better now > sequel to neighbours. [HS]

five

It had been the longest ten minutes I had ever gone through. I ended up calling in the cover staff to watch the room for me while I took a breather and calmed down. Quite frankly I wasn't so sure what I was getting so worked up over, in fact, in a strange twist of events this could be a totally different Harry Styles than who I was thinking of. Of course, everything pointed to it being the Harry I knew, father of my child, but I could only hope as I paced up and down the hallway.

The butterflies in my stomach were going crazy, he was due any second. My heart had nothing but resentment towards him but there was still something inside me that had me checking the mirror to see if I looked okay. I swept my hair behind my ear and took a few deep breaths.

As I groomed myself in the mirror, I noticed a car pull up through the window and my stomach tightened. It was an expensive Maserati from what I could see and my heart thumped against my chest as the door opened. A tall, lean figure walked out calm and collectedly and slammed the car door shut. I was so focused on watching his shoes walk through the gravel I didn't dare look at his face.

As I backed away from the window, I squeezed my fists and attempted to recollect myself as the door opened. I turned my back on him as soon as it did and pretended to fix some leaflets, maybe he would walk straight by and take Noah. I was wrong.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for room one?" He spoke, loudly.

His voice was like the one from the phone call. I was going to reply, but my nerves wouldn't let me. My lips quivered as if I were about to cry, which I probably was, but strange stuttering noises came out instead.

"Straight down to the left." I managed to get out. I kept shifting the same piece of paper and after I failed to hear his footsteps walk away from me, I turned slightly.

His head was cocked to the side a bit, staring at me, phone in hands as if he were in the middle of texting. His sunglasses were pushed up into his shorter hair, shorter than I had been used to and his eyes pierced straight through me once I fully turned. His mouth fell agape.

"Maelynn?" He rasped out.

I wasn't sure what I expected from hearing him talk to me again, but it wasn't this. It was as if a bubble was rolling around in my stomach and once he spoke it popped, I wanted to do so many things to him. I wanted to hug him, kiss him - hurt him like he did me, shout at him, scream. It was very mixed.

"Harry." I retorted. I turned my body towards him, noticing how close to me he actually was now. My mouth opened to say more to him but nothing came out. The overwhelming sense of guilt and sadness washed over me and I felt soaked in emotion but neither of us could say anything.

I haven't seen Harry in just over four years and my he has aged well. Annabel looked so much like him, things I never noticed about their similarities began to appear on his face. His face looked tan and smooth, like how it was when we were eighteen and not twenty-three. He wore a suit- an expensive one that covered most of his body, including the tattoos I could briefly remember. His brown hair was still curly but so much shorter and his eyes, which were staring directly into my shocked ones, still sparkled green like his daughters.

"I had no idea you had a kid here too," He laughed, shoving his phone into his pocket. His laugh was angelic, I wanted to scold myself for thinking pleasant things about him right now after what he did to me. I couldn't help it.

I laughed nervously. "This is actually my pre-school, I teach Noah."

His brows raised, shocked. "That's amazing, I remember you mentioning wanting to do this. Good to see you've done it.." He trailed off. The atmosphere turned awkward fast and I took it as my chance to lead him to the room, he followed.

"He's just got a temperature, I gave him his calpol but it's getting higher," I told him as we walked.

"Huh?" He asked. I watched his cherry red lips press together, slightly wet and I found myself pressing my own together.

"Noah.." I reminded him. I opened the classroom door, greeted by the kids having their snack still. The cover was clearing up after some of them. Harry stood awkwardly behind me as I walked back in. Every time I saw him my heart beat fast, and I don't know why. This big secret I had kept from him was right here and he knew nothing about it. The man who destroyed my heart and my hope for love was standing right beside me after four years.

"Daddy!" Noah screamed, he ran up to Harry, head digging right into Harry's crotch and he grunted in pain. "Fuck," He mumbled under his breath. I raised my brows. "Noah I told you not to be doing that, that hurts me."

"Mummy! I ate all my carrots like you told me." Annabell yelled at me. My eyes widened; I didn't need Harry knowing I had a child, I've hidden it from him for this long I was not about to go down now.

I simply smiled and nodded at her, maybe he didn't hear.

He did.

"Oh, you have a daughter?" He asked me, still looking as shocked and confused as he did when I first saw him.

"Yeah, Annabel. " I told him. I kept my tone quite plain, I didn't want a conversation with him and was eager for him to leave, which he should have by now. I folded my arms over and averted my eyes away from his stare.

"Well look at us, parents and shit." He chuckled.

My eyes widened slightly. He was joking. I haven't seen him in four years, in fact, the last time I saw him I was packing a bag and it was through our bedroom windows after he had just shattered me completely and he decided it was a good time to joke.

I falsely smiled. Maybe him making jokes right now was what I needed, because I suddenly remembered why I decided to not contact him again and why I hated him.

"How old is she?" He pressed. He stood towering over me, perhaps finding confidence or else I had just shrunk in embarrassment. Either way, he was an arrogant prick.

"She's almost four," I told him harshly.

I swear I could see a little smirk on his lips. They curled at the corners ever so slightly, almost as if my annoyance was amusing to him. He ruffled Noah's hair and told him to get his coat and bag and as Noah ran off to do so, Harry crossed his arms to mimic me and looked at Annabel for a moment.

"Who's the father?" He asked boldly. I was shocked, to say the least. The question rang in my ears for a few seconds while my mind began to think of all sorts of things; maybe he knew? No, he was just being nosy. The only people that knew he was the father were my family, El and Beth and Avery. That was it. I didn't even dare tell Louis because I knew he would eventually tell Harry.

"Is that any of your business?" I retorted. His eyes widened slightly and then Noah returned, taking his father's hand.

I knelt down to him. "I'll see you soon, mister, yeah?" I smiled. He flashed me a grin and hugged me tightly, I hugged him back. I was sort of enjoying Noah showing me some love in front of Harry, it made me feel slightly powerful.

"Now go home and make sure mummy and daddy take care of you so you feel better," I told him. I glanced up at Harry for a split second. He was watching us. Noah gave me one last hug after telling me that he was going to eat lots of chicken soup and get better.

I stood back up and Harry averted his eyes away from me. I smiled to myself and waved goodbye to them as they left. I don't know why I decided to be a slight asshole to him towards the end, perhaps I found my confidence, or perhaps he just reminded me why I fell out of love with him.