Soft Side

Chapter fourty-nine

I smile as I walk into the living room with Ariella who had just woken from her nap, Niall waved to her as we plopped onto the sofa for our after sleep cuddle. She was now eight months old and still the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She cuddled in, sucking on her dummy with a whine. I smile softly, kissing her head as she closes her eyes. Time was passing so quickly and every day Ariella was doing something new, I just couldn't believe how much she had grown. What had happened to my tiny baby?

A mere few seconds later the door burst open to reveal Becky stood in my living room doorway. Her hair was in a ponytail and she wore nothing but One Direction merchandise and held a super hero style pose with her right fist in the air and her left fist on her hip. She looked like she was having a teenage breakdown at a concert. I turned my head slightly to see Niall looking very confused, furrowing his eyebrows.

"What the fuck am I seeing?" He asks confused, trying to work out what was actually happening. I stifle a laugh as Becky takes being offended. Niall knew about my suspicions of Harry, but he had been home since then. I concluded his thoughts by muttering that I had no idea what was going on, all I knew was I'm glad Ariella wasn't seeing her auntie Becky like this.

"I am going to be your hero Soph!" She cheers as Niall bursts into laughter, causing an eye roll and smirk from Becky, continuing growth her explanation. "You have suspicions that Harry isn't satisfied right?" She asks as I nod slowly, having no idea where this was going. "So, I'm going undercover as a fan to find out what he's up to" she grins as I laugh softly. Niall still had his eyebrows raised. "I'm just so fed up of him leaving you on your own Soph with no explanation. Where is he now?" She says and raises her eyebrows.

My features drop, looking down at the baby who was now laid on the play gym in front of me. "I have no idea" I say quietly as Becky smiles sadly at me.

"Well I'm about to find out" she smiles as I shake my head, standing up.

"This is ridiculous" I sigh, walking behind me to the kitchen and grabbing a mug and beginning to make a coffee. He couldn't be cheating on me I'm sure, he was just busy. It did get me down to a large extent but I couldn't let people see that.

"What's ridiculous is somebody cheating on you" I hear mumbled from the sofa.

"I've had suspicions in the past, but none have ever turned out to be true, I'm really not worried" I shrug, walking back over with my hot coffee, sitting on the sofa as Becky shrugs.

"I don't care, even if he's just gone shopping, you deserve answers Soph" she states, stamping her foot on the ground as I sigh, switching on the television as she leaves the room.

Within four hours Becky arrived back, she had leaves in her hair, her top was ripped and she looked extremely worn out. "So, what's he doing?" Niall questions with a raised eyebrow as Becky huffs, flopping on the sofa.

"I couldn't find him" she states, "I have no idea how these fans do it, it's like mission impossible" she sighs as Niall laughs. I roll my eyes, lifting my phone when I receive a message.

"It's Harry" I smile, reading the message out. "He's sorry he had to rush off this morning but he was running late, he's had to go to a meeting with management about the songs for the next album as that needs to be recorded soon" I say, turning my head to see Becky with a pout on her lips as her arms folded.

"Fucking idiot" she mutters, huffing in the process. That's when Niall spoke up.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that, he missed it yesterday so was asked to go today" he nods as I furrow my eyebrows.

"Then where was he yesterday? He wasn't here?"
I question as Becky sighs. She really didn't want to do all of this again.

~~~~~~~

That evening, the door creaked open slowly and the sound of boots were heard. I sat on the sofa with a glass of wine and a movie playing. Ariella has gone to bed a few hours ago, woken up for a feed then gone back to sleep. Harry had now strolled in at midnight. I don't lift my head to look at him. I was pissed at him. He walked over, sitting beside me as I stand up, walking to the kitchen to fill my glass. His eyes followed me as I lower my head, placing my hands beside the glass in front of me.

"Why are you never here?" I stare, keeping my head low and my eyes closed. My heart was hurting because of his absence. I had been so in love with him and now I just felt it breaking.

"Yeah, my jobs just been manic and so stressful lately since Zayn, I'm sorry, I've not been focused on you, I do have other priorities," he answers, keeping his eyes focused on me. Did he really just say that?

"Yeah your daughter should be one of them" I mumble, pouring the wine into the glass as Harry stands up.

"I know, I'd never abandon her" he says walking over slowly as I shake my head, doing the lid up.

"Kind of feels like you are though" I sigh "when you asked me to do that one night shift for you, I didn't expect it to be every night for the next two months. When was the last time you put her to bed?" I question, leaning on the worktop and sipping my wine.

"On the day she turned a six months old" Harry says confidently as I shake my head, looking him dead in the eyes.

"How old is she now" I question as his face turns to pure panic. He stutters, fumbling on how words as I rub my hand over my face. "For fucks sake Harry, she's your daughter and you don't know how old she is?" I snap as he sighs.

"Of course I do, she's a a few days over six months" he states confidently, giving a little nod at the end. I shake my head, feeling the blood in my body boil.

"She's eight and a half fucking months" I snap, as his eyes go wide. How could he not even know how old his own daughter was?

"I know I know I'm sorry" he sighs "I really am so sorry, look let me take the week off next week and take you both away" he sighs, walking over as I shake my head.

"She's got doctors appointments next week, which you'd have known about if you were here" I snap. I was beyond pissed at him now, "You even said you'd take her to it" I continue as he scratches the back of his neck.

"Oh shit, I uh- I forgot about those... are they able to reschedule?" He asks gingerly, worries about the reaction.

"No Harry they're important" I snap "you would know this if you were around more"

He sighs, "I told you, since Zayn left we need to think about new songs as we need to remake the whole album" he says softly.

I sip my wine again, asking him the question; "then why did you decide to have a baby with me at this height of your fame?" I say raising my voice a bit more.

"I didn't know Zayn was going to leave did I?" He snaps as I shake my head, holding my hand up to him.

"The going out all of the time, the leaving me on my own every day? Plus, the not even knowing how old she is because you're just so busy?" I say louder, counting the reasons off on my hand.

"Please can we just get away for a weekend?" He sighs, walking closer to me, "my mum can have her so we can have time to sort things out" he says quietly.

"No, she's coming with me" I state. "We can't just pie her off to somebody to make this work" I snap, gesturing between us as he shakes his head. "If we're gonna work, it's the three of us as a family, you can't have me without her" I sigh.