For quite some time, Louis has been watching the girls discussingwhat sound they'd like for their new album. He had just leaned backand let them do their thing because he knew it was for the best and even though he didn't want to feel it, he did. Seeing Delfi and Jadeall cute and giggly together tugged at his heartstrings. It waslike a hard punch to the pit of his stomach.

"You think Dirty Angel might be good as a first single for thealbum?" Skylar addressed him, successfully tearing him out of histhoughts.

"I think it's perfect. Starts the new era with a bop, tellspeople you're not here to play. You're here to stay" Louis sharedhis humble opinion with the girls honestly.

"And even now you're rhyming. Can you ever not come up withlyrics?" Abby chuckled teasingly.

"A genius like me never stops" Louis bragged playfully.

"Has the big genius any more ideas to share?" Delfi rolled hereyes at his antics.

"Not with you unworthy insects" Louis crossed his arms overhis chest with a dramatic pout on his lips.

"Insects are very important for our world, Louis" Jade pointedout way too seriously, making Abby and Skylar laugh at her.

"Ey, don't laugh at my girl. She is right" Delfi glared atthem.

"If I had said that you would have destroyed me, D" Skylarnoted truthfully with a little smirk.

"But you're not my girlfriend and always wrong. So, what's yourpoint?" Delfi levelled her down with a strong look.

"Pointless" Skylar sighed out exaggeratedly.

"Why do you even still try? You know how this ends everyfreaking time" Abby shook her head in disbelief.

"No one can be this whipped" Skylar wailed frustrated.

"You see that she can" Abby stated the obvious.

"You can't understand because you're always single" Delfislapped Skylar's shoulder lightly.

"Love, be nice. It's not her fault no one wants to date her"Jade cackled into Delfi's side.

"That's it. I'm so done with you. I quit!" Skylar exclaimeddramatically, not being able to control her laughter.

"Will you ever seriously focus on working?" Louis wonderedamusedly. He laughed at their silly banter.

"No" all four answered at the same time.

"Impossible" Louis muttered under his breath.

"How's it going, guys?" Aurelio stepped into the room, lookingaround expectantly and settling his eyes on Louis.

"Ask them" Louis raised his hands up in defence.

"Girls?" Aurelio tried to sound upset but his smile wasbetraying him. He loved their stupid antics as much as Louis did.

"She started it" Delfi pointed at Skylar like a child.

"Me? You insulted me" Skylar huffed all over the top.

"You were dumb enough to come after my girl" Delfi justifiedherself and everyone knew she had won this.

"I ...".

"Sky, you know better than to do this" Aurelio cut her off.

"No, she doesn't. She's quite stupid sometimes" Abby laughedher ass off, earning giggles from Delfi and Jade.

"I hate you the most" Skylar glared at Abby.

"Love you too" Abby blew her a kiss.

"Now that this is settled how about you do some actual work?!"Aurelio suggested without any bite behind his words.

"Nah, how about we jump right into it and rehearse the newsong?" Skylar had a better idea.

"Sounds good to me" Jade stood up directly.

"I'm in" Delfi followed suit.

"Count me in" Abby was with them.

"And just like that I'm out of work and gained myself some freetime" Louis watched all this with a smile on his face.

"Enjoy it. We're off" Delfi winked at him before they left.

"How they ever manage to get their albums done is beyond me,"Aurelio said down next to him.

"It's a miracle but they are quite magical, so it makes sense,"Louis thought out loud without intending to say this outside of hishead.

"If they knew you said that ..." Aurelio trailed off smugly.

"Don't you dare" Louis looked darkly at him.

"My lips are sealed" Aurelio grinned at him. "Are youokay?".

"I'm holding up" Louis answered simply but honestly.

"Anything I can do?" Aurelio needed to know.

"Not really. Distract me? Give me something to do? Get my mindoff things and don't mention his name. I've avoided any kind of newsoutlet since he left. It helps not to read his name everywhere andnow that the paps are gone it's easier to pretend it never happened.Pretend he was never here" Louis let his mind run free because hetrusted Aurelio with everything.

"Knights of Love are struggling with one of their songs. Youcould help them. I have the lyrics here if you wanna take a look atthem and give it a try" Aurelio took out a sheet of paper.

"That's exactly what I need before the gig later" Louis tookit gratefully. He needed distraction.

"I'm gonna be there and the girls wanted to tag along" Aureliolet him know.

"You really don't have to but I'm glad. Means a lot to me"Louis offered him a genuine smile.

"Always. You mean a lot to me and you know that" Aurelionudged his hand gently. "And if you ever change your mind and wannarecord anything with your band you know where to find me".

"Thank you but we really prefer to stay local and on thesidelines. Out of the big spotlight. It's better" Louis declinedthe offer again.

"I know and love to simply watch you do what you love for fun.It's nice and you look happy".

"Not sure if I'm gonna be happy tonight but it's gonna make mefeel better. I wrote a song about him" Louis revealed to him.

"Oh really?" Aurelio looked surprised.

"Yeah, I mean, mostly about him. Kind of about all the lies andliars in my life but the biggest part is about him. I can't deny thateven though my heart still wants to" Louis opened up to him.

"Of course, it does. You love him and that won't just stopbecause he hurt you, even if that would be better for you" Aureliounderstood what he was feeling.

"My heart still wants him to come back and makes up scenarios inmy head about how he comes back to me, apologises and we live happily everafter. Why am I like this? Even if he came back I could never forgivehim just like that. He played with my heart and used me, fully awareof my past. He hurt me more than Josh and Alec combined andcompletely broke my trust. I could never ...".

"You don't have to, Louis" Aurelio interrupted his anxiousrambling, taking both of his hands into his own. "Even if he evercame around to apologise you don't have to do anything. You're notobliged to forgive him or let him back into your life. I know yourheart wants him back but you need to be careful. You've been hurtenough".

"I know" Louis breathed out a shaky breath. "His words arestill in my head. I could never forgive him. He fooled me, made mebelieve he was serious and wanted to be with me. He never mentionedthat he always wanted a woman in his future. Then again, I shouldhave seen that. He had such a hard time admitting that he wasn'tstraight and I tried to be supportive but he shut me out and just ...he never even liked me enough to ...".

"You definitely deserve an explanation. A real one. But he won'tgive you one. He is back in his world of fame and fortune and powerand lies. He won't be allowed to even think of you, let alone comeback here to apologise if he wanted to, which I'm not sure he wouldever do. It does sound as if he thought he's in the right and didn'tjust completely ... I don't even know" Aurelio sounded totallyhelpless and Louis felt bad for dragging him into this.

"Don't worry. He will never come back here. He won't spare me asingle thought. He has everything he ever wanted. We need to move onand leave him in the past" Louis decided it was time to be strongand let the past rest, no matter the cost.

"Whatever you want, Louis" Aurelio smiled supportingly at him.

"I want to work on this song. It's great but could be amazingwith a bit of work" Louis nodded towards the lyric sheet.

"If you say so".

A couple of hours later, Louis had finished the lyrics and discussedsome changes with the boys from Knights of Love. They've all beenpositively surprised that Louis had worked on their song but they hadloved his changes and special touches. With a little bit of help fromLiam on the melodies and production, the song was finished now andready to be recorded. It was a very successful day.

Together with Liam, Louis left the studio to get to the bar he wasplaying at. Animatedly, they talked about the whole song creatingprocess and Liam looked so content and thrilled to have createdsomething on his own. Louis was really looking forward to workingmore with him in the near future. They were a great team andcomplimented each other perfectly.

"Ready to rock the stage, Tommo?" Liam asked as they wereleaning against the bar's stage and people were filling up the room.

"Not my best day but I need to blow off some steam" Louiscracked his knuckles in anticipation.

"That's the spirit, mate. We're all here to support you. Justignore the curious eyes on you. People will stop talking in a fewweeks" Liam advised him, referring to some nosy bastards in thecrowd.

"Better give them something to talk about, mh?".

Harry's POV

After three days of begging for a meeting, Jacksonhad finally agreed on seeing him and hearing him out. Harry knew hehad let him wait on purpose to make a point and Jackson had everyright to do so. In his eyes, they had all three betrayed him andstapped him in the back and most importantly, broken the contract bytelling people about what had been going on behind the scenes.Jackson had to know all five boys had breached their contracts.

Shivering terribly, Harry stepped into the officebuilding and was led right through to Jackson's door. Apparently, he wasin a rush. Only a minute later he was called inside. As soon as hehad stepped one foot inside he was met by the sight of Jacksonsitting at his big desk with an unamused expression on his face. Fora fracture of a second, an image from the security video flashed infront of his eyes, seeing a terrified and broken Louis, but he shookit away.

"Mr Styles, take a seat. We have plenty to talkabout" Jackson gestured to the chair in front of his desk.

Hurriedly, Harry sat down and didn't dare to lookJackson in the eyes. He didn't want to see the anger anddisappointment. The fury and betrayal. Swallowing down the lump inhis throat, he glanced up but was only met with a blank face.

"You begged for this meeting. You should say whatyou have to say before I confront you with the consequences for youractions" Jackson spoke up neutrally.

"I didn't do anything. I had no part in this. Itwas only Liam and Niall without my knowledge. I never wanted to ...".

"Go behind my back and fraternize with the enemy?"Jackson cut him off strongly. "Is that what you wanted to say?Because if I recall it correctly your friends said clearly that noneof you wanted to sign with me again and all of you would make meregret what I apparently did to Louis and Zayn. They were prettyclear in their intentions. Don't you think?".

"I didn't know about that call. They didn't tellme. They made that decision for me without asking me. They decided tothrow their careers away but I didn't" Harry finally found thestrength to look up at Jackson completely. "I know you made me andI would never disrespect you as they did".

"What about Louis?" Jackson asked surprisingly.

"What do you mean?" Harry tried to soundunbothered but hearing his name had caught him off guard.

"Do you not agree with your friends and wantrevenge for 'what I did to him'? Do you not believe his sob story? Itfor sure looked like you did in the pictures or do you wanna make mebelieve there was nothing going between the two of you? That youdidn't fuck for weeks?" Jackson leaned closer to him, sounding verysnotty.

"Why does it matter? I'm here right now and choseto leave all of this behind" Harry frowned in confusion.

"It matters because you two are all over theinternet. Everyone comes up with their own theories about you and letme tell you, most of them are not nice" Jackson's eyes grew darker.

"No?" Harry brought out in fear.

"No, Harry. People are mad, upset, and angry. Butmostly disgusted because now they think you're gay and in arelationship with Louis. You've lost so many followers in the lastfew days. It's scary to watch. I told Louis back then being gay isbad for business but he had to drag you down just to get back at meand now your career is about to crash and burn only because you couldn'tsay no to his dick! His dick can't be this good. Was he good enough?Worth losing everything you've worked for the last seven years?"Jackson visibly tried to stay collected but he was fuming.

"I'm not ... I have a girlfriend ... It's not ..."Harry stuttered out, all of Jackson's words getting into his head andscaring him.

"Oh yeah, how could I forget. The girlfriend.Sabrina, right?" Jackson suddenly looked bemused. Harry onlynodded. "Does she know she is your girlfriend?".

"What do you mean?" Harry knitted his eyebrowstogether.

"Here. These are from today" Jackson slid oversome pap pics.

Harry leaned over them to get a better look. What hesaw confused him and his heart jumped weirdly in his chest. Thepictures showed Louis and Sabrina together in front of Louis' home,in his car and in front of Niall's family home. They were sometimesholding hands, other times they were talking and looked very closeand in some pictures, they were even hugging. What in the world hadmade them do this? As far as Harry knew Louis had never liked her andhad been jealous the whole time. Obviously for a reason but that wasbeside the point now. Why were they suddenly so close only three daysafter he left?

"I see you didn't know they were close. Everyoneelse was as confused as you. The internet is speculating was is goingon. You came right in time. We can still use this for us. You justhave to bring her here. She needs to sign a contract and ...".

"What for? I'm the singer and not her" Harrybroke out of his staring and faced Jackson again. She had nothing todo with this.

"Maybe but she is your girlfriend, right? Shecan't just do and say whatever she wants now. Her every move affectsyour career from now. This is on you. After your stupid outburst infront of a camera and you declaring that Beth isn't connected to you, we need a new girl by your side to get rid of the gay rumours. Wedefinitely need to get Louis here, too. We can't have any loose ends"Jackson looked like he was more talking to himself than Harry.

Mentioning Louis' name again made his ears perk up."Why Louis? He has nothing to do with my career".

"He is connected to you now. And the band. If onlyfor a while. But the world knows now that he wrote your music. Wehave to use this and luckily I still have his signature. I can makethis happen" Jackson explained a bit to him.

"What exactly are we talking about?" Harry grewsuspicious.

"Are you always this slow? Obviously, we need himback now to write your album. Like this, we can create a story forthe papers to explain the pictures. You only met up to talk aboutyour future album, nothing more. And you have to say that you've beenon his side the whole time and never wanted to deny him. This was allon Liam and Niall. It will make you look like the angel you're notand give people something to talk about. It's perfect really".

Shaking the memory away,Harry crouched down more into his seat at the very back of the bar.Adjusting his cap and the glasses, he dug his head low to avoidanyone from recognising him. He needed to stay anonymous until he hadmade sure he ... If he was being honest with himself Harry had noidea why he was here right now and what the purpose of thisinvestigation was. Maybe to make sure he did the right thing andeverything was good back here? Or maybe to silently say goodbye onelast time?

The lights on stage went onand he immediately spotted Louis. From the very start, it was obviousto Harry that Louis wasn't feeling good but he did a good job atcovering it up. Seeing Louis like this twisted something horribly inhis stomach but he chose to ignore it. Instead, he focused on theband.

They had started their setwith their usual bangers Rock Me and Here We Are.Louis' voice sounded as angelic as ever. Smooth like honey. Good forthe soul and his wrenched heart. Catching himself staring, Harry tooka sip from his drink and took a look around. He could see Zayn, Liamand Niall right in front of the stage together with Sean, Kayla,Luke, Cody, Sam and Christopher. He also spotted his family and Nialls' Mum. The girls from Dolphin's Curve werehere together with Aurelio and Pablo, which made Harry feel sour. Andeven Dylan was here. Seeing him supporting Louis even after theybroke things off made Harry feel weird but he knew he had no right tofeel like this. He had played ruthlessly with Louis' heart and strunghim along although he had known all along that he could never lovehim, never be with him because he wanted to marry a woman one day. Heshould have never used Louis to live out his sexuality like this witheverything he knew. He felt like a total prick.

"Tonight we're gonna endthis gig with a new song I've written and only finished two days ago.So, excuse and bare with us when it's perfect" Louis announced and soundedfreaking anxious.

The moment the song startedand Harry heard the lyrics he understood why Louis was so nervous.Everyone would know who he had written the song about and he knewpeople would talk. Jackson was about to go mental if he saw the videoof this performance and he was sure he would. After all, everyone wasfilming Louis pouring his heart out right now. All there was left todo for Harry was leave, feeling personally attacked ... rightfully so.

1.

A huge fake smileplastered on your face

Honey-drippingsweet words rolling off your tongue

How can you bethis blunted but oh-so young?

You left myspotted life without a single trace

Pre-Chorus:

You never breakin, you never give in

It was all just afucked up game you wanted to win

Chorus:

You have a heartof ice and a face of stone

You push yourvictims out of their comfort zone

Trying to breakthem – You're the perfect liar

It's a wickedgame that you never lose

You present allthe broken souls like freshly new tattoos

And there'sabsolutely no excuse

You're theperfect liar

2.

Is it fun to playpeople? Do you know any remorse?

You lie without ashame, skilfully replacing the blame

No single emotionor crippled feeling inside

Never even caredwhen your victim cried

Pre-Chorus:

You never breakin, you never give in

It was all just amessed up plan you fulfilled with a grin

Chorus:

You have a heartof ice and a face of stone

You push yourvictims out of their comfort zone

Trying to breakthem – You're the perfect liar

It's a wickedgame that you never lose

You present allthe broken souls like freshly new tattoos

And there'sabsolutely no excuse

You're theperfect liar

Bridge:

You're theperfect liar - to set the world on fire

You're theperfect liar - only pleasuring your desire

You're theperfect liar - living on a high wire

Chorus:

You have a heartof ice and a face of stone

You push yourvictims out of their comfort zone

Trying to breakthem – You're the perfect liar

It's a wickedgame that you never lose

You present allthe broken souls like freshly new tattoos

And there'sabsolutely no excuse

You'rethe perfect liar

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We're so close to the end. How do you think this will be solved?