*HARRY'S Point of View*

Hello, you've reached the voicemail of Kevin Blackwood. Please leave your name and number at the tone.

"Bloody Hell!" I whipped the phone across the room; not my phone, the hotel's phone. Tore it clean out of the wall. Fuck! I was going to have to pay for that. 

I called every number at least a hundred times. I knew her dad's answering machine message by heart. I kept calling her apartment because I wanted to hear her voice on the machine, and of course, each time I hoped and prayed that she would be there and just pick up. I just wanted to know she was okay. I just needed to talk to her.

I needed answers.

Claudia had the audacity to suggest I follow through with my hometown date with Victoria today. As if my whole world didn't just get turned upside down. I mean, this show was about finding love and I found her! But Claudia pointed out, very rudely, I might add, that I had already stood Victoria up once. 

"We'll all go later this week and get the filming done in a day!" I snapped at her. "Ben is a genius. He can make it look like it happened any way you want it to. Quit worrying about your stupid show!" 

She didn't take that very well, but I could not have cared any less about her feelings. She didn't care about mine. She didn't seem to realize that I was sick with anxiety and confusion, and that I was in love with Harper.  I couldn't just pick the next woman on the list and forget about Harper. 

Of course I understood that Claudia had a show to run and she had to have material to put on the air. That's show business - the show must always go on! 

But not this time. Not yet. Not until I found out what happened to Harper and why she left me this way. If the not was even from her.

But if Harper didn't write the note, where was she?

I had called my mom to let her know we wouldn't be coming today. Then I told her everything. Everything. If there's anyone who can keep a secret, it's her. From the moment we hit fame on the X Factor, she had been an expert at keeping my private life private, so I didn't worry about sharing any details with her. Especially not the fact that I was in love with Harper, but I was scared shitless that she had really left me.

"Do you want me to come down there?" Mum had asked.

I chuckled a little. I did actually want my Mum. I wasn't a baby or anything, but she always knew just how to cheer me up. In the end I told her no because I was a big boy and could take care of myself. That made her laugh, and it did my heart good to talk to her, even just for a few minutes.

I eventually learned that the other two women had been confined to their rooms for the day, which seemed a bit drastic. I guess the show's staff just wanted everything sorted before bringing them into the mess, too. I wanted it sorted, too.

Against the producers' wishes, I begged Ben to let Victoria and Ariana come to see me. Claudia was the most outraged because she knew that if I told them what had happened, they would know everything about Harper and me. They would know she was the one I had chosen. Honestly, I didn't give one flying fuck what that woman thought. Victoria and Ariana were my friends as much as Harper's and I needed them right now. 

They came rushing in as soon as Ben called them. "Harry, what happened?" Victoria said, climbing on one side of the bed next to me, while Ariana took the other side, and they sandwiched me in a hug.

"Did they tell you anything?" I asked them.

"No, they only said that you had suddenly become very ill and you weren't able to go on today's date," Ariana said.

"Liars," I huffed. "What really happened is that Harper left."

"Left," Victoria repeated in disbelief. "What do you mean left?" 

"I mean, she packed everything and she's gone. Look! Everything that belonged to her is gone," I spread my arms wide, showing them the empty room. Maybe they had forgotten in the moment that we were all sitting in Harper's room. Without her.

"She slipped this note under my door early this morning." I said it like it was a fact, even though I still hoped for a different explanation.

The girls read it together, and at the same time, they both shouted, "No! Don't believe this, Harry." They started talking a mile a minute, telling me all the reasons that Harper couldn't have written that. 

"She's in love with you, Harry," Victoria reasoned.

"She's very loyal," Ariana added. 

"This is bullshit," Victoria snapped.

"Then why is she gone?" I asked woefully. 

They both shook their heads. "I don't know," said Victoria. "But you're not imagining it, Harry. Something just isn't right." 

"Besides," Ariana said. "That's not even Harper's handwriting." 

_____

You may have noticed that some of these chapters are short. The next few chapters will be similar - I'm flipping back and forth between Harry's and Harper's points of view because they're both scrambling to find out what was happening.