London

28 - "Call Harry."

Alex

"How was work today?" Harry wonders when I get home late in the evening.

"Okay," I answer as I squat down to untie my shoes. When I get back up I find Harry close, looking me directly in the eyes. "Is something wrong?"

"No," he says quick, shaking his head. "Was Yano nice to you this time?"

"As nice as always, why?"

"Just wondering."

He shrugs his shoulders and walks away from me towards the kitchen. Although I already ate a salad from the 24-hour shop, I'm still hungry and am happy to see that Harry saved me dinner.

"Did you cook for someone?" I ask watching the dirty plates and wine glasses on the counter. That can't be just his dishes.

Harry doesn't seem to answer me as I sit down at the dinner table and look through the post. There's a card that I recognize immediately.

"Did you open this already?" I ask and look up to find Harry leaning against the kitchen cabinets, a deep line visible with between his eyebrows. Something is wrong with him and he's acting strange. "Harry, what's going on?"

"Ava gave birth," he says and I shake my head.

"I get that from the card, but that's not what I mean."

"Have you read it?"

I open the envelope to find a birth annunciation. The baby girl is named Olive and seems to be having a healthy weight. There's nothing special about it and I'm happy that the baby seems to be doing well.

"I did now, is there something wrong with it?"

"No, no," he says. "There isn't. Nice name as well, right?"

I hum to him as he goes on to clean up the dirty dishes. Harry doesn't give a fuck about the name of the baby. He's hiding something and he's terribly bad at it.

"Who was here, Harry?"

"My mother," he answers with his back to me.

"And? Did you ask her?"

He stays silent for a moment and I slowly walk over to him. As he leans on the counter, I can't help but spoon him from behind. His ribs start to shake the moment I touch him and I know he's starting to cry.

"Were you right?" I ask soft and he starts to cry even harder giving me the answer I didn't want to know. "She's not recovering?"

He turns around in my arms to face me. When I see his bloodshot eyes, streaked cheeks and shaking lips, all I want to do is keep him tight and never let him go. Harry doesn't deserve to feel pain and I'm disappointed every time he is.

"It's too aggressive. It already spread to her lungs and kidneys. She says there's nothing they can do. I offered of course."

"Of course you did, she's your mother. You love her no matter what."

I pull him close and smell his hair, neck, lips. There's not much else I can do as he keeps crying, clearly heartbroken over the fact that his mother is going to die.

"How long? Do they know?" I ask and he looks up to me.

"They can't really tell. Less than a year, but it might happen today or in a few months."

"Do you want to be closer to her? Like with your grandmother?"

"I don't know. I don't know what to do. I still feel hate towards her, for turning her back on me the way she did. I can't help but feel that's the only reason she's polite to me now is because it's her last chance."