labyrinth Δ harry styles

Door Seven: Unsaid

AFTER THE RAIN had ceased, a cold front from the ocean swept into the city, harshly blowing at the leafless trees and freezing over the puddles of water. The trees had no choice but to move in the direction of the wind due to its harshness. New England weather was hostile, and after living in the city her whole life, Indira thought she would get used to it by now, but of course that never was the case with her. In the front seat of his car, she trembled her leg up and down to circulate some type of heat.

Harry never turned on the heat, not even in winter, and besides January, he never had to turn it on for someone else. He glanced at her for a moment and noticed her shivering and blowing hot air into her hands.

"Are you cold?" He asked as he reached to turn up the heat. He didn't care if he burned alive in the car, so long as she was warm and comfortable. She had half a mind to reply with a snarky comment, but because he was doing all of this for her, all she did was nod. From the corner of his eye, he could see her response and went to turn the heat even higher. Harry was burning up and he couldn't understand why she was so cold. He thought her petiteness was one of the reasons she was shivering like a chihuahua.

Within the five minutes it took to get to her car on the other side of the street, he couldn't stop wondering about the oddity of running into her. What were the odds that she was directly in his way? He glanced at her again while she was looking out the window, subconsciously flexing her palms. If he could stare at her all day, he would. He didn't know why, but she was interesting to watch. Just by looking into her eyes he could automatically tell what she was feeling. It was a trick he picked up earlier in his life, and at times it came of good use.

"It's that one right there," she pointed to the dingy 2006 Honda Civic. Embarrassment washed over her. When he pulled up to the car, she groaned, seeing that there was a bright orange ticket resting under the windshield wiper. "Great," she mumbled.

Frustration fueled her as she nearly ripped off her seat belt and opened the door. Harry noticed her annoyance immediately, and for a moment his face fell.

"Here," he said in a loud voice to call her attention.

"What," she said coolly as she turned back around. When she did, she saw him pull his wallet from his back pocket and grab some cash. Is he offering to pay my ticket? She wondered to herself. He held out the cash for her to take, but she sat there dumbfounded.

"Harry, you've already done enough. I can't take th—"

"Take it," he interrupted her.

"Harry, it's nothing." She denied his kind offer by pushing away his hand, the hands that always seemed to be on fire.

He pushed back, "Take it, Indira," he now commanded, using her name for the first time. He nearly shuddered at the way it rolled out of his mouth, and she sat there stunned at the way it sounded. They were both acting so guarded around each other that they didn't seem to notice the strange attraction they had toward each other.

"You didn't have to help me."

"Like I said," he started as he pushed the money into her palm. The coldness of her hands and the warmness of his clashed as they touched, nearly causing a spark to ignite. "You didn't want to be caught in that mess."

Indira didn't say anything after he finished that sentence. She could feel his eyes on her as she reached for the door to exit. When she closed the door after her, she realized that she forgot to thank him. She tried to turn around, but he had already sped off.

Indira didn't even know what to do with herself. She just stood there by her car with her things in one hand, and Harry's generosity in the other. What was that? What just happened? She asked herself. These were rhetorical questions. They had to be. There was not even a fraction of understanding in her thoughts that could come up for some sort of excuse or tangible reason as to what just happened. She knew she wasn't crazy for thinking that he didn't recognize her that night at the restaurant, but after not seeing him for almost a week after that, she forgot about him.