A Twist of Fate [niall horan]

Chapter 41

Niall's P.O.V.

London's cold yet breezy weather hit me like a slap in the face as I trudged myself out of the airport's back exit, my feet mindlessly following Basil to the car waiting out front. Twenty-four hours ago, I would have seen myself trying to have a good time on stage as the first night of the second half of tour commenced. Rather than reliving the best times of my life with my four best friends, I was headed back to fucking London to see what the hell Aubrey did.

As soon the words left Jamie's mouth on the phone, I felt everything inside me freeze- my heart, particularly. None of it made sense to me. Grace died so long ago, and I was surprised I managed to keep it hush hush for as long as I did. Following the months of her death, I found it easier to avoid even thinking about her because no one knew about her passing, and the boys knew more than better to bring it up to me. Now, though, my mind was incapable of even beginning to process this new information that was floating around somewhere.

Aubrey was the only person that knew every single fucking detail about her, even my every feeling was exposed to her. I still couldn't believe that she would do something like that. Surely, she would have brought it up to me considering she knew the magnitude and severity of this topic. We love each other, she wouldn't do something to hurt me. I refused to believe it.

"Niall, come on. We don't want you spotted," Basil snapped me out of my thoughts as he held the sleek black door open for me. With my duffel bag at my side, I continued my walk outside towards the large SUV before slipping myself in.

"Everything okay Niall?" Basil asked as he leaned his head back against the front passenger seat of the car.

"I dunno." I shrugged before I began gnawing at the edge of my lip. Due to all the shakes nerves vibrating within me, I couldn't even muster up the energy to keep my mind on track. Not only did my flight from Melbourne to here tire me out, but the constant stress and worry looming in my mind was suffocating every inch of me. The entire plane ride back, I searched my brain through any possibly scenario that this information was leaked, but all I could do was draw a blank. All signs pointed to Aubrey, making my heart crumble into pieces.

None of the lads even knew I had left besides Harry who saw me frantically run out of the tennis stadium. But even he didn't know the reasons behind my sudden and rushed departure. I was surprised my phone didn't explode with missed calls and texts from them as soon as I took it off airplane mode. Did they know what was going on?

Everything played back in my head like a recording as my eyes stayed fixated on whatever we were passing on our way to Aubrey's flat. London's usual center streets were swarming with people either rushing to get somewhere or just casually strolling admiring the beautiful city around them. And of course traffic was at its worst, prolonging my visit to Aubrey's which only created more anxiety in the pit of my stomach. I didn't want to believe my assumptions, maybe it was just a coincidence, right?

Exactly twenty-five minutes later, yes I counted because I had to distract myself somehow, we were pulling up under the canopy that connected to the entrance of Aubrey's complex lobby. Closing my eyes, I took in a deep breath before stepping out of the car, and into the cold. Going from beautiful and warm weather to bitter and cold wasn't exactly my preference, only adding to my stressed state. Within minutes of entering Aubrey's building, I was walking down the familiar path to her flat.

The closer I got, I reminisced back to all the times I would come to pick her up or even the times I would chase her down just to hear her melodious giggle leave her beautiful lips. Then there were the times when I dreaded coming here because I knew she was tearing down my walls; I knew she was getting to me and I wasn't sure whether that was a good to bad thing at the time. Looking back now, she brought every spark of happiness back into my life, there was no way she would want to bring back any pain into it. Aubrey loves me.