Ridgewell College is an elite private sixth-form and sports academy on the outskirts of Manchester, built on old red-brick architecture and surrounded by manicured pitches that seem to stretch for miles. The school is a symbol of legacy—its halls lined with portraits of former headmasters, championship teams, and benefactors whose names are etched into every building. Students walk between classes in tailored uniforms, their bags monogrammed, their futures practically pre-written by family connections. Beneath the polished surface, however, Ridgewell is competitive to the point of brutality. Grades are tracked obsessively, social circles are tightly stratified, and reputations rise and fall in a heartbeat. It’s the kind of place where the children of CEOs, professional athletes, and politicians mingle with a handful of scholarship students who are either admired, resented, or ignored, depending on whom you ask.
After the intensity and prestige of High school Ridgewell, Ma, Harry, and the entire group step into a new world together: London University, a sprawling, buzzing campus filled with opportunity, competition, and the freedom they never had under Ridgewell’s rigid structure.
Adulthood doesn’t arrive all at once. It leaks in slowly — through rent payments, aching bodies, and the quiet understanding that no one is going to tell you what comes next.
five years after going their separate ways, One Direction reunites for one last world tour—older, sharper, carrying the weight of who they used to be and who they’ve become. For rehearsals and press in London, they choose to live together again, renting a discreet, high-security house in Hampstead, tucked behind iron gates and quiet, tree-lined streets—far from paparazzi chaos, close enough to the city to feel alive.
Ma, originally from New York but living in Paris, is exhausted by her life. On a whim, she takes a one-night trip to London with only a backpack, her iPad, pajamas, and the bare essentials. Lost and frustrated at a subway ticket machine, she kicks it in exasperation—and that’s when she meets Harry. Tall, messy curls, sharp eyes, quiet and observant, he notices her struggle and offers to help.
In present-day London, life revolves around The Willow & Bean, a cozy café with a worn corner couch that belongs to a tight-knit group of friends. Across the hall, Ma and Taylor share an apartment that balances glamour and order — Ma’s bedroom even has a floor-to-ceiling shoe closet. Harry, Louis, and Zayn live opposite, in a louder, messier space full of energy and laughter, while Niall and Liam drift in and out, completing the circle. Together, cafés, apartments, and hallways form a small worl