Part 23

The cold morning air bit at Noel's face, but it couldn't numb the heavy ache in his chest. Caroline's advice echoed in his head like a mantra he wasn't sure he believed in, but was desperate enough to follow. As he turned the key in his front door, the familiar scent of expensive candles and domesticity hit him, a stark contrast to the scent of Caro's lovely perfume and rain that lingered on his coat from her flat.

He didn't find the house empty.

The kitchen was bathed in a harsh, clinical morning light. Liam was there, standing by the espresso machine, his silhouette rigid, hearing the noise behind him, he turned to face his brother 'Look at this,' Liam drawled, not even looking up from his phone. 'The Chief returns from the wilderness. You look like absolute shit, Noel.' Liam was already in his element, parka zipped to the chin, a chaotic energy vibrating off him that seemed to suck all the oxygen out of the room.

He just handed Noel a cup of coffee, Noel's eyes searching his with a mixture of exhaustion and a lingering, sharp suspicion. 'She alright? Been with her all this time, yeah?' Liam asked, it was too early in the morning to start arguing again.

Noel took a slow sip of the coffee. It tasted like ash. He looked at Liam, who was finally staring at him with those piercing, restless eyes. The sibling rivalry, the decade of silence, the lawsuits, it all sat in the room like a physical weight.

'I have, yeah..' Noel put the mug down again and the minute the words left his mouth, Sara walked in as well, he instantly changed the topic.

'Anyway, just so you know it's happening' Noel said, his voice raspy but firm. He felt like he was reading a script someone else had written. 'The Oasis reunion..2025 is gonna be the year and seems like we're doing the stadiums again. I've given a go for Caroline to start planning and organizing..so don't fuck it up again, Liam, you have one shot and one shot only, you fuck it up and I swear I'll pull the plug, simple as that' his eyes sparkled for the first time in 10 years breaking the news to his younger brother.

Liam let out a sharp, triumphant bark of a laugh, slapping the marble countertop. 'About time you saw sense, you grumpy old bastard! The people've been wanting it for so long! The fans need it! We'll show 'em all how it's really done, eh?'

'What?, so that's it then? Just like that? You're reuniting Oasis?' Sara asked, her voice trembling, hearing her husband break the news of an Oasis reunion made her instantly forget about the harsh words that were said between them last night. 'After everything you said? After all the years of peace, you're throwing us back into that circus? With him?' she aggressively nodded in Liam's direction.

Liam rolled his eyes, standing up to grab a piece of toast. 'Oh, shut up, Sara. He's coming back to the winning team. Oasis is bigger than your dinner parties or your yoga-la-la trips to Ibiza, deal with it.'

Noel felt a flash of irritation, but it was quickly replaced by a hollow sensation. He had done what Caroline told him to do. He was home. He was building the bridge. He was saving the legacy. But as he looked at his brother's manic grin and his wife's wounded expression, he realized he had never felt more alone.

'I'm going to go see the kids,' Noel muttered, turning away from the brewing argument. 'Tell them their dad's going back to work.'

As he walked up the stairs, his hand went instinctively to his pocket, touching his phone. He wanted to text Caroline. To tell her he was home. To tell her he'd done the 'right' thing. But he stopped himself, remembering her bittersweet smile. He had to lock the door, he needed to close one connection to open another one, a new connection to his kids and wife, he needed to suppress these crazy feelings of the last couple of weeks for her and focus back on his family, on what was the right thing to do. If he left the door open to Caro, then he'd never be able to protect himself from the temptation of wanting to be with her constantly...this would all blow over in a couple of days, of course it would..just a stupid infatuation!

He took a jagged breath, his thumb hovering over her name in his contacts. The urge to reach out to her, to find some shred of comfort in the one person who truly saw him without the fame or the baggage, was a physical ache. But he remembered the way she had looked at him: the "voice of reason," standing in her doorway, pushing him back to a life that felt like a suit two sizes too small.

Slowly, Noel hit the lock button on his phone, the screen turning black and reflecting his own tired, aging face. He shoved the device deep into his pocket. Lock the door, Noel, he told himself, echoing in his head as an internal mantra. Walk away.

Downstairs, he could still hear Liam's loud, abrasive voice clashing with the sharp, clipped tones of Sara's defense. The "circus" hadn't even started yet, and the tent was already collapsing. He headed toward his sons' rooms, he had chosen duty over desire, and as he opened the door to wake his children, he wondered if "doing the right thing" was supposed to feel this much like losing.

The announcement had gone live at 8:00 AM on a Tuesday, a day that felt like the world had tilted on its axis for everyone but Noel. The Oasis Website had crashed within minutes, and the image of him and Liam, black and white, defiant, moody, legendary, was plastered across every digital screen from London to Tokyo.

Since that moment, Caroline had almost become a ghost in his life, replaced by a wall of professionalism.

He hadn't seen her in the flesh for almost two weeks. No more late-night confessions over hot coffee; no more of her quiet presence in his studio sanctuary. Now, she was a series of impersonal notifications. She communicated through the official management channels, her emails signed off with a sterile 'Regards, Caroline' instead of the usual 'C.'.

Every time his phone buzzed, Noel felt a Pavlovian jolt of hope, only to be crushed by the sight of a spreadsheet or a logistics memo. She was doing exactly what he had asked, organizing a world tour. She had locked her heart again and thrown away the key, burying her feelings under a mountain of stadium seating charts and travel visas, it was necessary to keep her focus on the mammoth task she was given.

He found himself wandering into the parts of London she often frequented, half-hoping to "accidentally" run into her, but she was too smart for that. She was making herself invisible to him, licking her wounds after the whole ordeal with Rob and her father's death but at the same time proving that she could be the perfect employee while he was being thrust back in the spotlight, the whole world was screaming his and Liam's name, but the only person he wanted to talk to was the one person who had intentionally vanished into the paperwork of his success.

Noel pulled his collar up against the biting wind. He'd told Sara he was going out for 'fresh air and cigarettes,' but his feet had instinctively led him to a taxi driving him toward the street where Caroline lived. He stood there like a ghost, staring at the warm glow of windows that weren't hers.

He was haunted by the questions she wouldn't let him ask. How was she sleeping after the trauma of Rob's attack? Was the bruising finally gone, or did she still flinch at sudden movements? Every time he tried to steer their brief, clinical phone calls toward her well-being, she'd deftly pivot back to Ticketmaster queuing systems or stage dimensions. She was licking her wounds in total isolation, it seemed, using the frantic machinery of the Oasis machine as a shield.

'Is there anyone even looking after you?' he had blurted out during a call yesterday. 'The schedule is looking after me, Noel. After all, it's more than a full-time job,' she'd replied, her voice as smooth and cold as glass before hanging up.

Now, as the city hummed with festive cheer he didn't feel, a desperate idea took hold. He imagined the scene: Sara, the kids, his brother and his offspring, Mum, the sprawling Christmas table, and an empty chair.

'I could convince Sara,' he thought, though he knew it was a lie. 'I'll remind her Caroline has no family left.. that it's the least we can do after what she's been through.'

But he knew the reality. Bringing Caroline back into his home, under Sara's watchful, suspicious eyes, would be like bringing a match into a room full of gasoline. It wasn't about "charity"; He wanted to see if the light in her eyes was still there, or what she was thinking? If it was really the job that held her isolated or if she was running from something, someone,..him?.

He pulled out his phone, his fingers hovering over the keypad. 'I'm around the corner. Coffee?' Tea? Me?' the last two words he quickly deleted before the text wooshed its way to her. Seconds later the "typing" bubbles had him holding his breath 'You read my mind, Mr. Bossman, be down in 5, ok?'. A dirty, but relieved grin circled round his mouth, she definitely wasn't running away from him, thank god!