Dear Friend,

chapter 13

Harry Styles

My Theo.

The one who has been the only constant in my life for the last four years.

Only a few people in my life know about him, and I keep him out of the public eye entirely. My family and a select few friends are the only ones who know.

Lennox has been waiting for me to give her an answer about why I completely disappeared, and long story short, he is the answer.

There are more pieces to the story and I've been trying to figure out how to tell her each part of it but I'm too scared of losing the relationship we've built over the last few months.

My front door opened as a small backpack dropped by the doorway and little shoes hit the ground running right over to the couch and a small body had plopped right next to mine.

"Daddy look what I drew today! It's an Argentinosaurus!" His little voice stumbled over the word before he just shook his head and continued pushing the paper in my direction. "Those are the most giant dinosaurs in the world."

"Woah that's a big word, dude."

"A big word for a BIG dinosaur." He brought his little arms up stretching out to exaggerate the size. "Miss Julie taught me about them today and then we drawed them!"

"You drew all of those? That's awesome buddy, I think it's your best work yet. Can we go put it on the fridge?"

Theo looked up eagerly nodding at me as I brought my hands out to scoop him up giving him a piggyback ride into the kitchen.

"Here's a magnet, you stick it wherever you think it would look the best."

"Right there!" He cheered out pointing to the corner of the fridge and I turned him around to help him stick the paper up on the refrigerator door.

I pulled him away from the spot where he was resting on my hip and led him towards the living room where Julie was standing waiting near our front door.

"It looks great Theo, now go tell Julie bye you won't see her for a few days." He looked at me waiting for an explanation as to the change in his routine. "You get to stay with me for a bit and tomorrow we're gonna take that trip we've been getting ready for! Does that sound okay?"

"Yes! Yes!" He started cheering so hard and stomping on the floor which I'm sure wasn't appreciated by our neighbors below. "Bye-bye, Miss Julie, I'm gonna stay with daddy now."

He stood at the door, arms wrapped around her leg to give her a hug, and waved goodbye before he was running back over to me and reaching his arms up for me to grab him.

"Ohhhh I think you're getting too big for this, T, I can barely lift you." I exaggerated grunting as I lifted him up and his little giggles started to fill the apartment.

"No way, daddy!" His legs were wrapped around my torso, and his arms were clinging around my neck as he laid his head on my chest.

"Bye Theo, have fun!" Julie hung his jacket in the coat closet near the door before waving and making her way out the door.

"Thanks, Julie. Have a great Holiday, we'll miss you"

She waved back at me before latching the door behind her and I was immediately spinning around with Theo clung to me to walk over to the kitchen.

"I missed you too much today little man, what do you say we watch a movie and eat some sweets, yeah?"

He immediately picked his head up off of me to nod and tried to wiggle out of my arms running into the kitchen where he knows the treats are. He pulled open the cabinet door and dropped to the floor sitting up on his knees and digging through the snacks that were stored in the cupboard.