Half a Man at Best (Sequel to VALERIE)

Chapter Nine

~UNEDITED again~

Copyright © zylgnagnaba 2014

“I don’t know, but she saw me looking at them right out the window.” I sound like whining. My voice is shaky and low as I tell Bree and Niall what happened to me earlier.

I am still a little bit more disappointed to see Valerie breaking down like that – apparently she is still haunted by her miscarriage that happened more or less eight months ago. We would have been a very happy family if she just carried on with her pregnancy and gave birth to a healthy baby. I wonder if things just went differently.

Bree is sitting at the arm of the couch. Her arm dangles around Niall’s shoulders as he sits just below her. I, on the other hand, sit across them at a single couch, head casts down while I rub the side of my forehead. They both look at me with worried eyes as I peek at them beneath the lashes of my eyes and few strands of hair that spread across my fringe.

“Harry, I told you to just relax. You-“ Bree tries to reassure me but I cut her off just before she could finish her sentence.

“No, Bree. What if Joanie tells Valerie that I was there? That I know she’s here in London?”

“Mate, relax.” Niall’s husky voice sifts through my ramblings and I look at him with wide but incredulous eyes.

“She wouldn’t tell a soul, Harry. Joanie knows everything.” Bree gives me few curt nods, blinking slowly as she does so.

“What do you mean that she knows everything?”

“She got it all figured out, Harry. She knows it was you that’s basically patrolling the shop every day at most. She knows it was you who practically grabbed her one night, thinking she was Val.” My mouth flings open as Bree has finished her words. How? What?

“How?” I voice my thought.

“I don’t know,” Bree shrugs her shoulder and for a second, her eyes met with her fiancé before both of them stare at me again. “She just came up to me one time and asked me if you knew that Val is here and promised that she wouldn’t tell Val if it was the case. So, I told her yes.” I gasp at that.

“Don’t worry, Harry. She wouldn’t tell a soul. She’s on your side too. She felt sorry for the two of you. That’s why she’s also helping us to convince Valerie about coming to the wedding. She thinks it would be good for her.” A small smile tugs at my lips as I listen to Niall but I still can’t wrap my head around the thought that my cover was almost blown – at least to Joanie. But I thank God that she’s willing to keep her mouth shut about it.

I thought I was already doomed, but I guess God is still on my side. Maybe He knows how great my love for Valerie is and he is still merciful enough to save my butt.

Niall and Bree’s wedding will be in a little over two months now, so they’re getting everything sorted out before that time. The two is a little bit shaken up now compared before that they’re just purely excited. I know, this problem that I am having is a lot to put on their already heavy shoulders, but I am grateful that they’re still helping me.

“So, I guess you’re ready for US?” Niall looks at me hopefully as he raises the question. I understand that they are still a bit hesitant about my stand for leaving London now that Valerie is back here.

Liam and Zayn – and their girlfriends – don’t know anything yet. And I know that by the time that they find out, they will be pissed too for being the last to know. But I am still not willing to risk it, knowing Valerie is still sensitive and as fragile as she was when she left. I don’t want her consider ever leaving again. Although she’s not literally with me right now, but knowing she’s stepping on the same ground as I am on, it’s enough assurance that I am closer to getting her back.