Lost

Chapter 31: Impatient

"Will she'll never forgive you or us for –"

"You can cover her up," William bargained. "I won't look at her,"

"Son, you being near her is wrong." Unc reasoned. William opened his mouth to argue but Unc just shook his head. "I'm sorry son, this can't happen."

He patted the dejected boy on the back and both of them started walking away.

"Wait!" William ran after them as a thought occurred, "I won't go inside at all!"

Niall's P.O.V.

Asim was not attending any calls, and he ignored the texts. Niall was getting really anxious about it. To him, Asim seemed like such a calm lad but he knew he would not want anything to do with a person who had most likely assaulted his sister and send her into a comatose, either.

Niall fell in step with Zayn's grandfather as they got out of the car. The moment they neared the house, the two of them heard a lot of yelling. The closer they got, the obvious it became. The volcanic mount Zayn was suffering from yet another eruption.

Mr. Walter glanced at Niall in alarm before opening the door. The younger boy just shrugged.

That's Zayn for ya!

"That boy is really going to burst a vessel soon," the old man muttered.

Shaking his head, he opened the door and entered. A file suddenly zoomed by them, missing Mr. Walter by inches.

"Son, what in the world is going on?!" Mr. Walter gasped.

Niall followed after Zayn's grandfather. The moment he saw the men in suits, Niall knew he better stayed out of Zayn's sight.

"I'm about to kill someone is what's happening," came the reply.

"Son!" Mr. Walter scolded.

Zayn limped around the sitting room in just his shorts, visibly struggling against the urge to throw something at the two men. When Zayn's back was to them, Niall quickly ducked into the kitchen. Zayn was already borderline mad. Niall feared he was done for if he realized he did not have the information Zayn needed.

Claire was already in the kitchen, leaning against a counter, looking quite upset.

"Hey," Niall smiled, "Are you a fellow Harris-affectee seeking refuge in the kitchen?"

She smiled miserably, shaking her head and drinking water from the bottle that she was holding.

"Calm down," Niall heard Mr. Walter tell Zayn firmly.

"I'm trying, Grandpa! But Mr. Money and Mr. Publicity here are pushing my buttons!"

"Son, this is no way to deal with business."

"Grandpa, are you even listening?" Zayn raised his voice again, "I don't want to deal with this right now. I have a lot of shit going on already. And this is my off time! We decided this ages ago, they will not dog my footsteps in the off season."

"Fine! Fine! Just stop yelling. Your old man here still has fully functional ears," Mr. Walter scolded, "Simmons! Bernard! Give me the details, I'll get back to you after I have this beast tamed a little."

"Sir, we only wanted a couple of snaps and videos for the social networks." Simmons, that Zayn called Mr. Publicity, informed Mr. Walter, "Mr. Harris just needs to dye his hair. I mean his beard is already in place for the shoot. The fans realized that the pictures uploaded on his instagram were old, because Mr. Harris has got the new hairstyle in his recent pictures."