The sight of Harry's back is all I have to stare at as I follow him angrily down the cobblestoned street. Even with his suit jacket on, I can tell the muscles in his back are taut judging by how tightly the fabric clings to his skin whenever he makes the slightest movement. With each step I take, an aching pain spreads throughout my feet, and I begin to regret my decision to wear heels today. I find myself slowing down my brisk pace once the familiar archway leading to Shakespeare's balcony becomes visible.

In the courtyard, I spot an older looking woman with burgundy red hair dressed in an elegant white pantsuit. Her green eyes are fixated on the stone wall underneath Shakespeare's balcony until her attention is ripped away from it at the sound of Harry's loud voice. The two of them quickly become wrapped up in a conversation, and I have enough time to close the remaining distance between us without Harry noticing.

I notice a stress line form in the middle of the woman's forehead as she argues with Harry, and I decide to reduce the tension between them by introducing myself. I clear my throat to gain their attention and offer the woman a friendly smile once her green eyes land on me.

"Hello, Ms. Styles. Your lovely grandson, Harry here, thought you should meet the woman behind the letter, so here I am," I tell her while shaking her hand. "I'm Sofia Garcia."

In the corner of my eye, I see Harry shaking his head at me as Ms. Styles returns my smile and shakes my hand back eagerly.

Ms. Styles shifts her attention back unto Harry who forces a smile. "Well, that was uncharacteristically thoughtful of you, dear." She pinches his cheek with her free hand, making him roll his eyes, before gazing back at me. "And it's so lovely to meet you, Sofia, but please call me Clarice," Clarice insists while squeezing my hand.

"Yes, yes, I'm so happy you two were able to meet," Harry adds in a cheerful tone, going as far as throwing his arm around my shoulder. I shudder at the feeling I get when his body presses into my side but manage to recover quickly. "However, I do remember Sofia telling me that she has some important business to attend to. I'll make sure she gets back to the office, and then we can look for a place to have supper nan," He informs his grandmother while leading me towards the arch.

"What are you talking about? I never mentioned having plans," I whisper to him.

"And I never mentioned introducing you to my nan, so I guess we're both liars," Harry retorts.

I plant my feet firmly on the ground just as we're about to walk under the arch and can tell the action frustrates him by the way he grunts in annoyance. Before Harry can resort to dragging me out of the courtyard, which I wouldn't put past him, Clarice walks over to us and says something that catches me and Harry by surprise.

"Wait, before you leave Sofia, I was hoping you'd consider joining me and my grandson for supper," She offers with a sweet smile. "I feel that there's still so much left to be said between us."

"I'd love to," I declare simultaneously as Harry utters the word no.

Both Clarice and I turn to look at him with our eyebrows raised, and a nervous smile etches onto his face. He removes his arm from around my shoulder and uses his hand to scratch the back of his neck.

"Erm, I mean, what I meant to say was is what about your fiancé?" Harry questions, standing up taller. "Don't you want to have dinner with him as opposed to two strangers?"

"Actually, my fiancé is working late tonight, so I'd love to have dinner with you and Clarice if that's alright," I explain to them both. "I know the perfect place we could go to."

Clarice reaches for my hand and squeezes it reassuringly. "Of course it's alright with me, darling! Besides, I have a feeling that we'll be more than strangers by the end of the night. Lead the way."

I smile at Clarice's kind words and glance over at Harry as if to challenge him to say anything more. He sighs in a defeat and gestures out to the space in front of him with his hand.

"Ladies first," Harry states curtly.

I laugh to myself and link arms with Clarice as I lead the three of us back to Celeste. Clarice and I make small talk about the picturesque sights of Verona and how much we love Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet during the trip back. Harry keeps to himself mostly, adding in the occasional eye roll whenever the L word pops up in our conversation. As I glance over at him from my shoulder, I can't help but wonder if Harry has always been opposed to the idea of love or if something happened to him to make him this way.

He catches me staring at him before I can look away fast enough, and I feel the heat rush to my cheeks at having been caught. I expect a cocky smirk to make an appearance over his face but instead Harry's lips draw together in a thin line, and he goes back to kicking pebbles at his feet. I bite my lip to stop myself from frowning and return my attention to Clarice as she recalls the time when she was casted as Juliet's understudy in Cambridge's production of the play.

•

"My friends and I had left our hosts' houses to take a trip to the beach one day after class. I was feeling a little daring, so I decided to sport the same white two-piece swimsuit Marilyn Monroe had been photographed wearing in the magazines. I was what men my age used to call a total babe magnet." I can't help but giggle at Clarice's comment and look over to see Harry with a small smile playing on his lips too. "I'll tell you, when I first laid eyes on Angelo, I truly thought I was staring at an angel in its purest form. We didn't realize it at the time, but the beach my friends and I had gone to was actually a nude beach, and I was so shocked to see a naked man with all of his private parts hanging out," Clarice retells her memory of that day at a table outside of Celeste with flushed cheeks. "His dark hair was sticking to his face, and the abs on his  stomach were accentuated by the droplets of water that rolled down his tan skin. Angelo was by far the sexiest man I had ever seen in my entire—"

Harry groans at his grandmother's use of the word sexy and puts his index finger up to interrupt her. "—Nan, you know, I really don't think grandad would appreciate hearing you speak about another man like this if he were alive," He proclaims.

Clarice rolls her eyes and sits up straighter in her chair. "Oh please, Harry. I doubt Rupert would even care. He was never the jealous type," She mutters the last part of her sentence to me. "But enough talk about me. Why don't you tell us about your fiancé and what you do for a living dear."

I clear my throat before answering her. "Well, my fiancé is an attorney at Goldman Sachs who specializes in mergers and acquisitions, and I'm a fact checker for the New York Daily news. Journalism has always been my passion though, and I hope to become a writer for their columns one day."

The smile on Harry's face morphs into a frown at my confession, and he narrows his green eyes at me. "And let me guess, you want my grandmother's love story to be your big break. You see nan? She's nothing but a nosy, wannabe reporter trying to use you for her own selfish gains and pry into our personal lives," Harry accuses me with an incredulous look in his eyes.

My jaw drops after hearing his statement, and I turn to look at Clarice with a frown. "That's not at all what I was trying to do. I just thought you coming out here to search for Angelo was very brave and would like to document your journey with your permission of course," I clarify before sending a glare to Harry.

I can't believe he thinks that lowly of me.

Clarice gives me an understanding smile and pats me on the shoulder. "Thank you dearie. I have no issue with you writing about this if my story ever has an ending," She assures me.

"But nan—" Harry begins to protest before his grandmother interrupts him.

"Relax, Harry. It's not like our family is related to the bloody royals for Christ's sake!" She raises her voice at him. "Please excuse my grandson, Sofia. He seems to have left his manners back in England."

I sigh in relief and manage to laugh lightly at her jab towards Harry. "Thank you," I say to Clarice, full of gratitude. I hear Harry mumble something under his breath but choose to ignore him for the time being. "Do you have plans for tomorrow?" I inquire.

Before she answers me, Clarice takes a napkin from the table and dabs the corner of her mouth with it and then sets it back on her plate. Her smile never falters as her green eyes stare into my brown ones.

"Oh, I don't know. We're probably going to get settled in our hotel room tonight and have breakfast in the lobby tomorrow morning at nine. You're welcome to join us my dear, and you can bring your fiancé along if you want too," Clarice proposes. I nod my head in agreement. "We'll be staying at the Star."

"That sounds perfect. Well, this has been such a lovely night, but I should probably be getting back to my fiancé," I confess to Clarice while rising from my seat. "Thank you for allowing me to have dinner with you. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"The pleasure is all of mine, Sofia," Clarice announces as she scoots back her chair and stands up. "Have a wonderful evening, dear."

Just as I turn to walk away, I hear Harry clear his throat, and I stop in my tracks. My eyes slowly find their way back to his. They looked so beautiful under the glow of the moonlight, and they had me wondering how someone who looked so handsome could be so rude.

I become so wrapped up in staring at his green eyes that I almost don't notice his lips move, but I'm glad I do. "Goodnight Sofia," He drawls out the syllables of my name in a low, raspy voice.

I smile after hearing his farewell. "Goodnight Harry," I reply before quickly adding, "and Clarice."

As we part ways, I think about what tomorrow holds for Clarice and if that will be the day she decides to begin her journey back to Angelo.

A/N

Hello my beautiful wattpad readers. I hope you enjoyed this update. Feel free to vote, comment, share this story with a friend, or follow me on wattpad.

Fun fact about myself: The first time I ever went on a plane was when I was 16, and I was making a trip to California to visit the school I'm currently attending now. They paid for my flight going there and returning which was amazing.

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Kaylandia