Door Twenty-Seven: Walls

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HARRY HAD NO idea what to do. After he watched Indira run off to safety with one of his two body guards, he stood there as people around him started approaching him with their contentment. It was hard for him to not get so caught up in the situation despite all its consequences, but this very event was something he could not mess up. In the two years that he had gone radio silence, he had been trying hard to push past his insecurities and own up to the mistakes he has made, but too much pressure was crushing the internal wall that has been separating himself from the demons, and it would only be a matter of time before the wall concaved.

For a moment, he began to panic, not knowing if he himself was safe in this situation. But as quick as the worrysome thought had come, he remembered that Misha had mentioned on the limo ride earlier that he had hired more body guards for the event just to be on the safe side. Harry could take a breath now.

As he greeted many of friends left and right, he wondered if he should allow himself to have a good time now that it has been made clear that Beverly has a vendetta against the one person he has come to care about. The truth of the matter is, is that he had no idea how much privacy meant to her. When she first began expressing her feelings towards the matter, he brushed it off to make it seem like she had the control, but now, as he ponders in retrospect, he should have taken it more seriously. It's almost disturbing really how he didn't notice the irony in its entirety.

"Oi, Styles! Killer speech, mate!" His good friend Louis said as he approached Harry with a drink in his hand.

"You really think so? I sort of blanked out," he admitted, only remembering that he basically dedicated the speech to Indira who was hiding in the crowd like he knew she would be.

"It's the way you have with words, my friend." Louis took a few sips of his champagne glass before taking out a small hand held mirror to make some quick fixes to his own makeup.

"Oh!" He yelled, scaring Harry so much that he choked on his drink. "Speaking of friend, where's Indira? I wanted to introduce her to some people."

Harry cleared his throat. "She, erm, had to work tomorrow, so she left early," he lied. He hoped it sounded solid enough to make it through Louis.

"Oh that's too bad!" He talked over the music and bubbling crowd. "Well I've got MUA duties, but I'll see you at the after party yeah?"

"Of course. Now go," Harry grinned.

After Louis disappeared into the crowd, Harry's grin faded. he was trying to figure out a way to solve the problem at hand. He tried to figure out who to target first, and what his plan would be, but Harry was too distracted. He had a party, and after party, to maintain. The timing could not have been at more an inconvenience, and he knew Beverly knew that too. How? It was way too soon to tell.

He fished his phone from the inside pf his suit and quickly rang up on Bruno, whom he saw leave with Indira almost an hour ago. As always, he quickly picked up.

"What's up, Styles?" Bruno's voice was always cool and collected.

"Where is Indira?" Harry's voice on the other hand was faltering with concern, tone laced with uncontrollable pent up anger.

"Home safe. She told me everything."

"Anyone follow?"

"No."

"Good." Harry exhaled properly this time, "Can I ask that you keep her in sight I need to know who gets in and out of that house, understand?"

"Kid'll be in good hands. I'll update you."

After that tight conversation, Harry hung up. 

Harry tried to keep himself at balance with all that was going on at the party. At some moments he drifted off with the buzz of the many glasses of champagne he had by dancing and entertaining his company with slapstick humor, and at others he lost control of his conscience, letting it wander aimlessly in his brain and knocking over walls worth years of repair. It would be that he then drowned himself in harmless liquor, liquor so tame that it wouldn't be felt until hours later as it burned down the path to your stomach.

Usually, he never allowed himself to get drunk at social events, but with the excuse of Beverly and Indira running rampant in his mind, he decided to let himself go. To be fair, it has been a long time since he had some enjoyable time to himself. 

After everything that went down between him and Beverly, even Harry himself recognized that he was not himself. He told himself he would never bring up what happened that day, but he might just have to come to terms that it was something that happened, and whilst it did affect his career and personal life, he needed to move on before the anchor dragged him deeper and deeper until he could no longer see the light. This was something he had been telling himself for the past two years, yet still he finds himself chained tighter around the ball and chain. 

By the next hour, Harry and other exclusive guests were moved to the after party which oddly was set at a high school gymnasium, in which everything had already been set up including music and alcohol. 

Not long had passed before he was loose enough to forget. Momentarily he had forgotten about Indira and why she even mattered, why she had suddenly been the one to bring light to his darkness, and why he already knew that he would do anything to keep her close. He even forgot why he had decided to loosen up in the first place. 

"Dance with me..." Someone whispered in his ear as he was being whisked away deep into the crowd.

He let them pull him into the crowd where everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. The booming of the music and flashing of lights was enough to distract him from seeing who had even brought him out on the floor, but as soon as they had stopped, one of the lights brought her face to is attention.

"Get away from me, Beverly," he seethed. 

"You know why I can't do that. You're irresistible." She moved closer towards him, trying to snake her arms around him, but he wasn't allowing it. Even though he was still buzzed from the alcohol, he still tried to manage the situation by not allowing himself to get distracted. He turned his back on her, which gave her the opportunity to cling on to his arm as he tried to scurry away. He wanted to push her off, but there were too many witnesses, and sure enough there would be someone who would spill the beans. People were willing to  over exaggerate anything for their two seconds of fame.

Once they were secluded, he brushed her off with a snarl on his lips.

"You don't  want to test me. I mean it."

"And you don't want to test me either, sweetie." Beverly stepped toward him in an attempt to intimidate him, but to no avail. "You must forget what I'm capable of."

"Have you not learned anything?!" He shouted. "Have you not seen what you've done to my life?!"

Beverly laughed, brushing her golden blonde hair behind her shoulders. "You broke my heart, Harry. And now," she said with a sinister smile, "I'm going to break yours."

And with that, she whipped around and sauntered away with her hair bouncing up and down and the clacks of her heels echoing behind her. 

A thick booming sound finally registered in his ears, but it wasn't the music coming from inside of the gymnasium.

It was his walls.

His walls were crumbling down.


a/n: another piece of the puzzle has been revealed. tbh as i read back on this story, im realizing how much of a slow burn this is jfhsid and like i didn't even mean for that to happen. im legit just trying to make this as realistic as possible dfjafjsdkfs dont hate me lmfaooo. also i wrote this chapter really quick so i didnt really proof read. apologies in advance. on another note:

Harry broke Beverly's heart. what do you think really happened between them?

anything you wish to see /happen differently?

any predictions for the next chapter(s)?

please don't forget to comment/vote/fan if you enjoyed this chapter xx !!

all my love 🌹

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