Daniel parked the car couple of meters away from the entrance of Miranda's apartment.
"There she is," Niall showed Daniel as Miranda in her pink laced dress with her silver sneakers, and faded blue denim over her shoulders waited for Niall to pick her up.
"So this is the person you left your previous goddess Clara for?"
"Can you not mention her like that, that so-called goddess almost drank my blood,"
"Because you made her to,"
"I did not, hey, see it's fated. The two-three coincidences made Clara super angry. First, her fault kissed me," he said pointing towards Miranda, "the second mine partly, and third god knows why,"
"Are you sure about it?"
"Yes I am, I don't know why, but I realized it,"
"Really? Look who is talking about fate," Daniel mocked his little brother. "Remember, mom and dad are expecting you to move back into our home soon, don't disappoint them again,"
"You do know my ideas for the school,"
"Then tell father about it, give him the proposal, see he will be glad about your interest. We have the land near our university itself,"
"First things first, let's not make her wait anymore," Niall said and got out of the car putting an end to their discussion. "Bye,"
"Are you ditching me, wait, am tagging along today with you but,"
"What?" Niall was shocked. "No go back, why would I let my friend meet you?" in the middle of trying to send Daniel off, Miranda saw them and walked towards them.
"Hey,"
"Miranda, hey," Niall stopped arguing with his brother. She looked at Daniel and smiled wondering who it is.
"Am Daniel, Niall's older brother," he introduced himself when Niall didn't.
"Miranda," she introduced herself and they shook hands.
"Don't you have a lunch meeting today, it is 12 almost," Niall said.
"I have time, I will take you two to treat something, and I don't wish to be bored now, let's go, Miranda," Daniel replied and Niall was so pissed.
Miranda laughed silently a little looking at Niall and winked at him. They got in the car and rode to the Asian live restaurant nearby. Niall ordered for seaweed soup and beef, while Miranda decided to try their nasigoreng and jjajangmyeon. Daniel ordered a cold Americano and let the two chat regarding new college regulations.
"Hostel entry times are cut off and made half an hour early now at night did you know?" Niall informed her.
"What?" Miranda didn't like it. "But why?"
"Girls are found to be sneaking into boys dorms. I received the circular via mail just now. The staff are all alerted. Every dorm will have two staff wardens on the floor. Parents are not happy about hostel regulation. And food menu items have been increased too,"
"What about the ones who do part-time, won't they be given permission either,"
"Maybe not,"
"That's ridiculous, those kids work hard to pay the fee how can they afford then?"
Niall looked at Daniel.
"They could be given special permission then, with the letter from their parents or guardians,"
Both Miranda and Niall gave Daniel a look. "I mean that is a possibility," he corrected.
"Only if the authorities think so, or else what's the point, I wonder what the student union is going to break this time," by that time, the food they ordered arrived.
"What do you do?" Miranda asked Daniel.
Daniel kept the drink down, "Business. I help my father run the family business,"
"What about him? How come he is into research and adamant about getting his Ph.D with in four years,"
"You should ask him that," Miranda looked at Niall, who was sitting there smiling, grilling the beef. He surely was looking more amazing in a white shirt than his brother, his eyes glistening. Miranda looked away soon before she gets caught.
"It must be difficult with all the new laws introduced," she told Daniel.
"A bit yes, the taxes imposed affect us just like the consumers. Even the visa and PR regulations have effected a lot, we lost our couple of employees to that. We had to let them go,"
"That's horrendous, losing the job and home," Miranda's expression changed a bit. "I wonder who elected these people when clearly majority didn't,"
"I know right, we wonder too, very often, finally someone spoke their mind out," Daniel was happy coming to the table of politics. Niall gave an unbelievable look at Daniel. Miranda was noticing it and trying her best to not laugh. Niall kept grilling the beef and giving Miranda.
"Niall you should eat too," she took some from the grill and placed it in Niall's plate. Daniel was smiling and Miranda had no idea why.
"But see people are fed up and there are rallies and protest almost every month after the elections, it definitely will be brought down by our people, mark my word," Niall made his statement.
"Yeah that is correct, all we can do is take part, support, and hope, it's the only thing stronger than fear, like President Snow said, and it brought him down either didn't it. We don't have to worry a lot.
"It's the lines by President Snow, the tyrant, in Hunger games movie," Niall made Daniel clear of his doubt. "Forget it you wouldn't know,"
They enjoyed their food, and Daniel got up to leave, "See you around Miranda, take care of her, brother," Daniel said and left for his scheduled meeting.
"Am sorry I never expected Daniel to tag alone, he has never accompanied me before,"
"That's fine, you relax, and I noticed you weren't comfortable when he came along. Thanks to him we got a nice treat, didn't we? He seems to be a very thoughtful person,"
"He is," Niall agreed chewing his food. "He is more like a parent to me, has helped me a lot through the difficult times,"
"And that's wonderful," Miranda for the first time looked into his eyes, and looked away soon, "now have your food before it gets soggy and cold," she said and handing over some rice for him and then dug into her bowl of jjajangmyeon along with grilled beef and pepper bells.
"What do you wish to do, you were so eager to get out of the campus," Niall asked her.
"I have no idea honestly,"
"We made sure we ate a lot," he said. "Okay, what about movies?"
"Okay," they got in the car and rode to the theatre, apparently the show had already begun and they walked out.
"I have the movie at home, why don't we watch them?" he suggested.
"Sure, when are you going back to college but?"
"Tomorrow, hey why don't I pick you up, we will go together, you don't have to take the bus and go through all the hustle,"
She looked at Niall for a moment before she agreed. 'free ride, why not!' she thought. She looked away as they drove past the roads. The trees on both sides of the roads, cold wind brushing their cheeks, really cold but she was enjoying the winter. He noticed it.
"You know it is really pretty but you should put on more clothes during winters, your dress is sleeveless, short and soft," Miranda instantly attempted to correct her dress and hide her knees with her hands. Niall couldn't help but smile watching her blush.
"Put this on," he took a jacket from the back seat and put it over her lap. She covered her legs.
'It does feel warm,' she thought. "But I love winter, I like how cold it is, and how the wind feels against your skin, I like sipping a mug of coffee when the snowflakes are all around, I like the fireplaces that brings warmth in you,"
"Really, but I like the summers the most, that fire it brings in you, and that heavenly feeling of that hope, that you can carry out any plans because the weather won't be a problem.
"Phoenix to the Frost Blossom," she blurted out. 'What have I said, I shouldn't quote from any series damn,' she wondered. Niall parked I the car underground and they took the lift to the 12th floor.
"You must be having a great view from the condo up so high," he didn't say anything. He unlocked the door and got in. she followed him in.
'Wow, awesome,' she said inside her head looking at the interior. 'Your brother sure is cool,' he suddenly took her hands and walked over to the bedroom. She looked at him, quietly following. He then took a remote and pressed a button, the curtains began to move slowly to both the sides. He turned the dim lights on in the room. The room had a king-size four poster with glamorous canopy bed, giving a rustic romantic touch to the room with grey and pastel pink bedspreads and pillows. With lights hanging around the grey curtains and fur blanket. The grey and white carpet matched the dull walls and opposite to the bed in the wall was a big screen wall mounted. To its either side had indoor plants set in the stylish bottles. The plants had tiny lights on them like in the bed curtains. The large brown teak table down the TV looked majestic. To the right in the corner had the off white couch and small crystal table with an ashtray and potpourri and its fragrance was everywhere in the room. Above the headrest was a huge dream catcher hanged down.
"This was a gift from my dad for my brother's wedding but they have never lived here," Niall told her.
'So all these are never used and untouched, that's sad,' she thought. The curtains were moved and Niall showed Miranda the exquisite look she could get. Still holding his hands, she stepped forward towards the glass walls. The view of the whole of the city, the roads, the hills in the distance. He opened the balcony for her, and she stepped out. It was very chilling. He walked over to the wardrobe and took out a shawl, he soon placed it over her shoulders.
"Stay here, I will come in a moment," he excused himself from the room. It was too cold but she kept standing there enduring the chill, she turned back as Niall entered the room with two mugs of coffee. He has changed into a plain white t-shirt and black jeans, his dark hair lying down, he looked so cute and pretty hot. Miranda was reminded of the first night in her college. The fresher's party, she looked away as her heart skipped a beat. 'what am I thinking stop the thought' she told herself as her brain kept on playing the prank she was given, kissing the stranger once who turned out to be Niall.
"What are you smiling about?" he asked her, handing the mug of coffee with marshmallows.
"Nothing," she said realizing he has caught her. 'Careful dumb' she warned herself. She stood there freezing with a hot cup of coffee.
"You know what, I can't, it's super cold, wait a moment," he said and went back into the room giving Miranda his cup to hold. He opened the door what appeared to be the way for closet. He came back wearing a sky blue and white striped shirt, unbuttoned. He looked dashing. He corrected his hair and asked her to come into the room. He took her on a tour around the condo.
It looked fantabulous, white painted wood and glass furnishing everywhere as per the theme. This was the first time she entered a real condo. At the living room, the wall he had varieties of guitars fixed on the wall. And in the study, the whole was decorated with tiny plants, lights, and photo frames. She walked closer to the photo wall. There were photos of his childhood days, with his grandparents, his brother, and his family, the little girls, and some old photographs of his parents' youth. She ran her fingers through some of the photos of Niall.
"Aren't these the Halloween costumes," she asked and he nodded. She looked at his sparkling eyes. He was smiling already. Niall was wearing the costume of spider man and Oswald through the years.
"That's cute. I like these two characters too," she said. "Oh my god! Look at the baby you!" she said loudly looking at his baby picture. "How old were you when this was taken?"
"Three," he said inserting his hands in the pockets. He let her see everything and put himself at ease walking beside her. Things were going exactly as he planned. She walked over to the kitchen and washed the cups and opened the refrigerator.
"You mind?" she asked him.
"All yours," he shrugged. She took the pack of sausages they bought together the day before and decided to grill it.
"I will set up for the movie, what do you want to watch?"
"Anything," and he walked to the hall and called out the movie names for her.
"Diehard, there is Transformers, Percy Jackson jeez why do I have this, ok here, I have Avatar, Battle of Los Angeles, divergent, maze runner, Troy, 300, Titanic, X-Men, Predator, Scorpion King, Mummy, Night at the Museum, A Cinderella story, fast and furious, Harry Potter, Then I have a Netflix account, we better choose from that.
"I have seen all of that. But let's watch Transformers, have you seen that?" she asked him, it was a movie she watched in theatres with her high school friends. She smiled as she thought.
"No I haven't," he said. "I will put it on then,"