Louis:
Louis took a deep breath, his pulse still racing from the adrenaline of the soundcheck. He grabbed his water bottle and grinned as Niall made another joke about the crowd outside, while Harry exaggeratedly mimicked the cheers. The laughter was contagious, filling every corner of the room with ease. But as Louis pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw her name on the screen, a subtle feeling of concern crept in.
He had missed her last call and had planned to call her back after the rehearsal. But now, with her calling again, he felt a tug in his chest. She knew he was busy at this hour. He raised a hand to silence the others and stepped away, answering the call on the second ring.
"Hey, babe!" His voice sounded warm and cheerful—until he heard the soft, broken sobs at the other end. Louis froze, every sense suddenly on high alert.
"Hey... hey, what's wrong, love?" he asked immediately, his tone turning gentle and concerned.
There was a tremor in her voice that twisted his heart. "Louis... you... you need to come home," she said, her voice cracking, and Louis felt his heart sink. The relaxed, carefree atmosphere in the room immediately vanished. The others noticed the shift in his mood, the sudden slump of his shoulders, and the way he gripped his phone tightly.
"What happened?" he asked quietly, urgently. Every fiber of his being focused on her, waiting for the words she seemed to be struggling to find, while the fear in him grew.
"I... I'm so sorry," she whispered finally, barely audible. "I... I had a miscarriage."
The words hit him like a punch, and for a moment, he could barely breathe. Louis closed his eyes and sank into one of the chairs. The silence in the room grew heavier, everyone pausing, wondering what had happened to make their usually relaxed friend look so devastated.
"Oh my God..." he whispered, his voice cracking. He ran a hand through his hair, feeling the pain build inside him like a cold weight in his chest. In that moment, he felt her pain as if it were his own. He didn't need to see her to know how much she was suffering. All he wanted was to be with her, to somehow make this better, even though he knew there was nothing that could fix something like this.
"I..." His voice cracks slightly. "I'm so sorry, love. I wish I could be there with you right now."
"I know," she whispered, and he could hear her trying to keep her own strength intact.
"Louis...?" came Zayn's quiet voice, cautious and hesitant, but Louis raised a hand, signaling for the others to stay back as he tried to keep his composure. Her voice came through the receiver again, soft and trembling.
He could hear how much she was struggling to hold herself together. "I... I really hoped maybe everything would be okay. That they'd made a mistake. But..."
Louis exhaled, his heart breaking with every word she spoke. All he wanted was to hold her, to tell her that she wasn't alone. "Listen to me," he said, his voice as steady as he could manage, even though it almost cracked. "I'm packing my things now and coming home. Nothing here is more important than you. Than us."
On the other end of the line, he heard her soft, broken "Okay." Her voice was little more than a whisper, and Louis felt the weight of reality pressing down on her. He knew she was counting on him to be there as soon as possible.
"I'm on my way," he promised. "I'll be there soon."
When the call ended, Louis stared at his phone for a moment, feeling everything inside him fall apart. The guys stood around him, concern and understanding in their eyes.
"Is everything okay?" Harry asked, his gaze soft with sympathy.
Louis swallowed, the words were hard to find, but he managed to force a few out. "She... she lost the baby." His voice cracked, and he felt a hand on his shoulder as Liam's quiet support grounded him for a moment.
