Softer Side

Chapter five

I hum softly to the sound of the radio, swaying slightly to the sound of 'Love Yourself' by Justin Bieber. Ariella was sat at the coffee table with her colouring book and pens, switching her head side to side in concentration. I switch the kettle on, knowing Harry was coming early today to take some things of Ariellas from mine to his new rented place in London. He had decided to rent a place here for when he was in the UK, allowing him more time with his child also. I smile as the door knocks, walking through the room to the front door.

I smile at the tall body in front of me, receiving a gentle kiss to my cheek as he walks in through the door. He smiles, walking up behind Ariella and pressing a kiss to her head. "Daddy!" She says happily, hugging him tightly as she stands up. Ariella had turned three a few weeks ago, so she was even bigger than before. "Daddy can you come and colour with me?" She smiles as Harry nods.

"I will princess, I just need to speak to mummy first" he smiles as Ari nods slowly. "Why don't you go and get dressed for nursery" he smiles as she nods happily, expressing how she could show him her new jumper. He nods happily, watching his baby girl run to her bedroom.

"Tea?" I smile as he nods, leaning on the worktop in the kitchen. I raise my eyebrows at the mention of Niall's name on the radio, grinning at the sound of a guitar and the mention of his new song. It was the first time I had heard it, causing me to turn the volume up a little more. I slide the strap of my cream ribbed crop top back up my shoulder, followed by pulling up my acid wash mom jeans a little higher on my waist.

"Soph, why does this sound like it's about you?" He says confused, furrowing his eyebrows with his long arms folded across his chest. The sound of 'This Town' playing through the flat as the words flowed through.

"Are you serious?" I laugh, pouring the hot water into the two mugs as he groans.

"I'm serious... you two had a thing going on if you remember" he states simply, causing me to notice the anger building up in his body. "Did you know he was writing this?" He asks.

"Harry that was years ago" I sigh and shake my head, "we have a child together, we're going out and doing things again" I groan as he shakes his head. "I never knew the words, I knew he had a song coming out since we had to do a photo shoot once when I began modelling at the start" I say softly, keeping my complete cool.

"No, this is definitely about you" he huffs, looking dead into my eyes while his mug sat beside him, steam pouring from the top as he narrows his eyes, looking cross. "I mean just listen it the words, everything comes back to you?" He says as a matter of factly.

"Harry may I remind you, I never met him in a pub, I met him when we first met," I start as Harry's eyes soften slightly. "I also want to remind you that it's never came back to me so to say, it happened at one point in my life, never more than once" I state as he lowers his head.

"I'm sorry Soph... I think it's just where the two of you are hanging around together a lot more now" he says quietly as I smile softly, walking closer to him and gently pressing my lips to his, almost ghosting over them.

"Come on, let's get Ariella to nursery and go and sort her bedroom at your flat" I smile, a gentle nod leaving his head.

~~~~~~~

I smile softly at Grace as she stood welcoming Ariella into the room, her eyes leaving mine to suddenly see Ariella hugging the man before her goodbye. "Bye daddy" she smiles, kissing her dads cheek and waving goodbye to me as she runs off to find her friends. Grace's eyebrows raised at me as she looked between me and the crouched body.

I smirk softly when Harry stands up and looks at me with a smile. "Harry this is Grace, Ariella's pre-school teacher" I smile as he holds his hand out to her. Grace's eyes go wide, clearly trying to remain professional as I begin to introduce him. "Grace this is-"

"Harry Styles" she says in a voice slightly higher than usual as she shook Harry's hand.

"Nice to meet you love" he smiles, waving goodbye to his daughter who stood in the role play kitchen with her friends as she waved back. "See you later princess!" He calls as she nods and smiles to him. Grace's eyes were still wide as she looked between the two of us.

"She's all fine" I say softly to Grace as she nods slowly, her eyes coming slowly back to normal as she looks at me and Harry again. A small cough leaving her lips as she shakes her head.

"Yeah, cool, okay, we'll see you later then" she smiles as Ariella looks over. "Coming to say goodbye to mummy and... daddy" she says softly, never having said the word daddy with regards to Ariella before since she hadn't been at the nursery last time he came. Ariella ran over, kidding Harry gently and hugging him tightly before giving me the same goodbye. She ran off once again, allowing me and Harry to stand up and say our farewells to Grace until later.

She smiled, letting us out of the front door watching as Harry's hand fell to the small of my back, rubbing it gently as we headed for his Range Rover, climbing inside with a smile. "Coffee to go and then back to mine?" He smiles as I nod.

"Let's get this show on the road" I say softly.

~~~~~~~

"I would move the bed over to there" I state, nodding in the direction I thought the bed should be. Harry had opted with a bed that had stairs to climb up and down with a desk underneath for when she was older. I had told him she was only three and she wouldn't quite need that yet but he had insisted, leaving me with no option other than to agree with him. I hand him the mug of tea, this being our first actual mug of tea we had had since being at his place.

"You think? But then where would this go?" He asks pointing to the chest of drawers under the window. "That's the only place they can really go" he says, sipping the tea gently before muttering swear words under his breath at how hot it was.

"I know it's not the same, but why not move this into the living room?" I ask, pointing to the large cream beanbag situated against the left hand wall. "It matches your theming, gives Ariella an extra choice of seat and more seats for when people come around" I smile as he nods.

"Why did you not do interior design? Why did you have to become a model" he smiles, pressing a tender kiss to my lips as I shake my head smiling, placing my mug down on the side and lifting one side of the beanbag.

"Come on, this is heavy" I smirk, watching him stare at my chest as he smirks softly. The smile faded when he swallowed the lump in his throat.

"I really am sorry about that whole song thing earlier, you know I go over the top when I'm jealous" he mumbles, looking at his hands as I smile softly, placing the beanbag down with him.

"I told you it's okay, I would be the same if you wrote a song and I thought it was bayous another girl" I shrug with a smile as he rubs my head gently, ruffling my wavy hair.

"You're the best" he grins, moving his hand so I could throw my hair up with the scrunching on my wrist, leaving it in a loose bun on top of my head. "The actual best" he smiles, gently placing his hands on my hips as he steps closer. I shake my head with a smile.

"Let's go and move this furniture, Ari's expecting some colouring with you later, remember" I laugh as he smiles at me, running a hand through his now shorter hair. Something I was growing to love.