Captured

"Don't flatter yourself too much. You should be thankful I was kind enough to welcome you back into my house," I got up, trying not to get comfortable with the situation.

He laughed, "So you're saying that I've always been welcome here?"

"You're disgusting."

"You did not seem disgusted when you lied to Zayn about me being awake."

I threw him a pillow, in hopes to shut him up, then walked to the kitchen and prayed to the cooking fairies to help me make dinner, or at least magically poof something edible. But, as it is, the world is not a wish-granting factory. So I sighed heavily at the thought of being stuck with the world's most popular boy band that unfortunately includes an annoying prick named Harry Styles, and the fact that none of them knows how to cook. And I sighed even more at what their fans are probably going to say, "Their kidnappers starved them to death."

And just like that, I realized how this was a careless action made on devil-may-care decisions.

"You've got a problem in there?" Harry asked, walking slowly towards my direction, "Ah, you don't know how to cook. Let me impress you, then."

"Go back to the living room and get some rest," I ordered him, and I probably sounded like his mother.

"And then what? Wait for whatever you're going to serve that is probably going to taste like rubbish?"

He made it sound like he had tasted anything I've cooked before. Yes, I'm not a good cook, but that is mostly because I didn't have a mother around to give me lessons on how to do this and that. I wish I could tell him that. It would probably shut him up and shoo him off, but knowing him for a few days, he's probably going to annoy me even more.

"Do you know how to cook?"

"Are you seriously asking me that question, Austin?" He gave me that look with those green eyes that I couldn't tell if he's joking or being serious.

"Okay fine. I don't want to stress you out, so just sit there and tell me what to do." I opened the cupboard behind me and found a can of mushroom soup, "What do I do with this?"

"You open it of course."

No, Harry. I will throw it in your face and slaughter you with a nearby kitchen equipment, then if your pretty face isn't recognizable anymore, I will let your body float in the sea and hope I can get away with it.

***

Liam, Niall, Louis, Zayn, or Bridget didn't look so poisoned after having my mushroom soup and baked mac and cheese I made for dinner. Okay fine, I did the cooking, but the brain and soul was all Harry.

The boys were so happy to see him alive and kicking, and hugged him like there was no tomorrow, but they were even happier upon the mention of food. Niall swore he wanted to marry the mac and cheese, but I tried to be modest and said it was "Harry's recipe", to which Liam replied with, "You make a great team."

Then both of us were silent for the rest of the meal.

Actually, Zayn too.

After dinner, I stayed in the kitchen to wash the dishes, and surprisingly, Louis volunteered to help me out.

"I'm sorry for being an arse a while ago," he said as he started to wipe the plates with clean cloth, "But you have to understand that aside from being one-fifth of One Direction, Hazza is also my best friend."

I grinned, mostly because I understand that Harry is a member of One Direction. I passed him another plate and finally spoke, "I get that part, Louis. Trust me. And I may not be your biggest fan, and Harry may not be my most favorite person in the world, but believe me if I say this, my conscience will never allow me to go merry-making while you guys are unsafe. I dragged you into this situation. The least I could do is to keep you out of danger."

"Says the girl who kidnapped us and didn't want to help us look for Harry when he was gone," Louis laughed.

"I didn't say anything about not wanting to help you find him. I just wasn't in the mood. And please stop saying I kidnapped you."

Louis was silent for a while. He went to the dining table to grab the remaining glasswares. When he handed them to me, he had that bright beam painted all over his face, "Funny how you were very reluctant to look for Hazza, and found him first."

"That was luck."

"I didn't say anything. You don't have to defend yourself."

"I wasn't defen-" then I shut up. I knew Louis was trying to get something out of me. That mischievous look, I can't believe I'm seeing that on him. I mean, it's pretty normal when it's on Harry's face, but Louis? Bridget described him as childish and likes Peter Pan, but I guess he's more mature than the little boy they're all talking about.

"You should go upstairs and get some rest," I told him after I was done
stacking up the plates.

"Getting rid of me already?" his accent was rather amusing when he said that sentence, "We were having a very interesting conversation already, Austin. Don't be such a buzzkill."

"You and your friends are so annoying."

"Oh, that's just me and Harry. And we like to refer to ourselves as persistent, particularly when it comes to girls."

I gave him a disgusted look and started to make my way to the staircase. "That should be a lot of work. I mean, you have to be persistent to billions of girls."

Two can play at this game.

"Oh, we don't get tired easily, love. Most especially Harry. He's very hard-working,"