[3] how did we end up here ;; nh

5 » The Scene of Dilemma

23rd July 2022, London, the United Kingdom

London's sunrise and morning air are always breathtaking, especially when it comes to the dozens of green spaces and waterways on the River Thames. I love putting my running shoes on and getting out in London to enjoy a slight breathless pace for a few miles. Harry and I start at the Waterloo and we make our way to the Tate Modern, which we have been running for about a mile.

I take several pictures when we follow the Waze's navigation towards the Tate Modern as it brings us to a rural path through some of London's nice neighborhoods. Not wanting to lose our energy for tonight's show, Harry and I decide to go to the cafe nearest the Tate Modern.

Our decision comes to Terry's Café as we need to recharge our energy to go back to Waterloo stadium – the place where we park our car.

"Um... I will go for Terry's tea morning pride," I tell the waiter. "and HAM, 2 eggs, and chips."

"Smoke salmon and Terry's tea morning pride please," tells Harry to the waiter.

"Oh wait, 2 smoked salmons. Thank you."

"You never really change, don't you?" asks Harry as he laughs after the waiter leaves us alone.

I laugh a little bit. "Well, that's the formula of Mr. Horan, I guess?"

"Yeah... I need to be content with this for at least a year."

"Quite a long time. Good luck with that."

"I don't know, may God bless me with patience so that if you steal my food I won't be mad."

"You're saying this as if I'm still 20 and on the Take Me Home Tour and eating all of your food."

He shakes his head and smiles sarcastically. "I guess we'll never know."

"I promise I have changed, mate," I convince him as I put two of my thumbs up in the air.

To be completely honest, I'm really excited about today's concert. This is the first time after 7 years of not being on the same stage together. I can tell I'm so proud of my fellow teammates who manage to tour all over the world, alone. Well, even if Zayn doesn't make it to his own world tour, I'm still proud of him for still making music and eventually kicking out the Billboard's list.

I can't believe someone who is sitting right in front of me has been really successful in his solo career and eventually wants to come back for another year with One Direction to satisfy the fans. I'm really excited to see his new movies, Don't Worry Darling and My Policeman. It's really funny how I used to tell him that he's not good at acting as if he's not still in love with Louis and now he's an actor.

"Well, how's Avril?" he asks me and furrowing his brows so that his brows are close to each other.

"What kind of conversation that we having right now?"

"Don't be stupid."

"Well, how's Louis?"

He laughs. "Why are you asking me that?"

"You broke up with that Olivia and Louis broke up with Ele, what a coincidence, huh?"

"It is indeed a coincidence," he agrees and nods at me. He grabs the bottle of water that he brings from his apartment and drinks it before he's moving to the next sentence. "well, that's not the concern, though. Nothing left between us."

"No chance to reconcile?"

"I think you and Avril should be the ones to unite."

By the time Harry says about Avril and me, I thank the waiter who brings our order – the two of Terry's tea morning pride, HAM, 2 eggs, chips, and two smoked salmon. I don't reply to any of Harry's statements as I may think that this is not the best conversation to start a morning. Yesterday, I have just officially broken up with Anne and I don't think this is the right time to make a move toward a new girl. Well, to say the least, I don't want to hurt Avril. Ever. Since I know how her ex-boyfriend used to be an asshole back in high school and I don't think she has ever dated ever since.