Existence Of Love [Harry Styles Fanfiction/A Mermaid Tale]

40. Deal

"Dad...."

"I thought that you had a few more days..." Harry quietly said, standing beside me.

"I do, I don't know why he's-"

"Evanjaline," My father spoke. "Come outside."

"Are you gonna be okay?" Zayn asks me, ignoring the man at the door.

"Yeah," I breathed out.

"You seem pretty shaken up." Harry called me out. "Should I be worried?"

"No, I'll be fine. But if I start screaming, come after me." I tried to say the last part as a joke, but no one thought it funny. I walked towards the back door and joined my father outside.

"Can we go for a walk?" My dad asks, motioning his hand towards the sand.

"I don't feel like walking right-"

"I'm not gonna pull you in. I'm here to make a deal." He paused. "And to see you for myself."

"Didn't you see me earlier?"

"I meant up close."

I nodded, slowly walking out on to the sand with him. "It's weird seeing you with legs." I initiated conversation.

"I could say the same for you." He said calmly, just as amused.

I was expecting him to yell at me, to drag me back into the water and keep me away from all human life and land, even if that means being in a remote place in the sea.

"So, you wanted to make a deal?" I ask, the waves heard crashing.

"Yeah," He said slowly, stopping in front of me and turning to look into my eyes. "As of tomorrow, you have two days."

I sighed, "I know."

"You need to know that I'm doing this because I love you and I need you safe. You are the last thing of your mothers that I have, Evanjaline. Without you- even now- I'm a mess because I don't have you in my sights to save you from harm the way a father should."

"But, dad.... The way you have kept me is not the way I want to spend the rest of my life."

"The way I keep you is the way I help you survive."

"But that's just it. I don't want to have to survive. I want to live. I want to love."

"Love doesn't exist." His voice started to get deep, dropping the roughness of his voice to use his regular. I wonder if he's risking enchanting someone, so I peered around quickly before having my attention focus back on him.

"It does. And I feel it every time I look into Harry's eyes. Mine turn golden."

"What?" He asks quickly. "You haven't experienced that."

"But I have. That's the color you've been so afraid of."

"I'm not afraid of a cursed color, Evanjaline. I'm afraid of having you go through what I have, what your grandfather has."

"Your dad lost his love, too?" I ask quietly.

"No, your mothers father."

"I won't lose Harry. He has feelings for me."

"Has he told you he loves you?" I thought about it and I didn't allow my face to fall the way it wanted to when I thought of how Harry hasn't said it. I thought of lying and telling him yes, just to see his reaction, but I know I'm not a good liar and I've barely had that practiced. I still let things slip about my mermaid secret even when I don't realize.