Redemption [h.s]

fifty-seven

I checked the whole house again, room after room, but of course it was completely empty, with no sign of where he had gone.

I stopped in the middle of the living room, fear washing over me, not knowing what to do in a similar situation. My first reaction was to shout his name, even though I knew he couldn't have heard me. All of sudden, walking back to the bedroom, I noticed my phone charging on the ground. I rushed to it and fell on my knees next to it, turning it on and searching for his phone number as fast as possible, and I called him.

For a few seconds I really did hope he would've picked up, but my hope was shattered when I heard his phone ringing from somewhere inside the house. He had left it at home.

The realisation couldn't help but make me feel as if there must've been something of incredibly wrong, and it made me extremely anxious. I decided to call Gemma, since that she would've probably known what to do in a similar situation, and I disconnected my phone, taking it to the living room with me. I typed in the number, and I waited for her to reply, my heart beating faster into my chest at every second that passed.

All of sudden, I heard the sound of the front door opening and closing. I almost ran to the hallway, hoping that it would've been him - thinking about it, who could it have been, if not him?

He was turned to the other side, his back to me, as he was taking off his coat, but it was enough for me to recognise him. I closed the call, dropping my phone on the ground. He turned around at the harsh sound, staring at me concentratedly for a few seconds before talking.

"Are you okay?" He simply said, taking off his shoes and walking towards me.

"Where have you been? I woke up and you weren't here" I replied, not really replying to his question.

"I needed to have a walk. I'm sorry if I scared you, I should've told you."

"You left your phone at home."

"I know, I'm sorry. I'm just not used to living with someone else."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to calm myself down.

"Hey" he murmured, and I opened my eyes. He was standing right in front of me, just a few inches apart, staring at me with that intense look of his. "I'm here. I'm sorry I scared you, I'm here now."

I closed the distance between us and I hugged him tightly, and he took some seconds to wrap his arms around me, taken aback by my sudden reaction.

"Don't do it ever again" I murmured into his ear.

"I won't" he replied, "Have you been awake for long?"

I shook my head. "Just a few minutes, but let's go back to sleep." I said taking his hand and almost dragging him to the bedroom. "Your hands are cold, are you cold?" I asked him right after noticing.

I heard a faint chuckle behind me. "Don't worry about it, I'm used to being cold."

"I worry about it anyway, maybe you should put something warmer on" I said, already walking to the kitchen to get myself a glass of water, knowing that if he had to undress he would've wanted to do it without me in the room.

I leaned against the counter while sipping the water, trying to calm myself down the best I could before going into the bedroom. To be honest, I didn't even know for sure why I was that scared, since he probably hadn't been out for more than a hour. There was just something inside of me, that had developed that night, an alarm that would just go off inside my head whenever I didn't know where he was or what he was doing. I knew that it wasn't really okay, and that I should've trusted him in some way, but I just couldn't, not so soon. I just couldn't control it, it didn't matter how hard I wanted to. He was just too important to me.

I heard the faint sound of knocking against the wall, and I lifted my gaze up to see that Harry had changed into more comfortable clothes, and was now standing at the kitchen door. "Are you okay?" He asked. "You were kind of spaced out."

"I'm okay" I replied, "I just got really worried" I admitted.

"You shouldn't have" he replied faintly, "Nothing bad happened, and I'm here."

"You literally disappeared in the middle of the night and left your phone at home, and let's not even talk about the fact that you came back freezing down to your bones. That's enough for me to worry" I replied after having finished the glass of water, and put it on the counter behind me. "Let's just go back to sleep now, though, it's super late. Or early." I walked across the room reaching him, and guided him to the bedroom, taking him by the hand.

He lay down on the bed, and I put my phone to charge again before joining him.

"Are you okay?" I asked him as soon as my head hit the pillow. We were lying down, facing each other, each of us on their side on the bed, leaving an empty space in the middle.

"Could be better" he simply replied, his hand closing the space between us by finding mine and intertwining our fingers.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, almost fearing the answer.

"Just some things. I don't think I could explain it, please don't ask."

"I won't" I replied even though I did want some answers, snuggling up to him and putting my head on his shoulder.

He started playing with a strand of my hair, wrapping it around his finger and letting it go absentmindedly. I knew him well enough to realise that he wanted to say something else, but that he wasn't quite sure of how to say it, so I just stayed there silently, not moving nor saying anything, waiting for him to do something.

"You were right" he said all of sudden, "I do know that man."

"Who is he?" I asked him, interested.

"I'm not sure I want to say it, I'm sorry. But I do know him." He stopped playing with my hair for a few seconds, but he resumed not too long after.

"I wish people would just leave you alone" I replied, and he let out a sad chuckle.

"Not everyone is meant to find their happy ending, and I guess I've never been particularly lucky."

"You will, shut up" I replied tiredly, cuddling up better against Harry's warm body, "We should sleep, or else we won't wake up tomorrow" I whispered.

"Gemma is coming over tomorrow" he said, "I don't know if you know. She told me earlier today."

"That will be nice." I replied yawning, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, love" I heard him say before falling asleep.