The Takeover {Larry Stylinson}

Harry's POV

I knew I told Louis that I would leave, and I would, just not that soon. I would leave the office in an hour, but I would not leave Doncaster for at least another week, and all my staff, except Louis, knew that. I decided that I would keep a check over the functioning of Riveria for a week, and then I would head to London in search of another potential takeover.

After I told Louis that I would hand over the responsibilities to him, I started packing my stuff. Once I was done with that, I started going through the statistics one last time, and I was impressed with how Louis was managing everything. I knew I could trust him when when I decided to promote him to the post of a manager.

I just hoped that he would be able to take care of it on his own since I would not be around, but I knew Paul would be around. Paul would help him, he was a good man.

In these months, I had gotten quite attached with the staff here. They were very friendly and treated me as a friend, rather than an employer, and while I knew this was very unprofessional, I rather have my staff treat me as a friend than have them hate me. But knowing my luck, the employee I cared about the most now hated me because I turned into a monster under the influence of alcohol. I should have stayed away from Louis in the first place. It was no secret that my luck in terms of love was bad, really bad. I had been in love before but the guy I fell for was straight, and once he got to know about my feelings for him, all hell broke loose.

He decided that I was disgusting and trash, and so he treated me that way. Going home with bruises was becoming more and more common. Sometimes, a good beating was paired with a couple broken ribs, or broken nose. In a nutshell, he hated me. And he made sure I started hating myself.

I felt something wet fall over my cheeks. It was only then that I realised that I had started crying.

I quickly wiped my tears and continued packing my stuff.

After roughly 10 minutes, I felt as if someone ran into my office. Upon looking up, I saw Louis there. I wondered what he was doing here, then I figured he might have something to ask.

"Ah, Louis. Are you having some doubts regarding the documents I gave you?" I tried to keep a straight face, although all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry, wondering how could I ever hurt such an angel.

He opened his mouth to say something, but the only sound coming out of his mouth was

"Uh...", as he looked into my eyes. And I felt myself getting lost into his eyes.

"Umm Louis? Are you okay? What is it?" My voice couldn't mask the concern, no matter how hard I tried.

He looked at the ground and shook his head a bit, as if clearing his head of something. He started to mumble something, but I couldn't decipher what. My worry was growing by the second. I just hoped he was fine.

"Louis?" I interrupted his train of thought, and then he looked up, his eyes shining with a determination.

"I-I need you to be patient and listen me out completely before you say anything, okay?" I nodded, unsure where he was going with this.

"I know that you are planning to leave today, but I don't want you to go." My eyebrows raised in surprise and confusion. As I opened my mouth to say something, he interrupted me.

"Please, I will explain everything, but do not interrupt." I nodded my head again. "Harry, I do not want you to go, not on the account of what happened at the party. I am not gonna lie and say that I wasn't hurt by your actions, Harry, but I know you didn't know what you were doing and it was the alcohol. You have been a really good friend to me all this time, and I have realized that I am very comfortable in confiding in you. Yes, it is beyond the code of conduct as a boss and an employee, but I would like to think of you as my friend first and then my employer. Although I have Liam, Zayn, and Niall there for me, I have known them for so long that I know exactly what they think and what they will say, many a times they say what they think I want to hear just so I won't breakdown. But you Harry, you always say what you think, you don't worry about what I want to hear, you tell me what I need to hear. My friends are a great support system, and I never want to lose them, but it is refreshing to be with you because you often make me look at things in a different light, you challenge my opinions and I like that. But through all that, you still manage to never come off as rude. And through these months, I... I..." He paused to take a breath. After a while, when he was still quite, I decided to ask.

"You what, Lou?"

He looked straight into my eyes and said something that I could only dream of, not even that
anymore, actually.

"I have started to fall in love with you."

I felt my breath stop. It sounded like music to my ears, and I could feel myself tear up. It couldn't be. Louis confessed that he was starting to fall for me.

Without knowing anything anymore, I started to lean forward. Before I knew it, our lips touched.

And I felt at peace.

The kiss made me feel content, like it was the only thing which was missing from making my life complete. If I died just then, I would die a happy man.

I pulled back when we were both breathless, and Louis' face was gleaming and I am pretty sure, it mirrored mine. After a long time, I felt genuinely happy and content.

Notes