Chapter 16:
Second Dream

"ARRRRGGHHH. . ."

Along with that scream, the sound of a baby crying followed afterwards. The nurses and doctors sighed in relief. The reason is, after struggling to help the woman give birth, it was all worth it. The baby boy has been born. A very healthy and tiny looking baby boy.

“Ma'am, we will have to clean your baby's body. You have to rest." The nurse said to the woman who was  carrying the baby, moving her body trying to make the baby stop crying.

The woman with sweat covering all over her body nodded slowly before saying, "Has my husband come?"

The nurse was silent before shaking her head. The woman sighed and nodded in understanding. Her eyes turned to the bloody baby in the nurse's arms. Her baby boy, their baby boy.

"Welcome to the world, Anton Swift."

Harry opened his eyes quickly, catching his breath while sweat trailed down on his forehead and temples. Harry looked around before sighing and trying to catch his breath. It seemed like Harry's body was very weak. The handsome young man combed his hair back, before staring at the stiff mannequin before him.

"Babe, come on, I don't understand. You're confusing me." Harry said, still out of breath but much better than before. Slowly, Harry glanced at the clock hanging on the wall of the room. The young man leaned his back against the desk. The clock showed that it's half past six in the morning.

After his breathing returned to normal, Harry got up from his mother's chair and walked over to the stiff mannequin. A smile etched beautifully on Harry's pink lips as he arrived in front of the mannequin. Within a blink of an eye, Harry landed a brief kiss on the mannequin's cheek.

"Thanks for last night, Babe. See you tonight." Harry said before immediately sneaking out of the boutique.

━━

After class, this was the first time Harry joined his four friends, who were completely shocked by Harry's arrival. The atmosphere was very awkward between them. In fact, after pulling the chair between Zayn and Louis, Harry seemed busy with his cell phone. Perhaps  the five of them would've remained silent if it wasn't for Zayn, who sighed and started a conversation  with Harry.

"Anne called me last night."

Zayn's words successfully distracted Harry from his  phone. Harry looked straight ahead.

"She asked if you were staying at my house or not. I don't know where you slept all this time and Anne asked you to come back soon. You haven't come home for almost a week." Zayn continued and Harry only responded to Zayn's words with a nod of his head.

"Harry?"

Zayn called. "Yes?"

“There are important things that Liam and I want to say. After this, you must come with us. ” Zayn looked very serious and made Harry nod his head again.

Then, silence again. Louis, who usually speaks actively, is silent, pretending to focus on his drink. Niall, who usually always makes vague comments, is also silent, not touching his food at all. Just busy playing with the straw in his lemon tea glass. Liam said nothing, because he didn't know what to say. Zayn is also busy with his cellphone, it looks like he's texting Giselle. Meanwhile, Harry was silent because he realized, he was the one who made them all silent.

"Harry. . . "

Again, the silence between the five friends broke when they heard a voice, which belonged to someone that was calling Harry.

When Harry turned around, he found Casey standing behind him. The girl looked beautiful in her spring dress that has a rose pattern that adhered perfectly to her slender body. She also pulled her hair back, which was not as usual. One word that could describe what Casey looks right now is: sweet.

"Yes?" Harry responded curtly. Actually, Harry doesn't  even want to deal with Casey right now.

"I have something to tell you about. Do you have time?" Casey said quickly and made Harry look away from the girl.

"Just say it."

"Not here. We have to really talk. Just the both of us." Casey explained quickly and made Harry sigh before rising to his feet, facing the girl who had once been his girlfriend.

Casey sighed before pulling Harry's hand to come with her, away from the buzzing canteen. Some people were looking at them and some were even cheering for the ex-lovers.

Casey pulled her hand away from Harry as they reached the hallway leading to the school warehouse. Casey kept sighing and sighing, making Harry utterly impatient.

"What do you want? Hurry up, I don't want to waste my precious time with you." Harry said casually, without feeling guilty for his harsh words. Having just heard what Harry said, Casey's eyes watered. However, as much as possible she tried not to cry.

“I— I. . . I saw you with a blonde girl yesterday. You two were walking on the sidewalk, hand in hand. " Casey spoke up and Harry raised an eyebrow. The young man unconsciously gave a smile. So, last night was real? I really spend time with Babe?

"Wh-Who is that girl?" Casey's voice pulled Harry out of his mind.

Harry shrugged. "Why do you care?"

Haltingly, Casey replied, "I— I'm just c-curios!"

Harry smiled triumphantly before cornering Casey and making the girl's back touch the wall behind her, somewhat pinning her against the wall and their distance is dangerously close.

"What do you think about that girl?" Harry grinned.

Casey ventured to look at Harry. "I don't know." She shook her head.

"You know, she's very beautiful, Cas. She has excellent posture. She's like a model, even though she isn't. Well, what I like most about her physically are her blue eyes and. . . her long legs. And her lips too. I could kiss them all day long. " The grin returned after Harry told the story.

Casey seemed to squint, her brows knitted together. "What mom-,"

"Be quiet, Cas! I'm not done telling you my stories! " Harry covered Casey's mouth in a way that was utterly enviable.

“I didn't believe in love at first sight, but after I was with her, I finally believed in it. She's a very good girl. Every time she wanted to go out and wanted to do something outside her usual routine, she would call me and ask my permission. When I asked her to meet my friends, I was very impressed because her eyes were still only on me."

It's okay to lie, Harry said to himself. In truth, Harry just wanted to tease and mess with Casey which was the very opposite of what Harry had said about the girl.

Harry could see Casey getting angry. "You know what?" Harry brought his lips to Casey's ear, sending chills and shivers throughout Casey's body before continuing to say, "She does 'it' so well. So much better than you."

After that, Harry stepped back and chuckled in amusement at Casey's expression, which was difficult to describe in words.

“I'll introduce her to you, Cas, take it easy. I'll see you around."

Then, Harry just walked away, leaving Casey still standing frozen. After leaving Casey, Harry returned to join his friends, but unexpectedly, Zayn and Liam stopped his steps and immediately dragged Harry to a quiet place. At the back of campus.

"We have something to talk about. It's urgent." Zayn said quickly, Liam nodded.

"It's about your mannequin." Liam added and when he heard the word mannequin, Harry's eyes narrowed. Intrigued by what his two friends would say. Zayn sighed and started telling what he's going to say.

“We went to Mannequin Seasons after researching the mannequin. At first, we pretended we wanted to order a mannequin before asking about the mannequin in your mother's study. " Zayn held his breath and turned to Liam, asking his friend to continue.

Liam nodded and continued. "We asked directly about the mannequins, which I have to admit is very different from the other mannequins there. He said the mannequins were not actually for sale. It was a mannequin made by his father who had died. He said that the mannequin had a history for his father."

"But why did he sell it to my mother?!" Harry asked quickly.

Liam smiled faintly. “Because he needed the money and your mother really liked the mannequin since the first time she landed her eyes on the mannequin. Your mother negotiated and paid £ 50,000 for the mannequin. " Harry widened his eyes. Fifty thousand pounds for a mannequin? That's insane.

“Harry, I doubt and I'm suspicious about something too. But I will still investigate it further." Zayn said  with a worried face.

"What do you mean?" Zayn closed his eyes briefly.

"It's. . . not a mannequin." Zayn's statement made Harry replay the dreams that he had witnessed these past days.

It's not a mannequin. . . she's not a mannequin.