"HEY, mum!" Harry greets Anne on the other line.

"Hey, baby! How are ya?" She excitedly asks.

"M'great. You?"

"Better that I've heard from ya." She responds, making him blush.

"Listen, mum. I 'ave to ask ya somethin'." He starts. "M'here in Italy with Vee and---"

He was interrupted by a gasp comin from the oher line. "You're with Vee again?! Oh, thank goodness! I've been wantin' to tell ya everythin' 'bout her!"

He nods in agreement even though he knows she can't see him. "I wanna hear everythin' too, ma. She mentioned that you to had a chat and... M'just curious, y'know?"

There was a slight pause for Anne didn't expect her son to ask her this. "She haven't told ya anythin' 'bout why she s'in Italy or what happened to her family?"

"Ehrm..."

He nervously scratches the back of his neck in embarassment. Well, he nor anyone would never imagine themselves asking questions about their ex girlfriend to their mother, let alone experience it now.

"S'just that... she's... She just had quite a long week and I don't wanna make it worse by askin' her 'bout her past that might upset her..." He explains.

"Oh, Harry..." His mother mumbles in awe, realizing how he truly cares for his ex girlfriend. "S'not me story to tell ya..."

"I know, ma but please? M'sure she'll understand."

She always understands anyway.

Hesitation plays in her mind until she makes a decision. "Alright..."

And so she tells him every bit of the story Vesper told her while they were at the café, making him difficult to not feel sympathy for her. Being involved with a taken man and fooling herself with his toxic sister made it clearer to him that it's not a mystery anymore because it might be the root of all of her poor decisions at choosing friends is her estrangement from her father.

"Thanks, mum. That was truly helpful." He says genuinely. It is going to be beneficial for times when she needs some words of encouragement and comfort, at least he knows now the answers to the questions he asks himself during the nights while he's gazing at the stars and missing her.

"Course, baby. Just remember, you should always be there as much as possible, yeah?"

He felt his phone vibrates so he moves it away from his ear and checks the cause of the vibration, he talks her again. "Yeah, mum. Thank you again. Jeff s'callin' so I'll call when I get a chance, yeah?"

"Alright, bye, my love. Say hi to Vee from me." She says and he bids goodbye as well as he answers his manager's call.

"Jeffrey..."

"Harry." He greets him. "You're still in Italy?"

"Yeah, mate. Why?"

"When will you be flying back here for work then?"

"Be back there for... I dunno. Prolly, a day or two." Harry says to the other line.

"Alright. Your schedule's packed. We need to do a lot of things for Fine Line..." Jeff informs him.

"I know... Hey, listen." He starts, earning him a grunt.

"God, what did you do?"

"Nothin'!" He defends. "S'just that... I might bring someone with me."

"Who?"

He brings his thumb and index finger to his bottom lip and plays with it while his other hand holds his phone to his ear. "Vesper."

Silence. Literally dead silence that Harry thought his manager hung up.

"VESPER? THE VESPER? YOUR EX GIRLFRIEND VESPER? OUR LYRICIST VESPER? VESPER CELESTE MOON?" He reacts just how Harry expected, only too much though.

He walks to the bedroom of the hotel suite, checking on her. He sees that she's also on the phone like him. He smiles when he observes her hand is dancing through the air while talking to someone to the other line. "Well, there s'only one Vesper, right?"

"Yeah, yeah but like-- how? How did the two of you meet again after two years? Wow!" Jeff exclaims as Harry walks away and onto his way to the receiving area of the suite.

"I know it s'quite surreal and unbelievable but I'll explain everything when I go back, yeah?"

"Yeah! Sure, sure. Alright, I'll hang up. Send Vee my regards."

"Yup, sure. Bye." When Jeff hangs up, he flops his body on the couch and stretches.

He groans and shuts his eyes to relax it for a bit. When he opens them up, he saw Vee looking at him so he sits up properly.

She giggles. "Are you okay?"

He stands up and nods with a smile on his lips. "Just stretchin'."

She nods as she walks up to him, a smile on her lips too.

"I was just on the phone with me mum and Jeff, they both wanted to say hi to ya..."

"Oh, that's sweet. It's nice to hear from both of them." She comments shyly as he nods to what she just said.

"Listen, I need to go somewhere, have to fix somethin'..."

"Right. I have to go to work too." She says while fidgeting with her fingers as he notices that she's wearing a yellow with thin white vertical lines button up, denim skirt that reaches just abover her knees and ankle boots. She looks at her hands before looking back up to him. "Again, thank you for everything you've done for me. Whenever I need someone the most, you're always here for me and I really appreciate it. I'm really glad to have you in my life."

He smiles in awe. "M'also really glad that I have you in me life, Vesper."

She looks down to hide her blush but then he reaches his hand to her forearm, making her look up again as he rubs it out of comfort.

"And stop thankin' me, seriously." Both of them chuckle. "You leave your things here, yeah? So I know you'll be back."

She was about to refuse, thinking that she has stayed with him for far too long now but she can't reject the only thing he told her to do now so she just nods. When he brings his hand down from his touch on her skin, she turns around and walks away. He follows her with his gaze and calls her before she exits the suite.

"Vesper..." He calls her by her name, turning her head to him again as she has her hand wrapped around the doorknob. "You're not a charity that needs donation or help. You're just a person who needs comfort and care like everyone else. Don't ever think 'bout yourself like that, yeah?"

a/n:

Happy New Year!