"Come in," Karen smiled, but I was frozen to the spot, staring over her shoulder at the man who had broken my heart into a thousand pieces, but was still everything to me. He didn't look up.

"This was a set up," I said. "I am so stupid."

"Just come in and have a seat," Karen said, standing aside to invite me into the room.

"No thanks," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "I'm out of here. I'll get Antos to drop me off at the Daily Mail offices, I'm sure they'll be interested in all of this."

I turned to walk away.

"Harry!" Karen pleaded, but if he responded I didn't hear. "Jess!" she called as I took a step away down the corridor. "He didn't know you were coming."

I turned back to the door and looked at her. "Now why doesn't that surprise me?" I said sarcastically.

"You said you'd hear me out," she said.

"You said this wasn't a set up," I reminded her, but she shook her head.

"I never said that. I needed to get you here, any way that I could."

"Well I'm not staying, sorry. Bye."

I was just about to turn away again when I saw Harry get to his feet. My heart began to pound.

"It's fine, I'll wait outside," he muttered, and he turned sideways and slipped past me through the door without looking at me. I felt the heat emanating from his body as he passed me, and my hands started to shake.

"Stay where you are," Karen snapped at Harry. "You are both adults. You mean to tell me you can't spend five minutes in the same room? Jess, listen to me now and you'll never have to hear from me again."

I barely heard what she was saying. All I could think about was Harry's proximity to me, and the feel of his body heat as his chest had been within a foot of mine. He was standing behind me now so I couldn't see him, but I could sense him. My heart was thudding, and I knew my face was flushed.

"Sit down," Karen snapped, and I obeyed, because I couldn't think for myself anymore. His mere presence had rendered me temporarily speechless. I walked into her office and took the further of the two chairs. Harry took his seat next to me and I snuck a glance at him out of the corner of my eye, but his gaze was fixed on the floor and his hair fell over his face, hiding his expression.

Karen shut the door and came and sat down behind her desk.

"Harry's been getting bad press," she began.

"That's not my problem," I snapped, immediately.

"No, but you can help to change that," she replied. "The press are desperate for more information on all of this. You know his name sells papers. They want something - anything - on him. If you would just let them see you together, it doesn't have to be for long... it would cast doubt over all their reports."

"No," I said.

"Why not?" Karen asked.

"Because you are asking me to make the world think I have taken back someone who has cheated on me," I said. "And I would never do that. It goes against everything I believe in."

"That's not strictly true," Karen argued. "You asked him to try and work things out."

I snapped my head up and stared at Harry, but he didn't move.

"You told her that?" I asked him, incredulously.

"No," he replied. It was the first word he'd addressed directly to me since I'd arrived.

"No what?"

"No, I didn't tell her," he muttered. It was really starting to irritate me that he wouldn't even look at me.

"So how does she know?" I asked.

"Louis told me," Karen explained.

"Louis?!" I repeated in disbelief, staring at Karen. "You've been talking about me to Louis?"

"Everyone is talking about you," Karen said wearily. "You caused a lot of problems when you unfollowed Harry on all your social media."

"For heaven's sake," I muttered, rolling my eyes. "All this because of Twitter."

"And Facebook. And Instagram," Karen added.

"How do you even know about my Instagram?" I asked before I could stop myself. "I don't post anything. I don't think I even have any followers."

"We ran a search on your email addresses across all social media platforms as soon as we found out about you," Karen explained as my eyes widened in disbelief. "We've been keeping tabs on your posts, making sure you don't say or do anything that could be seen as controversial and could damage the band's image."

"Are you actually serious?" I breathed. I looked over at Harry. "Did you know about this?"

He didn't say anything.

"STOP IGNORING ME, DAMMIT!" I shouted, and he jumped and snapped his head up, a shocked expression on his face.

"No, I didn't. Not exactly," he replied, and looked away again.

"What do you mean, not exactly?"

"Harry knows it goes on," Karen supplied, and I stared at her again, dumbfounded. The more I heard, the more I realised I had only seen a tiny snapshot of Harry's life. Now we were over, I began to wonder if I had ever really known him at all. There was so much he had neglected to tell me.

"This is just unbelievable," I said, more too myself than anyone else.

"It's a messed up world," Karen agreed, and I glared at her.

"You make it messed up," I accused. "You can't just stalk people's social media like this, without their permission."

She shrugged. "We can only see the stuff that is public. And it's easy enough to find connected accounts if you have the right information. We don't do anything illegal."

I didn't say anything to this, but stared up at the wall, looking for the clock. It felt like I had been here for hours. To my annoyance, there wasn't one to be seen.

"Jess... I'm sorry for the way things turned out with you and Harry, but... if you could just reconsider my request... one sighting is all we're asking - I'm asking..."

I looked over at Harry who was looking uncomfortably at Karen.

"You really knew nothing about this?" I asked him.

"No," he replied.

"This was my idea," Karen said. "I thought if you could just have a conversation, maybe sort things out, even just stay friends..."

"You need to stop meddling," I snapped. "Not everybody jumps when you click your fingers. Especially not me."

"I've begun to notice," she said wryly, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Harry's lips twitch. My stomach flipped.

"I'm not changing my mind," I said firmly. "I am not budging on this."

"Why?" Karen asked. "What difference will it make to you? You're not constantly in the public eye."

"That doesn't mean I don't care about what people think of me!" I retorted. "I never wanted any of this publicity! I did my best to keep my relationship with Harry a secret. I never posted anything about it on Twitter, and I never responded to a single comment, from anyone. I played by your rules the whole time."

"You need to toughen up," Karen said. "You need to let these things go over your head."

"Like Harry does, you mean?" I sneered. "That's the whole reason we're here isn't it? Because Harry's supposedly upset that the world has turned on him for being a man-whore?"

"He lives his life in the public eye," she replied, ignoring my dig. "You can go back to being anonymous whenever you want. Harry will never be able to do that."

I shrugged. "Not my problem."

"If you ever cared about him you'll do this, Jess," Karen said confidently.

I banged my fist on the table making them both jump. Harry looked over at me.

"Stop trying to manipulate me!" I said fiercely. "It isn't going to work! You know nothing about my feelings in any of this - neither of you do! You sit there in your pristine suit with your lacquered hair and your painted nails, thinking you control everyone's lives," I said to Karen. "And you," I continued turning to face Harry, "you sit there refusing even to look at me, like the mere sight of me repulses you, yet you expect me to go along with this farce because what? We had a thing for a few weeks? Not happening, sorry."

I sat back in my chair and folded my arms across my chest, breathing heavily.

"Jess -" Karen began.

"No!" I interrupted. "We're going round in circles. You know the worst thing? I actually believed I might get some answers today, or maybe just an insight into what the hell really happened. And maybe - just maybe - if you'd given me that and treated me with respect, you may have been in with a chance of convincing me to go along with it. But you blew it big style when you brought him here," I gestured to Harry, "without telling me. I don't trust you - either of you. All I've had from you both is lies. You should know by now I'm not a pushover," I said to Harry.

There was silence for a moment. I stared at a tall plastic cup of water on Karen's desk, and a large pile of what looked like contracts sitting next to her keyboard.

"You know what happened," Harry said, suddenly. "I already told you."

I looked over at him, but he was still staring at the floor.

"I don't know why it happened," I said.

"Neither do I," he muttered, and I looked away in frustration. How was I supposed to get any closure when Harry himself remained closed up? I wasn't used to him being like this with me. But then again, I didn't really know him, I reminded myself.

I was starting to feel restless. We weren't getting anywhere. I wasn't changing my mind, and they didn't seem to be able to grasp that.

"This is pointless," I sighed, picking up my bag and standing up. "I'm going home."

Harry pulled his feet back to let me pass, and I saw his phone lying on the table. I went to press the home button to make the screen light up so I could see the time, but as I reached for it he suddenly lunged forward and snatched it off the table just as my fingers brushed it.

"What are you doing?" he snapped furiously.

I looked down at him, shocked by his aggressive tone. "I - I was just looking at the time," I stammered, and he shoved his phone in his pocket and flipped his hair back. I stared at him, my heart pounding.

"It's nearly quarter to seven," he said, looking at his watch. "You could have just asked."

"What the hell is your problem?" I snarled. "Afraid I was going to see some incriminating texts from your latest hook-up?"

"Don't be stupid!" he spat.

"You can't blame me for thinking that," I snapped, "with your track record."

"Once is hardly a track record," he snapped back.

"Tokyo?" I said angrily, ticking them off on my fingers. "Manila? New York? Taylor Swift?"

"Don't start that again," he said through gritted teeth. "They were different."

"Course they were," I said sarcastically. "There's always an excuse to get you out of trouble, isn't there? And they were just the ones that became public knowledge. God knows how many others there have been that you managed to keep quiet. I should get myself checked out by the doctor, just in case."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he demanded, looking up at me and raising his voice.

"It means, you convinced me to go on the pill, so God knows what I could have caught."

Harry stood up in fury. "How dare you. I never slept with anyone while I was with you, apart from the one you know about. And I have never slept with anyone other than you without a condom. You know that."

"You didn't use a condom?!" Karen practically shouted, getting to her feet too.

"You're a liar," I told Harry. "Who knows what's true and what isn't when it comes out of your mouth? I can't trust you. I will never be able to trust you. All you did was let me down, from the minute I fell for you in LA to the minute we ended. And I was just stupid little Jess, head over heels for Harry Styles, when all the time you were just stringing me along for your own entertainment. Well maybe it's time I had my own entertainment. I wonder what the fee is for a celebrity kiss and tell these days? I might shop around, get a few quotes. I'm sure they'll be fighting to get their grubby little paws on this exclusive."

Harry was staring at me with a blank expression.

"I'll have you silenced," Karen threatened, and I laughed in her face.

"How? With the NDA I didn't sign? Bad luck for you. Pound signs for me."

"I can get an injunction to prevent you selling your story if I can prove it isn't in the public interest," Karen replied.

"Like you did with the last two?" I sneered. "Like you did with Louis?"

Karen's face drained of colour. "What did you just say?"

I was taken aback by her reaction. "Louis - and the girl in Bangkok," I explained, and she exhaled loudly and visibly relaxed. "What the fuck is going on with Louis?!" I practically shouted.

Harry opened his mouth.

"Nothing you'll be finding out anytime soon with those threats you've just made," she snapped, but her voice was shaking, and Harry snapped his mouth shut again.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. I don't give a toss. I'm done with the lot of you. You can keep your shade and your undercover shagging around. I am well out of it."

"What did you mean, you fell for me in LA?" Harry suddenly blurted.

My stomach dropped. "What?" I asked.

"You said just then, from the minute you fell for me in LA."

"Did I?" I shrugged.

"You need to tell me if there's even the slightest possibility you might be pregnant," Karen interrupted, and her face had gone from white to green.

"What?" I said in disbelief. "Have you lost your fųcking mind?!"

"If you haven't been taking your contraceptive pill properly -"

"I do know how it works!" I shouted. "Of course I have!"

"What the hell were you thinking, not using a condom?!" Karen heaved to Harry.

"Excuse me!" I yelled. "That is none of your business! Our choice of contraception has nothing to do with you! That was between me and Harry!"

"Anything could have happened," Karen ranted at Harry, ignoring me. "What if she'd stopped taking it?"

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" I screamed.

"She's not stupid," Harry said quietly.

"She's just threatened you with a kiss and tell for crying out loud!"

"Screw this," I said, shaking my head. "I'm gone."

I was just about to leave this scene of madness when my eyes fell on the tall cup of water on Karen's desk. I hesitated for a millisecond, and then as I stepped around Harry towards the door, I stuck my finger out and gave it a sharp poke. It toppled over and spilled its contents all over the papers on her desk, and splashed onto her skirt. She stepped back and gasped in shock, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Harry smirk.

"See you around. Or not," I called over my shoulder. I turned to walk away but Harry grabbed my hand and a jolt shot through me as his warm fingers touched mine. I was forced to stop, and turned to face him, my heart pounding again.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking into my eyes for the first time since I'd walked into Karen's office. "For - for everything."

I yanked my hand away.

"Me too," I said bitterly, and I turned and walked out of the room without a backward glance.