"I found you." He murmurs. His voice is barely audible, but with the silence of the streets, I am able to hear him. He still looks the same - curly hair, green eyes, deep dimples and masculine body.
"You shouldn't be here." I whisper.
He cocks his head to the side slightly. "Why not?"
"You can't be here, Harry." I say a little louder. "You have to go and forget you saw me."
"No way!" His voice raises. "I finally found you and I don't plan on losing you again."
"Harry, I'll just go."
"I'll follow you."
"I'll hide."
"Then I'll tell Niall and we'll come back to look here." He argues.
I sigh and give up. "You can't tell him."
"Why not?"
"Because he can't know where I am, Harry. Not yet, anyway. I'll tell him, just not yet."
He sighs and opens his arms. "Can I at least get a hug?"
I smile. "That's the Harry I know and love." And so I run into his strong arms. He wraps himself around me as I tuck my face into the crook of his neck. I missed this. I miss being able to hug Harry. When we were friends with benefits we never really cuddled. It was more force every time I needed him. He didn't give in softly because I told him to not give in to my pleading while we were going at it.
"I missed you so much." He whimpers.
I sigh at his warmth. "I missed you too."
"Do you have go back to work?" He asks as we pull away.
"Nah. I'll just call up and say I felt really sick. My boss'll understand."
"Can I come to your house?"
I think about this for a second. Should I let him? I mean, he has found me now, but am I really ready for him to meet my kids? Well, my kids already know that he and the others are their uncles and they know that Niall is their father, but am I ready? I guess I should just find out. "Ok."
While Harry and I walk back to my house, I call Jeff and tell him the news. He tells me it's alright and that he hopes I get better before he bids me goodbye and hangs up.
"So, how have things been with you and Roxanne?" I ask to make conversation.
"Great! We've been really good, and I think I'm gonna ask her to marry me." He replies, excited clear in his voice.
"Harry, that's amazing!" Even though I haven't seen him in three years, I am really happy for him. I have seen him on the news and his relationship with Roxanne is everywhere. Violet and Louis are already engaged, but I, of course, don't know when the wedding is.
"How are things for you? Is living alone hard work?"
And because I'm not going to blurt that I'm not living alone, I simply smile and say, "I guess you could say that. How come you're in Ireland?"
"Visiting Niall, of course. We're on break and I haven't seen his family in too long, so I decided to fly with him here. Been here for about a week, but then Niall and I got into an argument this morning, and so I went for a walk. I guess I walked pretty far though."
"What was the argument about?"
"You. He was getting frustrated because he still hasn't found you. I was telling him to calm down and he snapped at me. It kind of escalated from there until I stormed out."
We arrive at my house and I become very nervous. I slide the key into the hole and twist it. My hands begin to shake and I am suddenly becoming sweaty as I slowly open the door. Pauline must have heard someone entering the house because she cautiously emerges from the kitchen.
"You're home already." She says, but it's more of a statement. "And you brought someone."
"Pauline, this is Harry." I introduce. "Harry, this is Pauline."
Pauline smiles and shakes Harry's hand. "It's very nice to meet you."
Harry, being the gentleman that he is, instead leans in and kisses her cheeks. It's just how his mother raised him. "You too." He says politely. Pauline then turns around and walks back into the kitchen. "Do you live with her or something?" Harry whispers in my ear.
"Not quite." I mumble back before making my way to the kitchen. Harry follows close behind, and I'm becoming nervous all over again. I turn back to Harry. "Can you wait here? I have something to show you."
He looks confused, eyebrows furrowed and forehead creased, but nods and sits on the sofa. "Sure."
I smile softly and enter the kitchen. Liam and Liana are at the dining table eating dinner while making small conversation about what they are doing at pre-school tomorrow. I walk up around the table until they can clearly see me in view. Their faces light up and they are about to scream and squeal, but I put my finger to my lips. "You have to be quiet for a minute, ok?" I tell them. They nod. "There's someone here that I want you to meet."
"Who?" Liam whispers.
"You'll know you he is."
"Is it daddy?" Liana says a bit too loud.
"Sh. No, it's not daddy, but it's a friend of his. Come with me." Pauline helps them wipe their hands on a tea towel. They each hold onto one of my hands and I walk them to the lounge room.
"Is it a girl?" Liana asks.
"No, a guy."
"Is he nice?" Liam questions.
"Very nice."
"Is he pretty?"
"Beautiful."
"Is it one of our uncles?"
"You'll see." I take them around the corner. Harry is no longer on the sofa, but looking (with a confused expression) at baby pictures of the twins that sit on the cabinet by the window. His back is facing to us, but the twins already know who it is.
"Uncle Harry!" They squeal together as they let go of me and run towards him. He spins around in time for them to leap onto him.
"Liam, Liana, get off him!" I say rather loudly. They both mumble an apology and slide off Harry, who looks even more confused. "Uh, Harry, this is Liana and Liam." I say while rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly. "My kids."
"Y-you're kids?" His eyes widen as he takes a closer look at them. "And Niall's kids?"
"How did you know?"
"You're kidding, right?" He says sarcastically. "They're the splitting image of Niall."
"Niall's our daddy!" Liana shouts.
"And you're our uncle!" Liam adds.
"We're so happy to meet you! Mummy has told us so much about you."
"And she's told us about Uncle Liam, who is her brother, Uncle Zayn, Uncle Louis, and our grandparents and aunties and everyone!" When do three-year-olds know when to be quiet?
"So, you two know who I am?" Harry asks, even though they just said that they knew. "And you know about your dad?"
"Of course!" They shout together before Liana goes on to explain how I always show pictures and tell them stories about the past. Of course, I kept out the more… intimate details. There is no way they need to know about that yet.
Harry then drops to his knees and opens his arms to the twins. They jump into them in fits of giggles. He pulls them extremely close to him.
Once they pull away, Harry says, "Can you give mummy and I a second to talk please?" They nod and run off down the hall with Pauline. Harry waits until their bedroom door has closed before he turns to me, face scrunched in anger. "How could you keep this from me, from Niall and from everyone?" He whisper-shouts.
I take a step back. "I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't want to ruin any of your careers, and that's exactly what would have happened if I stayed around."
"So you knew you were pregnant before you left?"
"Harry, that's why I left! I'm sorry for keeping it from you and I'm sorry for leaving, but I was thinking about what would happen to you and the others if I stayed. I didn't leave for myself; I left for you, Niall, Liam, Zayn and Louis." I explain to him calmly.
He sighs and drops onto the couch, stress evident on his face. "How did these even happen?"
"Oh, you know, a I bought them from a lemonade stand. How do you think? Niall and I had sex, Harry!" I tell him like it's the most obvious thing in the world. Well. it is.
"I know that!" Then he stands back up. "You have to tell Niall."
"What? Are you kidding me? No way! Not right now, anyway. Soon."
"Fine, whatever." He takes his phone out and checks the time. "Anyway, I have to go now. I'm coming back here tomorrow though."
"The kids will be at pre-school tomorrow and I have work." I reply instantly.
"I guess you're gonna have to take the day off because you still have a lot of explaining to do." A smile then slips on his face. "And you're gonna have to tell me what you've been up to these past few years."
I smile and hug him quickly. "Kids, come say bye to Uncle Harry!" I call out to them.
The door opens and they come screeching down the halls. "Are you going already, Uncle Harry?" Liana asks, pouting.
Harry picks her up as she wraps her arms around his neck for a hug. "Afraid so. But I will be back tomorrow. And I'm bringing a friend with me." He tells them, and I widen my eyes.
"No." I mouth once he has looked at me.
"Relax." He says aloud. "Just bringing Roxanne."
"She's here?"
"Flying in tomorrow mornin'." He sets Liana on the floor after tickling her and giving her sloppy kisses on her cheeks. She giggles, and Harry picks Liam up for a hug as well.
"Who's Roxanne?" Liam asks curiously.
"My girlfriend." Harry replies.
"Oh, I want to meet her!" Liam is now bouncing in Harry's arms, causing Harry to laugh at his enthusiasm and nod.
"You will. I'll see you tomorrow." He kisses Liam's cheek before setting him on the ground and kissing my cheek and hugging me. "Bye, Aimee." He whispers.
"Bye."
He kisses Pauline's cheek, just because he's a gentleman, and says, "It was lovely to meet you."
"You too." Pauline says with her Chinese accent.
He waves once more before heading out the. The twins watch him through the window with pouts on their faces as he drives away.
"Alright, kiddies. Bedtime." Pauline claps her hands.
I sigh in relief. Nothing really happened, yet I feel so exhausted. I'm glad Pauline is still taking care of the kids. They groan, but kiss me goodnight and head down to their room nonetheless.
"He's quite something." Pauline says once she has tucked the kids into bed and we have sat at the dining table with a cup of tea each.
"Yeah, I know." I smile at the though of seeing Harry again. "We used to have this thing, but it's long gone now."
"And Niall… he's the father of your children?" She asks. I raise my eyebrows questioningly at her. "Hey, I watch TV too, you know?"
I chuckle and nod. "Yeah, he is. We also had a thing, a bigger and more… loveable thing than Harry and I."
"How so?"
Should I tell her about what happened? I mean, Pauline has been taking care of my kids since they were born. They have been with her so much that they not only speak English and Spanish (Spanish from me teaching them and from the genes of their father), but they have learnt a bit of Chinese as well. Pauline likes to teach them. I can trust Pauline, and I really haven't spoken about this for a while, so it's best to get it off my chest.
So I go on to explain how I liked Harry at first, but Liam didn't want me dating Harry and how Niall was my best friend and was in love with me. I told her how Harry somewhat broke up my heart, so I turned to Niall, and I had soon realised that I liked Niall has more than a friend. I loved Niall. I explained how he then broke my heart because of management and he broke all of his promises, except one (to have kids with me, even though it wasn't planned).
I said how during my heartbreak, I felt like everyone was comforting Niall instead of me, except Harry. Harry was the only one that was there for me, but that's because the rest of them knew how difficult it must have been for Niall to break up with when he didn't want to.
I told her how I had become coldhearted and shallow, and I turned to Harry when I needed the pain from Niall to subside. I even told Pauline about how Harry and I had a lot of intimate moments and how I was violent towards the other lads and a lot of the crew members.
I told her how how I forgave them after they explained themselves, I stopped sleeping with Harry and actually accidentally slept with Niall one drunken night.
I finished the story with how I found out I was pregnant and I didn't want to ruin their careers, so I told them I was going home but I moved here instead and told them not to look for me. I said that I changed my hair and wore my makeup differently, so that the dumb paparazzi won't find me and leak my whereabouts.
By the time I had finished, it was well past midnight, so I kissed Pauline's cheek goodnight and headed to bed. She'll lock up and leave when she's ready. I kick off my shoes and slide into bed, engulfing myself in the covers and not even bother to take off my work clothes.
I sigh and fall into a dreamless sleep.
* * * * *
Author's Note:
Was that good enough? I hope so. :P Eh, I thought it was ok. Sorry I didn't upload earlier. I just decided to do so today because I'm home from school (sick :() and typed this up while laying in bed and listening to Carly Rae Jepsen ft. Justin Bieber - Beautiful. (Don't say aything about how the lyrics are a lot like WMYB, because it's a beautiful song as well). :) Lol ok, sorry.
BYE!
I love you
- l e t i c i a -