Chapter 13: Gift.
"Cause all I ever wanted was to be enough for you."
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Different. That's how May describes herself as she looks in the mirror, getting ready to see Harry later; he's coming home, and she's excited to see him.
She wonders what her spouse will think of her new look, hair in a medium length with her new hair color, brown; she didn't recognize herself at first when her hair was brown yesterday.
She applied a red gloss to her lips before leaving their room, the gloss adding to her confidence as she matched it with her black puff sleeve that embraces her waist flawlessly, showing off her curves, protruding her butt a little too much for her liking.
She walks boldly into the ministry and smiles when she sees Celine and Thalia, who are surprised to see May with a new hair cut and color, but they still smile and motion for her to stand next to them.
"Did you cut your hair?" Celine inquires as soon as May stands into the middle of them. "And you dye your hair?"
"Yes," May responds, casting a peek towards her best friend Thalia. "When will they arrive?"
"Any minute now," Thalia responded. "You're extremely attractive, May, and my brother's jaw would definitely drop if he saw you."
"Oh, he'd better be," Celine murmured. "If not, I'll be the one to make his jaw drop."
"What's on that paper?" May inquired as she noticed her sister clutching a white folded paper with what appeared to be a note on it but which she couldn't quite see.
"Oh, just a welcome back for Althea," she replied, smiling. "I actually did this at the last minute."
May nodded and smiled at her sister, admiring their relationship. She was aware of Celine and Althea's feelings for each other even before they dated at Hogwarts; the feelings they had before dating were evident, and everyone was aware of it.
And May was the first to know that Celine and Althea were dating since her sister informed her first. She also remembers how her sister was afraid to tell their parents, but May never left her side, even accompanying Celine to their parents to tell them about her sexuality.
"They're here," Thalia's voice snapped May out of her daze, her gaze shifting to the group of aurors and journalists who were looking around in the hopes of seeing their loved ones.
Celine opened the paper she had prepared in the hopes that Althea would see it, but when Britney saw it, she immediately closed it and uttered the words, "this is not for her," which made May and Thalia quietly chuckle.
May's gaze returned to the group of aurors, searching for her husband, and Celine opened the paper she had made when Britney's gaze was drawn to the other side, where she was conversing with Jairus. When she didn't see Hanan with them, her brow furrowed, and an anxious feeling crept over her like a spider slithering on her skin, which she despises.
When she spotted Harry with Althea and Caelum heading towards them, a sigh of relief escaped her mouth, Celine and Thalia were overjoyed to see the love of their lives, and May were simply smiling at her husband, suppressing her excitement when she remembered the lie he committed.
"May," Harry said to her. "Darling," he approached her and immediately snaked his arms around her waist as hers were around his neck; she assumed he was simply going for an embrace like they always did, he would hug his wife after a mission, but this time he did something that stunned May and even himself, but he didn't regret it.
He kissed her in front of everyone, and it was sweet and full of longing. Their lips move in their own rhythm, embracing each other, and neither of them cares if anyone is looking.
They pull back from their kiss, their foreheads brushing against each other as they catch their breath. May casts her gaze down to his lips, where her red gloss is smudged, and she can't help but think how good it looks on him.
"Really? In front of us?" Britney scoffed, followed by Jairus and Hanan, who were taken aback by the scenario they witnessed. "Well, I believe you missed your wife a lot."
"Hmm, I do," Harry answered, placing a light kiss on May's forehead.
"Getting bold are we, brother?" Thalia tease.
"Yeah, it is in our blood."
Harry looks at May and wipes the lip gloss that has formed on the side of her lips as a result of their kiss. "Let's go home; I have something for you."
"Oh, Potter has something for my sister; I wonder what it is," Celine teases. "Is it a baby?"
"You'll see," Harry answered, earning a playful 'oh' from them before they exited the group, hand in hand.
When they arrived at their house, Harry noticed a slight change in May and furrowed his brow. "Did you get a haircut?" He inquired, and she nodded. "And you dye your hair?"
"Yes, it is bad?"
"No," he says. "You look beautiful in it, and it suits you."
"Thank you," she muttered, smiling as she felt a strange sensation in her stomach. He approached her and handed her a rectangle velvet box, which caused her brow to furrow.
"I went to a store before I left where we stayed for the mission to get it," he spoke as she opened the box, revealing a gold necklace with a small heart pendant with an 'm' in the center. "I got the necklace since it reminded me of you."
"Thank you," was all she could say, her gaze fixed on the necklace; it's stunning, and she'd wear it all the time. Her gaze was drawn to him only to find that he was already staring at her, a look she had never seen him give before; it was a sight that made her feel like she was the only one he was staring at, that despite the people around her, his gaze was fixed to her, and her alone.
"Could you put this on me?" she inquired, showing him the necklace, to which he agreed and grabbed it as she turned around, swiftly putting her hair up and feeling his hot breath ghosting across her skin as he placed the necklace around her neck.
"Done," he whispered, and she turned around, his gaze falling on her newly painted nails. "Did you paint your nails?"
May nodded as he took her hand in his, "red looks lovely on you, darling," he said as he laid a soft kiss on the back of her hands, causing her blush slightly.
"You like my nails?" She asked the moment she withdraw her hands to him.
"Yes."
"Don't you think it would look wonderful holding something?" she asked, and the way she said it was sweet, and you could tell what she meant. As she waits for his response, her fingertips trace his jawline down to his chest.
"Something?" he asks, his breath hitched in his throat as her fingertips roamed around his body, oddly making him feel things he hadn't felt towards her, strangely turning him on and filling his mind with several meanings of the word something.
"Hmm, like a new purse, perhaps a glass of wine," she responds casually, "why? are you thinking of something else?"
"No, I'm not thinking about anything else," he responded, giving her a slight smile, and she opened her mouth to say something, but he stopped her off by saying, "I still have something to give you," hoping the last discussion they had would not be brought up again since who knows what he would do if it was.
He went to the box on their table, and as he reached for another gift for her, he stiffened as he felt a hand wrap around his waist, giving him a back hug. "You bought new perfume?" she questioned, making him gulp but yet nod.
He handed her another set of boxes, a light blue small box with a ribbon on top, the color of the box reminds her of the ocean, where consolation is found when you listen to the calming waves.
She opened the box and widened her eyes when she spotted a white pearl bracelet. "I actually made that; I saw some pearls on the sea and Althea assisted me in finding more pearls for the bracelet; I've always known you liked pearls since we were kids, and I hope you still like it."
"Thank you, truly," she responded. "You don't have to buy me gifts." She wears the bracelet he created, and it fits her flawlessly. The pearl bracelet looks good on her, and it feels like it was made just for her.
"I want to give you gifts, darling," he whispered as he tenderly kissed the top of her head. "I also bought some wine; do you want to try it?"
"Sure," Mayari says. She grabbed two glasses of wine and said, "We'll drink at the balcony, the view in there is excellent," while Harry agreed and returned to the table to bring the items upstairs.
They headed to their room, it's already seven in the evening and the moon is already evident in the sky. While looking for his clothing, he noticed his wife going to the bathroom to change, and he couldn't help but appreciate her new beauty; he was mesmerized by it; he always found her lovely, but her new hair brought out beauty he had never seen before.
When their bathroom door opened, he snapped out of his reverie. May is shutting the door, wearing a light pink nightgown that is above the knee length and has her hair down; the nightgown fits her flawlessly. Her gaze was drawn to her husband, and a smirk formed on her lips as she noticed him staring at her up and down.
"You still haven't changed, do you need help?" she inquire, approaching closer to him and assisting him in unbuttoning his polo, his breath becoming restless as he felt her fingertips brush against his skin, a strange feeling rushing up his spine. It was bizarre; he'd never felt this way about her before; what was the cause of the sudden shift?
"I'll be waiting outside," her voice jolted him out of his reverie; all the buttons on his polo were undone, and he noticed she was already sitting on their balcony, setting up the wine and glass.
He changed into his nightwear, then went to her and sat alongside her while she opened the wine he had bought and poured it into both of their glasses.
"How's the party after the mission was successful?" she inquires, closing the wine and resetting it on the table. "You never told me how it was," she says, taking a drink of her wine and tasting the sweet and sour mixture on her tongue, which causes a scorching sensation in her throat.
Harry sipped his wine before responding, "it was great, there's a lot of muggle alcohol."
"Did Jairus smuggle it?"
"Yes, how did you know about that?"
"Typical Jairus," she shrugged as she sipped her wine again. "Jairus adores muggle alcohol; it's his favorite."
"How do you know his favorites?" Harry questioned, sipping his wine and keeping his gaze fixed on her, waiting for a response.
"Jairus is Hanan's best friend, and he's also close with my family; I remember him telling me that he loves muggle drinks, and every time there's a party at Hufflepuff, he'd smuggle a muggle alcohol," she continued, and Harry's emerald eyes glowed with jealousy. "He even told me that Rum is his favorite, thus I'm assuming Rum was present at your party?"
"Yes, there's Rum, in fact, that's all he drank the entire night," he responds coldly, straightening his posture and chugging the remaining wine in his glass before grabbing the bottle of wine to pour on his empty glass.
"How about my sister?" she inquired, drawing his attention to her. "Did Hanan drink too much alcohol? She has a low tolerance and gets intoxicated easily."
"She didn't drink much; she just watched Britney and Jairus drink and talk to them," he responds, his attention shifting to her.
"That's good," she said as she sipped her wine, her gaze never leaving him. "I don't want my sister to get drunk since she becomes quite impulsive when she's inebriated."
Harry simply nodded and they resumed drinking and conversing about random things until May asked another question that caused him to stop drinking. "I was wondering if Althea's accent had faded?"
"I mean, when she called you to join their party, I heard she doesn't have an accent anymore since, as far as I'm concerned, she has an accent." She continued, which prompted the bespectacled man drink his wine, undoubtedly sugarcoating his lie and she's loving it, watching him anxious about his question and coming up with another lie.
"She's a bit tipsy."
"Is that so?" she asked to whom he nodded. "I remember when she became tipsy or intoxicated, her accent would be more noticeable, to the point where I couldn't understand what she was trying to say, and the voice I heard didn't have an accent, and it didn't sound like Althea at all."
Harry has been silenced; he can't even look at her; his gaze is fixed on his glass of wine. "So tell me, my dear husband, that wasn't Althea I heard, was it? It was my sister, Hanan, am I correct?"
He didn't respond, which made her scoffed; she wasn't sure if she was letting emotion drive her or if it was because to the alcohol she consumed, but she's enraged right now; she knows he's lying and all she wants is for him to confess it, but since when did liars admit they lied?
"I'm not stopping you from seeing Hanan or talking to her; I know you're both aurors, so your paths will cross and there's nothing I can do about it," she began. "But all I need is your honesty and loyalty to me, but how can I have that when your heart is still with her?"
He remained silent, so she took advantage of the opportunity to express her feelings; either this was a result of the wine she had consumed, or her heart truly wanted to burst out and tell him about the feelings she had been hiding.
"Tell me what I need to do, Harry, and how I can be enough for you," she pleaded softly. "I want to be enough for you, forget my sister Harry, I'm here, use me as your rebound if you want, I don't care, just forget her; is she really that difficult to forget? Do you really love her that much?"
"May, I still love Hanan," he stated, looking her in the eyes that made her heart sink and tears well up in her eyes. "I'm sorry." She knows he still loves Hanan, but confessing it in front of her, letting those words dance in his mouth, hurts a lot. She despised it, she hated the fact that she was crying; she didn't know if it was because of the wine or because those words had led her tears to flood down her face.
"You still haven't answered my question, was the owner of that voice my sister and not Althea?" she asks, knowing the truth but wanting him to acknowledge it. She wanted to know if everything she had been overthinking for the past week was correct or not.
"Yes," he replied honestly. "It's Hanan, not Althea."
He admitted it there, yet it pains her much more. She hated how vulnerable she appeared right now, but she's hurt, and she's a human person, not a robot. She wiped her tears away before standing up and saying, "I'm going to sleep."
She stepped off their balcony and didn't dare to look back when she heard him call her name; instead, she went to bed, her back facing to him, and let her eyes flutter so close that she was sure they'd be puffy in the morning, but she didn't care.
All she wanted was to be enough for him, but no matter how hard she tried, she would never be enough because his heart would always belong to Hanan and Hanan only.
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End of chapter 13.
mar notes:
Thank you so much for 3k+ reads! I love you all <3 Happy reading :)