The son of Harry Styles {EN}

Chapter 21

6 months later

CLAIRE

Today Merlin turns 1 year.

Silas, Merlin and I now live alone. Mom also has her own home. We live in an apartment. When we went to visit it, we were immediately in love with the apartment. It was spacious, lots of light, wooden floor and an extra room for another child. Mom has a bigger apartment and she also has a balcony/terrace. Sam was sorry we all left. He liked the crowds with us very much.

Silas graduated and is now looking for work. Mom's store is a great success. At work, everything's going well. I still loveitsuper. My dream really came true.

As for merlin's picture. The popularity has diminished. People don't talk about it anymore. Which I'm very happy with. At least we can go back out with Merlin now. We always go to the park. He even learned to walk there. Silas and I were a distance from each other. Silas held him and then let him loose. Wavering, he walked right into my arms. It's one of my most beautiful moments ever. The second most beautiful thing is when he grabbed my finger for the first time and the most beautiful thing is when he said his first word; Mom. I started crying. I was so happy.

Everyone's in our apartment for birthday. Robin, Sara and Grandma are here, too. They flew here especially for Merlin's birthday. Robin and Sara will stay here a little longer while they're on vacation. I'm so glad they're here. I missed them so much.

"And where's the birthday boy?", mom asks.

"Merlin!", I shout, and immediately he walks behind him from his room with Silas.

"It's time to blow out the candles, um candle."

Merlin's in his chair with his cake in front of him. There's one candle on the cake. His name is on the side of the cake. We sing "long a long time he will live." Once we've done, we'll pull a picture with Merlin soon. Robin pulls one with me and Merlin by the cake.

"Can I put it on insta?", she asks.

"Sure, no problem."

After the cake, we all go to the park. We go to the park a lot. You have a nice waterfall, a horse grinder and of course a lot of room to play.

Merlin and Silas play the ball right away.

"I'm so glad you're happy with your son and your friend," grandma says.

"Thank your grandmother. I'm happy," I say, giving her a hug. I'm really happy. Nothing can change that. Still, I feel it's too perfect. I mean, everything's going well at work, Silas is a good dad and boyfriend, Merlin is healthy and happy, I have a nice house, my family is always ready for me and my friends as well. It's too perfect. There must be something that's going to ruin everything.

"Oh no, Claire I'm sorry, but you have to come and see," Robin yells.

I knew.

I'm going to see her and she's showing her cell phone to me. I see merlin and I'm pictured. I see it has a lot of likes.  When I look at the reactions, I see that almost all of them are the same; #miniHarryStyles.

Here we go again!

"Fuck. Not again! They can't leave it again. Is that always going to be the case? They go," I say as I read on and there are some who attract my attention.

'When you scroll through her profile, you'll see that same girl next to the little boy in other photos. In the description, the name Claire is written over and over again."

"His name is Merlin, it's on the cake."

'Is Harry Styles daar?'

"@harrystyles is that your son?"

"Shit. They know our names. And they even ask Harry if that's his son. What if he's going to look at that? What if he recognizes me? Oh no fuck. What if he recognizes me? Then he'll know right away that he's the father. I mean, he recognizes me from a one-night stand, and I happen to have a son who looks like him." I'm completely panicking.

"Rusitg, quiet, Claire. Calm down!", says Mom. She grabs my shoulders and starts shaking me. Suddenly Silas stands in front of me. I immediately fly in his arms and cry in his T-shirt.

"Shhh, it's going to be okay. It's going to be okay," he says rubbing my back.

"What happened?", he asks.

"Robin," I say. She shows the picture. He knows right away what's going on. He takes me back in his arms and holds me tightly.

"I love you," I say. "I love you," he says back.

We're going straight back home. On the way home, I see some girls watching Merlin. Some try to take a picture of him, but I hold him so much that his head can't be seen. I don't want any more pictures of him on the Internet.

Silas

I can't let it show that I'm mega afraid to lose her right now. I mean, it's Harry Styles. I know she always says she'll never leave me, not even for him. But what if he knows and steps into her life?

We can't deny that he's pretty. And if I have to believe the media, he's had some girlfriends, so with the women like him well. Fuck, he'd be perfect for her. We forget the most important thing. He is and remains Merlin's real father. They will always stay together, Harry, Claire and Merlin. If it doesn't work between us, then there's literally nothing that keeps us together. That's the difference between Harry and me.

That's why it's important to support Claire. I can't seem jealous. I can't push her away from me. I just need to bring her closer to me. I'm here for her.

HARRY (Yes, finally!)

While I'm scrolling on my mobile, I suddenly get another whole invasion of Instagram notification. StrangeLy, I didn't post anything, I thought. I see it's a picture of a girl I don't even know. Oh no, not again.

It's about that one boy who happens to look like me. They think he's my son. Apparently his name is Merlin, and he's been one year old. The girl, in addition, is probably his mother. She's pretty young. Wait, let's see?

Why recognize her from somewhere? This is weird. Her face tells me something, but I don't know where. Okay, I find this really weird. That he looks like me so far, but that his mother tells me something, that's something completely different. Her name is Claire and apparently comes from Belgium, but she now lives from Brooklyn. Okay, I have to say the directioners  are better C.I.A. or F.B.I. or any police. Maybe even better than Monk.

My phone rings, it's Louis.

"Hey. Have you seen it?", asks Louis.

"On insta? Yes. I don't know why it gets so much attention?"

"Yes, I know. But don't put it on."

"I try. I especially find ambetant for them, Merlin and the mother, Claire or something. By the way, talk about her. Do you recognize her?"

"No, why?"

"Her face tells me something."

"Harry, don't tell me you had drunk sex with her? Fuck, Merlin will be your son."

"Woah, quiet. I just said I recognize them from something, not that I had sex with her."

"Do you know where you recognize her?"

"No, I don't really."

"Well, that could have happened perfectly. How many times have you woken up in a strange bed next to a strange girl or even besides anyone with a blackout the previous night? A few times. Maybe she's one of those girls."

"Okay, I'm going to hang up, because you scare me."

"Because you know I'm right."

"Goodbye Louis."

I know he's right.