A Fateful Encounter (Zayn Malik fanfic)

Chapter 8

Hi guys! This next chapter is dedicated to a new friend I've made, LoveStory20, who's such an inspiration and a great writer as well!

Zayn woke up the next morning feeling oddly cheerful. He whistled under his breath as he got changed and greeted everyone he met in the hallway with a polite nod. Unbeknown to him, his joyful disposition was about to turn bitter. As he strolled outside and sauntered over to his car, planning to grab breakfast and wander around town for a couple of hours - maybe meet some fans, he paused to pull out his phone which was now beeping uncontrollably.

Zayn get here now!! Must see this!! – H x

Zayn hated when people were vague and stopped himself from calling Harry up and demanding to know what happened. Instead, he drove over to McDonalds to get breakfast for him and the boys, who would no doubt be waiting at Harry’s and then headed straight to his and Louis’s apartment.

Meanwhile, 4/5 of One Direction waited (impatiently) for Zayn to arrive. Niall was muttering something about him always doing this.

‘How do you think he’s going to react to this?’ asked Liam who sat on the couch looking worried.

‘My guess is not good’ Louis said sighing as he flicked the pages of the magazine he was holding.

‘Well, it says some other stuff here’ Harry called. He sat reclined in a big chair with his laptop perched comfortably on his legs.

‘What’s taking him so long?’ Niall huffed pacing the apartment. ‘What was the rush anyway, I haven’t even had breakfast.’ Suddenly Niall paused and looked up at Harry, ‘Fridge raid?’ he asked plastering on an innocent face.

‘Go for it’ Harry grumbled knowing when Niall’s mind was set on something, he never wavered.

Just as Niall left for the kitchen, Zayn opened the door and stepped inside. The instant aroma of food beckoned them and the starved group stood up and raced to Zayn. The bag of breakfast in his hands disappeared and was shared out among them.

Niall sat contently now chuckling to himself as though he had struck gold.

‘Thanks’ they called out from different corners of the room. Zayn stalked over to sit next to Liam and turned on the TV.

‘So, what is this about then?’ Zayn began between bites of food.

‘Um, well you see…’ Harry started and then trailed off.

‘We know how much you like Ariella…right?’ Liam tried, aiming for a different tactic.

‘Yeah’ Zayn stated matter-of-factly.

‘You’re not going to like this then’ Harry explained eerily.

‘Oh for Heaven’s sake, read this!’ Louis said in a near shout, completely exhausted by the long route the conversation had taken. He threw the magazine in the air and it landed at Zayn’s feet. Picking it up, now curious beyond words, he flicked through it and stopped.

‘What the hell?’ he bellowed and ran to the door, leaving the boys stunned by his reaction. They knew it was going to be bad, but this was a little past their previous presumptions.

                                                                       *

I almost screamed. Looking from the window down to the massive crowd downstairs, my knees buckled in fear and uncertainty. Two feelings that I despised. Staring down at the throng of people, my stomach twisted in a hard jolt and I swallowed as much air as I could.

‘Alec!’ I shouted, panic slicing into my voice.

Abruptly, Alec appeared at my side and looked over my shoulder whilst asking what was going on. The words caught in his throat as his face visibly paled. On any other occasion I might have laughed, but not now. Not today.

‘Why are there camera crews and angry people outside?’ he asked me, as if I would know.

‘I have no idea’ I said my voice deceptively calm. Inside, however, I was raging. My fear was displaced by anger and I wanted to charge downstairs and haul everyone off the front door and garden.

Scanning the crowd, I tried to pinpoint who these angry protestors were. Unable to identify anyone, I sank back against the wall.

‘Of course!’ I said borderline hysterically, ‘It’s because of Zayn!’ I explained happy I had figured it out. This diminished in seconds as I understood what this meant. It was their dinner last night. The night picnic. I sighed remembering everything that happened. Unconsciously my fingers traced my lower lip as I became lost to the memories. No! I thought. I’ll deal with this myself.

‘Where’s Dad?’ I asked, praying he wasn’t home to see this messy situation. Unfortunately, I was sure he’d find out about it at some point. 

‘Work’ Alec assured me, taking my hand and steering me away from the window.

‘Explain.’ He said, his voice firm but gentle.

I took a deep breath and began to enlighten Alec as to what the commotion was. Once he was fully convinced of my safety, he let me go downstairs to confront the crowd. My initial panic had calmed down significantly. Evidently, talking with Alec had helped. Pausing at the front door, I braced myself before pulling it open.

The crowd immediately lunged at me, as though they were caged, starved animals and I was there prey. I flinched, but shook off the urge to run. Instead I plastered on a calm, composed face and tried my best to look serene. Walking outside, I was covered on all sides by a mob of girls and interviewers. Smiling politely I attempted to slow my heart beat. I was beginning to feel very claustrophobic and congested.

A bold woman thrust a microphone in my face and fired questions at me. I couldn’t hear a word she was saying over the shouts around me. I made out the words ‘Zayn’ and ‘boyfriend’, however and that was enough to deduce her meaning. In all honesty, I wasn’t even sure what we were. I shrugged her off and concentrated on what the girls were screaming about. I gasped, horrified by the remarks they were making. They were jumping to so many wrong conclusions, along with hateful and frankly unmentionable words. I shivered involuntary and found my voice.

‘I intend to keep my private life private. And I would appreciate if you could leave my home and my family out of this. I will not be answering any questions about Zayn Malik, my relationship with him, or anything else for that matter.’ I was fuming and hadn’t realised I had shouted the statement.

Too bad, I thought. The crowd had hushed momentarily, but now continued to call out orders and get my attention. They were so rude! I sighed, irritated, but a loud whistle from behind them caused the crowd too part, just as I was leaving.

Turning to see the new addition to the horrible inconvenience was I almost dropped. My legs gave way and my vision became obscured. My heart had missed several beats and my throat turned dry. My legs gave way beneath me, and my last coherent thought was simple. Drew Matthews...my stalker...just great.

-Please leave comments to let me know what you think so far! Thank you :)