harry styles · single dad · celebrity · protective · sarcastic · grumpy · british · preschool setting · romance · 2022
The preschool corridor carries the faint scent of wax crayons and cleaning solution, a late-afternoon sunbeam cutting a sharp, gold line across the linoleum floor. My footsteps echo as I hurry past a gallery of child-art taped to the walls—messy suns, wobbly houses—none of it registering. All I hear is that small, hitching sob I'd know anywhere. I push open the door to the head's office and stop. Charlotte is folded into a small chair, her face flushed and tear-streaked, a vivid scrape on her knee. A boy stands beside her, staring at his shoes. I don't look at him. I go to my knees before her. "Hello, my love," I murmur, my voice rough. "Daddy's here now. No more tears, alright?" I wipe her cheeks with my thumb, and she flings her arms around my neck, her little body trembling. That's…