No Matter What // Harry Styles AU -- Dunkirk inspired

Chapter Seventy

Hazel's P.O.V

Together, Harry and I quietly sway in the moonlight that drenches his hotel room. I've easily snuck into his room again, hoping to spend our last night together again.

"What's wrong, my love?" Harry hums, resting his forehead against mine.

"Nothing," I lie.

"You've been silent all day," he says, which is true.

I let out a sigh. Uncle Ben and I have barely spoken a word to each other. We successfully avoided each other until the evening when all three of us went to the opera as a Christmas gift. Arthur was supposed to meet us, and I've got a pretty good guess as to why he ended up staying home. I felt practically sick sitting their silently next to Uncle Ben who seemed to feel equally as ill. He walked out at intermission and didn't return well until the near end of the show. Even in the dark of the show, I could tell his eyes were bloodshot, and if I didn't know better, I'd think the man had been crying.

It made me feel positively ill.

"You can tell me anything, love," Harry says. 

The thing is I'm not sure I can, or even should. It wasn't just a question of morality- it was downright illegal. No matter how uncomfortable I was, there was no way I could do anything to hurt Uncle Ben.

When I don't answer, Harry tilts up my chin up so our eyes meet.

"Tell me, my love."

I shake my head.

"I can't," I whisper. Harry frowns.

"I thought we could tell each other everything," he says.

"I know," I sigh, resting my head against his chest again. I can hear the even rhythm of his heartbeat and it calms me. "It's just that- I saw something. Something I shouldn't have."

"What did you see?" he asks, pulling back from me.

"Something someone wouldn't want me to talk about," I cautiously say.

"Something like what?"

"I can't tell you. It's not my secret to tell."

Harry mulls this over.

"It isn't something dangerous or anything, is it?" Harry asks, one brow slightly raised.

"No, no." I say. "I'm not in any danger. It's just... I don't know."

I let go of Harry and walk over to the window, staring out at the beautiful snowy city below. Harry follows and leans against the window pane, watching me as I try to find the words.

"I think I've been quite naive about the world," I finally say.

"How do you mean?"

"Before I came here, everything was so... so simple. Now that I'm here, every bit of my life has become more complicated and confusing."

There's a pause between us.

"Are you regretting what we did last night?" Harry asks in a quiet voice.

I look up at him to find his eyes pouring down into mine. I pause to think about it. On its face, it probably was wrong of us. Everyone I know would probably say so. And yet, in my heart of hearts, I know it to be more complicated than that. Perhaps, this was the same case for Uncle Ben.

"No, I would never," I answer him honestly. The radio flickers to another song, an old Mildred Bailey song, "All of me." The mood shifts, and I feel myself starting to get swept up in Harry's glittering eyes.