petrarch | h.s.

011

"SCUSI." Harry taps the guy he passed by on the shoulder and thankfully, he turns around to face a dark-shades-wearing stranger. "D'you know where this is?"

Considering the guy might have not understand English because he narrows his eyebrows to him, he shows the writing on the note to him.

"Pescheria i Masenini Trattoria..." The guy reads the note aloud and looks around for a while. Harry waited until he receives directions from the passers by. It was in Italian so he didn't understand but luckily, he use his finger to point to a place and he saw the restaurant.

He looks back at him and curtly nodded. "Grazie mille."

And off he goes to the restaurant. Upon walking, he continues to wonder why did she ask for him to go to this restaurant. He opens the door and the green eyes covered by shades started searching for the familiar brown eyes. The human Gucci who's wearing a pink button up and black trousers finds a lady wearing a white top with puff or similar to Filipiniana sleeves and denim jeans. She waves her hand for him to notice then he approaches her table, she stands up to greet him.

"Hi." She greets him with a shy smile.

He politely smiles back and walks closer to her. "Hey."

He holds her waist and kisses her cheek, taking her aback. Her eyes widen and she gulps but when he leans away from her, she smiles at him like nothing happened. She points to the seat across him and both of them decided to sit.

"I already ordered." She starts and leans closer to him. "I hope you don't mind seafood."

"Not at all, s'alright."

"I could order something else. They offer gluten free options here..."

"S'really a'ight, Vee." The nickname makes her pause but nods right after. He notices it and pointed out about it. "Sorry, forgot fo' a while that ya don't wanna be called that anymore."

"No, no!" She shakes her head. "I don't mind you calling me that at all! It's just that... It's been a while since someone called me that."

"Why d'you change it, anyway? If ya don't mind me askin'."

"I have to hide my identity." She shies. "From you, I guess."

He was surprised by that comment of hers but clears his throat so she wouldn't notice. "Oh."

"But originally, from my father." She adds that made him look at her with worry.

"Ya mean..." He drags but she nods her head, completely aware to herself that he knows what she's taking about. He was about to ask more questions from it when she speaks.

"I actually ask you to come here for some reason." She starts and he nods for her to continue. "I want to talk about what happened a few nights ago..."

He narrows his brows once again.

That? What for? Don't tell me she regrets it. Why do I always act impulsive whenever I meet her for the first time?

"It was... Wrong. We shouldn't have done that. You're dating my friend."

She explains and although he knows and understands what she's saying, he still can't help himself to feel down.

"If you're going to continue to date her, let's keep it civil between us perhaps. I mean, you only did it as like uh..."

"As what?" Harry cuts her. "What d'you prefer of callin' that?"

She swallows a big lump in her throat while staring directly into his eyes, not having enough courage to look away.

"As a payment to me two-year debt t'ya, innit?"

"Regardless, I know you haven't told her about that so please, let me tell her at the right time."

"Y'know, I thought wrong. Some things really don't change."

She raises her eyebrow with that statement of his. "What do you mean?"

"Ya said we'd talk. Yet you're the only one who spoke and I just listened..." He remarks and that made her slightly parted lips closed. "Well, seems like you've decided and I can't change anythin' 'bout it, yeah?"

Silence. Him letting her remember that moment they're supposed to talk about an issue and eventually, it rained. She slightly shakes her head to snap back to reality. He smirks but speaks up again when he listened back to what she said to him.

He raises his brow. "How d'you know I 'aven't told her anythin'?"

"Because I would've been homeless right now if you did." She chuckles but he didn't find it funny.

He didn't like that she doesn't have her own home and just depending on someone to put a roof above her head.

She's been here for a while, she should be looking for somewhere of her own, right? He thinks.

"And also, I know you wouldn't tell her without my permission."

"D'you really have to tell 'er?"

"Eventually, yes. It's not like I can keep this to ourselves."

"D'you tell 'er everythin'?" He asks with squinting eyes, trying to catch her even though he already know the answer.

"Why do you ask?" She tilts her head a bit.

"Cause I wanna know if she insisted a date without the knowledge that we had history..." He answers, making her widen her eyes. He smirks when he saw her reaction but purses his lips right after. "Or she did knew but just didn't care 'bout it."

"It's not like that..." She defends.

"Oh, so she knows?" He knows she didn't tell Flor. She's not the type to tell her stories unless if she truly trusts a person for the fear that she might be misjudged by it and if Flor does know, she would've reacted differently when she met him.

"Well, I---" She pauses to find the proper words to say. "I did but I changed your name."

He smirks at what she said. He guesses she still knows him. She understood that his personal life should be private. In her defense though, she planned to tell Flor the truth, him being her ex boyfriend. But she would have never believe and will only laugh at her if she told her that Harry Styles is her first boyfriend. They stared for a while after that. Him with tease in his eyes while her with questioning eyes. He was about to speak up again when the waiter serves their dishes.

Buongiorno, Starr." The waiter greets her and it was Harry's turn to widen his eyes.

She just smiles at the waiter and curtly nodded. After that, she thanks him. "Grazie."

"Prego." He replies and leaves.

It was just the two of them and when she looks up to him, she notices the narrowed eyebrows plastered on his face.

"Cosa?" She asks, catching his attention. "Something's wrong? Don't you like the food? We could change it."

"Did he just called ya..." He clears his throat then shifts on his seat. "Star?"

a/n:

It might be weird reading this because this is all pre-COVID but after a few chapters, there are going to be post-COVID chapters