Chapter 5 ~ Harry

Normally girls react when I get closer to them. They can be cheeky, they can act all shy, they can pretend they don’t care when it’s obvious they want me closer. I can see and read them very easily when I lean in closer, but Hannah… Hannah seems like she’s scared of me, like she can’t understand what’s wrong with me and why I’m so close. She becomes frozen and I see confusion and even a bit of repulsion in her green eyes. And that is new to me, and at the same time intriguing. Why doesn’t she want me close? Why does she want to push me away so badly? I know there’s something else there, I know it’s not only me to whom she reacts like that; I bet there’s something else behind that look.

Maybe she had a trauma, maybe something horrid happened to her a long time ago and she hasn’t totally gotten over it. And for some reason, I want to see her scars, I want to know why she’s built these walls around her.

After she turns around to face me, I see she has raised new walls between us and this time, she’s not letting me get closer. I find her so intriguing and now I know she has something to do with music, probably she writes and that only attracts me even more. I feel she’s the kind of girl that will take you a long time to really get to know, the kind of girl who doesn’t let people see her real self so no one can hurt her. She wants to protect herself, but why? People do that normally because they have been hurt before. Who hurt her?

The idea of someone hurting her annoys me greatly and I squeeze my fits. What if someone abused her and that’s why she can’t bear me near her? If someone did that, I would kill that bastard.

I find myself feeling protective over a girl that I barely know and I’m not sure if it’s because I see fragility in her eyes, or there’s something else.

“She’s a great girl,” someone says and I turn to face the voice talking to me and I find a woman smiling kindly. She’s next to me and she’s also looking at Hannah who’s working on my car.

“She looks like it,” I reply focusing again on the ginger girl who’s so into the car that she is oblivious to us watching her.

“I probably shouldn’t say this, but I think it’s good you’re here,” the woman adds and I look at her again, this time a tad confused.

“Is that so?” I question and the woman smiles like a mother would do. Maybe she’s her mother.

“Yes. She reacts when she sees you, you know? Normally it is hard to see any sort of reaction coming from her and even if she seems not to like you now, it’s good to see her having emotions again,” she explains and that only triggers my curiosity. I knew there was something there, it’s not only me she doesn’t want near. There’s something underneath.

“And what happened to make her be like that?” I inquire.

“This numb state you mean?” I nod at her question. “I can’t tell you, I have no right to share that with you, after all I don’t know you,” she carries on with an honest smile. “But I can tell you she wasn’t like this before.”

“Are you her mum?”

“Oh no,” she laughs. “I just work here but I love her as if she were my own daughter and I wish I could do something to help her, everyone wants to help her, but she doesn’t let us. That’s why I like you, boy. You wake her up a bit. What’s your name, by the way?”

“I’m Harry,” I answer her and offer her my hand. She shakes it and smiles politely.

“I’m Sheila. Can I ask you a question? I won’t tell anyone.” I nod, for some reason I trust this woman. “Why did you insist so much on seeing her?”

I ponder how to answer that question. I don’t want to look like a stalker or some sort of creeper. “She intrigues me. I’m not used to people reacting like she did when we met, and I guess that drags me to her. I want to get to know her better. Although I’m not exactly sure why, I just feel attracted to her and I want to know what she’s hiding.”

Sheila smiles, that honest smile again and I know I pleased her with my answer. “Good luck, Harry. I hope you can help her,” she tells me and I smile back at her. I’m not paying attention to the window so I don’t see when Hannah walks in.

“What’re you two doing?” I hear her voice and I turn around to meet her confused look.

“Sheila was only keeping me company whilst I waited. How’s everything?” I ask her stepping closer and she immediately steps back. I stop and I hear Sheila sigh as she walks away, but I’m not discouraged by her actions, I’m just more interested.

“It’s fine. Your car is in a very good state, I only had to adjust a few things and checked the levels of oil and coolant. Again, you were running low with the latter. What’s your problem? You want to kill your cars by overheating them?”

“Well, it’s good to know that you’re here to help me now, right?” I tell her smiling and she, again, looks confused and kind of out of place. It’s cute the way she reacts when I flirt with her. “I’m sure my friends will be happy to know I’m going to have my cars checked more constantly.”

I swear she looks terrified of what I’ve said and I can’t help myself, I chuckle at her reaction.

“I’m sorry, love, but you’ll see me again. I told you that yesterday.”

“What did I do to deserve this?” She whispers under her breath but I hear her anyways.

“I heard you,” I tell her just to tease her. She looks at me and her cheeks are burning bright, which makes her look cute. “Oh, c’mon. I’m not that bad. I bet you’re gonna end up liking me. You might even fancy me later. I have that effect on people, you know?”

And her awkward and shy expression disappears, now she is looking at me coldly and emotionless.

“I doubt that. I don’t like guys like you and most certainly I don’t fancy them. I have better things to do than waste my time with someone like you.”

She doesn’t say anything else, she doesn’t even look at me and walks away to Sheila’s desk. She writes something down and hands it to Sheila, then she walks out of the room without even giving me a last look. I go over to where Sheila is waiting for me with a sympathetic look.

“Don’t take it the wrong way, she’s not always this rude,” Sheila apologises for Hannah and I smile as I shake my head slightly.

“Don’t worry. I pushed too much, I think. But I’m not giving up, on the contrary, I think I’m even more interested,” I tell her honestly and she smiles back, candidly this time. Kind of enchanted.

“You’re a special lad, aren’t you? I like you already, Harry,” she compliments and I smile wider.

* * *

On my way back I stop by Mila and Moni’s place to talk to the black-haired girl. She has instructed me to tell her everything about Hannah. Apparently, she’s very interested in how this will develop with her and I think it’s good to have her to talk about it. She always can see things I can’t and maybe she can help me figure out Hannah.

Moni opens the door and she smiles at me as she lets me in. She’s in a good mood. She loves to tease me and act like she doesn’t like me, but we get along and I quite like her. She’s funny. Except when she pranks me and takes picture to blackmail me later. Those are the moments when I want to strangle her.

“How are you, Styles?” She asks me walking next to me.

“Very good and you might like to know I took my Audi to the garage today,” I tell her and she stops eyes wide open.

“Tell me nothing bad happened to my baby?” I laugh at her but she’s still looking at me seriously.

“No, nothing happened. I took it there just to make sure everything was fine. I’m protecting it. See? I’m a good boy.” She sighs in relief and I laugh again.

In that moment, Mila comes from her room and looks at us a couple of seconds like trying to understand what is happening, but then she just shrugs and gives up. She walks towards me and greets me with a hug. “What a lovely surprise and by the smile you’re carrying, I assume things went well.”

“I guess you can say that,” I reply and she smiles.

“Fancy a cuppa?” Moni asks and we all nod and follow her to the kitchen.

“So, did you go to see her? Hannah, I mean,” Mila asks and Moni looks at us intrigued. The black-haired girl only waves her hand to tell her everything is fine and that she’ll explain her later.

“Yes, and she wasn’t pleased. It’s clear she doesn’t want to see me,” I tell her and Mila furrows her eyebrows a tad bit.

“I wonder why…” Moni mumbles sarcastically and Mila just gives her one look and the girl apologises. “I’m sorry. I won’t say anything.”

I chuckle but I carry on. “But I noticed there’s something else. It’s not only me whom she wants away.”

“And you want to know why,” Mila completes for me. I nod. “Yeah, I kinda figured that out from your look. You seem really interested in all this.”

“Yeah. I see her almost like a puzzle and I feel like I need to put all the pieces together, but she won’t let me.”

“And that only encourages you more. Am I wrong?” I shake my head. “I thought so. Then, what are you going to do, Harry? How are you going to break down this girl’s walls?”

“That’s why I’m here. I thought you could help me out,” I confess and she smiles. She already knew I was going to say that.

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Hope you all liked it. Thanks for your comments and votes, they made me really happy and smile when I needed it the most.

Bel, xx