I Promise // l.p.

Chapter 14

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"Morning." I approach Liam, who's sitting at the round table in the corner of the hotel room. I hug his shoulders from behind and plant a kiss on his cheek.

"Please don't touch me right now." Liam escapes my grasp and stands up.

"What's wrong?" I search for his eyes, but they won't meet my own.

He slides some gossip-looking magazine towards me and points to one of the main headlines. "This is everywhere."

Has Katie Hunter Gotten Tired of 3 Year Boyfriend, Liam Payne?

Our photographers caught her showing some affection to Louis Tomlinson, a fellow member of One Direction. Is it one down, four to go?

Below was the picture of me hugging Louis the morning of his break-up. How did I think there wouldn't be any paparazzi right outside the tour bus.

"You seriously don't believe this, right?" Is all I can think to say.

"I honestly don't know what to believe anymore." Liam closes his eyes and shakes his head.

"They take whatever they can find and they turn it into something that they know people will talk about."

"Whether that story is shit or not, you had your arms around someone else. Louis out of all people. I thought you two had something going on, and you proved me right." He's never raised his voice at me before.

"Eleanor broke up with him."

"Okay?" Liam sounds pissed.

"Remember how I was with you after your split with Danielle?" He nods.

"Would you stop comparing me to him?" He spits.

"I was trying to comfort him, breakups are tough."

"And you thought hugging him in a paparazzi hot spot would be the best way to do it?" Liam's tone softens, but I can't tell if he's joking or not.

"I wasn't thinking, I was trying to help him."

"That lack of thinking is going to cost us. I hope you know what this means for our relationship." He sits down, putting his head in his hands.

My heart drops. Is he breaking up with me?

"Modest will ruin us." He continues.

I don't know whether my heart should leap up or just stay down.

"Ruin us?" I'm confused.

"They'll screw with our relationship, Katie. They'll come up with something to split us up so they won't have to do it themselves."

"We still have a relationship, right?" I can't and don't want to loose Liam. He's one of two people I can trust in this world.

"I don't know," he stands up, "just give me some time to think about it, alright?"

"Yeah." My voice is so low he couldn't have heard me. As soon as he closes the bathroom door behind him, I start crying. There's a possibility that Liam and I won't be together anymore. That I'll fly back to Wolverhampton and Liam will forget all about me and barely remember the fourteen years we've known each other. That he'll move on.

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Liam has been elusive since then. It's almost time for their concert and I'm still debating if I should show or not.

Before I know it, I'm backstage at the stadium. I feel a hand on my shoulder, and slowly turn around.

"Have you seen that article?" Louis asks.