Heartbeats || H.S. [ONGOING]

{thirty-nine}

Walking into her apartment after a week of being away felt surreal to Niko. It almost felt like she didn't belong there, that she didn't fit there anymore.

Harry had to take the kids to school and get some errands done, so Niko took the opportunity to go home to get her laundry done. But it seemed now that home was no longer the operative word when it came to her apartment. Her home was wherever Harry was — the ring on her finger proved it, his child in her belly defined it.

Niko wheeled her suitcase into her bedroom and looked around. The room was suddenly so foreign to her. She longed for the towering walls of Harry's bedroom. She ached to be in Harry's arms in his large four-poster king-sized bed that sat in his expansive room. She dreamed of filling the identical closet that sat next to his with all of her belongings. She desired to be his wife more than ever.

Niko was going to marry the man she had loved for two years and the reality of that sent a surge of energy through her. She never dreamt they would be where they were. It started out as a crush — a massive crush. Harry was an attractive man she had no intentions but to drool over for the summer — to watch him work out in the yard and come up with elaborate fantasies about.

When they began their affair, she had no intention of falling in love with him. It was purely for sex — she wanted it, he needed it. And when she let him go, she never imagined after two years apart that they would find each other again. But they did. They beat the odds. They found each other. Fate had intervened.

If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, it's yours forever. Harry was her forever. She was more certain of that now than she had ever been before.

Niko's laundry kept her occupied for a portion of the day, whereas thoroughly cleaning every inch of her apartment took up the rest of it. She'd heard of pregnancy 'nesting' before, but she was certain it didn't come until at least the third trimester. So, she really didn't have an excuse for the obsessive compulsivity that took over when it came to cleaning her apartment, top to bottom.

She took a shower after she finished, cleaning the dirt and the grime off of herself. And after she was done, she wrapped herself in a towel and made her way to her bedroom. As she was dressing, she was alerted by knocking on her apartment door.

Confused as to who it would be, she made her way to the foyer and looked through the peephole. Harry. A smile took over her face as she pulled the door open, finding not Harry, but Max.

"Oh my god," she gasped.

"Nikola," he said with a curt nod.

How did she confuse the two? Did she really think Max was Harry? She thought maybe it was because she had put Max out of her brain, so it didn't even register in her head.

"Max. What... What are you doing here?" Niko asked, feeling a little bit uncomfortable.

"I think I left a book here," he said, his intense eyes boring into hers.

"A book?" She asked, her brain suddenly lapsing for some reason.

"I've been trying to get a hold of you all week, but you're never home," he pointed out.

"I-I was in California... on vacation," she stuttered, feeling her entire body heat up. Max's eyes narrowed as he looked at her.

"With him?" He asked lowly as her vision quickly cut to the floor.

"Yes," she said quietly.

"Hmm," Max hummed.

The two of them stood there for a few silent moments. Niko felt awkward to say the least.