Chapter 3
"Hey Harper, wanna go grab some ice cream" Sarah asked as they headed out the gate. Little did Harper know this was all a ploy by her friends to find out exactly where she was staying. Sarah would ask to go for ice-cream, insisting that they go somewhere near Harper's home so they can take the bus with her and then when they leave the ice cream place they secretly follow behind her and see which house she goes into. Niamh and Sarah never liked sneaking around but it was so unlike Harper not to let them come over that they just had to see what was going on.
Of course Kunal had to be party to this as his fantasies of Cinderella Harper had been dashed due to her sudden academic improvement, he just had to know what was going on. What could be worse than her being a servant in her new home? Kunal had no idea until he reached the house. It was huge, much bigger than the apartment he lives in with his folks. But that was not what bothered him at all. Just as Harper arrived home, so did another member of the household and he did not like what he was seeing. They stared wide eyed as none other than Oliver Rivers took out his keys and let himself into the house, Harper greeted him in the hallway but he didn't seem to react much to this. Once the door had closed Kunal jumped out from his hiding space in fury and kicked the wall. "HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?" he screamed, as he stormed off back towards the bus stop.
The next day when Harper and Oliver went to get the bus it was really over crowded again, Harper began to wonder what caused there to be random days when the bus seemingly filled up beyond capacity. She was suddenly overwhelmed with anxiety as she tried to force herself on the bus. Her eyes scanned through the crowd, trying to find the face that she hadn't forgotten since that day. Oliver, who had climbed on after her, observed this odd behaviour and told her they are going to be late if she doesn't get on. She nodded frantically and climbed onto the bus, quickly pushing past the other riders and hiding in a corner in an attempt to go unnoticed.
At school, just as Harper was pulling her books out of her bag an envelope fell out and landed on the floor. Niamh picked it up and enquired about the contents and who it was from. She explained that it was a good luck charm from the lady she was staying with and she had forgotten to open it after her exams. Just as she went to open the envelope she heard Kunal scream from the doorway "HARPER! ARE YOU STAYING AT OLIVER'S HOUSE?!" Niamh tried to shush him as they didn't want Harper knowing that they followed her to her house last night but Kunal was going to be anything but quiet. Taken aback by the question, Harper made a feeble attempt to laugh it off telling him that he was crazy. "WHY LIE? I WATCHED YOU GO IN THERE. I WAS THERE I SAW IT!"
Harper tried to ignore him and turned her attention back to the envelope that Eleanor had given her. Before she could blink Kunal was already over her shoulder and seething at the sight of what she had just pulled out. In her hands, was a picture of her and Oliver both fast asleep hunched over a table. "Harper!" Niamh screamed in shock "why are you sleeping next to Oliver?!"
Harper flapped as she tried to explain the whole situation to everyone in the class, how his father and hers are good friends and what happened after her house burned down. They grilled her about the good grades she got, had Oliver been tutoring her? He must be smart if he was able to improve her academic skills in such a short period of time. Kunal came back to the photo and asked about them being close. Harper got disheartened suddenly, "it's not like that at all, I don't think he can even stand my presence. It's okay though, I guess I kind of still like him, but I can get over it" she smiled and looked up at them "I'm sure I can! So can you all keep this a secret?" Everyone nodded and the conversation died down as their form tutor entered the room to take the register.
"HARPER!" another shout came at her from the doorway, at this time they had all just had lunch. It was Oliver, and he looked furious. "Come with me" he grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her through the school.
"What are you doing? If people see they're gonna talk" she explained, trying to loosen his grip on her wrist.
"They're already talking" he snapped back as he showed her a blown up version of the picture on the message board. "What the hell is this?!"
"I swear, I didn't do this" she clambered for some sort of explanation of how this happened but was unable to do so.
Oliver shook his head furiously, "this might seem like a game to you but since you wrote me that letter, you've been nothing but trouble to me. Just stay away from me!". Oliver turned and stormed away, he was not one for letting his emotions get the better of him but this was over the line. He only looked back once to see the streams of tears that had started to pour down Harper's face. He was slightly shocked by this, until now she had always put on such a strong front, when he rejected her love letter she didn't cry then. When he openly berated her and called her an idiot, she didn't cry then either, so why now? And why did he feel so awful about it this time.
I can't believe I still like him, she thought to herself as she slumped up the stairs after arriving home. She opened her desk draw and pulled out the love letter that Oliver would never read. The same one she had spent the whole night writing and spell checking every single word. Her heart ached as she fought with the realisation that she was acting like a lost puppy for someone who would never return these feelings and with tears in her eyes she drifted off to sleep on her desk.
Knock, knock
"Harper, the shower's ready" Oliver called. No answer. He slowly opened the door to find her slumped over her desk fast asleep. Of course she was, was he expecting her to be studying? He slowly made his way over to her with the intention of shaking her gently to wake her up, when saw that she was leaning on a letter that was addressed to him. Of course she still had it, he thought. He turned back towards the door but the temptation to actually see what she had written suddenly overwhelmed him. Why, though? It would just be the same as every other silly girl's letter he had been given. Why were girls still even writing letters in this day in age? Succumbing to the urge he picked up the letter and ripped it open, he felt something strange in his stomach as he started to read.
Hello Oliver,
My name is Harper from form 11F. I don't think you know me, but I know you very well. From the moment I saw you during your speech on the first day of school my admiration towards you continued to grow. I know it's impossible for us to be in the same classes therefore I wrote this letter to convey my feelings to you.
I like you, Oliver.
The next day, Oliver and Harper were heading to the bus stop again when Harper realised how crowded the bus was. Her change in stature was noticeable and this time Oliver mumbled something about her looking nervous.
"No I'm perfectly fine" she chimed back, trying to keep a smile on her face. Her legs felt like they could buckle at any moment as she scanned the bus again for that face that was burned into her mind. She couldn't see anyone and made a conscious effort to draw as little attention to herself as she could as she got onto the bus.
After a couple of stops had gone by she felt a few people shuffle around her, Oliver was in sight on the other side of the bus but this unfortunately brought her no solace as she knew he didn't care about her in the slightest. A familiar presence appeared behind her and she looked around and locked eyes with the same man who had assaulted her a few weeks prior. She tried to shift and move away from him but they were packed in way too tight and he grabbed onto her skirt to try and keep her there. She clenched her eyes shut as she willed herself to cry out for help but her voice box betrayed no sound came out. She looked over to where Oliver was as the man behind her started to feel up her leg but he wasn't in the place he was before. Suddenly, the man let out a gut wrenching scream as his hand was ripped away from her, the people around her shifted away suddenly and she caught sight of Oliver bending the man's arm back behind him.
"Get off me, are you insane?!" the man shrieked as he squirmed in Oliver's grasp.
"Doing despicable things like this at your age, you should be ashamed of yourself" he scolded the man while keeping a firm grasp on him "stop moving or you may end up with a broken arm"
He looked over at Harper who was visibly shaking, "are you okay?" Just like before, her voice caught in her throat but the answer to that question was a resounding no and he could see that. The driver had stopped the bus at this point and people got off so they could deal with the commotion. "This man was being inappropriate with her, she's only 16" Oliver explained to the driver. The driver told him he would take care of it and went to grab his phone in order to call the police. Oliver relaxed his grip on the man who promptly ran off the bus and through the busy crowds and down the street.
For the first time in his life, Oliver had no idea what to do next. This girl was right in front of him trembling and he didn't know what to do about it. She'd just been touched by a random guy, would being touched again make matters worse if he tried to console her? He decided to keep a cool head, if not for her sake, so he explained everything he saw to the officers on the scene, keeping a close eye on Harper who was sitting in a seat with some female officers who had given her a drink. They asked him if "the girl" wanted to press charges, he knew he couldn't make that decision for her so he advised them to check with her instead which they instructed the female officers to do.
They both took the day off school and were escorted home by the police who explained everything to his Mum and her Dad who was still at home. Ian hit the roof when he heard what had happened and demanded he get to speak to the guy who did it and show him a piece of his mind but the police responsibly declined and advised that they will find him soon enough, he will have to go to the hospital at some point as it was likely Oliver did some damage to his wrist anyway.
Oliver stood on the stairs as Harper slowly made her way up to her bedroom, she finally mustered up some courage to speak and told him she was grateful for his help. Oliver would never say this out loud, but he would regret not doing something sooner for the rest of his life.
Some weeks passed by and although still a bit uneasy from the incident, Harper started to feel like her old self again and ate her food happily at breakfast. Her father had been escorting her to school for a little while which was taken over by Oliver who assured him he wouldn't let an incident like that happen again. The school had also offered her counselling and therapy which she had been attending once a week.
"Oh Harper, I'm gonna cook us a big feast this evening as a thank you for the Fields hospitality towards us. Can you come home early and give me a hand?" Ian asked, he had been trying to find more things to do to spend a bit more time with her.
"Yeah sure thing" she chimed back as she finished her breakfast. Harper would be the first to admit that she was horrendous at cooking, but with her superstar chef Dad supervising her, what could go wrong. "Oh Niamh and Sarah were going to come round this evening". Eleanor perked up and told her that they were welcome to join them for dinner.
They all gathered around the table in the evening as Harper and Ian packed it full of different dishes for them to choose from. The doorbell rang and her best friends greeted her at the door with Kunal following closely behind him. "Sorry Harper, he kind of insisted on coming" Sarah apologised for his rude self invitation.
"Oh it's okay" she laughed it off. Oliver's family (not including his Mum) were quite quiet so she wasn't sure how they would fare sharing a dinner table with Kunal who fails to speak at a volume lower than an air horn. His presence was instantly noticed as he came through the foyer and loudly commented on how high up the ceiling was.
They all came and sat down and started loading their plates up with the delicious food that Ian had cooked. One dish stuck out however and not a single person on the table could work out what it was supposed to be.
"Did you make this one Harper?" Aaron asked as he grabbed some for his plate "it looks delicious… what is it?"
"It's chilli" she replied enthusiastically, she did actually try very hard when she made it so she hoped it was at least okay.
Ian smiled as he popped a fork full of the watery mess into his mouth. Immediately his face went bright red as he started to chew slowly. "Oh that's just lovely dear thank you" he proclaimed in an attempt to spare Harper's feelings.
Finley was not about to pass up on any attempt to hurt Harper's feelings as he shoved some of the food into his mouth and immediately spat it back out again. "That's disgusting! I hope no one ever has to marry you" he yelled out loud. His father berated him for being so rude to her but Eleanor just smiled fiendishly.
"It's okay" she called from her end of the table "she can just marry Oliver". Everyone was stunned into silence, everyone except Kunal who leapt out of his seat instantly and declared that there was no way in hell he would ever let that happen.
"You can't just arrange our future for your own convenience" Oliver responded, he was used to his mother's ridiculous antics and tried to pay no mind to them.
Harper who was equally as embarrassed also responded saying "I don't think I would want to marry him either". Eleanor looked upset by this, she was sure her intuition about the two was right. Kunal on the other hand fell back into his seat proudly nodding along to what she said.
"Is that so?" Oliver asked with a raised eyebrow and a sly smile on his face, "and yet, you wrote me a passionate love letter didn't you?" As if completely out of spite, Oliver proceeded to recite her entire letter to everyone at the table. Harper shook her head violently and all the anger inside her built up so much that she ended up slapping him square across the face. He jumped out of his seat, equally as annoyed by her outburst. "Why did you hit me?!" he yelled.
"How dare you read my letter" she cried back at him on the verge of tears.
"It was addressed to me" he responded with probably the soundest logic that would be hard to argue with. Harper stuttered as she struggled for a response but stayed squared right up to him, refusing to back down. "You didn't have to memorise it and say it in front of everyone though, did you?!"
"Wait.. so Harper" Eleanor who was sitting in her chair in shock, slowly rose from her seat. "You've liked Oliver all this time". Harper glanced down at him as he returned back to his seat, she also looked at Kunal who was red faced and being restrained once again by Niamh and Sarah.
"Well go on" Oliver waved his hand dismissively at her "tell them".
"It's true," Harper admitted, staring down at the floor in embarrassment. "I did write him a love letter".
Eleanor almost burst with joy, "so that means you may end up being my daughter in law after all" she cheered. Kunal had heard enough.
"No way! This is why I can't stand the idea that she is trapped in this house with him all the time. He may be a genius but he could turn into a beast at any time!" he fumed, slamming his fist down on the table. Eleanor was taken aback and commented about how popular Harper appears to be. "But regardless, there's no way Oliver will want to marry Harper after everything he's said. Is there Oliver?". He looked expectantly over at Oliver who was sitting cross-armed and leaning back in his chair. This guy pissed Oliver off more than Harper or anyone else he has ever come across. Loud, obnoxious and completely obsessed with a girl who has no interest in him (because she likes Oliver), he had no intention of pandering to him and would have much preferred to fuel this fire just to see his reaction.
"Well, this kind of stuff is hard to predict," he shrugged, rising from his seat. "Feelings can change, one day you may not like someone, the next you do. People change all the time". He placed his hand on Kunal's shoulder and smirked "I know you like her, hell everyone knows you like her. But you seem to forget…" he brought his voice almost to a whisper right next to his ear "I'm the one she likes, not you".
