Wingman ⇝ {Ziam}

Chapter 19: The News

a/n: just wanted to give a quick thank you bc even though I hadn't updated this thing in like 2 months, the response from the last chapter was still amazing! You guys are absolutely incredible, thank you a bunch <3

anyways! Hope you guys enjoy :)

He isn't happy, far from it, actually. He remembers the past, when he and Sophia were first together, and Zayn was still living with him, and he knows he was happy then; that feeling he felt then was completely different than how he's feeling now.

But he doesn't change anything, doesn't answer when Louis calls him, doesn't go anywhere when said person invites him to a boy's night out, promising that Zayn will be there, doesn't even budge the slightest when Sophia tells him he can't talk to Niall, Louis, Harry, or Zayn, and doesn't protest when Sophia forces him to accompany her to a doctor's appointment.

And so he follows her to the appointment because Sophia needs him, and he needs Sophia, right?

Liam walks into the room Sophia's been tended to – he had to step out and let the doctor examine Sophia thoroughly (she'd been having minor abdominal pain throughout the day, and called for a last-minute appointment).

She looks up from her spot on the examination table, biting her lip as she watches Liam nervously. They watch each other for a while like that; Liam notices it's been like that between them for the last couple of days: silent. He's noticed the look on her face when she watches him, like she has everything she's ever wanted, but something's still missing.

He knows because he feels it, too.

"Everything okay with the baby?" he asks, breaking the silence.

She nods and smiles (even though it doesn't quite reach her eyes). "Just need to take it easy for a while, been too stressed or summat."

"That's good, I guess."

"I guess so," she whispers.

"Sophia... This isn't working," he starts. He turns away from her because he can't do this if she starts crying. "S'not the same, is it? I've told myself to give it time, that it's just a rough patch and it'll be like before, but it's been a week and... I can't feel this way anymore. I should be happy, looking forward to waking up every day instead of dreading it..." He trails off and swallows the lump in his throat. "B-But I'm n-not..."

He turns around and sure enough, Sophia's crying into her hands, and he walks over to her and places a gentle hand on her shoulder, rubbing it in a soothing manner. "S'not your fault; it's mine—"

"T-They found a l-lump, Liam," she chokes out, face still buried within her hands. "I should've checked," she cries. "W-Why didn't I-I check?!"

Liam stumbles back as she jumps into his arms. And he lets her cry into his chest, staining his plaid shirt. He doesn't move; he can't, he's frozen.

It takes a few minutes for Sophia to calm down, to explain she had a mammogram, how dangerous it could be for her baby if the lump turned out to be malignant.

"I need you," she says. "Now more than ever, I don't have anyone else, Liam. Don't do this to me... Please."

Liam nods his head and smiles, tells Sophia to get dressed so they can go home together, to their home.

"Promise me you won't leave me first."

He avoids her gaze and hesitates.

Liam knows he isn't happy, really far from it.