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seventeen

Harry has been racking his brain trying to figure out what could have happened that resulted in Maia's change of mood. She was fine after his father talked down to her after he found out she works at Matchcierge too and she was fine after his mother told her that she should join them more often, all of which suggesting that this brunch hasn't scarred her. Not yet, at least.

Harry could be overthinking it but it felt like he lost a little bit of his Maia after she returned from the bathroom.

When they got into his car, he asked her if she's okay and she told him that she was. He didn't really believe her but he accepted the answer nonetheless. He even let the fact that she was quiet in the car on the way back to his place pass because he didn't want to make things worse.

Besides, the way she's acting reminds him a lot of him, of how he usually is after brunch with his family. Like she has a lot on her mind and she just wants the world around her to shut down — that's how he feels after spending half of his day with his family.

He wants her to talk to him, to tell him what happened that got her so quiet, but he doesn't want to push her and send her running. That's the last thing he wants to happen.

So he lets the evening flow, orders food when they start to get hungry again, and when they're done eating, he suggests they watch a movie — anything to get them out of this weird post-brunch bubble.

He barely pays any attention to the movie playing on his tv partly because he's watched it before, mostly because he can't stop looking at the girl next to him.

Before he left, his mother pulled him aside and asked him about Maia, wanting to know the details about them. Unable to lie to his mother, he told her things that he hasn't even told Maia. He told his mother that Maia's a very special and important person in his life (which didn't surprise her because as it turned out, she could see it in his eyes), someone that he really, really likes (again, that was obvious to his mother), and someone that he could see a future with (now that surprised his mother but she was very much happy about it because she thought Maia seemed like a really nice girl).

Harry has been so focused on taking one step at a time when it comes to Maia, not wanting to scare her away and ruining what feels like his only shot with her, so much so that most of the time, he has to force himself to suppress his feelings. To take it slow.

And maybe there's also a part of him that does so because he wants to protect his heart.

But if this brunch and his talk with his mother tell him anything, it is that he's already in too deep.

As Harry continues to look at Maia, paying absolutely no attention to the movie he suggested in the first place, he finds himself wishing that he can put into words how he feels about her in a way that won't scare her off.

She must've felt him looking at her because she glances at him and frowns, "What?"

"Nothing," Harry replies, but she doesn't buy it. Maia continues to look at him, brows furrowing. So he runs his lips across his lower lip and then, asks, "I was just wondering if my dad said something to you?"

It's a shot in the dark because he's not sure if his father said anything to her apart from the embarrassing debacle in the dining room but when he catches her wince, he gets his answer. He saw his father retreating to his study room whilst he waited for Maia downstairs and he didn't think much about it at first but when Maia took longer to come down, he had his suspicions. And the air definitely shifted afterwards when she returned from her supposed quick trip to the bathroom.

"Maia," he tries again, swallowing. "Did he say anything to you?"

His stomach twists when she pointedly avoids his gaze. He may not know what exactly his father had said to Maia whilst they were upstairs, probably in his study room because that's where the most riveting conversations happen, but he knows his father and he knows that if he did talk to her, it couldn't have been good. If it were, Maia wouldn't be so glum, would she?