Chapter 36:
The Voice

"Now do you realize? Love does not always come at the beginning. There are times that love comes at the end and at that time, you can only look down, regretting all that you have done to avoid it. When he completely avoids you, only then do you understand what is the meaning of love and loss. Regret will always come at the end."

Harry widened his eyes when he heard the voice echo in his mind. The young man was in his class, listening to the explanation of Mr. Edgar regarding strategies to be able to complete the thesis quickly.

The young man shook his head. "No, let me focus today." He asked, in a low voice however, his request went unanswered when that strange voice resurfaced in his mind.

"I love you! From the beginning. From the very first. I really love you! But what you're doing is pushing me away from your life!"

Harry was taken aback. The voice sounded like. . . like it belonged to Babe? Really? Please, not now. I'll listen to you, for sure. Not now, but later. Harry closed his eyes, clasped his hands together hopefully.

"Harry."

Harry opened his eyes at the whisper. Harry turned to find Casey sitting beside him, staring at him in surprise. Harry even realized that his ex was sitting right next to him.

"Yes?"

"Are you okay?" Casey asked, whispering softly. Hoping Mr. Edgar didn't hear it. Harry nodded slowly before looking straight ahead again and, unfortunately, the sound came back to haunt his mind.

"No. Didn't I tell you? From now on, you and I are strangers. Strangers who don't know each other." Harry closed his eyes again and muttered, hoping that the voice would be gone for now. He must focus  what Mr. Edgar explained.

"Harry."

Again, Casey's voice caused Harry to turn and this time, the young man's breath was short. Casey looked anxiously at Harry. The girl put her hand quickly on Harry's sweaty forehead.

"You're pale and. . . your body is warm. Are you sick?"  Casey asked and Harry quickly dodged Casey's hand that was gently touching his forehead.

Harry looked back at the front of the class and answered Casey's question flatly. "I'm fine."

After that, the voice stopped coming and Harry joined the class, trying to be as focused as possible even though he couldn't. The voice could no longer be heard, but the sound really bothered him.

Class was over and Harry hurriedly left the classroom, ignoring the fact that Casey kept asking about the boy's situation. Finally, Harry made it to the cafeteria, where his friends were.

"Hey, Harry." Niall greeted, his mouth full of french fries. Harry just returned Niall's greeting with a faint smile, before pulling the chair beside the young man.

“You don't look very well. You're pale. " Louis suddenly commented, his eyes fixed on Harry.

Harry shook his head and took one of Niall's french fries. "Lack of sleep. I couldn't sleep all night. "

"That's unusual. Usually, even though you can't sleep, you look fresh and healthy. Not this pale, not like now." This time, it was Liam who commented.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, really."

Harry's gaze circled around, looking for his other   friend. While chewing the fries that were in his mouth, Harry asked, "Where's Zayn?"

“He went straight to pick up Giselle after class. Next week, Giselle's university will have a prom night. And our campus is invited. Zayn is going to be Giselle's prom date of course." Liam explained.

Harry just nodded slightly before continuing to eat Niall's french fries. All this time, Niall could only frown, holding back his anger considering that another hand touched his favorite french fries.

━━

Harry sighed while holding his head which somehow felt dizzy, all this time. Harry looked at his laptop screen again, trying to find inspiration to add material to his thesis report, but the inspiration never came. What is very clear, he's feeling dizzy and his mind was somewhere else when it should've been at his thesis report.

Harry reached for the coffee made by one of the servants and took a slow sip. The clock on Harry's bedroom wall had shown that it's past twelve and Harry didn't have the slightest interest to fall asleep.

The young man got up from the bed, walked to the bookshelves. He slowly dragged his index finger on the spine of the books one at a time, looking for books that could help him compile his thesis until Harry's index finger stopped on a thick book titled: Business; Los Angeles University.

Los Angeles University? Harry doesn't even remember owning this book. Why does it have to be Los Angeles University?

Without thinking twice, Harry grabbed the book and carried it onto the bed. Harry sat on the bed and took the book in his arms. Slowly, Harry opened the book and his heart seemed to stop beating while reading the writing that was on the very first page of the book.

Don't you worry your pretty little mind. People throw rocks at things that shine.
[T.S. November]

T.S? Does that stand for. . . "Taylor. . . Swift?" Harry paused, shaking his head. No, this must be a coincidence.

T.S aren't just the initials of Taylor Swift, are they? I mean, there are still a lot of people with the initials T. S. For example Thomas Sangster, Tricia Smith and many more.

But the initials T. S who might have went to Los Angeles University? Isn't that the name of the university where Taylor went to college? With Jacob and. . .Harry? But only in his dreams apparently.

Harry flicked the next page and found a letter scribbled on each bottom part of the page. The first letter to be written out is H, then A, then R until it ends at the letter S, on the page. Harry swallowed thickly, aware of the arrangement of the letters.

What the actual fuck?

Evidently the letters formed Harry's name. Harry Styles. Again, Harry opened the following pages, until it stopped right at page 1313 — the book was nearly 1500 pages long. There's a photo on that page. Like candid.

In the photo, Harry appears to be staring to his right side, with a flat face and without any expression. What made Harry even more surprised was that he realized that in the photo, he was wearing a Los Angeles University almameter.

Am I dreaming right now? Am I too stressed about this goddamn thesis that I dreamed of working on the thesis?

Harry put the book on the table before closing his laptop. Harry also put the laptop on the table then, lay down on the bed. The young man stared at the ceiling with an increasingly dizzy head. Harry's heart was beating fast and he didn't know why. His breath was gasping and sweat began to form on his forehead and temples.

Just closing his eyes, the young man had found something he could never have imagined.