Took Me By Surprise [Zayn Malik] ✓

Chapter 17: One Interview, One Phone Call And One Disaster

**

   "So, Zayn," the blonde interviewer crossed her legs and threw her hair over her shoulder. I held my breath. The interview has been running for 10 minutes now and I couldn't relax while that topic of Jenan was in limbo. So now the time has come. "What about those rumors which are spreading around the world? Is it true? Is this girl probably your new girlfriend?" on the monitor behind her the snapshot of Jenan, Zayn and his car appeared. When Louis kicked me with his feet, I noticed that I had smiled a small smile as I noticed the beauty and innocence of our girl in the photo. At least, I had thought, the fans won't be able to call her not beautiful.
   But Louis made me realise that my unfelt smile wasn't a masterstroke. What if tomorrow they write new articles about that smile? They could say I looked lovestruck and maybe doubt I was fancying her!? Believe me, media can turn a fly into an aeroplane.
   Zayn laughed a tiny laugh which only his best mates could tell fake. "There's not a jot of truth in it."
   "Really?" blondie asked in a high tone. "Where there's smoke, there's fire." She laughed one of those laughs where you'd like to slap that person right into his face. That lass was a charmless one. "But err, would you like to tell us who she is, if she's not your girlfriend?"
   Zayn bit his lip and changed his sitting position. "That girl is Jenan, a relative of mine."
   "Really?" she said again, raising her eyebrows. "But how comes we've never heard about her before?"
  "Well,"  Zayn exhaled slowly, probably trying to gain time. "she kinda hates my fame and she wants nothing to do with it."
   "So things are awkward between you two?" she asked, clearly not wanting to drop the topic.
   "No, not at all." He replied, smiling. "We talk to each other quite a lot but she doesn't want to be seen with me in public."
   "Was she mad when she saw the picture?" Ms Charmless fluttered her eyelashes.
    "Well.." Zayn started. "Kinda."
    "Okay then, one last question, Zayn." finally she had felt Zayn's displeasure about the issue.  "What exactly where you doing in front of the London Eye?"
   "Umm." This question hit him, hit us, unexpectedly. Louis threw a look at me and I noticed how Zayn didn't have enough time to make up a lie. "I took her for a ride on the Ferris Wheel. That's all."
   As expected, this statement caused a great stir, a murmur went through the crowd and blondie looked at Zayn wide-eyed.
   "You entered the London Eye? What about your Acrophobia?" why was this interviewer so well-informed? Our bad luck.
   He clenched his teeth. "Well, it was.. err, a big wish of hers to enter the London Eye, I only fullfilled one of her dreams, so I just cut back on it. That's all."
    "Aha." She only said, "You see, girls, Zayn Malik is still single, you can all relax."
    We'll see..

**

    "It was a bad idea to tell them the truth about the London Eye, wasn't it?" was the first question Zayn asked us as soon as the interview finished.
   "Yes it was." I said straight away and pushed the door (a little bit too hard) to the room we could stay in at this place. Niall headed over to the small fridge and took a box of biscuits out. He opened it, placed it onto the purple cocktail table and fell onto the couch in front of it.
   "We can't change it, mates." Liam sighed and sat down beside Niall.
   "Ya, it will be okay, Zayn." Louis tapped onto Zayn's back and smiled at him. My body started vibrating when I realised it was my mobile. For a second, I hoped it to be Jenan to sort things out with her, but a look onto my display told me it was Natalia. I rejected the call and sat down onto an armchair. A strange feeling began to take form in my stomach. Like a stone, or something.
   "Who was it?" Louis mumbled whilst scrolling through the newest tweets from his mobile.
   "Natalia." I muttered and signed into Twitter as well. The four of the boys looked at me in a strange way. "Eh?"
   "You rejected a call from a girl?" Louis asked in awe. "Wow."
    I rolled my eyes, slowly getting annoyed. "Come on, guys." Most of the fans were commenting on the interview. I wonder what they tweeted  to Zayn. Did they believe him?
   "Is there a problem between Natalia and you? Because of.. Jenan?" I looked up and met Louis' gaze, requesting an answer from me. The other boys were looking at me with looks of expectancy.
   I sighed annoyingly and replied: "No, in fact there is a problem between me and Jenan because of Natalia!" so. That's it. I've finally took the first step to tell the lads about the awkward phone call between Jenna and me. I really needed their advice.
   Honestly, I had expected some astonished faces and wide eyes but instead, I saw Zayn avoiding my gaze, staring at his hands, Niall turning to his biscuits as if they told him the future, Louis sighing and looking at the ceiling and finally Liam, nodding.
   "We know." The latter said.
   My eyes flew wide open. "What do you mean with 'we know'?"
   "Well," they looked at each other. "She called me right after talking with you and I could feel there was something wrong, I asked her and she told me that she knew about Natalia."
   A deep disappointment held on to me. I felt fooled. So she kept complaining to the boys about me behind my back? And my mates didn't even bother to tell me a word that they knew about what happened? They didn't try to help me?The stone inside my stomach raised to a volcano. I clenched my teeth, seething inside, exited Twitter and dialled Jenan's number.
   "What are you doing?" Zayn asked me suspiciously.
    At the very same moment she picked up. "Harry?" her voice made me get shirty and my armchair overturned as I harshly stood up.
   "You!" I yelled, feeling all my fuses blowing. "What the hell were you thinking, huh?! You keep telling us that we are free to do what we want even if it contradicts with your beliefs, but when we do what we want you $#@% complain!? What's your  $#@%  problem?" I breathed hardly, walking across the room, back and forth. From the corner of my eyes I could see the lads frozen at their places.
   "Harry, wait.."
   "No, YOU WAIT." I screamed before she could make me calm down. I didn't know what I was doing or saying, I just felt like hackling everything around me to bits. "IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH ME, THEN TELL ME INSTEAD OF SPREADING IT IN FRONT OF EVERYONE YOU TALK TO, GEDDIT?! BUT ANYWAYS I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU OR YOUR POOR LITTLE OPINION, OKAY? JUST KEEP YOUR NOSE OUT OF MY BUSINESS. I HATE YOU, I REALLY COULD S—"
   Suddenly, my phone was gone and the next thing I could realise were two strong arms smashing me against the nearest wall. Someone had me in a headlock.
   "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" I heard Zayn's voice yelling at me. My back hurted so I had my eyes closed but as I opened them I looked right into his red face. What have I done?, I asked myself in fear. Good Heavens!
   "Ughs." I muttered, not being able to talk or breathe well as Zayn's arm was pressed against my throat.
   Behind him, I could see Louis' image coming towards us and then bending down to pick something up. When he held that thing to his ear, I realised that it was my phone. Zayn must have thrown it onto the ground.
   "Jenna?" Louis almost whispered in fear. For a second, he was silent, then he cancelled the connection and threw my phone back onto the ground.
   "'Ey!" I croaked but Zayn only pushed me harder against the wall.
   "Was she still on the line?" Liam appeared beside Louis.
   The latter nodded and said to me in a cold voice: "She tells you that she got the message." Now all of the boys were gathered around me while I was still trapped behind Zayn's arms. In Niall's eyes I could see a keen disappointment. Liam and Louis looked at me with an expression filled with anger, sadness and frustration. Zayn only looked like he'd love to slap me into my face a million times before throwing me off the balcony. I couldn't blame him for that..
   "Let him go, Zayn." Liam said softly and put one hand on Zayn's shoulder. "Suffocating him won't make things unhappened." I could see Zayn's jaw clenching as he thought about Liam's words, still staring at me. If looks could kill, I would've already been dead.
   But finally, Zayn released his hold and let me go. First I kept coughing and clearing my throat but as soon as I straightened my back, I was confronted with my best mates staring at me angrily.
   "I don't get it, Harry!" Louis was the first one to break the silence. "Why the hell did you do that? You like Jenan!"
   Slowly, I started to realise that I wreaked havoc. Since the raise of our fame, I had always dreamed of a normal friendship with a normal person who thought I was as normal as him. Jenan gifted me with that pure, innocent and gentle friendship we had. My new best friend. With her, I share the lightest and funniest memories of this whole year.. and now I ruined it all..
   "I—I'm s—so sorry, I didn't want this to happen." I whispered and stared at the patterns of the carpet underneath my feet.
   "I didn't ask you whether you're sorry or not, Styles. I asked you why you did this?" when Louis calls me Styles, then it's bad. Not like with Jenan.. when she says Styles, then it's something nice and charming. 
   I sighed, still not able to look them into their angry faces. "I don't know what happened.. I was in tense and I just guess my fuses blew."
   The hard slam of a door made me look up. Zayn apparently had left the room.
   "Good heavens." I muttered and leaned against the wall, slowly sliding down onto the ground. I buried my face behind my hands. "I screwed up."
   "Yes you did." Niall said and walked over to the cocktail table. He grabbed the biscuit box and headed over to the door. A few seconds later, he was gone.
   Louis and Liam looked at each other. "I'm gonna see where Zayn is." The latter said gently and left the room as well. The next thing I could recognise was Louis kneeling down beside me.
   "I still don't understand what happened, Harry." he said to me. "You can't treat someone like Jenan like you just did. She's too good and light-hearted for that."
   "I knooow!" I cried out and clenched my teeth. "I should call her and apologise."
   Louis sighed and leaned away to grab my phone on the floor. "Do you think saying sorry will help?" he asked me whilst handing me the phone. My hands were shaking terribly and my heart was racing as I dialled Jenan's number. "I know it's too less but I have to take a first step at least and show her that I didn't mean to say the things I said."
   "Man, you shouted at her and told her you hate her."
   My hands became sweaty. Louis' words yelled through my mind and the echos of the 'beeps' sounded like a death march. She didn't pick up.
  
I was such a retard.