labyrinth Δ harry styles

Door Twenty-Three: Leap of Faith

THE NAUSEA CAME crawling back from its dark cave and erupted once more in her stomach. Both of them frozen in each other's presence, having words in their heads but not knowing how to formulate it into a sentence.

"Harry..." she started, but couldn't finish as she looked up at him. If the deep mauve stains under his eyes weren't enough to display how tough these past four days were, then it was definitely the look in his eyes that told the entire story. Even though naturally they were physically small, they seemed to droop even more at the sides, and the once vibrant green color of his irises had now muted to a deeper green unlike before.

Almost instantly, Harry had noticed the same without as so much an extra thought. He had already succumbed to the thought that she looked different since the last time they parted ways. Her large eyes were swollen and puffy from the constant crying, and her caramel skin looked devitalized from lack of nutrients. Indira looked sickly, and it bothered every cell of his body that she had gone though some trauma since then.

"Why didn't you call me?" They both spoke at the same time.

Indira was the first to speak. "What was I supposed to say, Har—"

"Hey, I though you were in the c—Oh give me a break." Natasha scoffed at the sight of Harry before her. She needed to get him away from Indira as quick as possible, no matter what had been said or what had been done. "C'mon Indira. Let's go."

"No, wait," Harry held his hand up to stop her. "Indira can we speak in private, please?" He implored, keeping his eye contact on her only.

"No?" Natasha scoffed again, mocking his defense against her. She grabbed her best friend's arm and started to pull away, but Indira refused to budge.

"I need to speak with her, Natasha." This time he turned his complete attention to her, casting a dark gaze her way to influence her into his plea.

"Absolutely not! You have no idea what you have put her through these past couple of days and—"

"And I never will until she decides she wants to tell me!" He raised his voice at her, hardly taming the fiery beast inside him.

"Guys, stop it!" Indira yelled. When the two strong personalities turned to look at her, she shut her eyes and rubbed her throbbing forehead. A few seconds of silence passed before Indira held out her car keys in front of her.

"Take the car," she looked to Natasha.

"I'm not leaving you with him."

"Nat, just take the fucking car," Indira cursed. There was never a reason why she had to swear at her that way, but Natasha has been doubting him since the beginning, and this was something she needed to handle on her own. If the doubt was good as proven, then maybe she would have a say in whether or not she needs to chaperone their conversations.

Her best friend quirked her pierced eyebrow, and without saying another word, snatched the keys from Indira's grip. She released a shaky breath after she had turned to face Harry, who by the way was stood very close to her. Even with someone Indira knew closely, Harry was at the early stages of constructing a protective nature over her. He knew it was a risk to feel that way about someone, but in the end, all that mattered was that she was out of any type of harm's way.

"Uhm, where's your car?"

"I actually walked here," he stated somberly. "But I'll call Bruno to take us home."

Home? She thought as she suppressed a telling expression. Surely he couldn't've meant it that way?

"I don't mind walking," she said through her chattering teeth. Harry noticed her fidgeting in place, clearly not okay with the thought of walking more than twenty minutes back to his house. Even in the beginning of May, Indira still found a way to be cold.