Immortal Infatuation (Immortal Series Book Three)

Chapter Two

August 20, 2021

Harry's POV:

Liam's birthday was right around the corner and maybe it wasn't customary for the guys to celebrate birthdays before I came around, but now that I was here not one was ever missed. I believed that even if someone was on this earth for 500 decades they should have that one special day to celebrate them each year. Zayn was always the most difficult to celebrate because he was always so stubborn about it. Liam liked the attention, Louis liked to do crazy shit and Niall...well Niall loved to get drunk honestly. And even though he wasn't around anymore I would still pour one out for him because he was one of my best friends.

I grabbed the keys to the shop from the pocket of my black skinny jeans and closed the door behind me. It was late afternoon and if I didn't leave a few minutes early then the shops that I needed to go to would be closed. Not that it mattered if I closed early. It's not like the owner could be mad. I chuckled at my own joke, putting the key in the door.

"Wait! Please wait!"

I turned around to see a middle aged woman running toward me. When she was a few feet away she put her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. I gave here a few moments to collect herself, happy that I didn't have a limit on my body like that anymore.

"Can I help you ma'am?", I asked.

She nodded, "Yes. You're the photographer here, right?"

"Yes. This is my shop.", I smiled politely at her.

"I meant to come by earlier but I had to take my cat to the vet. She's having kittens soon. I was wondering if I could make an appointment to get her picture taken?"

"Oh!", my face lit up with excitement. "Yeah! I have errands to run today but how about in a few days we meet up and discuss it?" I rifled through my bag in search of what I was looking for and handed her a card, "Here's my business card. Just call me when you want to set up a time for us to get together and we'll talk about the details!"

She smiled from ear to ear, "Thank you so much-" She glanced down at the card, "Mr. Malik. I look forward to our meeting!"

She walked off down the sidewalk after giving me a little wave and I waved back before finishing locking up the shop.

I walked from store to store collecting all of the things from my list. Most of it was stuff for Liam's birthday celebration but I also had a few odds and ends that I found along the way. I new shirt for Zayn, some toys and treats for the animals, and a candle for Louis. Louis always liked to take baths in secret but I knew he loved doing it. It was one of the ways he relaxed when he was having an emotional day.

As I was walking home I saw a cat run across the street into a small wooded area near a creek. I ran after it as fast as I could but stopped when I realized I had lost track of it. Looking down the creek I saw a cornflower riding the current. I kneeled down, reaching into the water to grab the small blue flower. I didn't see cornflowers in the wild often and they always reminded me of Niall. Louis would tell me all the time how much the Irish lad loved cornflowers. I wasn't at their small wedding but Louis always talked about how when him and Niall got remarried they would have an intricate display of cornflowers running down the aisle and around the alter.

I sat on the grass and brought the flower up to my nose, inhaling the scent as the little petals tickled my face. "I miss you, Niall.", I whispered, carefully putting the flower in the bag at my side.

I laid on the ground, looking up at the grey clouds as tears began to fall from my eyes. Raindrops began to trickle down onto my body but I couldn't seem to care. My mind and body didn't care about the cold wind blowing or the fact that my clothes were getting soaked with rain water. Some days I just couldn't help but think about the last words Niall spoke to me.