Forbidden Territory (H.S) [A.U]

Chapter 16

"High as the heavenly sea
Low lays the devil in me"

***

"Ahh, territory visit season, remember how much the two of you hated it?" Liam smiles.

"Yep, and the total opposite for you. You used to love it for some reason," I roll my eyes at him but my lips tug up slightly when he shrugs with a childish look on his face.

"Icy, you sure you wanna do this so soon? I mean-- you can take a few days off if you want ya know?" Louis says out of the blue.

"Louis, what happened when you disappeared from the headquarters for a good few hours on dad's death anniversary?" I ask instead, raising my eyebrows at him when he looks at me, eyes wide as if he just saw a ghost.

"Uh-- what? Why do you ask?" he stutters.

"Well 'cause clearly something happened that day, you have been treating me like a fragile little thing since that day," I shrug. "Where were you?" I ask with a pointed look.

I don't mean to interfere in his personal life because I know he was just as close to dad as I was and he deserves his privacy, but something definitely happened that day.

"I... I went to visit James' grave. I was at the graveyard.." he trails off and I feel my body tense at his words, a small lump forming in my throat instantly.

I clear my throat, not a good time to let my emotions get to me, "Okay. Well we have to visit the territories sooner or later and I already have been postponing it for months, I guess it's better if we just get it over with."

Even if the two of them sense my discomfort at Louis' words, they don't point it out.

"Yeah, you're right. I think this is the best time to do it. It would be a bit weird if Irene goes into hibernation now, we shouldn't purposely give people something to talk about," Liam intervenes.

"I don't care about that, I just want Irene to be comfortable and ready for all of this. We all know she hated this part back then, God knows what will happen now that she's in the spotlight." 

This is Louis' way of saying, "She used to hate it so much back then, she'll hate it even more now that James isn't here and she has to deal with shit directly. Are we sure she is ready for it?" without having to say it.

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see, Lou. Li's got a point, I didn't step down on the day he passed away, what makes you think I'll step down now? He didn't raise me to be weak, Louis. And you know that better than anyone else."

"Okay.." He stares down at his hands with a small frown.

"Aye, don't make that face. You know I hate it when you get like this," I say as I throw a pen at him and he chuckles, poking his tongue out at me.

"You two still amaze me honestly. Your mood swings give me a whiplash," Liam says.

Both of us laugh, giving him the middle finger at the same time which makes us laugh harder for some reason.

It's been a while since the three of us have laughed together instead of getting in cold wars.

"Okay well which territory are we visiting first?" I ask after the laughter dies down.

"I was thinking Malevolent, since they are the closest to us.. But-- it's totally okay if you want to go somewhere else?" Liam rushes somewhat hesitantly.

For some reason a small smile forms on my face,

"No, it's okay. When are we going?"

"Whenever you want," he shrugs, tapping away on the tablet in his hands.