labyrinth Δ harry styles

Door Eight: Interruption

IT WAS A warm and sunny April 4th, the only day in the week that temperatures were going to rise to fifty degrees, compared to the below zero temperatures from last week. Even though fifty degrees was still cold to her, it just meant that there wouldn't be any snow and she wouldn't have to clean her car every morning so it wouldn't freeze the windshield glass.

It was days like these where she wished she could just leave work and pretend that life is in order for once without the adulting, but she knew that was nothing but a fantasy. Nothing in life came free, that much she knew, and nothing in life came easy. Her mind easily wandered into a time where there was a balance. Her mother and father were still together, and they were as happy as a family should be. Even though she was an only child at the time, she knew she was being cared for well, and she knew that if anything went wrong, her parents would be right there behind her. The thought was relaxing, but it was quickly poisoned with the memory of her father leaving at the age of six.

All she remembered was screaming, and yelling, and crying, and then her father leaving and never returning. He abandoned them. Left them struggling with money and without a roof over their head. She didn't understand any of it, and her mother refused to speak about it until a year later when they moved out of a house and into a small two bedroom apartment—much smaller than the one she lives in now. He left them for another woman. Pain enveloped in her chest as the memories suddenly crashed on her. She didn't know why she was thinking these things, but being alone with her thoughts was just a free ticket for those memories to come poking around.

Indira blinked herself away from staring out the window and focused on the half eaten food in front of her. The rush of the Wednesday lunch has ceased and Indira finally caught some time to herself. For working ten hours, open to close, she deserved more than a half an hour break. The boss was too cheap to give hour breaks because they were still being paid for it. That was part of the reason why he let her go early the day Natasha's car broke down. He wanted to keep as much money to himself as he could. Little did the boss know that it was slowly affecting her personal life.

She takes a bite out of her Italian sub as she recalls that day as if it was months ago when it was in reality days ago. It's been five days since the incident between Harry and her, but Indira couldn't get her mind off of him. After her research was interrupted that same day, she had forgotten to keep up with the search and never got to know who this person was. She thought him to be strange and guarded as if he was hiding something big. Whatever it was, the paparazzi was surely after it. The whole situation between him and her left her in confusion. She still couldn't get over the fact that he helped her, when he didn't need to. The idea was completely mind-boggling to her, no matter which way she looked at it.

She stopped scrolling though her Instagram to take a deep breath and calm down. I'm just overreacting, she told herself. She picked up her phone again to browse through other socials and text back a pending text message from Natasha. Between bites, sips, and scrolling, she didn't realize someone was approaching her and eyeing the empty seat in front of her.

"Didn't think you'd be here," he said deeply as he sat.

His deep voice cut through her thoughts and frightened her, causing a tiny squeal to slip from her lips. Her phone fell from her grip as he made his surprise entrance. She couldn't do anything but stare at him with wide eyes and lean as far back in the booth as possible. After a few seconds, she glanced behind her to peer through the large window by the front portion of the restaurant to see if anyone was roaming around with cameras.

"Relax, I've been incognito all day," he said as if she asked. He removed his paperboy cap and black sunglasses and propped them on the table. She turned back to him with creased brows. What is he doing here? Why is he sitting with me? When did he get here? were just a few of the questions that ran on a loop in her head.