"Thanks."

I hear the murmuring of a voice that drags me out of my slumber. The voice emanated from outside the hotel bedroom, and if I had to guess, it was directly behind the closed door.

My thoughts were proven correct by the twisting doorknob that follows. My eyes darted around the room in search of Louis. The sunlight filling in through the split in the curtains touched his already-made bed, a sign he was already awake and had started his day.

The door pushed open, and I propped myself up on my elbow with my head turned to the side, waiting. Steps through is-

"Harry?" My voice is groggy, and my eyes are focusing on him properly. His awaiting eyes landed on me, and when they did, they softened. My eyebrows pinched together, and the lines between them furrowed as if they'd been ploughed.

Instantly, the worry of whether I was still dreaming appeared at the front of my mind, but he was as real as he could ever be.

"That's my name, love." Harry grins. I sat up on the bed, pushing off my elbows. The bed sinks under pressure as he sits down at the edge of it. "I thought I'd meet you here. I didn't want to wait till tonight to see you," he explains. "I brought you roses."

Handing over a bouquet of beautiful red roses. My hand takes them gently, admiring the vibrancy of the delicate petals, so beautifully arranged together.

"You got me roses," I whispered, unable to take my eyes off them as if I were in a trance. "Yes, red roses for my Belle," Harry states, his hand creeping up the space between us until he softly touches my hand.

"You flew to Manhattan because you couldn't wait a few hours to see me?" I pieced it together. I forced my eyes off the flowers to look at him. Harry nods his head without hesitation.

"Are you crazy?" I blurted it out, my eyebrows pinching together. "No, I'm in love," he grins, his eyes shining so brightly. He looks at me as if I'm the very person who hangs the sun in his sky each day.

"With you," he adds, leaning in until he's able to nudge his nose with mine. "Kiss, Sweetheart?" Harry murmurs.

My face scrunches. "I need to brush my teeth," I denied. He pouts adorably, giving me irresistible puppy eyes, not liking that he got a no. "A small one, then?" he compromises.

I shook my head, unable to refuse him. My lips pecked over his once and then again. He smiles against my skin, his other hand sliding around my back to hold me to him, but I manage to escape just in time.

I crawled out of bed, leaving him there. I entered the bathroom, starting my morning routine while still in shock that Harry was here in Manhattan because he had no need or desire to wait a few hours to see me again.

He joined me in the bathroom while I brushed my teeth, towering behind me, making reality even more real. He finds the hair tie sitting beside the sink and carefully bunches my hair between both hands, using the hair tie to throw my hair into a bun at the top of my head so I'd be able to spit into the sink without having to hold my hair back.

He kisses the back of my neck over the necklace and slaps my bare ass since the hem of the t-shirt sits at the top of my ass, showing off my underwear. I squealed, gripping the edge of the countertop, feeling a shudder rip through me.

Harry finds his eyes on mine through the mirror, winking as he slips out of the bathroom. I smiled with the toothbrush still in my mouth, shaking my head. When I finished in the bathroom and made my way back into the bedroom, Harry lay down and flopped down onto the bed.

He's on his back, arms stretched ahead of him. The gray shirt he wore today rides up, the hem resting over his belly button. My mouth practically waters at the teasingly smooth skin of his lower abdomen that is revealed to me. The ferns sit there so beautifully, partially hidden by the trousers he wore.

I crawled onto his lap, and Harry sat up, his hands finding me over my hips. My hands had already sneaked beneath his shirt, sliding behind his back to feel the ripples of muscles beneath his skin. His arms circled my waist, tugging me impossibly closer for a tantalizing kiss, giving me a taste of a drug I could never live without.

"Oh- shit-"

The embarrassed sound of Louis' voice tugs us apart, my head turning around to look at him where he stands with his hand over the opened door, a tattooed hand quickly flung to cover his startled crystal eyes.

Harry giggles, tucking his face into the crook of my neck, lathering me up with sponges of kisses, and setting fire to the fireworks dancing on my skin. The marks from our birthday fun faded away more than they had yesterday, blending perfectly into my darkened skin tone that only becomes apparent if it's stared at too long, so it's safe to say I'll be saying goodbye to turtlenecks for now.

"It's okay, Louis," I assured him lightly with a smile. "You were behind this?" I wondering, referring to Harry being here. He hesitantly peels his hand away from his face, sheepishly looking at us with a rosy tint dusting over his cheeks and sides of his neck. Louis nods his head, confirming my suspicion. "Texted me for the location this morning," he shares.

"Anyway," he clears his throat. "I was going to ask if you wanted to go out for breakfast instead of ordering in. We have the day to ourselves," he offers.

"Yeah, we can do that," Harry answers for me, looking at him over my shoulder and refusing to be apart from me, his hands subtly discovering my body. "Great! Meet you outside in ten," he blurts out before scurrying out of the bedroom door.

Harry lets out a little laugh again, pulling his face away from my neck, and my head turns again, our happy-laced eyes locking. I wouldn't mind becoming maddeningly lost in the enchanted forest behind his eyes—maybe I already have. His chin tilts up in request for another kiss that I'd never refuse. I definitely already have.

Somehow, we managed to not get carried away in those ten minutes, and it was probably the nagging thought of Louis awaiting us outside. Properly getting dressed, we joined him outside, and he informed us of a perfect spot he just found after a Google search.

We did have breakfast there, tucked away in an adorable and welcoming diner. Harry scrunched his face at every 'tourist vibe person' entering the place, and I nudged my elbow into his side, reminding him that we were tourists here too. His face falls as he realizes, letting out a quiet "oh" that had Louis and I laughing.

After our plates were devoured- the food, not the plate itself- Louis bid us goodbye as he returned to the hotel. Harry insisted on going shopping to discover the place a bit more. At some point, we even entered a fancy museum and walked right back out, not being the type of people to like visiting museums.

To finish off a few hours spent shopping stores one after the next, we bought ourselves scoops of ice cream and savored them on a detour back to the hotel, strolling through the park with shopping bags hanging off our arms.

Back in our hotel room, we arrived just in time to prepare for leaving. Harry came with an empty suitcase, which we left all our shopping bags inside, and then he assisted in gathering up my items and happily neatening the room.

At the airport, Zayn is confused as to Harry's presence but doesn't ask about it. He shrugs his shoulders in acceptance and moves into his cabin in the jet. Harry and I settled together, with Louis sitting opposite us and having two seats for himself.

Arriving back at home, Harry and I knocked out on the bed as soon as the lights went off, considering we spent the entire flight watching movies he'd downloaded onto my computer without my knowing. They were the ones he wanted me to see or watch with me, but we never got the chance to until then.

Wednesday morning, I woke up well-rested and refreshed, feeling great from the moment my eyes fluttered open. My mattress was apparently abandoned during the night, and I woke up laying on Harry, our legs tangled together while his chest opted for the role of a great pillow.

His arm around my waist became stiff, steeling around me from the moment I attempted to peel off of him. "No," he groans, pulling himself out of sleep. "I have work, love," I whispered, gently kissing around his face, including between his pinched eyebrows and over the twitch of his lip.

Harry releases me and then rolls over onto his stomach, getting comfy in a new position. "Have a good day," he mumbled into the pillow, not even bothering to open his eyes before he retreated to slumber. I leaned over and kissed his forehead, brushing my fingers through his soft curls, before managing to start my morning so I wouldn't be late.

Finishing in the bathroom, I kissed sleeping Harry goodbye one last time, ensuring the blanket covered him properly, and then made my way downstairs. I cringed at the sound of the loud blender in the kitchen as I made us a smoothie with whatever ingredients my fridge had to offer.

Hopefully, the deafening sound hadn't woken up the sleeping beauty upstairs. I left Harry's in the fridge, sending him a text that it was there for him before gathering my things and taking off for work.

At Malik Creations, it's an easy shift to be back here when there's so much work cut out for me. A few hours later, nearing noon, Harry sends me a picture of him with green remnants of the smoothie sitting on top of his lip, mouth tugged into a lopsided smile, eyes telling me he's just woken from sleep, and he holds the smoothie cup next to him.

It gets me through the day, whether I'm frantically moving around the office or spending too much time unknowingly hunched over my laptop. Lunchtime did roll around, and the war subsided greatly for a single hour. Louis convinced me to go to the gym this evening after work. I'm not a very convincing person, mostly, but with Louis, there's no fight against it.

We wasted no time getting back on track when that hour ticked away, and luckily, I made it through the entire day successfully.

After work, I drove home to the penthouse, but the idea of driving home to Harry made me smile from where I sat behind the seat since he was waiting there for me. He's in an adorable pout when I mentioned I had to be leaving again soon to head to the gym, refusing to pry his hands off of me until I eventually convinced him to.

"Fine," he gives in, releasing me from his arms. "I'm going to go grocery shopping for your place and mine since your kitchen is as empty as mine, and then head home." My chest blossomed, and I had the urge to smuggle him kisses. "Niall is coming over, so I have to meet him there." Harry went on, and I stiffened, my heart plummeting at the mention of his name.

"Niall?"

"Yeah, he says he wants to talk." Harry shrugs his shoulders. Oh, fuck.

I forced myself to turn around before my behaviour became any more obvious. "It's probably about Remi; I don't know, but I'll make us dinner at my place, yeah?"

"You know, I'm never the one cooking us dinner." I smoothly shifted the topic, beginning to walk up the stairs, and Harry followed behind. "That's because we both know who's the better chef here; come on, babe," he points out.

"I don't know... It's not as obvious as you make it seem," I shrugged with a challenge. "Oh, yeah? We'll see about that. One day, you and I are going to have a cookoff," he says, initiating his plan of action against this.

He's so going to win. "You are on," I stated strongly, confident as ever in myself, even though it was only pretending.

Entering my room, Harry helps me choose between a few pairs of spandex shorts, choosing a red, which I then educate him that is burgundy. I chose a fitted yet breathable t-shirt to pair it with, opting against a baggy one. Harry selected one of my sports bras to wear beneath it, informing me of how excellent my tits look in them.

He leans against the doorframe of my bathroom now, watching me as I stroke my hair back with the comb in the middle of doing a ponytail. My gym bag sits beside the sink. It hasn't been used in a while, so I don't remember what it may contain, but nothing's been removed besides my clothes, so I'm sure it still has everything I'd need.

I finished off my ponytail, staring at myself with a bit of dissatisfaction since I forgot the shorter pieces of my hair were exactly that, shorter.

"Come here," Harry whispers, his index finger extended and bent forward, calling me over, and I'll gladly be the moth to his flame.

Standing in front of him, only then would I notice the clip in his hand. It's a familiar one that I've seen him wear a few times. Carefully, he gathered the front pieces of my hair that were too short to stay in place with the rest of my ponytail.

Harry clasps the clip between those gathered hairs at the top of my head, and they remain pinned there, no longer bothering my face. I grinned, feeling my entire skin light up. My arms are thrown over his shoulders, tilting my head slightly just before the perfect collision of our lips.

"I love you," my heart still squeezes within my chest, pulse racing, thumping harshly throughout me as if every time I said those words, it was the first time. I'm so happy, feeling so full of light, to tell him that I love him and that I'll always love him.

"And I love you, my sweetheart," he whispers without pulling back. The words felt like they were against my lips, and I felt them everywhere. Before this and before him, I'd be disgusted at anyone so in love, but Harry changes that all for me.

We managed to pry ourselves apart after a few more kisses. Downstairs again, standing at the door, Harry lowers his knee beside me. He wraps his slender, gentle fingers around my ankle, lifting my sock covered foot and guiding it into my training shoes. I easily slid into them, and he did the shoelaces, knotting them twice, and then he tied them into perfect bows at the top.

Harry and I left at the same time, him driving to the supermarket and me to the gym, where Louis was waiting for me. He drives in front of my car, honking as a goodbye at the point of separation, swinging left while I continue straight ahead.

Arriving at the gym, I notice Louis waving to me from where he stands at the entrance. I drove further and parked in an available space among the ones lined up around the building.

Sliding out of the car, I contemplated leaving my bag in there, but if I was going to do this, I'd do it fully, including using a locker in the locker room.

I pressed the alarm to lock the Jeep and walked off to meet Louis. He doesn't appear to be alone. The closer I walked to him, a name for the person slotted into place.

"Seth?" I voiced my thoughts. He smiles shyly and nods his head. They're dressed in matching gym orange shorts—now that's just fucking cute. How could Louis be okay throwing away something like this? Paired with it are black vests, water bottles, and bags in hand.

"Yep! I figured if he's doing this, then we're doing it together," he explains, bringing me in for a short hug. "Alright, well, let's get to it!" My hands pointed to the door, and they went ahead first, grabbing the handle and dragging it open.

Upon entry, the locker rooms and bathrooms are to the immediate right. I swung into the locker room, found an empty one, and dumped all of my belongings there. It's secured with a small lock and key of mine. Satisfied, I made my way back outside, returning with only a bottle of water.

Louis is standing outside the other bathroom entrance, and Seth probably went to drop their things off in a locker as well. Louis stares ahead at the gym room itself with intimidated eyes, the tip of his shoes nervously tapping the floor.

Time seems to fly by, with people being filtered in and out as the minutes add up, some lingering, including us. Louis and Seth moved past the exercise equipment and machines, heading for the boxing ring, where Louis suddenly remembered that I had to pick up boxing for some time.

I groaned, knowing that I was slowly giving into their puppy eyes and pleas for me to show them some basic beginner moves. Even when I pointed out that there were professional trainers around willing to take my place, they insisted. Of course, I did, sticking with a few easy punches and kicks on the body dummy and bag.

They happened to spend the most time in the ring, making them the most thrilled to be here. Even when I left them, moving on to satisfy the amount of workouts I've done in my time here, and made my way back to them, exhausted and gasping for breath; they hadn't moved. My eyes scanned the space, noticing that the last person beside us had just slipped out the door. The gym closes early during the weekdays, so it made sense.

"Guys, we're the last ones here." I pointed out the obvious, meeting my eyes with them again. Louis and Seth continued at it, barely paying attention to me. "Yeah, just a few more minutes," Seth insists, brushing me off, and Louis doesn't list any complaints.

I sighed, walking to the ropes tightly wrapping around the ring. "I'm going to get ready to leave then; I have dinner plans," I stated.

"With a loverboy?" I could hear the smirk behind Louis' words; my back was turned to him as I left the ring, so I did not need to turn around to see it. "Yes, with my loverboy," I commented anyway, hearing him pleasantly laugh before falling back into the head-to-head practice with his loverboy.

Strolling away into the locker room, I make my way to the middle section. The entire space is divided into three sections. Entering, there are three toilet stalls, and moving on to the next, there are rows of lockers aligned with three benches, and the final section is the shower stalls.

The bathroom door swings open behind me, but I'm already walking to the lockers, unable to see who joins me here. "Hello? Louis?" I called, not thinking anything of it as I shoved my hand into my tight pocket, wiggling my fingers around until I found the tiny locker key.

Momentarily, my mind strays away as I slot the key into the lock, twisting and turning it open.

Standing in front of my locker, the nagging feeling at the back of my head occupies my attention, and my eyes are lowered to the ground.

My lips parted, noticing the presence standing to the side, behind me.

An unfamiliar pair of thick black boots with messily tied laces and long black jeans that covered the tops of them. That's the most I can see—both of us standing there, unmoved.

The dreadful feeling that hovers over me now is blaring a deep warning that things weren't okay; something was about to happen, and I was royally screwed in preventing or stopping it. My heart stops beating as if it weren't important, and all of me is channeled into figuring out what was thrown into my gym bag that could assist in getting out of this alive.

My heart races, my palms start to sweat, and a chill runs down my spine. It causes my body to stiffen up, like a sudden rush of adrenaline running through my veins. Every sound or movement seems to be enhanced, and my senses are sharpened. Fear takes over my thoughts and makes it difficult to think clearly. It's like being confined to a pitch-black room with ominous shadows around every bend.

The opportunity was snatched away from me, though. A harsh hand was clasped over my shoulder, sinking its grip into it as it yanked me around. As whoever did, their other hand slammed shut my locker in perfect timing, so that when I was flipped around, my back was harshly hitting the lockers.

Hovering over my face is Liam Payne.

"Li-"

"Surprise!" he enthusiastically beams.

My breath becomes broken as his hand clamps down around my throat, squeezing without mercy to close my airways. He tugs me forward and then kicks my legs, moving me around as if I were a puppet on his strings until Liam has me lying down on one of the long benches. He's not going to...not again.

Blossoms of pain sprouted across the fields of my body. I let out a groan, though I'm sure it came out as a muffled squawk.

"Does it feel nice to not be able to breathe? That's how it felt when you left me in that burning house."

Liam hovers over me, a leg thrown over either side of the bench I'm trapped on. When my hips began to lift and my legs began to fling around, desperate to fight against him, he sat all of his heavy weight on my middle. All of my attempts to fight back have become futile.

"You want to know what's the worst part of this all?" Liam wonders, speaking his words as if they were venomous on his tongue. "Life went on. Life fucking went on and..."

"And you got crazy," I spat, the words barely getting out. Liam's smug look washes off his face, his hold on my throat unknowingly weakening. "Or were you a-always this crazy and I hadn't noticed?" I added with more ease.

First, I saw the ticking of his jaw as he clenched it. His hair still hasn't been cut; the longer strands that probably reached his ears hang over his face, only adding to the frightful appearance. Next, my head was flung to the side, staring at the rows of lockers while pain pricked across my cheek.

Liam slapped me across the cheek. I laughed, ignoring the urge to push my hair away from my face as I faced him again.

"Life went on and you went on unpunished," he corrects me. His hand shoves into my hair from the top, gripping the strands so tightly in his hand as he lifts my head from the bench. I heard a crack. Then he drops my head, and it bangs against the bench, black dots infesting my vision from the act.

"Fuck you! You son of a bitch!" I screamed at him, lifting my hands to fight him. He's made of steel, though, barely reacting to any of them. Or is it that he's still used to fighting against him, and he's still skilled at getting his way even through that?

"Keep my mother out of your fucking mouth."

Liam scrunches his face in annoyance, staring at the broken hair clip in his hand, and flings it away. His now free hand, he tightened it around my throat again until it felt as if my burning eyes were bulging out of my skull, the stream of tears down my cheeks in flood.

My hands covered his, digging my nails into his skin, scraping and scratching him, but it was as if steel ran through his blood. "Remember this feeling, Esrin. This is how I felt every day in the past seven years."

The black dots resurfaced in my vision again, plaguing my eyes as they grew larger, but the world was starting to grow dark, and my eyes struggled to stay open.

"I hope you like my photography skills," he smirks. My stomach rumbles with nausea, and my heart plummets to my belly. Of course, Liam was the one behind those pictures I've been receiving for far too long.

"The game has started for far too long, Esrin. It's time you caught up," he comments, finally releasing his grip on my throat. I was a second away from passing out or dying; I didn't know. My nostrils burned as oxygen flooded through them, and that's the only indication I received that he was no longer strangling me since his touch was still felt there.

Liam lowers his face until it hovers over mine, and he's all my eyes can see, strands of his hair brushing my cheek, my harsh breathing hitting his face. The angry voice screams at me to swing my arm and knock him off, onto his ass but my hands dare not move no matter the commands.

"This is ending with you in a body bag," he states as if he's spitting facts. He stands, straightening up, and coldness hits my skin. He swings his other leg away from the bench so that it's no longer between his feet. The tap of his boots against the floor makes me flinch as he strolls away.

"The facade is over," Liam mutters," about fucking time." His words are a recipe for disaster; every single one of them, one by one, is meant to cause havoc.

My eyes were blown out wide, staring at the light fixtures hovering over the locker room. I felt like a fish out of water; the rise and fall of my chest was concerningly rapid. My brain felt as if it was spinning out of control, unable to correlate what just happened.

It was already seeping into my mind, spinning around the tracks of my thoughts without break for however long my flailed body remained on that bench; however, I remained in denial.

It was Liam all along.

Somehow, I don't know how long after, the broken record my thoughts happened to be helplessly stuck on managed to break, a new thought wiggling into my mind and freezing everything else. It entered my mind and went straight out of my mouth.

"Louis."

My back aches as I shoot up off the long bench; my skin peels off the wood; and my head spins along with my vision when I sit up properly.

I barely made it out of the locker room without collapsing to the ground on my wobbly legs, driven by the motivation to find Louis and Seth. I pushed myself further through the empty gym, passing all the machinery and equipment, the rows of punching bags hanging until I saw them.

They're both lying on the ground in the boxing ring where I left them, unmoved.

Seth's body was thrown over Louis, face first, while Louis lay on his back. I crept under the ropes, rushing to them. I pushed Seth off of Louis so that they both lay side by side, my hands shaking them awake, but they remained unresponsive.

My eyes searched for obvious signs of hurt, but there wasn't anything visible to me, and I mostly clung to the pulse thumping along the side of their necks.

"Please, please, wake up!" I screamed and pleaded over and over, trying to bargain with whatever celestial being was in control of this. Hot tears streamed down my face, blurring my vision, and my hands were aching and trembling, yet I hadn't stopped.

Louis gasps as he flies off the floor, sitting up and almost knocking me over in the process. I released a gasp of my own, pushing myself aside. I lunged at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and clinging to him in grateful relief. He's okay. He wasn't taken away from me.

"Holy fucking fuck, what just happened?" He blurts it out, his other hand that wasn't wrapped around me hesitantly touching the back of his head. we parted; I practically had to force myself away from him. The slightest touch had him groaning in pain, and when he retracted his hand, there were dots of blood covering his fingertips.

"I was hit with a dumbbell," Louis realizes, alarmed at how serious that was, and he floods all of his attention to his boyfriend, trying to wake him up while cradling his upper body in his arms. I wondered how Louis knew that, and then my eyes found the dumbbell sitting at the corner of the ring; it wasn't there before I left.

"What happened, Esrin? It feels like you left us two minutes ago," Louis rambles and attempts to figure out what pieces went together. I sniffled and wiped a hand under my nose.

"I don't know... Someone came into the locker room and took my money and stuff and strangled me when I fought them," I blurted out the lie. Louis' eyes grew wide, his lips parting. "We need to call the police," he immediately blurts out.

"We can't. I don't want to," I stated, my eyes pleading with him. Louis is insisting, though, and thankfully, Seth chooses that moment to wake up.

He groans as his eyes flutter open, blinking with confusion, probably feeling disoriented as Louis did. His eyes landed on Louis and me, and they relaxed with probably as much relief as I felt.

His hand flew to his chest as if he needed to remind himself of the racing heart inside there. He soon sits up, allowing Louis to uncontrollably hug him. "What... what just happened? My head is pounding," he whispers.

"Some fucker came in and robbed Esrin. We're going to call the cops."

"No!" I shouted, unable to help myself.

"I think we should handle this quietly, please. This gym is one of many my friend owns, Pierce," I blurted out. "Zayn's friend," Louis murmured, and my head nodded in confirmation. "Yeah. He just woke up from a coma; he can't add this to his plate, ruining his reputation."

"We could've died."

"I know, but I'll tell Remi; she's a detective, but still, she'll be able to help me out and know what to do," I added, and I can see they are lenient, giving into this.

"Okay, fine," Louis sighs, still looking conflicted, but it seems to be disappearing. "Let us know if she says anything," Seth adds.

What good can the cops be if they're all over this? Telling the cops would be as useless as I was in that locker room. I certainly won't be confessing who was behind this, out of precaution against having Liam retaliate with anything worse. Maybe that's what he wanted too, choosing to do this here while I'm with Seth and Louis. I won't be giving him that satisfaction.

"I will. Now, let's get out of here."

I stood up first, extending my arms to them one by one to help them up. Seth praised, noticing that their items in the locker room are safe and sound and that my keys haven't been taken.

Retrieving my things, I used bacterial wipes from my bag to quickly wipe off the blood from the dumbbell and threw the tainted red thing in the trash, meeting the boys at the door to leave.

The employees who happened to be in their little room were oblivious to what just happened as they slipped out of the room as we were leaving. I wouldn't even want to know if anything was caught on camera. Maybe if I told Harry, he and Niall could hack into their system and find out, but the thought of telling Harry rose bile to the back of my aching throat.

We separated off into our vehicles after making sure we were all okay, promising to put something on our bruises and that we'd see each other at work in the morning.

Settling into my Jeep again, I no longer felt like the same person as I did the last time I drove this vehicle a few short hours ago. My insides felt hollow, carved out by Liam's bare hands.

I sighed and took off, going home to Harry. The drive is filled with my legs bouncing, matching the beat of my fingers thumping around the wheel. I refused to even glance at myself in the mirror or listen to an ounce of music. Twice I found myself snapping back into reality, dangerously slipping out of my mind while behind the wheel. I'm forever lucky I did not crash and regret it for the rest of my life.

The garage is opened beside Harry's house, awaiting my Jeep to slide right in beside his car. I did so, lingering a few moments extra inside to grasp myself together before I met Harry.

Reluctantly, I got out of the Jeep with all of my things and walked to the front door, unlocking it with my key and twisting it open. It shuts behind me when I step in. The edge of it simply slipped from my fingers, and it shut right into place. The loud sound startled me.

Harry was in the kitchen. His dining table was already cleared out, and the items were being replaced with dishes. He's standing over the countertop with an apron tied at his back, around his waist, and also around his neck.

"Babe? You're back a little early; I'm not done yet." Harry wipes his hands on a nearby towel, glancing at his little cooking station before dropping everything and striding towards me.

"Yeah, it was a short set." I blinked, attempting to snap myself together so I could play this part. However, it seems as if I'm out of practice and a little rusty, having to play pretend.

Harry's dressed in yellow pants again, a different pair of white and yellow checkered print. Lazily tucked into it is a white shirt. He wears a pink apron over it, one I believe was stolen from my penthouse.

"Oh? I'm not complaining, though. How was it?" he wonders as he strolls to me. Everything was fine until I came into his clear view. Harry stiffens, his skin paling, and it's as if his body forgot how to work from the moment he landed his eyes on me.

His eyes were pinned to my neck. My eyes fluttered shut, sighing audibly as it clicked. Liam's hands on my body always left marks behind, nothing like the ones Harry leaves. Not even close. But I didn't have to look into the mirror to see the bruises around my neck.

"Did..." Harry licks his lips, the wheels behind his eyes turning and twisting. "Did something happen? That looks way worse than yesterday," Harry points out. His hands worked fast, undoing the ties of the apron, leaving it draped on the nearby sofa.

"No, it's healing; bruises get worse as they heal," I answered casually, my shoulders lifting for a shrug, but even that sprouts pain beneath my skin.

Harry remained worryingly quiet for a moment. The silent cloud had us wrapped around in a tight, suffocating hold, and I never wanted to feel that way again. I kicked off my shoes, stepped out of them, and left them with my gym bag near the door. I then moved my feet, walking deeper through the house.

He gasps as I stroll past him, and my heart skips a beat.

"I can't believe this."

Unwantedly, I stopped walking and spun around, facing him again. "What?" I questioned him in a tone as if he had zero reasons to worry.

"You're lying to me!" Harry screams, his hands lifting beside his head frustratingly. "Someone fucking hurt you, didn't they? That looks-"

"Yes! You! This was from when I was your little fuckdoll; don't you remember that?" I snapped, glaring at him with frustration. My words don't serve their purpose; he isn't even phased. "I'm not an idiot. How dumb do you believe me to be? That looks freshly done, yesterday it was almost healed," he spat.

"You're making yourself a fool right now by not believing me." My shoulders shrugged. "That's not from you and me, babe. You and I both know it," he insists. "I best believe I will always get the truth out of you somehow. You will have to learn how to trust me with things like these if you're having trouble telling me because you are not on your own, you hear me?"

I sighed, bringing my hands to frame both sides of my face, my gaze locked on Harry. "You're overanalyzing it," is all I said because I couldn't offer many words since I didn't want to spend the remaining energy of my dying battery selling him tales.

The tip of his tongue runs across his bottom lip, wetting it. His eyes flicked across the room, staring mindlessly at something behind me until he nodded his head, coming to a decision, and his gaze locked onto mine again.

"Okay."

I blankly stared at him, definitely not expecting that. "Let's eat, yeah?" He shifts the topic, changing it completely. What?

I should be relieved; I don't know why I'm not. He isn't going to fight for it? Don't stop until I break and tell him the truth? Because the nagging voice in my head points out that that is exactly what I want right now.

However, I didn't have the energy to remain persistent in the direction this conversation was heading. So, I allowed Harry to change the route. My head nods slowly, and he smiles.

"Come on, food will get cold," his hand extends for me to take. I slid my fingers into his, locking our hands together softly, and I gasped at his touch.

He finishes up the final things in the kitchen first. Then, Harry sat at the front of the table, and I sat directly on the first chair to the side, so that we occupied a corner of the table. There's food all around us.

"I don't think I'm supposed to eat this much after going to the gym, Harry," I realized as he filled my plate for me. "Says who?" he brushes off, sloppily kissing my forehead before he settles into his seat.

I pondered it for a second. "Louis probably would," I noticed with a shrug because there's no doubt that Louis wouldn't. Harry laughs and nods his head in agreement, picking up his fork.

I did the same. His eyes fell to my mouth as they hesitantly parted wide open for a shuffle of his delicious food. His lips were in a thin line, and though his eyes spoke for him, his mouth never uttered the words.

What gets me through dinner is Harry's comforting hand covering my own, his thumb grazing back and forth on my skin, and his index finger sometimes drawing hearts. Harry reopens a bottle of wine, and we finish the bottle with a glass for each.

Never once did he mention what happened earlier, his eyes barely grazing my neck. He did so well, I must admit, knowing that he was fighting with himself to withhold asking me more questions and prying the truth out of me. It would've been so believable that he'd be willing to drop the topic if I didn't know him.

Unlike his successful attempts, I was failing. I struggled to pick myself up when all I desperately desired was to shatter apart in Harry's arms. He finished his plate much before I had, eating slower than usual. He attempts to banter about his cooking, wondering if it suddenly isn't enough for me. I struggled to add to his comments and jokes, filling the conversation on my end.

After, we cleared the table and moved back and forth a few times with dishes of plates, bowls, and our wine glasses. The last of the dishes were carefully placed into the sink, and I slouched against the side of the kitchen countertop. Harry stands in front of me, the worry slicing through the clouds of pretending he's been hiding behind during dinner.

"You have so much on your mind." Harry shatters the silence, his eyes flicking around my face. "You need me to take care of you, don't you?" He whispers, softly cupping my cheeks in both hands. I don't need that but I want him to.

My head nods, and then he's effortlessly picking me up. My legs hooked around his waist, my hands clasping around his neck. Harry takes a few steps forward until we're at the edge of his counter, and the surface feels cold beneath my legs as he carefully places me down. Now level with each other, Harry doesn't let another second pass that he isn't kissing me.

I tasted the wine on his lips, and I kissed him harder until I tasted the unique bliss of kissing Harry and found myself becoming lost in him. Happily so. His hair is so soft between my fingers, feeling as if they've found their home. Running my fingers through his curls and pulling back from a lingering kiss to see that dimpled smile is probably one of my favorite parts of sharing moments like this with him.

However, this time, Harry doesn't wear that breathtaking smile.

"Tell me who hurt you, Rin." There was zero pressure applied to his words. They were just a cloud that finally covered the blazing sun that was nearing burning me into a crisp.

The dread of noticing I failed seeps within my bones. There was no need to be afraid of breaking down in front of him. There is no need to be afraid of the truth or painful reality. He's my safety net that never tears, my forever light that would never dim.

"It's Liam."

My heart aches at the shock flicking across his features.

"He's been behind it all, Harry. You were right; it was him all along. He played me; he played this innocent act, blaming it all on his mother, but it's been him all along." I swallowed thickly after I finally broke. I ask myself why I lie to him, and I genuinely don't have an idea.

"I don't want to keep it from you; I don't want to lie," I swallowed, shaking my head before I buried my face into the crook of Harry's neck. My hands hook around him, holding him so close to me, and I inhale his scent, allowing him to envelop me completely.

"Then don't. You never have to again, okay? It's me and you, remember?" Harry reminds me, softening into my touch, and his soothing hand runs down my back.

"I didn't want to talk about it," I whispered, realizing that to myself. I entered my sanctuary and wanted to leave the burdens of my day behind the door, not take them inside with me. "Do you want to now?" Harry wonders.

He still feels like my sanctuary. The safety net catches me and holds me close, protecting me at all costs during the good and the bad. No matter what, he would never stop feeling like my sanctuary. Plus, there's nothing good in trying to keep the bad away because there's no preventing a hurricane.

"Yeah."

"Tell me what happened; I'm listening to you," he assures. His hand fell to the top of my thighs, running his comforting touch up and down my outer legs, and that was simply enough to ground me here. I took a shaky deep breath; Harry did the same to guide me along, and we exhaled together.

"The gym was empty because they closed early. Louis and Seth stayed in the ring, and I went into the locker room to get my things to leave. Fuck, I don't know, it happened so suddenly it feels like a blur, but someone came in and it was Liam. He, um, pinned me to one of the sitting benches. He choked me and strangled me until I couldn't breathe," I confessed. The rounded corners of my eyes tinged with threatening tears, warning that the stream of tears down my cheeks may no longer be in drought.

"He admitted the pictures were all him. He said This was ending with me in a body bag." The last sentence remains as a whisper on my lips. Harry's hands on the top of my thighs stiffened.

"Like fucking hell I'm letting that happen," he immediately spat, his eyes heated. None of his angry energy was felt or directed towards me.

"Did Seth and Louis see him?" He questions, impatient to know yet being gentle with me. "No, he knocked them over the head with a dumbbell before meeting me, I guess." I laughed bitterly. "He hurt them too," Harry whispers, adding gasoline to the flame crackling within him.

"You know I can't let this slide, don't you?" He was already bubbling at the surface, nearly bursting at the seams to act. I can see the switch between Harry and Death Hood being toggled. Revenge was his specialty.

"He doesn't know who he's messing with. I've been too generous to him," Harry realises. If generous was what he was, then what about me? I let Liam Payne fiddle his way into my life once again, allowing him to twist and turn me with his games and schemes.

Harry stared at me with a look so certain, promising nothing that could be found in heaven, and I knew.

"What's your plan?"

So....that happened. Feel free to share your thoughts, I'm dying for them🤭❤️