Catching Red Eyes - NYC

Chapter 72

I must have fallen asleep because I opened my eyes when I felt Harry shift out of the bed. He was sitting on the edge of the bed with his back to me. I watched him move his head from side to side and stretching. He reached for his phone and put it to his ear.

"Ai..."

His voice trailed off as he walked out of the bedroom. I looked around the room and my eyes noticed all the little details from our earlier moments. The little blue box was sitting on the bedside table, our clothes were sprawled across the furniture, and the covers were scrunched up at the foot of the bed. I looked at my left hand and my ring was sending sparkles across the bedroom as it caught the light. It felt foreign considering I had never imagined a ring on this particular finger.

I listened as Harry paced back and forth from the kitchen to the hallway. His voice was hushed but he was talking quickly. I gathered the sheet around me and stood in the doorway and peeked my head out. Harry's back was to me as he slammed his fist into the wall. The noise made me gasp and jump. There was the smallest indent in the wall now and I saw the blood pouring from his hand. I ran out of the doorframe and pulled his hand into mine.

"Fine! Just get them to bloody take it down. This is ridiculous!"

I didn't try to understand why he was so angry because his hand was my concern right now. I pulled him into the kitchen and grabbed a towel to apply pressure to stop the bleeding. I was able to find a small first aid kit in one of the cabinets and cleaned out the cut. It was small but since it was on his middle knuckle, the blood was gushing. I wrapped the gauze around it a few times but kept his hand in mine to apply extra pressure.

"Who cares if there are pictures to prove it?? They have no idea what was in that bag. Listen, just call whoever the hell you need to and get it down."

Harry slammed his phone down and I swear it was shattered but he didn't care. He looked down at his hand wrapped in the gauze and kissed my forehead.

"I'm sorry, love. This isn't how I wanted to restart our day but I have some news. The press thinks we are engaged because they saw me carrying the ring box through the hotel lobby the other night..."

I was confused. I knew we weren't officially engaged and that my ring was just a promise for us to be but what was the big deal? Who cares if people thought we were? He must have read my confusion.

"Look, the press is already having a go at us with Zayn quitting so we were told to keep a low profile. I think for right now, we keep the ring safe and hidden."

My right hand instantly drew back to protect my left hand.

"Harry, you're joking. Honestly, who cares what people think? I get it with the press but this is something between us and its sacred now. Why are you asking me to do this? I am not trying to sound dramatic but this ring represents our promise to each other...I can't just take it off because someone thinks something that isn't true...well isn't true quite yet. It-its not fair..."

Harry looked into my cloudy eyes and his face softened. He let out a sign and shook his head.