The Encounter |H.S|

76

Harry and I get inside our workplace together, his hand latched onto mine as we walk into the tall building.

After getting up this morning Harry seemed to be lazier than usual, implying that he wanted to stay home but after a lot of whining and pouting, I managed to convince him to go to work with me.

"Hey, Megan!" I wave with a grin as she sits behind her desk, smiling once she looks at us while we approach her, Harry walking a little slower than me to purposely attempt to annoy me.

"Hello lovebirds, how's Hazel?" She asks while turning on her computer in front of her, looking up at us with raised eyebrows and a faint smile on her lips.

"Good! I think she got upset when you guys left though." I laugh, feeling Harry let go of my hand to wrap an arm around my waist while looking around with furrowed eyebrows.

"She isn't used to have entertaining people around her house." She smirks, making Harry and I gasp loudly at her offence before I scoff at her with a shake of my head.

Instead of replying, I begin walking away towards the elevator just to pretend to be mad and leave Harry behind, hearing Megan's laughter from afar nonetheless.

Harry says a few more words to her before walking towards me as I wait for the elevator with crossed arms.

"Weird," He says once standing next to me, replying after sensing my confusion, "Megan said someone is waiting for me by my office, but didn't mention who, she said it's a surprise."

I furrow my eyebrows before lightly grabbing his arm to pull him closer and he glances down at me with a curious look in his eyes. "Do you think this has anything to do with Carter?"

"No," He replies too fast, shaking his head frantically while the doors of the elevator finally open, both of us stepping inside and Harry presses the button to the top floor, "it can't be, surprises are meant to be good."

"But what if it is Carter?" I panic once the elevator starts moving, watching as he holds my hand gently only to bring my wrist to his lips before he shakes his head.

"Even if it was him, he would have to talk to me," He gets silent for a few seconds before letting out a sigh while wrapping an arm around me, "I wouldn't even let him look at you."

"Sure." I scoff playfully, snickering when he furrows his eyebrows at my evident sarcasm before letting go of me to cross his arms as if upset with my words.

The elevator stops on our floor, both of us stepping out of it and walking a bit too slowly in the hallway towards Harry's office before I hold Harry's hand in mine once again.

It's not that I'm certain that the person waiting for Harry would have anything to do with Carter, if that was the case then I don't think Megan would be so calm about it, but the small suspicion still wanders in my head.

We reach Harry's office door and he looks down at me with an arched eyebrow. "Do you not want to go to your office? You seem frightened."

"I'm not! I'll go in with you, it's fine." I squeeze his arm gently while sending him a faint smile, chuckling lightly when he takes the chance to press his lips against mine tenderly.

I press one last kiss on his cheek before looking at his closed door once again, waiting for him to open it with a nervous smile spread on my lips.

Harry opens the door swiftly and we both step inside, noticing someone sitting on his black leather couch and I immediately gasp while bringing my hands to cover my mouth.

"Anne!" I exclaim and she looks up, widening her eyes once she looks at me before getting up to engulf me in a hug, causing me to laugh silently as she ignores Harry's presence.

"Eve, I haven't heard about you in so long," She sends a glance in Harry's way as if blaming him for that, "to be quite honest, I missed you, Harry's girlfriend wasn't the kindest person."

Her last whispered words make me let out a laugh before stepping closer to Harry with a faint smile as he visibly tries not to laugh. "I don't think you have to worry about Charlotte."

Harry's family and I seemed to have had a great relationship since the beginning so I'm truly happy to see Anne here because honestly, I had missed her.

It quite reminds me of the old days where I used to see her almost every day when I went to Harry's home, she was always kind towards me or my family and that only made the relationships amongst everyone even better. Those were good times frankly.

"What do you mean?" She looks up at Harry as if expecting him to explain, I decide to not step into this conversation since Harry should've told her this long ago, so it makes the situation even better.

"Charlotte and I were never really together," He mutters, getting a little closer to me as if I would protect him, "it was more like a stunt."

"You left Eve for nothing?!"

I let out a loud laugh at her words, covering my mouth with my hand when Harry sends me an exasperated look. "It's not that, I just–"

"Harry, I hope you have apologised to Evelyn." She crosses her arms while giving him a disappointed glance and he huffs while nodding slowly.

"Mum, of course! And we're good now so everything is fine." Harry states with raised eyebrows, side glancing at me with a grin on his lips while Anne arches an eyebrow at us.

"I was also unfair for not telling him about Hazel, I too made a mistake." I try to turn the attention away from Harry and his past situation, but I furrow my eyebrows when his breath hitches and his eyes widen.

"Hazel? Who's Hazel?" 

I immediately turn my head in Harry's direction while he covers his face with his hands before shaking his head at me as if upset.

How could I know he hasn't told his mum about her granddaughter? It was the first thing I did when I found out, I understand he got the information later than some other people but at some point, I thought he had already told her.

He's never been against the idea of having children so I assumed that when he and Hazel started having a bond the information about her existence would already be known by some members of his family, mum included.

"Hazel is our daughter, mum." He explains with a sigh, watching as she brings her hand to her chest out of shock and widens her eyes at us.

"What?!"

I hope you're enjoying the story!♡