the journal - h.s.

105

(amber's pov)

We had both fallen quiet while sipping on the hot chocolate till it was a reasonable temperature to drink. My eyes had drifted over Liam's small, yet surprisingly cozy, place. It could need the touch of something though. Or maybe it needed someone. It was a tad messy, things had been left undone such as the repainting of the back wall. A black sandbag hung in the corner of the living room which seemed more to belong in a gym or a hall for boxing training.

"He showed me a few tricks when I was younger," Harry noted as he had followed my wandering gaze, which had locked on the item. Maybe not such an usual thing to have since Liam after all was a bodyguard.

"He's almost like an," my eyes flickered to my favorite sight, "uncle? Isn't he?"

Hard lines formed over Harry's face, a furrow between his brows and his eyes escaping mine. I recalled how Liam had reacted when I had mentioned Aria in my moment of complete oblivious stupidness.

"I guess at some point - but it's years ago," he let out a brief sigh and finished his hot chocolate. His fingers travelled to my arm without thought to it and he traced beautiful invisible lines around my wrist as the words floated into the room, "when Aria used to be around too. They were dating at some point you see. A summer she even moved in, they invited me over all of the time for dinner." A cheeky smile formed on his lips at the memory. It must have been before Daisy brought light to the world.

I listened curiously trying to imagine them as a couple; Aria with her light brown hair and wide smile, her almond shaped eyes and fierce cheekbones. Now a single mother running a cafe; it was somehow hard imagining her in another position. Imagine her in this room recklessly in love, on the couch laughing carelessly while Liam and Harry joked around.

"My dad didn't fancy it naturally. There's like 6 years between them or something like that, not exactly the end of the world," I studied Harry as he kept drawing the lines into my skin very gently. I wasn't sure what time it was, maybe half past eight? Surely the gala wouldn't end till midnight at least.

"Then the summer ended and everything just started going wrong, I guess. Aria gave up the work on H2O, eh I mean her NGO - Hand 2 Offer -," Harry's eyes found mine and even now they could make my heart flutter.

"The one with the clean water project to the third world? I remember her telling me something about that," I asked and earned a nod in return.

"She was so dedicated - she's always been hardworking of course, but she really loved this idea and vision she worked with. I think she saw my father as a silver lining. Instead of being angry with him for slowly turning into this - this monster, she ended up using his influence to do good in her own way. She would often attend events - Chestnut Av. Gala she's been to multiple times - and she would charm the shit out of everyone that could help her out," his smile broadened in the most lovely way by the memory of his fierce, strong-minded aunt.

"Maybe that's why she hired you," his smile played wonderfully, pulling so beautifully at the corners of his full lips till they parted in the most awing symphony, "you have that strong-minded will too, you know. And the course you are taking on NGO and other charity beneficial organizations administration and so forth; it probably reminded her of herself as younger. I still don't understand what got in the way, she never really wanted to talk about it. She just packed her things and moved - only kept contact with me. Suddenly she was just gone. It wasn't till Daisy was born, that Aria explained me why Liam wasn't around. I was pretty young back then; she told me he had made a choice. Told me not to bother him and forget about it all. Probably not the best thing to tell someone like me, you know the good days weren't many as it was."