fight for control ↠ harry styles [b1] ✓

CHAPTER 16

Renleigh Kensington

I had a fucking shit day.

I felt alone. I felt unloved. I felt annoying. I felt like I didn't matter. I felt like I wasn't heard. I felt like crying.

I had a fucking shit day – mentally. And there was nothing I could do about it. Well, there was one thing in particular. I knew drinking a bottle of wine could temporarily cure my sadness.

Or a free coffee.

Because even in heels, I got in the coffee shop faster than Styles and therefore he had to pay for our drinks. Not that I couldn't afford it but that was the bet. That I made up. But that was fine. He seemed cool with it.

I knew I surprised him when I agreed to his coffee idea. I surprised myself. I tried to reason with myself for accepting the offer, mainly blamed it on how I felt. He seemed like such a light person to be around. I never thought that of him until we hung out in a more... casual setting. Like in Italy or when I took him home from the club. Also, when I ran into him at the hospital.

I had no idea he had siblings and he had no idea I had one. It really wasn't something that interested me – he wasn't someone who interested me. I didn't particularly take an interest in people in general, especially not business ones. I looked at everyone as competition because once, when I was at university still, my lecturer told me that we are all alone on this planet. We are on our own. We have to work our way to the top by ourselves. There will be no one to guide us to success. We have to work for it, we have to earn it ourselves.

And, since everyone wants the same thing, everyone became a competition to me.

That meant I never let my guard down. I never relied on anyone more than it was necessary. I never asked for any favours, I never really did any favours. I worked on my own for myself. I chased my success and now that I grasped it, I didn't plan on ever letting it go. Not unless I wanted to. Which wasn't in any of my plans.

"So, then. I must ask – what made you agree to this outing?" Styles questioned with a playful tone but still serious eyes. I swirled the ice around in my coffee with the straw I had in it. "There has to be a reason why you so... willingly said yes. At least, with you, there always is."

I chuckled before I placed my right hand on my upper arm as I leaned on the table with my elbows. It was strange to me that he had noticed that already. He paid attention to me.

"In all honesty, the thought of seeing your car, in person, kind of intrigued me," I responded with a witty attitude. He let out a breathy laugh as he picked up his drink by the handle of the cup and slurped up the hot coffee.

See, that was one of the many differences between us. He drank hot coffee whereas I only drank cold.

"Of course, it did," he smiled as he realised, he would never get the real answer out of me. Perhaps I have underestimated him. "Am I sensing a weird obsession here?"

"Call it what you want to," I shrugged. Was it an obsession? Or just a strong liking towards cars? I never really thought about it. I just knew I always craved to have at least one nice one. And now, here I was with two under my name. "I would have thought that answer satisfied you more than the one about my hobbies."

"I'm sorry but the fact that you told me you enjoy answering emails and referred to it as a hobby ended me that day," he laughed and I rolled my eyes as if it was second nature. "I have never met anyone in my life who said that."

"Perhaps that is a lie," I hummed. "After all, here I am."

"Right... here you are," he nodded with a soft smile on his face. It was fucking weird. His eyes looked all wide, green and soft and it felt like he zoned out for a little bit as he stared at me. I cleared my throat and wrapped my lips around the straw to take a sip of my coffee and he seemed to have realised what had happened as he looked right away. "Alright, so, tell me more."