Niall isn't fine, though. He's far from it. He tried to keep it together but he failed epically. He hasn't seen Harry since he left him, only Louis and Bresi.
Bresi seems to be his only source of comfort at the moment. Sure, he's got Louis but Bresi knows him in a way nobody else does. Bresi was there when his parents split up, he was there for a majority of his childhood, he was there when he graduated high school and even though they split up after that, he's here with him now. He and Bresi have gone through thick and thin and Niall wasn't one to let that go to waste so it was kind of good that he needed him right now.
Bresi is there when Louis isn't. He's there to make sure he doesn't fall apart, to break into a million tiny pieces, although however tempting it may be. Bresi is there to take his mind off Harry and for a long time it worked. But even Bresi couldn't hold off the nightmares.
The thought of going back to work made Niall a nervous wreck. The thought of seeing Harry again after all this time made him want to puke. He'd rather get his ten stitches taken out again and again rather than have to face to Harry.
But he's a lot of things and being a coward isn't one of them. He knew he'd have to face Harry eventually, it may as well be sooner rather than later. The week after he gets his stitches out, he heads back to work. The doctors said to rest for at least another week but even then, he wasn't resting. He couldn't.
When he got to work the following week, he got a big surprise. There, standing at his desk, were the two bodyguards that were waiting at his flat when he got home from the hospital. Not exactly the welcome back he imagined. His eyes glazed over the two bodyguards who were standing still, like statues before he headed into Harry's office.
Harry is on a call when he enters so he closes the door behind him and rests himself against it, crossing one foot over the other and crossing his arms over his chest while he waited patiently.
"I'll call you back, I gotta go. Yeah. Bye." Harry says softly before hanging up and staring at Niall, clasping his hands in front of him.
Niall points behind his shoulder with his thumb, gesturing to the two guards standing at his desk.
"The guards? Really?" Niall says exasperatingly, raising his eyebrows.
"Told you, Niall, I care too much about you." He sighs and Niall shakes his head.
"Not at work, H. I'm not attracting that kind of attention at work." Niall shakes his head and Harry sighs, running a hand through his hair.
"I just a feeling that Hannah is going to show up soon and I don't want her anywhere you when she does." He admits and Niall's face softens.
"You think she ordered the attack?"
"No reason why she shouldn't. She's desperate. She knew I was in the middle of getting the money to her and she thought that might just send me over the edge. She thought wrong. She ain't getting a dime anymore."
Niall smiles.
That's my boy.
"Really?"
"Nobody attacks the love of my life like that and gets away with it." Harry's frowning and he begins to type furiously at his keyboard of his computer.
"Harry," Niall warns and Harry looks up, "You can't say stuff like that anymore. Not when we're on a break."
"Then you can't call me nicknames. You can't call me Haz or H like you did just there." Harry frowns, pointing and waggling a finger at him.
"Serious?" Niall smirks.
"Dead serious." Harry mocks, playfully.
"Fine. Then you can't call be baby." Niall retorts, sticking his tongue out.
"Oh no, I can't do that. You'll always be my baby."
"Fine. Then I still get to call you nicknames too, H." Niall grins.
"All right, baby."
"All right."
It didn't stop from there. The flirting, the teasing. It happened in team meetings, when the entire office on that floor was watching. Everyone saw. Everyone saw how they connected, how they looked at one another with so much fondness and care. It was almost as if this was their way of blowing off some steam, letting it all out because they couldn't be together. In a way, it was kind of cute but it was starting to spark rumours within the office, which was what they were trying to get away from.
"I swear, they're like two peas in a pod." Jen sighs, sitting down next to Liam.
It was just after another team meeting, one in which Harry couldn't take his eyes off Niall and Niall pretended not to notice but really, his face had turned fifty shades of red and even he couldn't hide how he felt for Harry.
"Come off it, Jen. It's not the first time they're like this. Remember how they were at the kissing booths?" Liam pointed out. Honestly, Liam found the whole thing amusing and he tried to keep Jen from figuring it all out but honestly, Niall and Harry were making it far from possible.
Jen tells Liam to be quiet then, when Harry and Niall both walk back the office, giggling about something else, as they head to the copier machine. When they reach the copier machine, Harry places his hand on Niall's lower back and he leans into Niall's side, whispering something incoherently into Niall's ear, his lips pressed against his earlobe. Jen and Liam avert their gaze, knowing that they were probably invading on a private moment.
It was after then that Liam decided to talk to Niall. Niall had to remember that they were on a break, that they needed space and it wouldn't work unless they gave each other just that. So it was at lunch time, that Liam finally spoke up.
"Niall, what are you doing?" Liam asks softly, appearing by Niall's desk.
"What do you mean?" Niall frowns.
"All this flirting with Harry...I thought you guys were on a break?" Liam muses.
"We are." Niall nods and Liam smirks.
"It doesn't look like it, the whole office is talking about you."
Niall stands up and runs a hand through his hair and he goes to grab the tray of mail to take down to the second floor.
"How Harry and I handle this break is none of your business. Stay out of it." Niall warns and brushes past Liam.
When Niall reaches the elevator to go down to the second floor, he exhales sharply and rests his head against the wall. He shouldn't have spoken so harshly to Liam, he knows that. He knows that Liam was just trying to look out for him – but he hated it. He hated people checking up on him, asking him if he was okay because in all honestly, he was so close to falling apart completely. Seeing Harry all day every day, acting like nothing had happened, that everything was normal, is the worst feeling in the world.
He's holding the mail tray in his hands and he's about to head into the second floor when the door opens and Harry walks in, carrying a black suitcase.
"What's that?" Niall frowns, gesturing to the suitcase.
"Uh, new laptop and shit. My other one broke, Logan gave me a knew one." Harry explains, shrugging lightly. At the mention of Logan, Niall is blushing furiously. "He also told me that you cancelled the date with him." He adds and Niall's eyes widen and he's looking down, avoiding Harry's gaze.
"Was that what you were gonna tell me?" Harry presses and Niall looks up, frowning.
"When?"
"At the hospital, when we...when we said goodbye." Harry says faintly.
Oh.
That time.
"Yeah. Yeah, that was it." Niall lies, closing his eyes for a second.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"It wasn't important. I mean, does it really matter now?" Niall defends.
Harry winces and licks his lip, looking away from Niall.
"Would it have changed anything?"
There's a short pause.
"No." Harry replies, honestly. That hurt.
"Thought so." Niall says, through gritted teeth.
"Niall -"
He brushes past Harry, through the elevator doors and onto the second floor where he carried on his daily duties for the day. Liam is right. If they were going to be on a break, then they had to act it – instead of flirting like they were a couple, instead of acting like things were normal. But it seemed – that acting like things were normal between he and Harry, was a good way to go. Because now everything seemed ten worse. Harry had just freely admitted that nothing would have changed his mind about them being on a break. What if Niall telling him he loved him didn't either?
Did Harry really love Niall at all? After all they've been through, was breaking up the best thing for them? Was all this to Harry, all fun and games before it all got too much for him and he made a run for it? It didn't make any sense. If Niall hadn't been in an attack, none of this would've happened. It's all down to Hannah. Hannah's the one to blame for all of this, from the very beginning and Niall and Harry were bound to make sure that she doesn't screw their relationship anymore.
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I think I'll be sticking to my regular Friday updates now, seeing as I don't get much feedback when I update any other time. I can't stress to you guys how important feedback, constructive criticism is to me guys, good or bad. I appreciate it a lot and I love to see your comments every day. What do you guys think about this chapter? Do you think Harry is right? Do you think Niall should've told him how he felt! Let me know! Much love :) xxx