Neighbors (Liam Payne AU)

Part 45

By the end of that day, Harry had moved back into the house. Eva had taken all of the dirty clothes off the boat, emptied the fridge and Harry took it back to the yacht club, for winter storage. While he was gone she was in the laundry room, on the ground level of the house.

Liam had watched all of this from his windows, waiting for his moment to talk to Eva, to find out what was going on, why Harry was suddenly back in the house. When Harry drove off in the boat, Liam crossed the yards and let himself into the house. He saw her in the laundry room, sorting clothes into piles. He approached her quietly, not wanting her to run off. When he was close enough, he reached for her hand. "Eva?" he said.

She jumped back, scared. "Liam! I asked you to not come here!"

Liam pulled her close, wrapping her in his arms, looking into her eyes. "Tell me to my face. Say you don't love me. Say you don't want me. And I'll go."

Eva looked up into his eyes. They were begging her to love him. "Liam..."

"Tell me!" he demanded.

"Harry has cancer, Liam. Stage 3 penile cancer. I can't leave him." She was crying, tears running down her face. "I can't."

"You love me. You love me." Liam grabbed her shoulders, shaking her.

Eva pulled away. "Leave, Liam. Please. I'm so sorry I did this to you. I ruined your marriage with my stupidity. I can never make that up to you and I'll be forever guilty. Please, just go back to Sophia, move away from here and forget me. Please."

Liam grabbed her again. "I can't do that. This isn't what you want. I know you. You are such a good person, Eva and you think that means you have to be unhappy, but you don't. Harry won't change. People don't change. He doesn't deserve you."

"If you do love me, Liam, you will leave."

Liam pulled her into a kiss. Eva wrapped herself around him, kissing him back for a brief second before pushing him away. "I'll leave." he said. "But I'm not giving up. We belong together."

"You can't come here, Liam. I don't want to see you. Please, go." She pushed Liam again and turned her back, so he couldn't see how much she was crying.

"Evie..."

She didn't turn back around. She couldn't. If she looked at him, she'd give in and kiss him again. She heard him walked away and the slider door open, then close. Slowly, she sank to her knees, head in her hands, crying for all she was worth, feeling her heart breaking into thousands of pieces.

Yes, it's short, but it needed to stand alone. - Eva