The Encounter |H.S|

Epilogue

5 YEARS LATER

I rush into the kitchen while the doorbell rings, making me widen my eyes before I take some cookies out of the cabinet and put them on the big dark wood dining table in the living room before nearly sprinting to the door, but Harry beats me to it.

He opens it and outside stands a woman and her daughter, who immediately rushes inside with a giggle. "Hazel, Lilly is here!" Harry calls out and she rushes down the stairs with a big smile on her face.

Today is Hazel's birthday. She's five years old today. Five.

"Come on Lilly, there are more people upstairs!" Hazel takes her friend's hand, noticing my stare on them and sending me a big smile while Harry talks with the mum outside.

Once the door closes, Hazel is no longer next to me and is already upstairs with the rest of her friends. She begged us to do a birthday party in our house, with balloons and a theme and all of that and we couldn't just say no.

Harry steps closer to me while I stare at the stairs as if frozen, he wraps an arm around my waist and I turn to look at him with teary eyes.

"Oh ma chérie," He muses, embracing me immediately and I hug him as tightly as possible, "I know it's overwhelming but we have to see the bright side of this, my love."

"I know! I know that and I'm happy because she's growing up but it's going too fast." I mutter against his chest, he must be tired of this drama every year ever since she turned two.

He cups my cheek, opening his mouth to talk but he's interrupted quickly. "Why is mum crying?"

We snap our heads to look at Hazel as she stands in front of us with furrowed eyebrows before she steps closer to me, hugging my legs.

This is the last thing I wanted. I want her to have the greatest day, not to see me cry on her birthday, so I crouch so that I can take a better look at her.

"I'm sorry darling, I'm just so proud of you," I pause, running a hand through her curly hair and she grins at me before attacking me with a hug, "you're almost an adult, I can't keep up with this much longer young lady." I joke and she laughs before pressing a kiss to my cheek.

"I'm proud of you too mum," She smiles and I nearly break down but I decide it's best to keep my cool and smile back at her before she looks up at Harry, "can we go outside already? The fun things are in the backyard!"

"Hazel, there are still more people to come and–"

"You can go, but be careful okay?" I interrupt Harry and she cheers before hugging me once again and running up the stairs.

Once I turn to Harry he crosses his arms at me. He wanted to wait until everyone was here before we moved to the backyard but I felt bad for her because she just saw me crying and I couldn't help myself.

"Sorry," I whisper, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing his lips briefly and he tries not to smile, "I felt bad."

Besides Hazel's uncontrollable growth, me and Harry have been closer than ever. After my first photoshoot people started to want more from both of us, so Zayn is not the only model now and Harry sometimes participates in these photoshoots.

It created a lot of different opinions. The first time people really saw me and heard me was a bit chaotic but we, fortunately, got through that together. 

I also told Harry to stop working so much, because the first few days of living with him were worrying for me. I saw him staying up until three in the morning and waking up at five in the morning and it just was not healthy for him.

With Hazel growing up we started working more and more together and trying to get better at parenting. It's still new to us, I mean, it's our first child ever but the possibility of a second one has been on the table for a while now.

Some things stay the same though.

The doorbell rings just as the kids run to the backyard and I kiss Harry one last time as secretly as I could before I open the door, grinning at the sight in front of me.

"Oh my fucking God, have you been crying already?!"

Louis rolls his eyes, shaking his head before hugging me with a smile. Me and Louis made a deal to hang out once a week so we don't lose our friendship in any way, although I am pretty sure that wouldn't have happened.

Next to him is Zayn, holding three wrapped boxes in his hands with a pissed off look as Megan laughs at his face before hugging me.

"I still don't understand why any of you isn't dressed as a princess, that's the theme! Hazel chose it." I mock them, stepping aside so they all get inside and they start complaining about my comment immediately.

"Where's the real princess though?" Louis asks while Harry sets a hand on my lower back and attempts to ignore Zayn as he pinches Harry's arm several times.

"Ah, she's in the backyard with her friends," They send each other different looks as if deciding their next move without any words, "maybe we should–"

"Hazel!" Louis shouts, running towards the door that leads to where she is and Zayn quickly follows him, shouting as well.

Megan laughs with a shake of her head before striding to where they're going. I look up at Harry and he shrugs, holding onto my hand before wrapping both of his arms around me with a sigh.

"I never thought I'd get so far in life Eve, you made all of it possible." He whispers as we hear laughter outside, I look at him with furrowed eyebrows before cupping his cheek.

"You know, sometimes I wonder what would've happened if I decided to not work for you," I tell him with a faint smile and he kisses my forehead before replying with narrowed eyes.

"I believe we'd still find a way to be together," He whispers as if it were a secret, "no matter what ma chérie, I would try to find you again. My dream life is with you, and you only."

I tear up once again and he playfully groans, "That's so sweet Harry," I tell him truthfully, kissing his lips twice, "but I need to tell you something."

He raises his eyebrows and visibly tenses up at my sudden serious tone. I wanted to tell him this later with Hazel, after the whole party but I can't hold this much longer. "What is it?"

A tear runs down my cheek and he wipes it with his thumb. "I'm pregnant," I whisper to him and he freezes, his eyes widening while his hands move to grip my shoulders softly with his lips parted.

We had this conversation before, he wanted another baby and I actually think this would be the best time to start trying to get pregnant, I never told him that but I guess we didn't really need to have that talk.

"Was that a happy or a sad tear?" He asks quietly, setting a hand on top of my head and I laugh as I start tearing up even more than before and hug him while he waits for the answer.

"Happy. Very happy."

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Hi everyone! I kinda don't like this but at the same time, I do? Anyway, I'll try to write some extras as time goes by because I think that'd be cool. Also keep an eye out, because I already have another story planned out, so I'll start it soon!

Thank you so much for reading "The Encounter", and for your incredible support, I'll miss it honestly because this feels like the end of an era hahah.

I hope you enjoyed it. <3