I'm in Love With A Criminal

~32~

Today was the day. The day Louis had dreaded. The day it would all come to an end. There was absolutely nothing he could do now. It was over.

It was a normal day for everyone else. Maybe some ups and downs. For Louis, however, he was completely numb. He couldn't put a name to what he was feeling. He felt nothing but lost and numb. Nothing could fix it.

Here he was, sitting alone on a park bench and staring off into space. It was raining in late February (you can guess how cold it was). The only thing Louis did to take cover was wearing a simple jacket.

His gaze was fixed on a young man stomping in puddles while holding a toddler's hand gently. They were giggling and singing together without a care in the world. He knew that they weren't worried about anything else, not even how messy their clothes will be after playing in the pouring rain and the mud. That's when another man come up to them and begin laughing with them, catching their attention. The kid ran up to the man and was thrown over his shoulder, and the man then bent down and kissed the other man passionately on the lips.

Louis smiled slightly to himself at the tiny family. It was obvious how much they cared for each other. They didn't think about anything or take a single dirty look personally. In fact, any time they got a bad glare from someone, they only smiled harder because they could care less. The only thing that matter was each other.

He suddenly felt a presence by him and the rain that was dropping on to his head stop, and that person soon sat on the other side of the bench. He looked out of the corner of his eyes and saw Liam adjusting his umbrella with a deep breath.

The two sat in silence, watching people pass them and go on with their regular life. It was a normal day for everyone else, but so difference from each other. That's what amazed Louis. No one had a similar day. No one knew about what was going on in someone's life, and some of them didn't even care about it.

Some people noticed Louis , and he noticed a lot of mixed reactions. Some parents would run off with their kids, some people gave him a look of pity, some gave a shocked expression, and there were plenty of dirty looks. Louis didn't care. He didn't acknowledge any of them.

He saw Liam, once again, adjust his sitting arrangement before going quiet for only a few seconds. "You intrigue me."

Louis blinked with confession. "Thank you?"

"Sorry. It's just..." he wandered off. "When I first met you, I thought you were annoying. I though you were like everyone else."

"What?" Louis finally spat with annoyance, turning to face him.

"I'm just saying," Liam shrugged. "My impression of you changed so much since we first met."

"Met? You mean when you tried to kill me?"

"Yeah, that."

"Uh huh," Louis looked away, rolling his eyes.

"I'm serious," Liam said. "Thank you."

Louis frowned. Why was he thanking him? He turned back to face him again, only to see him smiling.

"Harry was at the lowest point I've ever seen him before you two met. He was about to give up on everything," he explained shakily. "I remember...he came to me one night, just a total mess. He was screaming, throwing thing everywhere, nearly ripping out his hair."

Louis flinched as he imagined Harry in such a terrible state. He hugged his jacket close to his body and nodded, encouraging Liam to continue.

"He was about to..." Liam stopped himself. He looked away as he tried to stop himself from crying. "It was terrifying. He's always been like a brother to me, and to hear how distressed and lost he was... it still breaks me."

Louis brought a hand over to hold Liams' with support. He squeezed it, happy to see a sad smile appear.

"I told him to hold on for a bit longer and surely enough, someone," he said and looked at him, "came into his life and changed everything."

The two gave each other warm smiles. They had grown so close throughout these few months. It's hard to believe how much they hated each other at first. Of course, that doesn't stop their moments of annoyance. They didn't love each other, but rather enjoyed each others' presence.

"Thank you," Liam said sincerely.

Now, a little emotion is always great. But not in their relationship. "You're welcome, you dickhead," Louis jokingly said.

The two of them shared a laugh. And it was real. Not forced, not fake. A real, genuine laugh. Liam could admit, this was the first real laugh, or even smile, he had in awhile.

That is, until they heard the bells begin to ring, signaling a new hour of the day. Time stopped. The air became thick. It was almost as if everything and everyone around Louis froze.

One ring. Two rings. Three rings...Twelve rings.

It's strange how a heart that was once so full can be crumbled into 999,999 different pieces so quickly. That one missing piece died on the twelve ring.