky and I knew she was out there, twinkling in the form of a bright star, looking down at us and laughing at my silliness. And I knew she would have been proud.
"But she took revenge from me alright", I tried lightening up the mood, "she sent you on that plane to make me suffer", I giggled. Niall smiled and his whole face lit up. He was wanting to reply with a comeback but he dropped it.
After a few seconds I felt Niall's lips on mine. I was surprised at first but then I kissed him back.
"I love you so much", he whispered, breaking away and then kissing me again.
"I'm sorry for ruining our date", I whispered placing my hand on his t-shirt. It felt warm below his jacket.
"You didn't ruin it c'mon", Niall got up and let his hand out for me to get up.
A/N
I had lot of questions regarding what had happened to Taarika's parents, so I wanted to clear that out.
I will try my level best to update again tomorrow, if not it'll be the day after.
This chapter is dedicated to @dangg_styles ! Thanks for all your support !
I'm now sitting with 12,157 reads! I didn't believe I could cross the 12k mark, a big thank you to all !
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