Liam

Over the next days, their lives got back to normal (more or less). Miley was in the final steps of producing her new album, which was supposed to hit the markets on the 1st of June. The 2 singles she performed at the Ellen Show had been available on I-Tunes (and similar platforms) for 2 days now, and the videos had been published on YouTube. It was already foreseeable that Malibu would become Miley's most successful single until now. While Younger Now started as number 26 in the Billboard Charts, Malibu made it straight to the second position on the first day, while the video received more than 20 million views during the first 2 days. It was foremost the American people that developed a huge interest in the young couple. Due to his NBA career, Hans was some sort of everybody's darling, and people loved him also because of such appearances like he had on The Ellen Show. He always seemed to be in a good mood, was always up for some fun, down to earth and he loved to interact with the fans. Miley on the other hand used to be a teen idol for millions of kids since Hannah Montana, but shared the faith of many child stars and got drawn into the sex, drugs and party life-style. Just when everybody thought that she was about to ruin her career, she met Hans and found back to her old self, which was a story that people just loved. She still wasn't the perfect person that Disney loves to make people believe about its young stars, but it seemed like she got back to this energetic, happy and bright person she used to be, mixed with some seriousness and melancholia that she lacked back in the time. This was represented in her new album, and it seemed like this was exactly what her fans were hoping for.

Over the next days, Hans had an enormous workload at his company. Most of the negotiations were held by his managers, but the actors also wanted to talk to him before signing anything. He didn't mind this at all, because he preferred to meet them in person anyway before they started a new project, at least when it came to the important ones, and Suicide Squad was definitely one of the biggest till now. At the end of the day, it was his own money that he put on the line. He had just finished a meeting with Shia Laboeuf, and he was still heavily doubting that the young actor was the right choice for the role of Hawk-Eye. He couldn't really say why, he just knew that it somehow didn't feel right, but Michael Bay insisted on this one, so the young actor had signed his contract just a couple of minutes ago. This meant that the recruiting process was over, the rest of the preparations would take another 2 weeks, and they would start shooting the first scenes in the Hollywood Studios in about 3 weeks, if everything went according to the plan.

Before heading back home, he sat down in his office for a couple of minutes and logged in to the internet. And of course, like it couldn't be anyway else, he found a new blog entry from their special friend, Perez Hilton:

"Hello my dear Perezians, I hope everyone of you is just doing amazing. Today, I have to dedicate my time to a pretty unpleasant subject again: Miley Cyrus and Jerome Hansen. After threatening me with physical violence and abuse at The Ellen Show, I'm telling Hans right here and right now, with a lot of satisfaction: I told you so. Miley only used you to present her new single in the most dramatic fashion possible, and just like she planned, Malibu opened up in the Top 3 of the Billboard Charts. Face it, my dear former basketball star, you have only been a means to an end. My prediction is that Miley will go through a very emotional and very public break up, latest next month, and after that, enjoy her new positive image for a while before going back to being the bitch we all know. Mark my words, love, Perez."

Well, this started to become boring and predicable, and a lot of people seemed to think the same way, because the echo of the internet was pretty disappointing, at least for Perez Hilton, and the support from his famous friends was almost non-existent, mostly due to the fact because Miley's popularity was probably at an all-time high and her fans had become pretty protective of her. Hans on the other side had become one of the most powerful people in Hollywood by being the CEO of one of (if not the) biggest production companies.

But there was one reaction to this blog entry that caught his attention. It was only one short sentence: PerezHilton, just shut the fuck up.

Hans wasn't surprised by the choice of words (in fact, he totally agreed with the statement), but the identity of the poster caught him off guard. It was Miley's ex-fiancé, Liam Hemsworth.

For a couple of minutes, he was trying to figure out what this could mean. Was he just trying to defend her, because they were together for more or less 8 years and he still cared about her? But why only now, after the third article? Or was he trying, now that Miley was Americas Sweetheart again, to win her back? He couldn't really point out why, but he had a strange feeling when he was driving back home.

He arrived almost at the same time than Miley, who had started to bring one or two of her dogs with her. In the beginning, she didn't know if Hans was bothered by that, but he loved dogs, he just never got one of his own because he didn't want it to be home alone for the majority of the day. That's why he became over the last years one of the biggest sponsors of the dog rescuing organization Hope for Paws. Right now, he was just excited to have these little furry creatures running around in his house.

Today, Miley had brought her absolute favorite (although she always claimed that she loved her dogs all the same), Floyd. Floyd was a young Husky and Hans never really understood the reasoning of getting a Husky in California, but it seemed like the dog had no problems at all with the warm climate.

Since Miley had a pretty exhausting day and wanted to take a shower right away, the puppy was left under Hans supervision. Just when he managed to calm Floyd down and got him to lie on the couch, the alarm went off that someone was outside at the gate. Hans, who didn't expect a visitor, went to the intercom and asked who it was.

"Liam"

"Liam? Like Liam Hemsworth?"

„In person. Can I come in? Miley's father told me that she would probably be here, and I really have to talk to her"

"Alright" Hans would have preferred to not let him in, but that wasn't his decision. If Miley didn't want to talk to him though, he would gladly throw him back out in the streets again.

A couple of minutes later, Liam stood in the kitchen and looked curiously around.

"You have a pretty humble lifestyle for a billionaire"

"I take that as a compliment, but let's cut the small talk. Why do you want to talk to Miley?"

"Look, I understand that you're not exactly thrilled to see me, and I really appreciate the fact that you let me in. To answer your question, I think I owe Miley a huge apology, and it's about time that I man up and get that out of the way."

"Ok. If you don't mind, you can wait outside at the pool, she's still in the shower. If it would be my decision, I probably wouldn't have opened the door. But as soon as she's coming down, I'll tell her that you're here"

Liam nodded his head and took place outside at the table next to the pool. Hans still didn't fully trust his story, but it looked like Liam was honest about his motifs. Well, before he started to worry, he would have to see how Miley reacted to her ex-fiancé showing up.

5 minutes later, she came back into the kitchen and went straight to Hans, who was taking care of Floyd again:

"Hey, I'm sorry I didn't really say hi before, but I had such an exhausting day, I just needed a little relaxation."

"Oh, don't worry. There's just something you might want to know…you have a visitor waiting for you at the pool outside."

"A visitor? Who is it?"

"Liam"

"Liam? What the hell is he doing here? And how did he get in?"

"Well, he used the intercom at the gate, I opened the door and he came in…but seriously, I have no idea what he's doing here. All he said was that he really needs to talk to you and that he owes you an apology, and I thought it's your decision whether you want to hear it or not. If yes, go and talk to him, if not…then I'll show him the door in case he forgot where he came in"

"Since he's already here, I'll go and listen to what he has to say"

"Alright. I'll stay here in case you need me."

"I know" Miley replied, and looked him thankfully in the eyes, before she took a deep breath and went outside.

Meanwhile, Liam was sitting at the pool table and was convinced that Miley didn't want to talk to him and he thought by himself what a stupid idea this was. Just when he was about to leave, the door opened and his ex-girlfriend came out. It was somewhat awkward to see her again after everything that had happened, but he was glad that she gave him the opportunity to explain himself. He got up from the chair and said:

"Hey, thanks for coming out"

"I can't really see much use in this, but since you came all the way over from Malibu…you're still living in Malibu I suppose?"

„Still living in Malibu, yes. How are you Miley? From what I saw in the media, you seem to really enjoy your new life."

"What can I say Liam. It took me a long time, but I'm finally over you. And I would say, I'm at a very happy place right now"

"I'm really glad to hear that. Listen Miley, I don't know how to say this, so I just go ahead. I'm terribly sorry about the way I treated you. I know it's no excuse, but we were both still so young. Every time we were together, my management told me how I had to behave, what to say, what to wear. I just wasn't mature enough to stand up against them and treat you the way that you deserved, and all I can do now is to tell you how sorry I am and that I hope that one day, you'll be able to forgive me. I know I don't deserve it, but I just had to tell you"

As Miley didn't answer right away, Liam got up, ready to leave. He didn't actually expect her to accept his apology, but he still felt a slight disappointment. He gently touched her shoulder as he was passing her to leave, when Miley suddenly showed a reaction after all:

"Liam, wait. Come back"

Surprised and curious, he went back and sat down next to Miley.

"I can't say when it happened, but I think at some point over the last days, I have already forgiven you. The only question I want you to answer me is, why? Why did it have to be on my birthday?"

„I have no idea. I felt kind of trapped in this relationship, and I just didn't have the guts to change something about it. I had way too much alcohol that night, and I think that a part of me wanted to get caught. I didn't have the courage to end it, and this seemed to be the only possibility to force you to take the initiative. You're an amazing girl Miley, and you deserve every bit of luck you're having right now, and all I can hope for is, that we can be friends again, or at least not hate each other anymore."

"Oh Liam. Honestly, I'm glad you came. Like I said, I think I already forgave you. But why now? That's probably the last thing I expected today"

"The thing is, I am in a new relationship for about a week now, and this time, I won't let anybody dictate what I have to do. That might be something I learned from your boyfriend. And let me say, because of my new girlfriend, and the way we lead our relationship, I realized how wrong I was and how much I must have hurt you, and I am so sorry for that."

"You have a new girlfriend? I'm so happy for you, and I'm pretty sure there's someone waiting inside who will be happy about that too. I think he's a bit afraid that you're here because you want me back" Miley said with a smile.

"Haha, no way, I mean, this guy didn't even hold back against Shaq, I have absolutely no intention of making him mad"

"Well, at least that's the official version, but apparently, the referees just didn't react as quickly as he thought they would."

"That definitely sounds plausible. Anyway, I'm really happy you listened to me and accepted my apology. But I think I'll leave you to your boyfriend now, I don't want to ruin your whole evening"

"I really appreciate that you came by. I can't promise you that we'll be friends again, at least not right away. But like I said, I made my peace with our past, and we'll see about the rest"

"Thank you Miley" Liam said as he turned around to leave.

"Come on now big boy, you really think you can just leave like that? I think I deserve at least a little hug"

"Haha, of course you do" He went back to Miley and gave her a big hug:

"Take care Miley"

"You too Liam. And thank you"

Hans was looking suspiciously at the young Australian as he came back into the kitchen:

"So, you figured everything out?"

"Indeed. And thanks again for letting me in"

"You're welcome. Although I still don't understand what this is about"

"Right, Miley told me that you might get this the wrong way. The thing is, I'm in a relationship again for a bit more than a week now and I couldn't be happier. But it also made me realize how bad I treated Miley, and I just wanted her to know. And the fact that she accepted my apology is something that I really hoped for but didn't expect. But I really don't want to bother you any longer, so thanks again"

Liam reached out with his hand, and Hans shook it after hesitating for a second. And just as Miley's ex-fiancé had turned around, he got called back for the second time tonight:

"Listen, you really seem to be a nice guy, and honestly, it takes a lot admit that you were wrong and apologize for it. Just make sure you don't mess it up again this time" Hans said with a grin.

"I'll do my best. And could you do me a favor?"

"I don't think we're already that far, but tell me"

"Take good care of Miley. She deserves all the luck in this world"

"Don't worry, as long as she wants me in her life, that will always be my first priority"

"Good to hear. And who knows, maybe we'll meet again in the near future"

The only thing that Hans could think was that this Australian bastard really seemed to be a likeable guy.

He went outside with a smile on his face, and found Miley sitting in her new favorite spot on the bench, staring at the LA skyline.

"Are you ok?"

She hadn't heard him approach her, and she smiled at him as she turned around:

"Hey. Come, sit down with me"

As soon as Hans sat down on the bench, she snuggled herself into his arms, looked back at the city beneath them and asked:

"Can you imagine sitting here, 50 years from now, and still enjoy this view together?"

"Well, if this view still exists in 50 years…I can't imagine anything that would make me happier"

"Can you promise me something?"

"Sure…what is it?"

"That you will never hurt me like I got hurt in my previous relationships?"

Surprised, Hans looked at her and replied:

"You know, I would rather cut off my own hand than hurting you…"

"I know. I have no idea why, but I know you would…" A single tear ran down her face as she looked him in the eyes.

"Are you sure that you're fine?"

"Yes. I can't say when exactly it happened, but I'm over Liam and what he did to me, and I forgave him. On the other hand, I just realized again how much you really mean to me, and how happy it makes me to be with you. It's just a bit much…"

"Haha, oh Miley, you're amazing…"

"Don't you ever forget about that" she whispered, moved herself even closer to him, and they stayed like that, just enjoying this precious moment.