Louis got out of the car with Prof. Styles, and saw that there was a restaurant not far away.
After entering the restaurant and sitting down, Louis wanted to go to the bathroom. “Um … I—”
“‘Um’. Is that what you’re calling me?” Prof. Styles looked at Louis.
Louis said, “Uh… no.”
Harry then lowered his head and continued looking at the menu, the corner of his lips tipping up.
Louis held back for a few moments before saying, “… Professor.”
Harry turned the page of the menu and said, “We’re not in class now.”
If not ‘professor’, then what should he call him?
Harold?
Louis recited the word twice in his heart, and felt that he couldn’t say it out loud.
“Then…” Louis carefully inquired, “Then what should I call you?”
Harry glanced at Louis and said, “Don’t you usually refer to me quite naturally?”
Refer… to him… quite naturally…
Usually Louis referred to Prof. Styles as the perverted professor, and called Harold Dear. He really did refer to him quite naturally…
Now Louis practically wanted to find a seam and hide in it.
No matter what he called Harry by, it would bring him to death’s doorstep.
He could only go straight to the subject matter. “I want to go to the bathroom.” Even after speaking, he still sat in place, not daring to stand up without permission.
After a few seconds, Harry lifted his head and looked at Louis, not quite comprehending his actions, “You require my approval even for this?”
“No.” Louis hurriedly went to the bathroom.
After unfastening his belt, pulling down the zipper, relieving himself, and washing his hands, he looked at himself in the mirror: Louis, you brought this upon yourself. Calling people by ‘perverted professor’ behind their backs for a moment of thrill, and casually calling others ‘dear’ for another moment of thrill, and now, great. Everything’s burning to the ground.
By the time Louis returned to the table, Harry had already closed the menu.
Louis hurriedly looked at his menu and quickly decided on what to eat. He had already made a whole mess today and didn’t want to screw up even his order.
“I’m done,” he said to Harry.
Harry nodded, and raised his hand to signal the waiter over to take their order.
Louis suddenly noticed that there was a ring mark on Harry’s left ring finger. Up until they finished ordering, Louis still couldn’t help but look over at Harry’s left hand.
Harry noticed Louis’ gaze and said frankly, “I had been married before.”
Thankfully, it was ‘had been married’, not ‘am married’…
Louis was startled by his own thoughts. What was he thankful for?
Of course, he should be thankful that he didn’t hurt anyone…
But…
Harry noticed Louis’ unnaturalness and said, “Do you mind?”
Mind?
Louis said, “Do I mind what…”
“Do you mind if your date has been married in the past,” Harry said.
Oh, that he didn’t mind.
In today’s society, was it still forbidden for people to divorce?
Wait.
The point of that sentence did not seem to be whether he minded or whether he had gotten married before, but …
Date???
Date?
“We… Um…” He was speaking in english, but Louis felt like he was again having difficulty piecing the language together again.
Harry said, “Just say what you want to say.”
Louis gestured back and forth between Harry and himself. “… We… are on a date?”
“What else could we be doing then?”
Louis forced the words out, “Are we talking about the same kind of ‘date’ here…”
Harry thought for a moment and asked, “Do young people no longer use the word date?”
Louis said, “We still use it… But…”
Harry gave him a gentle reminder, “I remember it was you who asked me out.”
Louis said, “But …”
Harry took out his cell phone, “Do you want to check the chat history?”
Louis said, “No, no, no …”
Harry nodded, “Then we’ll leave it at that.”
Leave it at that?
Leave it at what???
Then, the waiter started serving the dishes.
Harry took one look at Louis’ vegetable salad, reached out, and replaced it with his broth.
Louis saw some tomatoes and bell peppers in the vegetable salad.
Turns out that when Harry said he remembered something, he really did remember it…
The atmosphere at the table changed slightly.
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YOU ARE READING
Your Distance - l.s.
FanfictionDistance is a social platform that (just like other social platforms) can display the distance between 2 people. Louis Tomlinson had chosen someone that was 287 kilometers away from him, thinking that it was very safe. After all, when there's more t...
