hey y'all I'm back with another stressful chapter! but hey at least it's long (;

Plsplspslsps excuse any grammatical errors and errors with the Spanish. I made like one mistake during the last chapter and literally nine people commented like ok I get it lmao I don't have the time to edit chapters.

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See the flames inside my eyes

It burns so bright I wanna feel your love

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"Adriana."

   "Harry?" Mateo frowned when he heard his mother's boyfriend groan her name into the phone. "Hola!"

   "Mateo?" Harry mumbled, his voice coming out full of pain and confusion. "Put-Put mama on the phone, please?"

   "Mamá!" Mateo called out loud, holding her phone with both his hands and looking up towards the kitchen where Adriana quickly appeared at the doorway. "Es Harry." It's Harry.

  Adriana frowned a little, heading over to the couch where Mateo was sitting on, watching the TV. She took the phone from him and brought it up to her ear.

   "Harry?"

   "A-Adriana, hey princess," Harry tried to make himself sound upbeat, but the pain was present in his voice, and it worried Adriana greatly.

   "Harry, what's wrong? You don't sound okay," Adriana immediately questioned with a deep frown.

   "I'm fine, baby," he insisted, trying to mask the agony in his tone. "Can you pick me up? I'm too sleepy and tired to walk back home."

   "You don't sound fine," she muttered under her breath, praying that everything was okay with him. "Where are you?" she questioned, gesturing to Mateo to follow her.

  He gladly hopped of the couch and held her hand as they descended down the stairs to his underground garage. She grabbed the keys to his Porsche, which was the closest to her, as she listened attentively to the location he gave her. She told him that she will be there quickly and hung up, opening the door for Mateo and buckling him at the front seat. She couldn't leave Mateo all alone in the mansion so she had to take him.

   "Please let him be okay," Adriana whispered to herself as she pulled out of the garage and headed out.

  She managed to find the hairdresser he said he was at, frowning deeply when she saw a man sitting on the floor beside the closed shop. Her jaw dropped when she recognized the man's long, chocolate hair and printed Gucci t-shirt. Adriana halted the car right next to the pavement, instructing Mateo to stay inside as she quickly scrambled out of the car. Her heart dropped to her stomach when she approached her boyfriend who was sat with his back against the window of the hairdresser, face bruised terribly with a little blood trickling down his forehead.

   "Harry," she gasped in shock, dropping to her knees next to him, hands reaching out to grab his. "Harry, what the fuck happened? Who did this to you?"

   "Adriana," he responded weakly with a groan, eyes fluttering open slowly before he looked at her. "Take me home, please, baby."

   "Home? The hospital-"

   "It's not that bad, just a few bruises," Harry cut her off. "Please I just wanna go home."

   "O-Okay," she nodded in response, gulping and deciding to save her questions for later.

  She helped Harry up, every groan escaping his lips like a jab at her stomach with a knife as she slowly led him to the car that was parked by the sidewalk. Mateo was sitting inside with Simba clutched to his chest, wide, dark eyes gazing at his sun all hurt and in pain approaching the car. He twisted his head to look when he the backdoor opened and Adriana helped Harry settle into the backseat. Mateo had his eyes trained on Harry, his little heart worrying immensely.

   "Mi sol," Mateo mumbled worriedly, feeling the urge to cry grow by every passing second the more he looked at Harry, all bloody and in pain.

   "Don't look at me, Mateo," Harry murmured uncomfortably, not wanting the boy to see him this way.

   "Baby, sit in your seat properly," Adriana told him, making Mateo turn back and look at her with worried eyes. "Nuestro sol estará bien." Our sun will be fine.

   "Lo prometes?" Mateo mumbled as Adriana started the car and began heading back to the mansion. Promise?

   "Lo prometo."

I promise.

∙❧∙

  Harry was now back in the mansion with Adriana by his side, in the bathroom. She was on the verge of tears now she had gotten a better look at Harry. On the way back she had figured out who exactly did this and that it was her fault this happened to him. She was also worried because Mateo was going to start crying soon enough because Harry was hurt and that hurt Mateo.

   "Adriana," Harry whispered lowly, casting a worried eye at the little boy standing behind them. "Put Mateo to bed, I'll wait here."

   "But," she began to say, but stopped quickly when she turned around and found her son with tear-filled eyes.

  "Mamá, qué le pasa a Harry?" Mateo asked worriedly, running up to her and clinging to her legs. What's wrong with Harry?

  Adriana reached down to carry Mateo, reassuring him that Harry will be fine, hiding the truth about what happened to him. She took him to Harry's bedroom, and tucked him into bed. She assumed that he wasn't going to be able to sleep after he saw Harry in such a state, so she gave him her phone with a few songs from The Lion King playing on YouTube. She quickly headed back to the bathroom where she had left Harry, who was sitting on the counter, leaning back against the mirror with his eyes shut. Adriana felt her heart sting with pain at the sight of him, all bloody and bruised and in pain.

  She felt tears prick her eyes as she walked towards him and pick up the wet rag she had set on the sink top, and brought it up to his face. Harry's eyes flew upon when he felt the wet cloth touch his cheek, and swiping against it gently. There was redness lining a large purple bruise across Harry's right cheekbone, along with another one running along his jaw. There was dried blood staining his lips, with a trail of it running down the side of his mouth to his chin. There was also a trail of dried blood that ran down the side of his forehead, from a small wound that was situated on his head, from when Donnie's men slammed him against the wall.

   "Adriana," Harry rasped softly, once she had all the dried blood cleaned up. "Don't cry, my love."

  Harry's words only acted like a trigger for her tears, and they slowly started trickling down her cheeks. A million thoughts were running through her mind right from when she saw Harry all beat up, to now where she was attending to his injuries. She was infuriated that Donnie broke his promise to her. But at the moment, worry was all she could feel because she was afraid this could be a breaking point for their relationship, or the start of their relationship deteriorating. Right from when she agreed to be in a relationship with him, she was worried that something like this would happen. She knew there would come a time where Harry would get hurt and it would be because of her, and ever since then she had worried that Harry would leave her because of that.

   "It's my fault," she cried softly, making Harry frown and shake his head, taking the rag out of her hands.

   "What? Don't say that," he murmured with a grunt. He slowly pushed himself off the counter, groaning in pain as he did so. His body took more hits than his face, he had a feeling it was covered completely in bruises now.

   "What exactly happened? Who did this to you?" Adriana questioned finally, wanting to confirm her suspicions.

   "I don't know," Harry mumbled tiredly. "The main guy was like tall, with long dark hair, kind of rugged. I didn't see much of the other two guys."

   "Donnie," Adriana muttered bitterly, making Harry frown deeply.

   "You know him?" Harry whispered with narrowed eyes.

   "He's my dealer," Adriana responded, the anxiety inside of her clawing at her throat as she tried to inhale deeply. "He was trying to get me to pay him a thousand dollars. I-I told him I needed more time just yesterday night, and I managed to convince him, because he was threatening to hurt you and-and I couldn't bear that. You w-would leave me a-and-"

   "Adriana, hey," Harry hushed her softly when her rambling got too emotional for her to speak. She started crying again. "I would never leave you, baby, I love you so much," he murmured softly as he cupped her cheeks tenderly.

   "You're hurting, Harry. Now both physically and mentally," she whispered, gazing at him with her big, dark eyes filled with tears. "I-I'm just scared that this thing that happened to you would b-be like adding to our relationship breaking down."

   "You think our relationship is breaking down?" Harry murmured softly with his brows pulled low.

   "I-I dunno, we've been arguing and this happened, they're all signs," she rambled hopelessly, sniffling sadly. 

   "Look, I knew some bad shit was going to happen when I wanted to be with you. There were warning signs everywhere but I ignored them because I really wanted you. I'm not gonna back out of this, Adriana. I know and understand what you mean, a relationship with a drug addict is tough and often times it doesn't work out. But I love you, and that is what's keeping me from leaving. I love you and I want you to be happy," Harry told her firmly, cupping her cheeks to make her gaze back at him.

   "I love you too, Harry," she sniffled a little, feeling a little reassured by his words. She exhaled heavily, blinking away the tears and resting her forehead against his. "God, I'm so sorry this happened to you."

   "It's fine, baby," Harry assured her. "They didn't do that much damage. Just a few bruises is all."

  Harry was trying his best to reassure her because after she had opened up to him today about her abusive past, she wasn't really herself. He was afraid his questioning resurfaced horrible memories that she couldn't really keep down again after explaining them. Now, she was worried about him leaving her because he just got beat up by some drug dealers in order to warn her about her debts. He was just worried it was all stressing her out and that her cravings would start up again. She had been doing well with them until the talk about her childhood came up, and she started getting headaches throughout the day.

  He felt a mixture of emotions about the whole situation of him getting ambushed, such as slight irritation because she could have just asked him for money and none of this would have happened. But he reminded himself of why she was always so reluctant to borrow money from him, and especially for something such as paying debts; he knew she didn't want to get him involved. Unfortunately he was involved now.

   "But they beat you up-" Adriana frowned, wondering why he wasn't mad at her.

   "They could've done much worse, Adriana," Harry tried to remain optimistic. "Come, I think I'll take a shower now and then let's go to bed."

  Adriana made sure the water was cold instead of hot because it would be bad for the bruises, before she helped Harry undress. Harry couldn't stifle the groans that escaped his lips when he stretched his arms over his head, making Adriana's heart fill up with worry again. A small gasp escaped her lips when her eyes landed on his torso, dark eyes scanning the purple and crimson bruises that were all around his ribs and stomach area. It hurt her so much to see Harry injured and in pain like this, even more so since she felt that she was the one who indirectly caused it. Her fingers brushed his warm skin, running gently over the bruised area as she parted her lips to ask him a few questions.

   "How did it happen?" she asked him. "You didn't explain to me what exactly happened."

   "I was walking back home until I was suddenly dragged into an alleyway by two guys. The main guy...Donnie or whatever, said something like "That's funny, that's exactly what we want,' when I offered him money. He ordered the guys to beat me up, threw a couple of punches at me until he ordered them to avoid my face. Then they just resumed with kicking me in the stomach."

   "Oh my god," she whispered sadly, gently resting her hands on his hips. "I'm so-"

   "Don't apologize, it's not your fault, baby, I don't blame you," he spoke firmly, even though they both knew his words didn't hold much value as it was indirectly her fault.

   "Okay," she simply said, knowing that there was no point in apologizing because he was quite adamant on proving her not guilty. "I'm gonna feel around yeah? It's gonna hurt, but tell me where it hurts the most."

  Adriana knew what she was doing when she tried to find any broken ribs. She knew a few things about first aid, something she picked up when she was moving around while she was pregnant with Mateo. Once she felt around Harry's ribs and got no indication of any sharp pains, she concluded that there were no broken ribs, only that they were just bruised.

  She helped Harry into the shower, standing by the side and helping him clean up carefully. Adriana helped him dress up in comfortable clothes and led him into the bedroom where Mateo was lying there with the covers pulled up to his chin, dark eyes wide open because he couldn't sleep. He spotted his mother and her boyfriend walking towards the bed, worry and confusion etching upon his face as he sat up.

   "Hey buddy," Harry forced himself to smile and say, causing the little boy to smile back, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

   "Are you okay, Harry?" Mateo questioned, eyeing the bruises on Harry's face.

  He was very perceptive, and could tell that there was something up with Harry as he was groaning in pain every now and then and covered in bruises. Adriana helped Harry into bed, and pulled the covers up to his chest halfway. She then told Mateo in Spanish to be careful around Harry because his chest and stomach hurts. Mateo listening obediently and simply sat by Harry's side, holding his big hand in his tiny one and patting it, telling Harry he was going to get better soon. The sight warmed Adriana's heart and removed some of that stress and worry she was feeling. She then left to get Harry an ice bag for his bruises, leaving Harry and Mateo alone together.

   "I'm alright, sweetie," Harry reassured him with a sweet smile. "Don't worry your little corazón about me," he said, tapping Mateo's cute little button nose.

   "Okay," Mateo mumbled, before looking up at Harry and frowning. "Tu pelo!" Your hair!

   "What?" Harry mumbled with his eyebrows lowered, before noticing that Mateo was pointing at his newly cut hair. "Oh, do you like it?"

   "Sí!" Mateo nodded with a giggle, reaching up to touch Harry's soft, short locks. "Suave," he commented, wishing his hair was as nice as Harry's. Soft.

   "How's Mamá?" Harry questioned softly. "Was she okay?" Mateo shook his head lightly in response. "Did she have a headache?"

   "Yeah, but it went away when she came back home she said," Mateo explained, making Harry sigh and nod in response. He remembered that he had given Adriana money to give Donnie, which she then went to do in the afternoon.

   "Mamá looks sad today. Is she still angry with me, Harry? Because-Because I said sorry, and-and that I love Mamá."

   "Aw, Mateo. Mamá isn't angry at you at all," Harry told him firmly. "Your Mamá loves you so so much. I do too."

   "You love me too?" Mateo widened his eyes a little, tiny heart soaring in his chest.

   "Of course," Harry chuckled a little. "Who wouldn't love a sweet, handsome boy like you?"

   "Yo tambien te quiero," Mateo exclaimed with a bright grin, trying to reach over to kiss Harry's cheek. He very carefully pecked Harry's cheek, avoiding the bruise and grinned at him. "Te amo, mi sol." I love you too. I love you my sun.

   "Te amo, Mateo," Harry whispered to him with a warm heart, filled with love.

  Harry knew it's only been a couple of weeks since he was properly introduced to Mateo, but he couldn't help but love the kid. He was so sweet and pure, it hurt Harry's heart that his mother was suffering and his father was nowhere to be seen. He understood why Mateo got attached to him quickly and even said I love you too. It was because Mateo saw Harry as a father figure, and pretty much pretended Harry was his father. Mateo truly loved Harry, and hoped that he would stay with him and his mother forever.

  Adriana returned to the room just in time to hear Mateo telling Harry he loved him, and felt her heart burst in her chest. She walked into the room with a smile drawling on her lips, sauntering over to her two favorite boys whom had stopped talking with their eyes on her. Adriana sat by Harry's side and began applying the ice bag to his bruises, handing him another one for his face. While icing the bruises, all three of them conversed like a family would, and they did look like a family for minute.

  But that was all it was ever going to be. Just an illusion of a family. The reality of one was still questionable.

∙❧∙

   "Tu ves guapa, Mamá."

  Adriana turned around to look down at Mateo who smiled up at her, hugging his Simba toy to his chest. She was momentarily distracted by the sight of the toy; remembering her own one from when she was little. The one Mateo had was an exact replica of her one. She quickly pushed those thoughts away, refusing to go down the road where she was reminiscing her childhood memories. She grinned at her sweet boy, carefully bending down in her dress and picking Mateo up.

   "Gracias, cariño," she cooed, before she told him she loved him and then set him down again. "Go get your bag."

  Adriana was currently all dressed up for Harry's sister's birthday bash, and was waiting for Harry to pick her up. Harry refused to miss his sister's birthday, and said that he didn't care if people would notice the bruises on his face. He wanted to attend the birthday bash and sing for his sister, and bring Adriana along. He made sure to get a lot of rest during the day, and ice his bruises.

  He also wanted to go because he wanted Adriana to enjoy the night, he felt that she was still upset over what had happened to him, as well as the reminiscing of her past, which she had tried hard to hide away in her mind. He just wanted to do everything he could to distract her from the cocaine cravings so that he figure out a better plan to stop her addiction.

  However, it was no use. As soon as he had Smithers drop Adriana home to get dressed, Adriana had pulled out a small stash of cocaine she got from Donnie when she paid him back the money. Harry had given her a little extra money to give to Donnie to keep him away and stop him from hurting her and the people she loved. But Adriana had used that extra money to buy more cocaine.

  She managed to force herself to do one line only, and then emptied the stash down the toilet. She tried not to regret doing that because the cravings were emerging once again. She knew that after tonight, perhaps tomorrow morning, they're gonna hit her like a truck and she'll have no choice but to succumb to that endless cycle of doing the cocaine and suffering from the cravings and effects of it.

   "Is your backpack all packed, baby?" she questioned when Mateo sauntered into her room with his cute frog shaped backpack on his back.

   "Sí," Mateo said, before walking up to his mother. "Is Harry coming?"

   "Yes but we're going out," she told him as she pulled on a simple necklace with a small diamond pendent. A gift from Iris and Hadiya.

   "I wanna come," Mateo pouted a little.

   "No puedes, cariño. It's a party for the grown-ups," Adriana told him with a sympathetic expression, knowing that he liked to spend time with both her and Harry together. She felt that Mateo liked it because he felt like they were a family, something he desired a lot. You can't.

   "But I-But I come with you and Harry," Mateo mumbled sadly.

   "Tomorrow, Harry will stay here and we can all together all day long, how's that?" she told him with a smile, making him nod in response with a bright grin.  "You really love, Harry, huh?"

   "Sí! Mucho!" Mateo exclaimed with a giggle. "Yo también te quiero, Mamá"

   "Aw, te amo mi estrella," she cooed adoringly, pinching his cheek playfully before their moment was interrupted when the doorbell rang. "That must be Harry."

   "Yo abro la puerta, Mamá," Mateo offered and was quickly out of the room before she could even say anything. She chuckled lightly under her breath, before moving to slip her shoes on. I'll get the door Mamá.

  She heard the door opening and Mateo's excited rambling, along with Harry's deep, raspy voice. She inhaled deeply, looking at the mirror one last time to see if it was obvious that she had done cocaine. She told herself she would tell him, but she wanted to do it tomorrow. She wanted Harry to enjoy tonight, and she didn't want to disappoint and upset him by telling him she did cocaine again. Her thoughts dissipated in her mind when she heard Harry call out from outside of her bedroom.

   "Baby? You ready?" Harry questioned, walking into the room before he halted by the doorway when he saw Adriana. "Oh my God."

   "What?" she questioned with a slight frown, noticing that he was gazing at her with wide, green eyes.

  Harry was just in awe due to the sight of Adriana looking so gorgeous in a floor-length emerald green dress, with a deep v neckline and a thigh slit on the left side. Harry had never really seen her in a dress before, and was therefore rendered speechless just by the sight of her. Adriana smirked in amusement, also in love with how handsome Harry looked, dressed in a black Gucci suit with dragon detailings, short curls pushed back. Holding her dress in her hands, she walked towards Harry who still hadn't said anything in response.

   "Tu ves bien, papi," Adriana murmured into his ear teasingly, arms sliding around his shoulders. He exhaled shakily, already turned on by her speaking in Spanish and calling him Papi. You look good Papi

   "Y tut e ves preciosa, mi amor," Harry returned with a smirk, watching Adriana part her lips in slight surprise. "Yeah, I've been practicing," he said cockily, with a cheeky grin. And you look beautiful, my love.

   "How sweet," Adriana commented with a grin, pecking his lips gently. When she pulled back, her eyes were drawn to the bruises on his face, causing a sad expression to etch onto her face.

  She pulled her hand up to stroke his cheek, delicate, soft, fingertips running along the bruised skin of his cheekbone. The bruise was still visible, but smaller now after the long hours of icing them yesterday night and throughout today. Harry had taken some painkillers to numb the pain for the night, and spent the whole morning and afternoon icing his bruises and keeping his body elevated so that the color of them would lessen along with the pain. He sighed lightly, reaching up to take Adriana's hand that was touching his cheek, and bringing her knuckles to his lips, kissing them gently.

   "Do you want something to cover them up?" she murmured in questioning, suggesting to cover his bruises up with a bit of make up.

   "No, it's fine," Harry shook his idea, not really liking the idea of putting make up on himself.

   "But people will ask how you them, Harry," Adriana frowned. "Your sister will ask."

   "I'll make something up," he told her with a shake of his head. "We should go now, Smithers is waiting downstairs for us."

   "Right," she nodded in response, turning around to grab her clutch that sat on top of her dresser. "Let's go."

  They dropped Mateo off at Jazmín's place before heading down to the Rolls Royce Smithers was waiting in. On the way, Harry pondered deeply in silence, thinking in particularly about Adriana. He wanted her to enjoy tonight, and relieve some stress.

  But Harry had done cocaine again and was stressing out a little. Adriana was so desperate for cocaine she didn't even feel guilty for using Harry's money like that. She was at a point where she felt like she could die if she didn't have some. A part of Adriana knew she was going to add tension to their relationship when she bought the cocaine. But all she wanted to do was to forget: to forget and feel unnaturally good while doing it. She couldn't help it. We all get addicted to something that takes away the pain, and unfortunately for Adriana, it wasn't her son nor her boyfriend. It was the cocaine.

   "Adriana," Harry murmured after they had spent almost 15 minutes in silence, busy with their own thoughts.

   "Yeah?" Adriana mumbled, looking away from the window she was gazing out of.

   "How're you feeling?" Harry asked, reaching for her hand to hold, running his thumb over her knuckles. She immediately knew he was referring to the cravings.

   "Okay," she lied, and it felt like a stab in the gut. Her cravings hit her hard today, and she satisfied them as soon as she got home. But she didn't want to tell Harry that. She didn't want to ruin his night.

   "Yeah? The cravings didn't come up today?" Harry continued to ask, and Adriana found herself wishing she didn't have this conversation.

   "They were there," she said so that she was at least telling the truth about something. "But I tried not to pay attention to them."

  "That's good to hear," Harry found himself smiling widely, lifting her hand up to press a kiss of her knuckles. "You're making progress, and I'm proud of you."

  "Harry," she mumbled modestly, but on the inside she felt guilty now. She didn't feel guilty when she did it, but lying to him like this made her gut wrench with guilt.

   "I'm serious, we're getting somewhere, Adriana," Harry insisted, shifting to sit closer to her. "At least we're now on the road to sobriety."

   "Yeah," she simply said in response, refusing to say anything else that would add fuel to the guilt churning in her stomach.

   "Let's just let loose and enjoy tonight, yeah?" Harry suggested with a smile full of adoration, reaching up to cup Adriana's cheek, thumb stroking her cheekbone. "I want you to have a good time."

   "I will, Harry, I always do with you," she told him, returning his smile but it didn't meet her eyes, and he didn't notice.

   "I love you, Adriana," Harry whispered to her, the few special words making Adriana's heart tighten in her chest.

   "I love you, Harry," Adriana murmured back, her voice raw with honesty and desperation.

  She loved him so much, and she was afraid she would lose him if she kept fucking up and doing cocaine behind his back. That was the thing about drug addiction. The fact that it was a disease that makes one so selfish, they just stand there and watch while the ones they love shatter to pieces around them.

∙❧∙

   "I'm going to start this performance off with a joke!"

   "Harry, don't you dare!" Gemma yelled out from beside Adriana, making Adriana laugh softly, leaning back in her chair with her eyes on her beloved boyfriend.

  It was around midnight when Harry was called up to perform for Gemma: a nice end to her birthday bash. Adriana tried to enjoy the night like Harry suggested, but she found it a little hard because she wasn't exactly fitting in with the people there. She only knew Harry and his friend Niall, everyone else were strangers to her. Strangers from a higher class than her, with their designer suits and gowns, and complex conversations Adriana couldn't find herself engaged in. She wanted to stick by Harry's side, but it was hard because he was pretty much bouncing around all over the place saying hi to everyone and shaking their hands. He was a social butterfly.

  Luckily for her, Niall offered to keep her company, after Harry gave him several warnings to behave himself. Niall immediately noticed that Adriana's pupils were dilated, and was able to come to the conclusion that she had done cocaine. Niall pointed it out to her, and Adriana immediately panicked. Niall had then pretty much ranted at her a bit about hurting Harry.

  But then he noticed that she was stressing out and that wasn't good for her, he tone his ranting down and instead told her that Harry wouldn't leave her. Niall told her that he can see how much love she had for Adriana, and he would never leave her suffering the way she was. Niall told Adriana that when Harry loves someone, he loves that person with every fiber of his body and he never stops loving. He also gave a mini motivational speech to help her keep going with stopping the addiction, but it didn't really work for her because she's heard it all before.

   "No one wants to hear your damn jokes, peach! Sing already!" Niall called out loudly, breaking into her thoughts.

They were now currently sat outside of Gemma's humongous mansion, inside the garden where a small stage was set up with lots of round tables situated in front of it. There were around 100 people sitting, all friends and family of Gemma's. Adriana's first impression of Gemma was that she was very sweet. She was relieved Harry's parents weren't here otherwise she'd have another thing to stress about. Gemma made Adriana feel very welcome and that she was enjoying the party. Adriana appreciated her efforts, but it only worked a little as her mind was now busy with Niall's words.

  But her mind was soon cleared up as Harry stopped rambling about how no one appreciates his jokes, and started performing the first song. Sign of the Times. Adriana was excited for this one. She was anticipating, and looking forward to hear the song ever since he sang a small snippet of it to her months ago. It started off with strong, piano chords playing for a few seconds, before Harry began singing beautifully, stealing everyone's attention as soon as his heart-shaped lips parted.

  Adriana felt all of her worries and doubts dissipate as soon as she heard him singing, chin sitting in the palm of her hand, dark eyes completely enthralled by him. There he stood on the stage with his ring-clad fingers wrapped around the microphone, so completely engaged with his singing, eyes closed with a crease on his forehead. Adriana was proud to say that that was her man standing up there singing his heart out, looking incredibly handsome dressed in a black Gucci suit with dragon embellishments on the pants. She always admired his ability to sing. She loved that he was able to grab every single people's attention and silence them all. He was truly born to be a star.

  Her eyes fluttered shut as she felt the music resonate through her ears, the lyrics striking her heart.

Just stop your crying, it'll be alright

They told me that the end is near

We gotta get away from here

  She didn't know why but she felt like the lyrics hit her hard. She was suddenly reminded of the one time her father was kind to her. He wasn't drunk like he normally was, he was high. At the time, Adriana didn't know what the drug was, but she found it incredibly odd her father was being nice to her, or just not cruel. He was telling Adriana about her mother, and what a beauty she was. He told her that her mother had a tough time giving birth to Adriana, and when Adriana was born into this world, the doctor told her mother she only had a few minutes before she passes away.

  "Your Maman was too busy talking to you to say goodbye to me," her father said bitterly, while Adriana laid in bed, listening attentively.

   "She kept telling you to stop your crying and that it'll be alright. She said she'll meet you again somewhere far away from here."

  Adriana felt her heart beating hard against her ribcage as flashbacks from her past shone in front of her eyes. Harry's eyes were on Adriana when he sang, and he could almost sense that something was wrong with her.

  Remember everything will be alright

  They told me that the end is near

  We gotta get away from here

  Adriana was overwhelmed with how her mother's words ended up in Harry's song, and how much of a coincidence it was. She was overwhelmed by how much she related to the song, and how her relationship with Harry also related to it.

  We don't talk enough, we should open up

Before it's all too much

  The crowd cheering interrupted Adriana's thoughts as the music blared loudly in her ears, along with Harry's riveting voice resonating through the crowd. When he ended the song, the whole crowd stood up to applaud him, including Adriana. She didn't even realize there were tears on her cheeks, which had leaked out while she watched him perform. Harry thanked everyone humbly; smiling widely with his hands behind his back, dimple dipping into his cheek. He made eye contact with Adriana, pulling his hands out to send kisses to the crowd, mostly directing them at his girl in his mind, before he proceeded with the next song.

   "So Gemma and I are big fans of Fleetwood Mac. This is a cover of Gemma's favorite song by them, The Chain."

  Once again, Adriana felt the lyrics were relatable. This night, which she had hoped she would enjoy, had turned unnecessarily stressful for her mind as she thought too much about everything. Harry's song had brought back memories of her father, Niall's rant stressed her out a lot even though he tried to reassure her at the end, and lastly she couldn't deal with the guilt of doing cocaine behind Harry's back and using his money to buy it. Her mind was chaotic with thoughts about all of these things, and all she wanted to do was to forget.

  She could even sense her demons noticing her internal breakdown, ready to prey on her. But she just tried to focus on Harry, but it was hard when he was singing a song about the bond of a relationship, going and never-ending. She hoped their relationship would be like that, but she knew that if she kept fucking up, if she kept doing drugs behind his back and if she kept hurting him while doing so: she would ultimately be the one breaking the chain.

And if you don't love me now

You will never love me again

I can still hear you saying you would never break the chain.

≫≫≫

∙ that chapter was stressful for me to write with all the foreshadowing lmao. What do you guys think?

∙ once again I apologize for making Mateo seem like he's older than he is, he's almost four but yeah. I have no idea how like three year olds act, and like I didn't want to make him like 7 or something cuz the age and stuff doesn't correspond with the plot and Adriana's age idk how to explain it lmao.

∙ on a level from 1-10 how sad is this book making you feel?

Because it's only gonna get worse (and u already know that hehe). I warned y'all LOL.

Until we meet again...

t.m.