The Only One [n.h. + h.s. au]

Chapter Twenty Four

“Louis,” I whispered. “Can we-“

“No, love,” he shushed me. “No…”

Harry’s POV

I stared at Zayn, waiting for him to speak. We’d been sitting in the same position for about an hour, and he still hadn’t said a word. The stubble growing on his face was not attended to, nor was his growing hair. His outfit consisted of worn out jeans, a t-shirt that I recognized to be Liam’s, and a beat up pair of combat boots. Overall, Zayn looked exhausted.

“Well?” I pressed. “I’m your best mate, Zee. Talk to me.”

“God, you should have seen his face when I left him in the bedroom,” Zayn mumbled. “I almost gave in – almost.”

He made eye contact with me and continued, “My father arranged for me to meet his co-worker’s daughter, Marina. She’s really sweet, but I had no interest in being in a relationship with her, especially since I had Liam. When he showed up at my house, I was thrilled. However, my father had other plans. If I didn’t break up with him, I would be shunned from the family. In other words, he’d make my life a living hell.”

“You saw Liam after that, though?” I inquired.

“Four days after to be exact,” Zayn replied. “I had the intentions of telling him the truth, I really did. I didn’t know he was occupied. I guess it never occurred to me that he would move on so easily.”

I hummed, tiling my head.

“Louis is replacing me,” he snorted. “My supposed mate was seconds away from fucking my boyfriend…”

I’d noticed the sudden closeness between Liam and Louis over the past few days, but I did not think things had gotten that far yet. We met Louis during fourth form and Liam developed a small crush on the older lad. I assumed he had forgotten all about it when Zayn came into the picture.

“Louis is Liam’s source of comfort,” I said. “Their friendship isn’t like ours. When they cling to each other, it means something is wrong on either end. Liam was hurt and Louis would do nearly anything for him.”

I squeezed his shoulder, “Liam isn’t your boyfriend anymore, mate. The circumstances are unfair, I know. I couldn’t imagine being in your position. Maybe you can find a way out of it, somehow. It is going to be hard seeing Liam with someone else, but there’s nothing you can do to stop him from being happy. Isn’t that what you want?”

A light knock on the door startled me and I muttered a quick ‘come in’ before turning my attention back to Zayn.

“I’m supposed to marry her, eventually,” he hid his face in his hands, leaning away from me. “I feel stuck.”

“Hi…”

“Hey, lovely,” I sighed. “How are you?”

Niall eyed Zayn, warily, “Good. I spent the day at Liam’s house.”

“Is he doing okay?” Zayn asked him.

“Yeah,” he smiled, half-heartedly.

Zayn stood up and nodded, “I’m going home. I need some sleep.”

“Bye, Zee.”

“He looks so down,” Niall frowned.

“His father is practically forcing him into marriage,” I grumbled, pulling Niall onto my lap. “He didn’t have any other choice.”

He pecked my cheek and exhaled, “That’s horrible…”

The subject was obviously killing Niall’s cheery mood, so I commented on the mocha frappuccino on his hand.