brilliant discovery • zauren

34

Zayn sauntered into his living room, where fits of laughter were echoing throughout the whole house. What was so funny? And why wasn't he invited?

"There you are!" Safaa shrieked, grabbing his hands and tugging him further into the seating area. "Mum was just showing Lolo some of your baby pictures. You know, the ones you refused to wear pants in!"

No wonder he wasn't asked to join. He was the main target.

Of course. His mum was notorious for showing off his baby album every chance she got. Whether she had negative intentions or not, she always whipped it out. Doniya said it was because she misses him the most, with the majority of his time being spent in LA or NYC.

He was there now. There was no need to broadcast his immature days.

Lauren had the lower half of her face covered with a photo when their eyes met. Hers were reminiscent to tiny moons, amused by what she was seeing.

Stacks of pictures of him. A lot of them were hilarious.

"The little bugger was quite the nudist when he was younger," Doniya piped, teasing her younger brother.

Hilarious for the obvious reasons.

Zayn sent her a glare, but Wali didn't allow him the chance to speak. "He rarely has a shirt on nowadays."

"His tattoos act like a shirt, anyway," Jawaad blurted from beside Yaser, who was laughing to his heart's content.

When did they arrive? They were just outside with him a few minutes ago, chatting. Was everyone part of embarrass Zayn in front of Lauren?

Zayn opened a random cabinet, searching for something.

"What are you doing?" Trisha asked, puzzled by her son's actions.

"Everyone seems to be here. Where are you hiding Liam?"

Yaser's loud roars overpowered everyone else's. "Does he have embarrassing pictures, too? We should invite him next time."

Intrigued by Zayn's childhood, since he spoke so fondly of it, Lauren kept looking through the photo albums piled on her lap. Trisha and Doniya were also passing her a few from a memory box.

One picture confused Lauren and she eyed it up and down. It looked like a young Zayn, but he was in a dress.

"Is this not Waliyha?"

Wali emerged from the floor, her own photo albums displayed out before her and Safaa. She craned to see and was immediately puzzled.

"Which one?" Doniya asked, turning the photo to get a good look. Giggles viciously vacated her chest. "No, that's my little brother."

Trisha got a hold of the photo, too and laughed just as wildly. Lauren joined them when she gave Zayn in a dress another stare. He was so cute and pretty.

Growling, Zayn snatched the card from her hand and the books on her lap. "C'mon, let's go."

"Go where?" Lauren complained, allowing Zayn to pull her up from the sectional.

Since arriving at the Malik household, Lauren hit it off great with his family. They were so warm and inviting. It felt like home. She just got comfortable exploring his roots and talking with his mum, she didn't want to go yet.

"Somewhere," Zayn declared, dragging her out the living room as she waved goodbye to his family. "I want to talk about tomorrow."

Oh.

Now Lauren understood.

She was in Bradford for two reasons: to meet his family because they've been dying to see her (vice-versa) and for Zayn's first live show in months.