Fading.

We were supposed to be at my parents’ house in less than thirty minutes but Harry was still taking his time to get ready.

There was something about him that seemed to be out of his element tonight.

Walking into the bathroom, I glanced over at the jetted tub large enough to sleep in, the ginormous two-person shower and the expansive granite countertops. Harry had literally begged me to agree with him to stay at a hotel rather than at my parents’ house. His excuses were ridiculous but I listened to him anyway. Granted, this hotel was wonderful and I liked it; they had almost everything that we ever needed.

Dressed in white long-sleeved shirt, the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, Harry was leaning on the counter, staring at himself in the mirror. He was taking long deep breaths in and out. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear he was nervous.

“Your dad’s going to kill me!” He said, looking absolutely terrified at the mention of Thanksgiving dinner at my parents’. I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped my lips as he continued to look at me in horror. “Sky, it’s not funny. Remember when you told me that he has a gun?”

I bit my lips; I did remember that. “He won’t do anything to you.”

Harry slid his phone back into his pocket and sighed heavily. His face had changed into a serious one as he put his hands on both sides of my shoulders, looking straight into my eyes. “Sky, I hurt you. He has a valid reason to hate me or even kill me for breaking his only daughter’s heart.”

I shook my head, a strand of hair slipping out of my messy ponytail. “I doubt that. He loves me.”

“What does that have to do with me?” He questioned, frowning. He didn’t miss a chance to tuck the hair behind my hair. It was the little things he did that made me smile.

I closed the distance between us and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “As long as you make me happy, you’re safe.” I murmured, my gaze was fixated on his plump lips.

“Remind me not to upset you.” He stated playfully, flicking my nose before he walked away from me to fetch his laptop that was sitting on his bed.

I squinted my eyes at the screen trying to decipher what he was doing, “What are you doing?”

Looking up from the screen of his laptop, he answered. “Book us a hotel room?”

“Uh, no? We’re staying at my parents’?”

Harry shook his head as he continued typing. “If your dad chooses to kill me during the dinner, at least I’ll have a place to run to.”

This whole situation was humorous to me so I burst out laughing which received a glare from him. “You’re ridiculous.” I said, patting his knees before I left his room to call my mother.

“You’ll thank me.” He shouted from the bedroom.

He was ridiculous but I knew I wouldn’t stop him from doing whatever he was doing right now.

“We need to go. You okay?”

Harry glanced my way, flashing me a perfectly carefree smile that should have convinced me that he was not nervous. But I knew better. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

Wrapping my arms around his waist, I closed the gap between us and rested my chin on his shoulder as I stared in fondness at our reflections in the mirror. He looked dapper in his dress shirt, his hair pushed up perfectly as if Lou had made a trip here just to do it. And tonight, I allowed myself to think that I looked good in the dress that Harry bought for me months before we broke up.

Then, I clarified my question. “I asked if you were okay.”

His smile turning into a cheeky one, Harry turned and wrapped his arms around my waist. “I just had the most incredible bubble bath with my girlfriend. I’m fantastic.” He leaned down and just before his lips could reach mine, I pushed him away from me.

“We’re late, come on.”

I tried to drag him toward the door but he didn’t budge. Instead of following me out of the bathroom - because if we didn’t leave now we would be late for the dinner - he tugged at my hand and pulled me until my front met his front and he stole a kiss from me. It was a real quick one that I didn’t get a chance to swat him for kissing me.

Although it was quick kiss there was just something about it that managed to knock the breath out of me.

I stood stunned in the doorway and Harry held out his hand, casting me his notorious cocky sideway glance, his lips forming the words that sounded a lot like a mock, “We’re late, come on.”

Before we stepped out of the hotel room, Harry pressed me against the wall, grinded his hips against mine, and just when I thought he was going to lean in and kiss me, he did something else. He handed me my coat, a smirk evident on his face when he realized that I was expecting him to kiss me.

“You’re somewhat cheeky tonight, is there a reason why?” I asked, putting on the coat as Harry locked the door.

He shrugged, lacing our fingers as soon as he had slipped the card into the pocket of his black coat.

“Are you nervous?” I asked another question but this time I added some curiosity in my voice.

He made a face at my supposedly ridiculous question, but instead of answering it he clicked the button for the elevator. When the metal doors opened, he stepped in, pulling me with him.

“You don’t have to be nervous, you know?” I said, looking up at him.

“Who says I’m nervous?” He finally said but he was still avoiding my eyes.

Stifling a giggle, I cleared my throat. “Well, I say so. You look very nervous right now and you’re avoiding my eyes.”

Before he could deny what I had just pointed out, the door opened and we slipped out quickly, dodging the young couple that gave us a knowing look.

Harry and I had tried to keep our relationship out of the public interest because we wanted to take things slow until we were actually ready for it, which was not now. But I knew it wouldn’t be long until everyone managed to put two and two together. There were already pictures of us leaving the airport together anyway and Harry was protecting me from the paparazzi at the moment – that would help them to figure out what was our status.

“Are you alright?” Harry asked as he opened the door to the passenger side for me to climb in.

“Yeah, just thinking.” I smiled to assure him that it was nothing, climbing into the car. Harry closed the door, rounding the front so he could get to the driver side.

When he had pulled out of the parking lot, I turned to him. “Anyway, like I said before, don’t be nervous. My dad won’t do anything to you.” I patted his knee, offering him a sincere smile. “He likes you. Wait, no, he loves you.”

“I disliked him at first because I thought he was a bad influence but I saw how he slowly changed you; I noticed everything, Sky. How you smiled more when you’re with him, how you always laugh when he’s around and how sad you were when he flew somewhere far away from you.”

“What about Tristan?” He asked while he tried to pick the right music to listen to.

I shrugged, “Tristan doesn’t really care.”

Harry seemed to accept my answer, for he continued driving and didn’t say anything else after that. As I leaned my head against the seat, I thought of the wonderful things that Harry had done to me before. And there were so many of them.


Harry came out of his room, a goofy smile on his face. “I got something for you.” Bending down to kiss me on the cheek, he then handed me a small box wrapped with a blue gift paper.

“Harry, it’s not Christmas yet.”

“It’s not for Christmas,” he rolled his eyes, “Open it.”

Exhaling in a rush, I concentrated on the box in my fingertips. Biting my lip, I wondered what he could have gotten for me as I finished unwrapping the partially opened gift. Once I saw the shape of the box, my heart started thudding. It was a ring box. I paused, unsure if I should open this. Why was he giving this to me?

Knowing he was watching me intently, and not wanting him to think I was doubting him in any way, I popped the box out and opened the lid. Inside were two silver bands, one clearly a man’s, one a woman’; the woman’s was elegantly lined with small diamonds.

Confused, I scrunched my brows and looked up at him. He smiled, peering down at me.

Reaching down, he grabbed the man’s ring. “They’re promise rings,” he whispered. Picking up the woman’s, he lifted my right hand. Sliding it on my finger, he softly said, “You wear one,” he slipped the man’s on the ring finger of his right hand, “and I wear one.” Smiling contently, he shook his head as if what he had just done was ridiculous. “And we promise that no one comes between us. That we.. belong to each other, and only each other.”

As I stared at him, amazed and warmed, a tear rolled down my cheek. Harry captured the tear with his thumb, and smiled adorably at me. “I love it,” I whispered, leaning over to kiss him.

We tenderly kissed on that couch for a long moment, both wanting to prove how much we loved each other. I didn’t think I could love someone as much as I loved Harry.

After we had pulled away, Harry rested his forehead against mine; his breath was warm against my cheeks. “I saw those rings and immediately thought of you.” He shook his head, his smile was small but it broadened when he continued speaking, “I kept coming in and out of that place until it pissed Niall off because I wasn’t sure if you would like it.”

“I love it,” I chimed in. And I loved him.

“Then I’m glad.” Lacing our fingers together, I watched where the rings lined up and smiled.

I would have never thought I’d be this happy, but I was anyway. Really happy.


I was actually right. It was a rare occasion for me to be right about something but tonight, I was mostly right about everything. My father didn’t pull out his gun even once to confirm Harry’s irrational fear – not that I thought he would – and Tristan seemed not to care at all. All he cared about were the food on his plate and Haley, his wife.

Harry was welcomed in the family like the first time he came here and like everyone had forgotten what had happened between us before which was a good thing. I didn’t want anyone to remind us of the painful days that we had to go through.

“See? Nothing’s going to happen – everything’s good.” I whispered to Harry and he gave me a smile.

Well, that was until Tristan spoke up.

“You really got her, mate.” At first none of us got it, but Harry did and his face instantly contorted with misery. My brother was intoxicated and someone needed to stop him but unfortunately no one did. “I’ve never thought I would see the day when she would be so heartbroken over a breakup. Guess you really had her head over heels for you. Better take a good care of her now or you won’t be getting her again.” He paused as if he was trying to come up with something else to say but then he shrugged which indicated that he was done talking.

I nearly choked the champagne I was drinking, my mother straightaway directed a disapproval look to my asshole brother, my father seemed unperturbed with everything his son had just said, Haley appeared to stay composed and then I turned to Harry. He was gripping the table until his knuckles turned white, chewing on his inner cheeks and I was scared they would bleed any second from now.

Placing my hand on top of his, I traced his knuckles with my fingertips and gave him a reassuring look to tell him that it was okay. He needed to know that those memories of when he broke up with me didn’t bother me anymore. It sort of had become a chunk of memory that I didn’t think about anymore – they wouldn’t break me, not again.

“Okay, so! Dessert?” My mother stood up from the chair and all of us nodded. I sighed in relief, flashing her a small smile before she went into the kitchen with our plates.

Just when I thought nothing else could happen, Dad spoke up.

“Harry,” my father’s manly voice addressed and four pair of eyes went to him – mine widened with shock and fear. “I need to talk to you.”

Harry didn’t say a word; he simply nodded and followed my father into the living room. Once I was sure they were out of our sights and hearings, I gave Tristan a murderous look. If looks really could kill, he would be on the floor, bleeding to death right now.

Whatever my father had to say to Harry must be important – he wasn’t one to discuss about ridiculous things. And this was all because of Tristan.

“What the hell was that?”

“What?” He fired back, taking a sip of the champagne – that was his third glass of the night. “I was just being a good brother to you.”

“You weren’t supposed to mention that.” I countered while making sure my voice was steady. I didn't want to entertain my anger, not tonight.

“He needed to know what he had done to you. And your heart, may I add.” He slurred a little, pointing at me with his index finger. Haley grabbed his hand, hushing her husband as she took the glass away from him.

“He knew that, all right.” I rolled my eyes, finishing my champagne as I tried to ignore the sound of blood running in my ears.

My mother returned after a while with our dessert, and her brows descended, frowning when she noticed that two men were missing from the table. “Where are they?”

“Talking, discussing about something, I don’t know.” I shrugged, pouring myself another glass of champagne.

I was well aware of the look that Tristan was giving to me but I was too mad at him to care. It was bad enough that Harry was nervous to meet my father and now he had to have a talk with him – just the two of them, without me.

I didn’t touch my dessert and my eyes constantly went to the doorway to see if they were done talking. About five minutes later, my father walked into the dining hall, his face seemed calm, a small smile made an appearance on his face. Then I waited for Harry to walk in. My eyes were glued to the doorway until he eventually showed up. And when he did, there was something in his eyes that I couldn’t quite pinpoint but he was smiling.

Sliding back to the seat next to me, he grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “I’m alright. Don’t worry,” he whispered to my ear although that question didn’t come out of my lips.

When I pulled back to scan his face, he was smiling – that same smile again. “Okay.” I replied.

Everyone kept his or her mouth shut as we enjoyed my mother’s dessert. Then, all of sudden, Tristan cleared his throat.

My eyes immediately went to him, wordlessly warning him that if he was about to say something stupid again, I was going to ask him to leave.

Keeping his eyes trained on Harry, Tristan licked his lips before he opened his mouth to speak. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier.” He began, “You know I love Sky, right?”

“Yeah.. Of course.” Harry answered without a pause, chewing on his bottom lips. They were looking at each other attentively like no one else existed in the room.

“And I hated seeing her get hurt but I trust you. I know you could make her happy like nobody else could.”

Turning to me, Harry smiled lovingly, exhilaration in his eyes. “I guess so.”

“And I’m sorry, again.” Tristan said. He didn’t slur his words anymore, which meant he had sobered up a little.

“It’s fine. I would have done and said the same things for my sister’s sake.” That was true. Harry loved his sister, Gemma just as much as he loved his mother since they were the two person that were always there with him growing up.

“You’re a great man, Harry.” My mother said from her seat, one of her hands went up to her chest as she smiled fondly at my boyfriend.

Harry bowed his head down, obviously not used to the compliment coming from my mother, “I do try.” He gave me a sideway glance and I nodded, assuring him that he really was a great man.

Then, our Thanksgiving dinner moved on like nothing had happened before, we discussed about what we would be doing for Christmas – Harry planned on spending it with his family at Cheshire and my mother mentioned that it was okay if I wanted to spend it with them too since I’d brought Harry here for Christmas last year – and then when the topic of Christmas was dismissed, we laughed about the stupid things we had done in the past.

Out of the blue, my father told us the famous story of when he first met my mother, which brought a huge smile on Harry’s face.

Throughout the dinner I noticed that his face was far from the unsettled face that I saw few months ago. This face was the face that I fell in love with, the one that was so full of love and the lights in his eyes were back. I felt my chest tightened at the sight of him and tears started to blind my vision, but I blinked them away.

For once, everything just felt right – having him with me right now and knowing that he wasn’t going anywhere. I was lucky, really lucky.

With his hand clasped with mine, I knew that he was real.

*

Harry was eager to get back to our hotel.

“What did the two of you talk about in the living room?” I asked gingerly, shrugging out of my coat as soon as we stepped inside the hotel room. The heater was on and the warmth of the room welcomed me.

Harry placed his coat on the chair, walking towards me. “Nothing that you should know.” He said, wrapping his arms around my waist, as we stood right in front of the bed. Bending down, he placed his head at the crook of my neck; his breath made my skin tingled which caused me to giggle. “I missed you.”

“We were together all the time. Not much time to miss me.”

He looked up at me through his lashes, a cocky smile obvious on his face. “I missed you the second we walked out of this hotel room to meet your parents. I want you – only you, alone – with me all the time.”

“You sound so possessive, Styles.” I teased, pushing his shoulder slightly but he didn’t budge.

“I do try, Spencer, I do try.” He replied, nuzzling his face into the crook of my neck

“Idiot.” I could feel his smile against my skin, and he puckered up his lips to kiss the spot that joined my neck and shoulder together.

“So, are you sharing secrets with my dad now?” I asked, tilting my head to the left to give him more access. Closing my eyes, I enjoyed having his lips on my skin – I could never get enough of them.

He lifted his head and nodded briefly before he reattached his lips on my skin, “Pretty much.”

“What is it about?” I pressed further, wanting to know what did they talk about – whether it was something about me or something else entirely. They were keeping something from me, and I could sense it.

He pulled away to look at me, “I told him how much I love you.”

Raising my eyebrows at him, I waited for him to continue. I knew there was more. They could not have been in the living room for nearly twenty minutes just talking about his feeling towards me. “And?”

“He trusted me with your heart.” He said reluctantly, there was more – I knew that – but he was trying to hide them for me. Maybe it was a secret conversation between two men after all. Playing with my hair, he then added, “He was glad that we’re back together, he told me to take a good care of you..”

“Hey, I know I’m not the easiest person to love-“

“Stop.” Harry interrupted me mid sentence; his face was etched with a troubled frown. “Loving you, Skylar, is so easy, it’s effortless.”

I didn’t say anything else, for I had ran out of words to say to this amazing man standing in front of me. So I let him continued kissing my neck, his lips slowly and gently sucked on my skin. I bit my lips to hold back the moan that was in the back of throat as I threaded my fingers in his hair.

I pulled him back by his hair, needing his lips against mine, needing to feel the love behind our intense connection, not just the fire. It swept through me instantly, growing in my chest until it was nearly painful. Silently, our lips and the occasional heavy breath the only sound, we undressed each other.

When he laid me back on the sheets, his eyes swept down the length of my body. The heat his gaze usually gave me wasn’t there. I still wanted him, intensely, but what was burning through my body, through my soul, was the need to connect with him.

Imagining never being with him again, imagining ending things again somewhere in the future made me start to hyperventilate. We couldn’t end.. we just couldn’t. I loved him so much it nearly brought me to my knees.

Cupping his cheek, I urged him on top of me. Our gazes locked as I wrapped my legs around him. When he slowly slid into me, we both opened our mouths, but neither one of us closed our eyes. He searched my face as we silently began to move together. I felt tears stinging as I whispered, “I love you, Harry.. only you.”

He briefly closed his eyes as his breaths came in sharp pulls. Opening them, he murmured, “And I only love you… I will only ever love you.”

He lowered his head to kiss me, our bodies still moving slow and steady. When I felt the buildup of my love for him coming to an apex, I grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight. He squeezed me back just as hard. Slowing our pace instead of increasing it, I started to shake with the impending release.

Harry grabbed my cheek, sucking in a breath as he quickly kissed me. “I love you. God, I love you so much..”

He let out a quick exhale, his body shuddering as he came. I squeezed him tight as the intensity washed through me. I babbled some incoherent phrase about loving him more than life itself, and cinched my body around him as the joy flooded every muscle, every nerve, and every cell in my body.

Tingling with good feelings, we slumped against each other. Wordlessly, Harry repositioned us and curled into my body. Kissing my hair repeatedly, he whispered, breaking the silence between us, “I promise not to break your heart again.”

I nodded and kissed him back, the tears stinging my eyes for the nth times. “And I promise I won’t run away when things get tough again.”

He nodded and we clung to each other. We would try again – it was all we could do.

I couldn’t stay away from him nor could he. We were a good match, a perfect match. Soul mates.


“I can’t believe that you’re mine,” he suddenly said while we were watching a movie as he absentmindedly traced circles on my shoulder. Leaning down so our eyes were on the same level, Harry stopped tracing circles on my skin. “I love you, you know that, right?”

I nodded, swallowing the lump that had started to form in my throat. I knew he loved me; he uttered those three words almost every night before we fell asleep, let us be on the same bed or on different beds, he would never let go of the opportunity to remind me of his feeling.

But I was scared. Terrified, even. I had been doing a pretty decent job at guarding myself but the moment Harry wormed his way into my life, the walls slowly yet quickly tumbled down - it was like they had actually been waiting for him to come and break them down.

There was nothing I could do; there was no turning back. I didn’t think I could undo the feeling that I had for him right now. I just had to find a way to control them.

“I know that,” was the only response that I came up with after what felt like an eternity of silence.

But no matter how certain I was of my heart, I still couldn’t utter those three words like he could so naturally. It was as if he had been taught to say ‘I love you’ to everyone because they didn’t sound foreign at all.

“Good,” he replied after a moment and we continued to watch the movie in silence. I knew he was waiting for a different answer but I couldn’t give it to him.

Not right now, at least.


It was absolutely unexpected. The change, that is. I was a completely different person a year ago and now.. Now I was like a whole new person, like there’s a new soul living inside my body. A better one. It was very difficult for me to say those three words back then; these days, they came out of my lips like a breeze.

Harry was right; there was something about telling the person how you really felt that made you feel good. There was no pretending, there was no faking, there was just merely the truth.

But I didn’t say them enough. I didn’t remind him how much I loved him like he did to me. I didn’t, out of the blue, text him or call him just to bear it in his mind that I loved him – I had never done that. It was what he did.

I guessed I needed to change that because he deserved to know how much I loved him.

“Harry?”

Voice and eyes heavy with sleep, he answered with a “Mmm?”

“I do, you know?”

Forcing his eyes to open, he searched my face to understand what I was trying to say. “You do what?”

“Love you. Maybe I don’t tell you enough. Maybe-“

He shushed me with a kiss; one of his hands went up to trace my bottom lips. “I know you do, baby.”

I smiled, my heart squeezing tightly beneath my ribs. “Things are going to get better, aren’t they?” I asked as I traced the rose tattoo on his forearm.

I remembered asking him that question few months ago but he didn’t give me an answer. He remained silence like he was questioning himself the same question. It was the silence that killed me, that shattered me if it was possible.

But as he laid in front of me and his eyes were trained solely on me, he answered my question without a beat. “Yes.” He nodded, placing a kiss on my forehead, “I promise you.”

I closed my eyes and let his words washed over me. I couldn’t really say that I could paint a picture on where we’re going to stand in the future but I knew that whatever the future is, I wanted him with me.

“I love you,” he whispered, as he let the sleep took over. Within seconds, his breath evened out and the only sound I could hear was the sound of our breathings.

“I love you too.” I pressed a soft kiss on his lips and pulled the blanket over our bare body. Before I closed my eyes, I looked at him once more.

You really could have it all if you found the right person. And the right person for me was Harry.

Notes

The End.
Hiiii, so we've finally reached the end of the 'Fading Journey'. I just want to tell you how much I appreciate each reading of chapters.
When I first wrote this fanfic, I had never thought it would get this much reads - it was insane. And i owe it all to you. I didn't know what made you want to read Fading but thank you so much. For those who had never given up on Harry and Sky - you know who you are and i know who you are - well, this one's for you. Thank you for believing in me, in them. I've tried my best to make Fading as realistic as possible.
If Fading has ever made you cry, I'm both sorry and glad. Sorry because you have just wasted your tears on my writing; glad because I did try my best to write something that could reach out to those who read it. So, I couldn't think of what else to write here except that i'm really grateful that you have taken your time to read this fanfic and join me on the Harry and Sky's roller coaster.
Btw, SEQUEL.I don't think i'm ready to let go of Harry and Sky just yet so there will be a sequel. I'll try to put it up here as soon as possible, it will not be tomorrow (that's for sure).Are only a few days away to finish the class, then I almost always find the right time to write. But i promise you, it will be up soon and it will be in Harry's pov. I feel like you need to get to know Harry more since you've pretty much known Sky in Fading so it's time you see things from his perspective.
For the last time, THANK YOU SO MUCH. i love each and everyone of you. I'll see you again soon. And do follow me on twitter: @Lady_Styles21.
GOOD BYE,AND SEE YA♥
LOVE YOU♥