Swindle. (Larry Stylinson)

Twenty one

Harry was worried, he’d not seen or heard from Louis as he’d woken up that morning to an empty space beside him on the bed. Louis had left without a word and he’d been trying his number all morning but it had been unavailable. He hoped he was okay, he would have advised he took the day off work to settle down a bit.

Harry was presently on his private elevator on his way up to his office, it was almost noon now and had been ensconced in a meeting with a client all morning where he’d struggled to focus on the issues they’d been talking about.

It had felt good airing his heart out to him last night and sleeping with him by his side had been so wonderful, he couldn’t recall when last he’d had such a wonderful rest. He was keeping his fingers crossed and seriously hoping he would give a favourable answer to his proposal.

The elevator doors opened and Princess was waiting to give him his , messages and appointments for the day. He was only half listening, as he passed by Louis’s desk, noticing it was tidy like he hadn’t shown up all day.

“That’s all, Sir,” Princess was saying.

“Alright thanks.” He said

“Are you alright, Sir? You seem ….distracted.”

“Am good, thankyou.” He told her dismissively.

They were at his door now and he was about opening it when she called him back.

“Sir?” She said.

He turned to look at her well for the first time that morning “Yes Princess?” Their eyes met and she looked away.

“ummm, never mind Sir,” She said and turned to leave.

He frowned “Are you sure?” He asked calling her back.

She nodded “Yes, nothing really,” she said as she walked back to her office.

‘hmmmm’, now what had that been about? He thought but he couldn’t think about it for long, Louis was the real issue occupying his mind, where in the world had he disappeared to and why, for crying out loud, why isn’t he answering his phone? He really did hope he was fine, maybe he just needed some time alone to sort things out.

Walking to his desk he decided to shift those thoughts aside and focus on work instead but he’d not even sat down when he heard a knock on the door.

“Yeah?” He called, probably Princess, he thought but as the door opened he saw it was Louis who peeked in.

His eyes widened in surprise.

“Hi.” Louis said uncertainly as he smiled that hundred watt smile that made his heart do jumping jacks, “ummm, can I come in?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ve been calling your line is switched off.” Harry told him, seeing that he seemed fine, not like he’d feared.

“yes,” He nodded, “I’m avoiding calls from you know who.” Louis replied as he approach  his desk.

Harry watched him, he seemed really okay on the outside. “You left so quietly this morning and I just saw your desk cleared like you’d not come in today.”

“I’ve been at technical since I stepped in, the VILDE group project you wanted me to work on with the engineer, its almost concluded now and feedback from VILDE is good so far. He was filling me in on how it was going and since I wasn’t busy up here, I was with him for a while.” Louis explained then flashed him another bright smile “So, I guess you slept well, when I woke up, you were so deep into it I decided not to disturb you, so I crept out quietly.”