Legendary // H.S

14.

'Danger, ain't a stranger,

And I come running back to you'

*

I slept with someone. I went out with Cathy, Belly and Tobias, and like a teenager I slept with a random guy. I've never been one to sleep around, and this was the first time I'd even thought of it since Joe, but I just couldn't stop myself. The whole time, though, I was thinking of Harry. The way his lips felt on mine, how hungry he was for me, his hands trailing up and down my body so shamelessly. When the guy started going down on me, I said Harry's name. He assumed I'd got his name wrong.

Stupidly, I thought sleeping with someone else would get Harry out of my system, that I'd stop my mind from thinking only of him, but if anything, it just fuelled it to keep going. I hated myself for it. He'd infected my mind, left his mark, and then disappeared. We hadn't spoken since, quite frankly we didn't really need to. It was just a kiss. But I wondered every day since if it had affected him as much as it did me.

Harry is a closed book. The pages never turn when I'm around, they just gather dust. The story is forgotten and the narrator silent. I want nothing more than to open it and find out the plot, but unless he lets me I can't, I must remain in the dark.

It's my lunch break, and I'm sat in a café on the corner doing some research. No longer on the diamond, though, I've read as much as I can about the Cullinan. Now I'm focusing on replication, forgery. It feels wrong to be searching this in public, and I know that anyone could hack in and see my search history. George will have to clear it for me on the weekend.

Cubic Zirconia is the best source when forging a diamond. Moissanite can be used too, it's much harder and durable than cubic zirconia, but by the eye it is easier to tell than Moissanite is an imitation due to how it handles light. The problem with Cubic Zirconia is that since it's usually colourless, it can be easy to spot a fake. Diamonds are rarely colourless, reflecting and bouncing off light to create a technicolour effect.

If Harry really wants to fool the Crown, then he'll have to use real diamonds to replicate the Cullinan. It would be far too easy to spot a fake if CZ is used. I can easily spot a fake jewel from a mile away, anyone that's around the diamond every day will spot it the minute they walk into the room.

I've been here for twenty minutes, flicking through whatever article or academic journal I can find on the subject, completely ignoring the outside world. This café has been a solace for me over the years, always providing me with a safe and calm space when I need a break from the business of being in the city. Though in the centre of London, it's rarely frequented by tourists. It's a cute little room, flowerpots littering every corner of it and every shelf hung up high. The walls are cream, the floorboards white. An old couple that I see every week sit by the tills, eating their scones and chatting aimlessly about the passers-by. Every now and again I'll join them, but today I need to be alone.

But I've noticed for the past ten minutes someone's eyes on me. A man, probably in his 50s or 60s, watching me across the room from a table by the other window. I've tried not to pay attention to it, but when a man stares at you as intensely as he has, it's difficult not to. My eyes have lifted from my laptop once or twice, always catching his eye, always earning a small smile. I don't feel uncomfortable, necessarily, but I do feel on edge. He's probably harmless, but I know I have to be wary.