Under my skin

Chapter 42 - A new beginning.

I can only imagine what he read from the guy I marked 'twitter fiend'.

I thought if I just ignored the hate mail he was sending me that he would go away, because all celebrities get hate mail at some point.

But no, he kept coming back - now he even has my number.

I kept it from everyone else because I know they would probably all over-react, but I guess now I don't have a choice.

An angry yell disrupted my thoughts, and I blinked my eyes into focussing, when I realized that Harry and Niall were really starting to get into a fight.

Harry's face had blood in different spots, coming out from his nose mainly, and Niall had blood on his shirt!

"NIALL!" I yelled, struggling to get out of the bed, "STOP! He's not worth your trouble!" Zayn rushed to get me back into the bed as I collapsed on the floor.

My body was just too weak to start walking again.

Niall delivered one final blow, and Harry crumbled to the ground; as soon as his fist touched Harry's face, he rushed over to me and held me.

"Oh Ivy, I told you stay put! Why did you try to move?"

His blue eyes were mesmerizing, and I struggled to get words to come out of my mouth.

"I don't want you to f-fight for me," I stuttered, touching his lips and noticing a few drops of blood dripping down.

"You've got a busted lip!" I tried to shout, but Niall just laughed.

"Ivy, I fought for you. It was worth it. But..." he drifted off, and I braced myself - "we need to talk about these messages he found?"

Before he could say anything else, I quickly blurted out, "They're from some crazy person, I don't know who, but I haven't replied, so please don't be concerned about me, okay?"

Eventually, of course, Niall coaxed the whole story out of me, and by the time I finished, I noticed no one else was in the room.

Liam, Harry, Zayn and Louis had all left.

It was already 3pm, and I was starving; but Niall was probably ravenous.

As if reading my mind, he said, "Do you by any chance know if the hospital has chocolate?"

He put on a jacket to hide the blood stains from their fight, and as he left, Paul walked in.

"I hear you were the cause of a certain fight?" he said sternly, and I meekly nodded, but then his jolly laugh startled me!

"Boys will be boys Ivy, and it wasn't your fault - you couldn't have stopped them if you wanted to! But Harry did tell me about a certain cyber stalker, and I'm sorry you had to go through that. Why didn't you tell someone earlier?"

I mumbled a reply, but he smiled in response.

"It doesn't matter - we've hired one of the best electronic trackers of their kind, and they are currently narrowing in on your stalker as we speak."

Instantly I felt relieved, and thanked him. I tried to sit up and hug him, but he moved back.

"Stay put Ivy, you need to rest. You can hug me later."

Just then Niall walked in, and I spied two chocolate bars in his pocket... not to mention the chocolate all over his mouth, and the chocolate bar in his mouth.

What can I say? You can't stop the boy eating!

He carefully lay himself down on my bed as Paul made a subtle exit, and gave me a chocolate bar, and together we lay side-by-side, savouring the rich and sweet taste.

"Harry was in the café I went to," he remarked, and I caught my breath.

"We both apologized for being so thick headed, and I'm sorry for making you worry. Are we okay?"

"Of course!" I gushed, "But did you really sort all those issues out?"

"We've been friends for too long to let our stubbornness get the better of us. He is truly sorry for the pain he caused you, Ivy. I genuinely believe that."

"Yeah, I know," I smiled, "I do forgive him - he just made a mistake."

"That's my girl! I'm so amazed at your grace," Niall said quietly, and I gently kissed his lips.

Niall finished his chocolate first, of course, and started to trace the bandages on my wrist, soft and lovingly, with the weight of a feather, as I put my head against his shoulder.

Lying together on a hospital bed we fell asleep, as a couple who was slowly learning to love the other, no matter the circumstance - despite the situation around us, we were learning what unconditional love truly means.

And slowly but surely, we were falling in love.