The Encounter |H.S|

71

Harry's pov

I walk back to the place where Evelyn previously was standing, frowning when I notice her sudden disappearance. I attempt to look around for her, turning my head towards various corners of the room and my heartbeat fastening out of worry as I realise she isn't anywhere near.

I stride towards Zayn, who is sipping on red wine exactly in the middle of the room and talking to some other people before he turns his attention to me with raised eyebrows as people make space for me.

"Have you seen Evelyn?" I ask him, trying to keep calm and not freak the fuck out in front of everyone as he tilts his head, a smirk forming on his lips.

"Did you and her fu-"

"Ha!" I cover his mouth as fast as possible, letting out a loud and fake laugh as the people around us stare at me with dumbfounded looks before I take Zayn somewhere further away from any kind of interaction.

"Get off." He pushes me away once we're standing in a corner of the room while pushing me away with a grimace.

"Zayn, I'm asking you a serious question, can you just answer?" I breathe out frustratingly as he frowns at me, his cheeks are rosy and a lazy grin is on his lips.

"I also asked you a question, before you interrupted me." He raises his eyebrows and I bury my face in my hands for a few seconds before running a hand through my hair stressfully.

"Please just answer, this is serious. I just went to get food and she- I'm going to call her." I panic, grabbing my phone and immediately calling her as Zayn stares at me with furrowed eyebrows.

I'm not entirely sure why I'm so worried, it's not like she could have gone that far. But thinking about how many paps there are outside or even invasive people standing around makes me worry about her safety.

My breath quickens when she doesn't answer the call, putting my phone in my pocket once again before getting ready to search for her until Zayn stops me.

"Why don't you ask Megan? Maybe she saw her." He says this time with a serious tone and I thank him immediately, walking as fast as possible in another direction after quickly finding where Megan is standing.

She turns her head to raise her eyebrows at me, the smirk on her lips fading away once she takes a look at me, setting a hand on my shoulder with widened eyes. "What the hell is happening? You look pale."

"Please tell me you have seen Evelyn, I went to get us food but when I came back she wasn't there." I look around frantically in hopes of somehow seeing her and Megan crosses her arms over her chest while looking down pensively.

"I think I saw her leaving this room, so she most likely isn't here." I widen my eyes, rushing towards the door and stepping into the vast hallway, spotting two figures not too far away.

"Let me go you dumb fuck!" I hear her voice, my heart beating quickly against my chest at her desperate words and the panicked tone of her voice before rushing towards where the voice came from, my heart dropping at the sight.

Her back is against the wall, one of her wrists is being pinned against the wall by none other than Carter, who looks at her with raised eyebrows and a mocking smile as she uses her free hand to attempt to push him away, stomping on his feet a few times.

"Hey!" I shout once I'm closer to them, pushing him away forcefully enough to make him fall on the floor with parted lips and a scared look on his face as I clench my fists, "what the fuck do you think you're doing?!"

"Mr.Styles I d-"

"Save it," I grab him by the collar of his shirt to bring him up, staring at him with a scowl on my face, "pack your stuff and leave, if I ever see you again it's over for you."

"But-"

I let him go harshly, making him stumble backwards slightly, an alarmed look on his pathetic face before side glancing at Evelyn, who is looking at the floor with a stiff posture.

"Don't make me repeat myself." I seethe, stepping in front of Evelyn to make him look at me instead and he cowers away from me, walking away while looking down but I know better than to believe he regrets anything.

I immediately turn to Evelyn, worry bubbling up in my chest as she stands frozen in the same place, a lost look clouding her eyes. "Eve, can you look at me?"

She doesn't move and I try to examine her behaviour. Her hands are shaking at her sides, her eyes staring intensely at the floor while bitting down on her bottom lip.

"Darling." I move my face slightly in an attempt to make her look at me and she suddenly breathes in harshly, her hands moving to her face before she peers at me with teary eyes.

"I'm sorry," She covers her mouth in an attempt to not cry, her breath quickening as she lets out a muffled sob, "I'm sorry, it's just that I don't know what he was going to do and I was so scared, I'm sorry."

I pull her into me, wrapping my arms around her as gently as possible and rubbing my hand up and down soothingly on her back as she cries quietly, gripping the back of the jacket of my suit firmly.

"Don't apologise for something that isn't your fault," I murmur, watching carefully as she looks up at me before moving one of her hands closer to her face with a frown taking over her features.

"My wrist is bruising." She whispers and I nearly break down there and then, I should've just stayed next to her, I could've gotten food with her by my side and this wouldn't have happened.

I take her hand in mine carefully, bringing my lips to her wrist in a feather-like kiss while looking at her as she looks down with furrowed eyebrows.

"Let's go home, yeah? There isn't much more to do here." The suggestion itself makes me feel tranquil, right now I just want Evelyn to rest fully and take care of her wrist, and her in general.

She nods wordlessly, standing on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek gently before I do the same thing to her, sending her a faint smile before beginning to walk with her by my side.

We walk past the area of the event, jumping in the slightest when suddenly two people come rushing towards us and I arch an eyebrow at the sight of Zayn and Megan frantically talking to Evelyn.

She doesn't seem to be in her element right now, her lack of words or smile makes it a bit too obvious, so I pull her closer to me with a cough which makes them look at me.

"Evelyn isn't feeling well, we promise you'll know more about this tomorrow but I think right now she needs to relax."

I feel her hand on my waist, patting me gently before looking up at me with a weak smile. They stare at both of us blankly before nodding, bidding their farewells as Evelyn waves at them slowly.

Before I could go any further, Zayn grabs my arm and stares at me seriously while I frown at him, feeling Evelyn rest her head on my shoulder with a sigh.

"I hope you fired the fuck out of the person who did that to her wrist."

I hope you are enjoying the story!♡