The Encounter |H.S|

6

"I swear to God Hazel, this supermarket is trying to steal my money." I mumble, looking at the variety of food in front of me at a local supermarket. 

She keeps looking at me with her big green eyes, a small smile on her lips as she holds her favourite teddy bear closer to her chest, her dimple visible on her cheek. She was sitting in the baby seat of the shopping cart, mumbling something to herself.

I press my lips, not knowing what to choose, since everything is so expensive. I look at the products in front of me and sigh. 

"Charlotte, please be quiet!" I hear a familiar voice mumble and I widen my eyes, turning my head and seeing Harry standing not too far away from us. 

I look at Hazel and she smiles widely at me, starting to laugh for God knows what and I see Harry immediately looking at us. "Damn it Hazel." I mumble and she starts trying to talk too.

I start walking away from them, pretending that I did not see them at all, looking at the products and taking something random from the shelf in front of me, frowning when I noticed that I grabbed a box of shitty cereals.

"Hi there, Evelyn!" Harry says and I see him and Charlotte walking over to me, making me widen my eyes while standing right in front of Hazel, so that she was out of their sight. 

"Oh hi! What a happy coincidence, oh look at the time, very late, I gotta go, bye!" I say but Hazel suddenly starts crying, making me sigh.

I turn around to face her and she stops sobbing, her cheeks rosy and tears rolling down her cheeks while she pouts at me. I take her in my arms and she rests her head on my shoulder, sniffing a little bit while I play with her small curls.

"I'm really sorry, she isn't usually like th–" I stop mid sentence, realising that Harry is looking attentively at Hazel's figure, "well, my sister said she isn't usually like this."

He takes his eyes off my daughter and glances at me while Charlotte unknowingly types on her phone. "Your sister adopted another baby?" He asks and I slowly nod, a pang of guilt on my chest for lying to him.

"Her wife really wanted another baby, so yeah." I mumble while looking down for a while before looking over at them once again.

Harry keeps gazing at Hazel and Charlotte suddenly groans. "Harry! Hurry up! I'm tired of standing here doing nothing!"

He blinks several times, seeming to leave his own world and entering the real one, a frown taking over his features as he glares at her before looking at me once again. "Well, congratulations to your sister then… we'll go now, it was nice to see you Evelyn."

Charlotte drags him away from us before I could say anything and I sigh once again, Hazel taking her head out of my shoulder and gazing at me with a small smile. "Why were you crying, darling?"

She lets out a babyish laugh and I smile at her mood swings. I feel a tap on my shoulder and I turn around, seeing Harry standing in front of me with a small smile. "Since you're taking care of your niece, I can rearrange your schedule." He mumbles quietly, glancing at Hazel while she narrows her eyes at him.

"That'd be great Harry, but it's not necessary." I say, combing her curls with my fingers and looking up at him with a frown. 

I widen my eyes, realising that I just called him by his name, instead of the usual 'sir' or 'Mr.Styles' but he didn't seem really aware of that.

"I insist Evelyn." He says, looking down at me, his eyebrows slightly furrowed and I smile slightly at him while nodding. 

He looks over at Hazel and touches her cheek. "She's beautiful." He says, turning to look at me and I nod, glancing at Hazel while she confusedly looks at me, probably wondering who the hell this man is. 

We stand there a few moments, me holding Hazel nervously while Harry keeps looking at me and Hazel with a slight frown. She suddenly starts laughing quietly and I smile at her, brushing a few of her curls out of her face. 

"Is she usually like that?" He asks, taking a closer look at her and I feel myself getting more and more panicked. 

"Yeah, she uh has a lot of mood swings, it's funny." I say, letting out a nervous laugh and he smiles down at me.

"You know, I have mentioned kids to Charlotte, but she doesn't seem very fond of the idea." He mumbles, and I uncomfortably clear my throat to which Hazel laughs, looking at me with a wide smile.

"Well, maybe she only wants kids after marriage." I mumble, glancing at Hazel for a few seconds while she rests her head on my shoulder once again. He only shrugs, pressing his lips together while looking down at the floor.

Well, this is getting awkward. I feel massively bad for him nonetheless, I am lying to him about his own daughter, and I know that sooner or later, I will tell him the truth because I am not capable of holding such a big lie for too long.

"Evelyn, I hate this fucking supermarket so much, everything is so overly expensive! Can you believe this shit?!" I hear Louis exclaiming while walking towards us, and Harry immediately looks at him with a frown.

"Louis, stop swearing so much!" I say, looking at him with a small smile while he glances at Harry with a confused face. 

"Shouldn't you buy your stuff at Gucci or some shit?" Louis asks and Harry let's out a breathless laugh, shaking his head lightly. 

Hazel starts letting out laughs, moving her arms towards Louis' direction and he quickly takes her in his arms, kissing her nose quickly, which makes her laugh. 

"Well, we better get going, it was nice to see you, bye!" Louis says while putting Hazel on the baby seat of the shopping cart once again and walking away, making car noises with his mouth as I hear Hazel laughing loudly. 

I look at Harry once again and wave with a smile and he waves back, a fake smile on his lips.

I walk towards Louis who was already on the line to pay and shake my head. "I feel bad for him." I mumble, looking down with a frown and I see Louis shrugging from the corner of my eye.

"He's kinda pathetic." He says and I swat his arm while laughing quietly. 

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