Fading.

The parking lot was the only quiet and unoccupied place that Isaac and I found so we could have a talk. Since he walked into the waiting room and saw that I was here with Harry, his face dropped, his shoulders slumped and he barely spoke a word to me. The silence treatment he was giving to me was slowly killing me so I resolved to stop it although I didn’t think I was ready to talk to him or hear what he had to say to me.

Over an hour had passed but neither one of us had spoken a word. I knew for a fact that there was a lot of things need to be said the second he stepped inside the waiting room. So, I got up from the chair, completely forgotten that Harry had fallen asleep in the chair next to me.

When Isaac arrived, I honestly thought Harry was going to leave since Ben couldn’t stop shooting him daggers and everything just became completely awkward between the four of us. But he didn’t; he ignored the look he gotten from Ben and stayed with me, continuously trying to calm me down.

As I stood up, Harry’s hand that was on my arm fell down to his lap and he looked up at me through his eyes that were heavy with sleep. It was fairly late and I had told him multiple times to go home and come back later but he refused to leave me alone.

“Where are you going?” He asked, blinking at me as he probably tried to get used to the bright lights.

I inhaled a quick deep breath and glanced over at Isaac whom had his eyes fixed on the screen of his phone though I was pretty sure he was only doing that so he didn’t have to look at Harry and I sitting together across him – he had been doing that since his cousin, Ben had gone home to get changed and said he would be here in the morning with clothes for Daisy.

Harry’s heavy eyes followed my gaze and knowing what I was going to do next, he straightened up and nodded meekly. I could somehow see a trace of disapproval in his eyes but he concealed it very quickly with a smile.

“I’ll be right back,” I told him, pushing a strand of his hair away from his eyes.

“Okay.”

My feet were heavy and so was my heart as I crossed the room to get to Isaac. I knew he was aware of my presence because by the time I was standing in front of him, he had stopped typing and slowly, he lifted his head up to look at me.

“Hi,” I croaked.

“We need to talk,” we said in unison, which caused Isaac to chuckle softly, and I cracked a smile as I felt the tension bit by bit vanished between us. Perhaps this talk wouldn’t be so bad after all.

But I was downright wrong when I thought the tension would vanish completely once we were out in this parking lot; in fact, I felt the tension building up even faster when Isaac walked ahead of me, keeping a safe distance between us.

As I stood a few feet away from him, my heart raced like it was running for its life. He had his back on me as he was most probably trying to regain his composure before he turned around and talked to me or maybe he just couldn’t face me - that’s why he didn’t want to turn around.

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this.” He whispered loud enough for me to hear, tilting his head up to the sky and I automatically tensed. Turning around, he looked over the emotions on my face, and then sighed. “I know this isn’t the right time to talk about.. this,” He said, motioning between us, “but I don’t think I can wait.”

I could feel my heart plummeted to the bottom of my gut as he stopped right in front of me; his eyes were full of unvoiced words.

“I really like you, Sky. I think I.. love you but..”

I frowned and felt tears of guilt and shame stung my eyes. No, no, no, he couldn’t love me; not when I had things that totally didn’t deserve his love. “What are you trying to say, Isaac?” My voice wavered a bit as I asked.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, whereas I held my breath. I was afraid to hear what he had to say. “I want you to forget about Harry… and stay with me.” He slowly opened his eyes, they were suddenly very fearful.

I gaped at him, at a complete loss for words. Was he giving me an ultimatum?

“I’m sorry. I was going to be stoic, and wait until you actually open up your heart for me but seeing you with Harry made me realize that you’ve never stopped loving him – I don’t think you will, either. I want you, Sky and only you and I can’t bear the thought of sharing you. I’m sorry.” He looked down sadly. “I want what you used to have with him. I’m sorry, Sky, but I’m asking you to choose.”

I continued to gape at him. It seemed like I would never stop messing things up. Just when I thought I had solved one problem, another one came – it was a nonstop cycle.

Last night, I was so sure I had made up my mind – I had chosen Harry but now.. Now that Isaac was in front of me, my mind was jumbled up. There was no way I could hurt this man.

Isaac closed his eyes momentarily and swallowed. “The thought of you with him, it kills me now more than it ever did before. I need you. All of you.” His voice was thick with emotion and I hated myself.

Here he was standing in front of me, wearing his heart on his sleeve even after all I had done not to deserve it. When I had agreed to go out on a date with him, I had never thought it would lead to this day – I had never thought he would fall in love with me and I.. I felt something for him. It might not be love but it was somewhere in between like and love.

I cared about him just as much as he cared about me but I couldn’t love him, not when my heart belonged entirely to someone else.

Isaac was exactly the kind of man that every girl needed in her life but he wasn’t whom I needed in my life.

Harry was the one I needed – he was the one that I loved with all my heart, he was the one that could make my heart beat faster just by looking at me, he was the one that changed my life for the better.

Isaac took a step closer; his face was gorgeous in the moonlight, composed and yet at the same time, achingly sad. His eyes nearly broke my heart, and I had to look away. It wasn’t just that they suddenly glistened too much, the deep blue crystallized into what could very easily shed into tears. It was the calm resignation that tore my heart.

Silently he regarded my expression for a minute and then quietly he said, “I lost you, didn’t I?” I looked up at his calm face, surprised. Had he known me better than I knew myself? Had he known that I would do this to him, all along?

“Isaac. I’m so sorry.. please don’t hate me.” I whispered, my own eyes brimming with tears as well.

He ran both hands back through his hair and left them in the tangled mess for a moment, before bringing them back to his sides. “No, Sky.. no.” His voice was quiet with restraint and a shot of fear went right through me.

“What do you mean? No, you don’t hate me or no.. you do?” my voice broke on the end and I swallowed painfully.

Seeing my pained face, he brought a hand up to my cheek. With a tight voice, he softly said, “No, I could never hate you although this is killing me..”

I shook my head as tears finally dropped to my cheeks. “Isa-“

He brought his other hand to my other cheek and gripped me, almost harshly, cutting off my objection. “Choose right now. Don’t even think, just choose. Me.. or him?” His thumbs brushed aside tears that were spilling over them. “Me or him, Sky?”

Thoughtless, I blurted out. “Him.”

The very air around us seemed to vibrate with the sudden silence between us. He stopped breathing and his eyes widened in shock. I stopped breathing and my eyes widened in shock, too. I guessed this was it.

The damage was done. I couldn’t go back now if I wanted to.

“Oh,” he finally whispered.

He started to remove his hands and back away from me, and I clutched him tight and tried to pull him closer. I didn’t want him to leave just yet. “Isaac.. I’m sorry. I just.. I’m sorry.” No matter how many times I uttered that word, it didn’t seem to be enough – I didn’t think it would ever be enough.

“That was your instinct, Sky. That was your first thought and.. first thoughts are usually the correct ones.” His tone got a little icy and then he closed his eyes and swallowed. Then he added softly, “That’s what’s really in your heart. He’s what’s in your heart..”

I grabbed his hands and held them tight in front of us, as he took a few calming breaths. I could see the struggle on his face to remain neutral, and I feebly flipped through my head to come up with something to repair the damage I had just carelessly caused. I had nothing. No burst of genius on how to fix this.

I had hurt him and I couldn’t take that back.

“Put aside the need to feel sorry at any one of them and just listen to your heart.”

“You’re a great guy, Isaac. You really are.” I finally said, swallowing the thick lump in my throat. He looked at me, frowning. “You deserve someone better. Someone that could love you fiercely like.. Like I love Harry.”

He swept me into his arms for a tight embrace; I threw my arms around his neck and curled one hand through his wonderfully thick hair. I inhaled the scent of his skin, savoring every second that I had left with him.

With a voice thick with emotion, he whispered in my ear. “Don’t push him away anymore. I can see that he really loves you. He’s the one for you.” He paused, stroking my hair. “And you’re the one for him.”

I pulled back to look at him, tears streaming mercilessly down my face now. How he could still be nice to me after what I’ve done to him was beyond me – he really was a nice man.

“I have to leave now, it’s getting really late.”

I nodded since I couldn’t come up with an excuse to stop him from leaving. I’ve done enough damage tonight and I wasn’t about to start a new one.

“Take care, Sky.”

“You too,” I replied quietly and watched him walk away from me.

*

I didn’t know how long I had stayed out in the open parking lot since Isaac left but after some time, I noticed that it was getting colder, my fingers were numb as well and I had to get back to Harry. Getting up from the ground, I used my index fingers from both hands to carefully wipe under my eyes and took a deep breath before I turned around to get back to the waiting room that smelled like sterile equipment.

Every bit of me told me to run before Harry could see me but I didn’t think I had it in my fiber to run. I just wanted a reassurance that someone was there to stay with me.

When the waiting room came in view, so was Harry. He looked restless, tapping his feet on the floor persistently when I stepped into the waiting room.

His eyes that were no longer heavy went straight to me as he heard footsteps coming towards him. A look of relief crossed his face and he stood up from the uncomfortable chair immediately, dropping his phone to the floor. Before I could comprehend what was happening, I was safe in his arms as he kissed my head.

Every unnecessary thought left my mind. Harry wasn’t going to leave me – I needed to always remember that. He would never leave me regardless how messed up I was and he certainly wasn’t going to leave me now.

“Are you okay?” He whispered, him now looming over me, his bare hands leaving my shoulder as he reached to caress my face. His forehead leaned down and pressed against mine, his emerald eyes searching mine, the pads of his thumbs drawing slow circles against my iced cheeks. “I thought you’ve left. I tried to find you but I didn’t know where did you go.”

Removing my hands from my pockets, I wrapped my arms around his waist, bringing our bodies together, no space between us while putting out the coldness. “I love you.” I breathed. That was the only thing I wanted to tell him right now. I wanted to remind him how much I loved him. “I love you so much.” I said, fear lacing my eyes as I looked up to him, his eyes melting from the tightness and worried to that look that I adored for a very long time.

Clutching my face tighter between his fingers, he nodded, his lips brushing against the tip of my nose in a comforting way. His lips brushed against mine, his warm breath minty and soft as he breathed, “I know.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know, baby, I know. Stop running though.. Just don’t run when it gets tough.”

I knew that’s what I did best. I knew that the second it all got bad, I would run – that was how I was wired. “I’m sorry, Harry. I’m so sorry.”

His body relaxed and he pressed another kiss to my forehead, letting it rest there. “Me too.”

Running would have been easy, it would be simple, black and white, no other parts were needed to be taken into consideration. But staying would be hard, especially when every part of me, my past and my present, were telling me to run – run like hell. Sometimes however running was a lot harder to do; for now, I was not going to run, not from him.

I wanted him, for now and forever.

“Excuse me,” A nurse cleared her throat, pulling us from our own reveries. “Miss Skylar Spencer?”

Harry kept his hand around my shoulder as I turned around to face the woman. “Yeah, that’s me.” I said nervously, looking up at Harry for some sort of solace and he offered me a smile, rubbing circles on my shoulder.

“Miss Daisy wants to see you.”

“She’s awake?” I couldn’t hide the relief in my voice as I asked. The nurse nodded and led us to her room, pausing right before we could get in. “I’m sorry but only one of you could come in.”

Harry released his hold on me and urged me to see Daisy. “I’ll wait for you out here.”

“Okay.”

Pushing open the door, the nurse smiled at me, allowing me to step inside. “Thank you,” I whispered before I walked in and closed the door behind quietly.

The room was decorated in colours that were designed to be restful. But if I had known Daisy at all, she hated it, and I could tell it by the way she looked around the room, her brows descended into a frown.

“Daisy.” I approached, taking her hand with me when I stood next to her bed. I examined her pale face and contained my sigh. I hated seeing her like this; her face was lacking of personality.

“Please tell me this is all a dream.” Her voice was weak and scratchy as she spoke. One of her free hands went down to her empty stomach and I could see that she was holding back her tears. “Tell me they managed to take her out.”

I couldn’t lie to her but I also couldn’t tell her the truth that would surely shatter her heart into millions of tiny pieces. I rubbed my thumb against the skin of her hand and stayed silent.

“Sky, you’re my best friend. Tell me. Please.” She pleaded; her eyes were mixed with fear and grief.

“Ben said it’s either you or the baby—“

“No.” She cut me off, pulling her hand away from my grip and her eyes were now full of anger. “You’re her godmother, you can’t let Ben do that!”

“We can’t lose you, Daisy.” I sighed, taking a seat on a chair near to her bed and running my fingers through my hair. The thoughts of losing Daisy crossed my mind but I ignored it. She was still here, mad but she was alive.

“She deserves to live, Sky! How could you do that?” She fired back, her chest heaved up and down as her breath became heavy. “I love her, Sky. I really do.”

My eyes snapped up to her face and my heart broke. I could clearly remember the day she showed up at my place and was so scared when she found that she might be pregnant to the day I spent my lunch with her at the hospital, checking the gender of her baby. I’d never seen her love something so much before and now it was taken away from her.

I couldn’t imagine what would have happened to me if someone that I loved was taken away from me.

“You still have Ben. He.. He loves you and he can’t lose you. I can’t lose you either.”

Her eyes widened like she couldn’t believe what I had just told her.

“You have a lot of people that love you, Daisy. We couldn’t bear the thought of losing you.” I reached for her hand and squeezed it gently. “And Ben, he’s in it for a long term. He’ll always be there for you no matter you have his baby or not. He chose you, Daisy because he wants more time to spend with you. He was probably planning to tell you how much he loves you when you wake up. Maybe it’s not the right time for you to have a baby after all.”

“Maybe,” she repeated, her voice wavered and she pressed her lips together, nodding her head grimly. Sniffing, she forced a smile. “You’re here with Harry?”

I looked down at our clasped hands and contained my sigh. “Yeah.. I.. I can’t be with Isaac, Daisy.”

“I know.”

“You know?” I looked up at her, questions in my eyes.

“I figured that sooner or later either one of you would crumble and when the right time comes, you’ll get back together.” She explained, smiling softly at me.

“I feel awful toward Isaac. He’d been nothing but nice to me and then I did this to him-“

However, before I could finish talking, she cut me mid sentence. “Are you happy, Sky?”

My eyes went to the closed door and I could somehow see Harry leaning against the wall with his feet propped up, waiting for me patiently. “I’ll wait for you out here.” The corners of my lips turned up instinctively and I nodded.

There was no denying that with Harry by my side, I would be happy.

“Yeah.” I directed my gaze back to Daisy and smiled, “Yeah, I’m happy.” She reciprocated my smile and squeezed my hand back.

“Good.”

*

I felt soft kisses trailing along my cheeks, which caused my eyes to flutter open unhurriedly and when they had fully opened, I saw a pair of mesmerizing emerald eyes gazing down at me. The sun was directed at him, causing his face to softly glow. His smile was like the sun lighting up the sky, lighting up my life.

“Finally,” he said once he knew I was fully awake, rolling over to his side and sinking his head into the pillow.

I turned to my side and frowned at him. What did he mean by that? How long had I been asleep? I couldn’t remember anything aside from the talk I had with Daisy until Ben came into the room and practically kicked me out of the room so he could talk to Daisy.

“Finally?”

His face was serious as he nodded his head. “You’ve been asleep for two days.”

“Two days?!” I shrieked.

I would have jumped out of the bed if Harry didn’t secure his arms around my waist and pulled me to him. His serious face had long vanished, replaced by a wicked grin and that was when I realized that he had just lied to me.

“Wanker!” I shouted at him, trying to wriggle out of his arms. “What time is it?” I asked.

“4.30 pm.” He said, loosening his arms around my waist so I could escape.

I had never woken up that late before. But then again, last night was probably the longest night in my life. “How long had I been asleep?”

“About 12 hours.” He shrugged.

“And how long have you been staring at me sleeping?”

His attractive face beamed with sheer delight as he faced me; my heart swelled with amazement and excitement until my face could stretch no longer.

Feigning innocence, Harry shifted closer so he could brush a strand of hair away from my face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sky.”

I slapped his hand away from my face, still smiling. “Don’t lie to me.”

“Since I woke up..” He trailed off. I arched one of my eyebrows, waiting for him to continue. “Which is at 11.”

Five hours. He’d been awake five hours earlier than me and he didn’t bother to wake me up.

“In my defense, I’d missed doing this.” His eyes softened and so were mine. “I missed waking up next to you, watching you fall asleep in my arms.. I just missed everything that we used to do.” He traced one finger from my right eye down to my nose and finally down to my lips.

My bottom lip quivered and I forced a genuine smile. “I missed that too.”

He leaned forward and captured my lips in a chaste kiss.

“Is it true?” I suddenly asked.

“What?”

“That if you were Ben, and I was Daisy, you’d choose me instead of the baby?” My voice was low and I avoided his gaze. I couldn’t believe I had just asked him that question.

Curling one finger under my chin, he angled my face until his eyes met mine. “Of course. I can’t lose you. As a man, I completely understand Ben. He loves Daisy and he couldn’t let her die if he could have saved her. That baby.. he or she-”

“She.” I interrupted.

Harry raised both of his eyebrows at me and smiled. “She. Well, they can try again. That baby will walk into their lives someday but if he let Daisy go, there won’t be any Daisy in this world.”

“She’s one in a million, isn’t she?” My smaller fingers played with his longer ones, tracing the line of his knuckles.

His fingers gripped mine and he replied, “Yes. And so are you.”

I was about to protest when he leaned in and kissed me – which was his way of shutting me up. His kiss was slow and tasting at first but as the clock ticked, it grew into deep and ravenous before returning to slow and tasting again. A moan escaped my lips as he playfully bit my bottom lip, shifting around until he was on top of me. The contrast of our skin was astounding.

His breath became heavier and so was mine as we pulled away to catch a breath. “I love the way we kiss,” he whispered, the words coming out pressed against my lips.

“What do you mean?”

“I just love that we kiss the same, that you always seem to know exactly how I want it.”

I smiled up at him and I was sure my eyes were full of adoration just like his. I’d come to a realization that at some point Harry had become it for me. As in it it. The One.

And it was terrifying.

But I shouldn’t be because I was pretty sure that he felt the same.

Notes

Hiiiii, first of all I want to tell you that there might be like one or two chapters left and I thought of writing a sequel so what do you think? Would youlike a sequel? I thought of writing it in Harry's p.o.v so you would know more about him.
See Ya