Public Sphere | H.S. | #Wattys2016

Chapter XI

Author's note: School is crazy and life is busy, but I hope you enjoy. Also, does anyone else feel weirdly attracted to Michael Clifford of 5SOS? Because I do. I also hope you enjoy the picture as much as I do. 

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"Jess Hansen's parents were the notorious Jason and Kathy Hansen of Chicago. Jason Hansen was a lawyer that worked with Simon Cowell, who according to a close source says that he is Jess' godfather. Kathy Hansen nee Vanderbilt was a socialite. Another close source told us that they had a picture perfect family before the impending divorce of Jason and Kathy. Although there isn't much information on the family, we do know that Kathy's death was at first ruled as a homicide with Jason being the number one suspect; however, the case never saw the light of day, probably due to Jason Hansen's influence in Chicago. But then some odd months after Kathy's death, Jason died with reasons still unconfirmed. After both her parents passed away, Jess received a huge inheritance, much larger than what you would think: $3 billion. Isn't that insane? Who knew that Harry Styles would be dating a billionaire? Is Harry Styles aware of Jess Hansen's family history? Our bet is that Simon introduced the two of them to each other. Stay tuned for more gossip."

Sure, not all of what they said was true. But what they said was enough for people to start digging around the circumstances of my parents' death. For the longest time, I refused to believe in the monstrosity of complications surrounding my parents' death. It was too complicated. When my mother died, I got several phone calls from police officers questioning me about my father and his potential intentions. However, I had nothing for them as his business partners and employees saw him more than I ever did while growing up. And somehow the case was buried, no doubt due to my father's influence. However, my father died of cancer a few months after—it was almost as if karma came around. Did I believe that my father killed my mother? I don't know. I didn't know and I didn't care find out either.

The media backlash on this small piece of information about my parents was astounding. I wasn't sure who leaked the information about my parents but this was getting into dangerous territory. There was too much about my family that the world didn't need to know, there was too much that I didn't want to be reminded of.

I sat and I sat, I didn't move. I didn't eat, I didn't drink, I didn't do anything; I didn't want to think. Everything hurt. Everything hurt knowing that there were people out there that were trying to uncover the mystery surrounding my parents' deaths and it made me feel uneasy; I wanted to disappear.

I was the cold child of Jason and Kathy Hansen. I never attended parties or balls or galas to amuse the two and to keep up appearances. I much preferred to stay at home in a locked bedroom than to entertain and appease my parents. With that, I distanced myself from my parents as much as I could for years. Then once everything started falling apart, I couldn't muster up enough feelings to care about what was happening.

It was cold when I got the phone call that my mother was dead. I was in London trying to cover up something that Niall did. I briefly took a breather to tell my father that I was busy working after he broke the news. After I heard the news I didn't stop working. I knew it was cold in London because I had to buy a sweater that day because I didn't pack any for the weather. Then when I got a phone call from Simon that my father had died, I was still working. I was trying to cover up Louis and Zayn's marijuana scandal. When Simon told me in person, I just told him that I had to keep on working. I was the cold child of Jason and Kathy Hansen.

But here I was broken. I wasn't sure how long I had been sitting on this couch for. It might've been days, maybe a week. My throat burned for water but my hunger went away as I kept staring at the clock that kept ticking.

Tick, tick, tick.

I was ruined. I took a look into the mirror and what I saw horrified me. Hollow cheekbones, dark and baggy under eyes; I looked like I hadn't eaten in days.

A pounding on my door startled me but I didn't go near it. I inched backwards until I hit the wall. The door swung open and there were my gladiators.

"Jess?" Briar looked at me horrified.

"Someone fix me, please. Someone fix me," I said as I let out a dry cry.

"Cooper, get some water," Seth yelled out to Cooper as he took me into his arms and settled down onto my couch.

"When's the last time you ate?" Briar looked at me and the state of my apartment.

I closed my eyes to try to remember when the last time I ate was. I couldn't remember. I let out a stifled cry. Everything hurt.

"We're fixers, Jess. We'll fix this," Cooper said as he handed Seth some water.

Seth sat me up on my own and helped me drink the water in his hand. Once I was stable enough to hold the cup on my own, he left my side to join the rest of his colleagues around my dining room table.

"Jess Hansen," Hattie spoke up. "24, crisis manager at Hansen and Company, parents both deceased, no siblings."

Cooper sat by me to spoon-feed me some soup as the rest of the team worked. They worked hard for me.

Everything became blurry as I finally decided that I was comfortable and relaxed enough to sleep. So I laid down for the first time in days. I whimpered as my body felt swollen and rigid, but it felt so good to put my head on something soft; it took my mind off of myself.

Maybe it had been hours or days, but I woke up to my team arguing in the dining room.

"Do not bury him," I told the team after I heard what they wanted to do.

"It's the only way that you come out alive after this," Seth said as he compulsively clicked his pen.

I sighed as I said, "No, do not bury Harry Styles. He does not deserve this."

"Jess, we might lose a lot of clients," Blair said as she flashed me our diminished client list.

"That's fine, but do not bury him," I was insistent. I did not want to bury Harry Styles.

"Jess, he'll be ok," Briar tried to reassure me.

I stood insistent, "No, he won't. He hasn't been ok in months; he won't be ok if we bury him. So please, find another way."

After a few sighs and grumbles, Cooper spoke up and said, "You heard the boss, we don't bury him. Let's find another way around that."

I went back to the couch to lay down. I wasn't sure how much time had passed when Cooper gently shook me awake.

"We have a few things to run by you," he said softly.

I woke myself up and followed him to the dining room to hear what they came up with.

"You need to date Harry Styles. I have a contract drawn up."