chapter twenty-seven:
Black. Strong white light. Back to black. Back to a strong white light.
Liam blinked multiple times trying to get adjusted to the strong light.
"Liam baby, put these on." His mom's gentle voice called.
Liam slipped the glasses on and slowly opened his eyes and quickly closed them when he realized the lights were too bright. He kept trying to open them until finally his eyes budged open.
The lights finally faded away and the images started to make sense. He barely recognized his mom. The image he had of his mom was from when he was in seventh grade and now his mom looked like she had aged far beyond the amount of time that had actually passed. She looked wary and older than she should and Liam felt like he was to blame for that. His blindness had left his mom scrambling for money to pay for medical bills and being a single mother was already hard enough.
"Mom," Liam mumbled.
"Liam baby, how was surgery? Are you doing okay? The doctor said that the healing time takes a couple of days, so it's okay if you feel a bit tired." His mom talked in a very concerned toned.
"I'm okay mom, you look beautiful." Liam said in a genuine manner. Boy was he happy to finally take a look at his mother. He thought he was going to die without ever getting to see his mom's warm smile ever again.
Karen smiled that warm smile that Liam liked and pecked his forehead, "Thank you, Liam. You look beautiful too, I'm so excited for you to see how beautiful life is with your own eyes."
Liam half smiled, the only beautiful sight he was dying to see was Zayn's face.
--- a couple of weeks later ---
After weeks of missing school for his recovery and contemplating sending a thank you text to Zayn, Liam decided to man up and give him a call to ask to see him.
"Hello?" Zayn's rough voice called from the other side of the line.
"Zayn," Liam choked out, his throat felt tight as he had not heard Zayn's voice in a long time.
"Liam."
"Zayn... I-... I... I would like to properly thank you in person, not over the phone."
"Liam you don't have to see me if you don't want to see me, I know how mad you are at me. You don't have to feel pressured to see me."
Liam's heart dropped, he was not expecting to be rejected. "I really want to see you Zayn."
"Alright then. I'll be at your house in ten minutes."
During those ten minutes, Liam scrambled through his closet. He didn't realize how old his clothing was until now. It was so hard to choose an outfit from all the old hand me downs he had. He couldn't believe these were the clothes he was wearing to school, but then again he needed to be humble and realized that his mom was working hard for all that he owned.
The doorbell rang and Leon ran to it while barking loudly. One of the most beautiful things Liam had seen so far was his guide dog. He loved being able to finally see Leon's warm eyes and how Leon genuinely cared for Liam.
Liam's heart raced as he reached for the door handle. He was finally going to see Zayn for the first time ever. He did not know what he was expecting, but he knew that he was going to see a very handsome man staring back at him.
Liam turned the handle while holding his breath. To his surprise Zayn had his back turned to the door.
"Zayn?" Liam whispered.
"Liam?" Zayn turned around with a slight smile, but sad eyes.
Liam absorbed the man in front of him. The man who caused him pain for three of his high school years and the most exhausting rollercoaster of feelings for his fourth year. He could not believe how breathtakingly beautiful Zayn was. How handsome he was in a rough manner. He was mostly enamored by his eyes which were adorned by long, luscious lashes.
Liam looked down at his hands and then back at Zayn, "I don't know how to thank you enough for this Zayn. I was not expecting this. Especially not after all that we went through. I am more than grateful. I teared up when the doctor told me you had been the one who paid for this."
Zayn bit his lip. "It was really the least I could do after all the pain I've caused you."
Liam's heart was begging him to run to Zayn, forgive him, kiss him and be in his embrace forever. Yet his brain attempted to push him to be rational and understand all the pain he has had to endure because of the man before him.
"Alright well, I'm gonna go," Zayn announced as he could not stand the awkward silence any longer.
Zayn began to walk down the steps of the porch to his Mercedes and Liam stood in place conflicted over what he should do.
Liam sighed to himself and ran to Zayn and embraced him from behind.
"I missed you." Liam sighed into Zayn's back.
Zayn melted into Liam's touch, he had been craving this since Liam drove away in the snow in Harry's cabin.
Zayn turned around and cupped Liam's face in his hands and looked deeply into Liam's eyes who could now look back at him. "I am so sorry Liam. I am so, deeply, genuinely sorry. You deserve better and I will ensure that I become what you deserve. I will be-"
Liam cut him off and kissed him passionately. "Shut up and kiss me back, Zayn Malik."
It felt as if both boy's hearts were missing puzzle pieces. One kiss was all it took for them to feel whole again. One kiss was all it took for their hearts to beat with purpose again. One kiss was all it took for life to run through their veins once again. One kiss was all it took for all the pain and anger to evaporate from their bodies. One kiss was all it took for them to feel whole again.
Zayn pulled back a bit to look into Liam's golden eyes.
"Liam, I know I haven't been the best person to you. I am deeply sorry for that. I know that no apology and no gift, not even eye sight will repair all the damage I have caused to you physically, psychologically and emotionally. Yet, I hope you understand that you have come to mean the world to me. You are one of the most special persons I have met in this world. I am so sorry for causing you misery both when we were not together and we when were. I promise to never hurt you again if you ever give me another chance. I will refrain from being that player that I have always been and I will do my best to be the best man ever for you since it is the least you deserve. That being said. I have something to ask you."
Liam looked up with big eyes to Zayn, "Yes what is that?"
"I know it took me a while to ask, but I think I'm ready to be a good one now. Liam, will you be my boyfriend?"
Liam bit his lip to attempt hide the goofiest, biggest smile ever to slip.
"Yes. Yes I will," he squealed and kissed Zayn harder.
___
A/N: lol. apology #235345. but hehe hi?? anyone out there still? finishing this for my own sanity and for everyone else who's still maybe reading this? I lost all the notes I had for what I had planned to write, so I'm winging this instead of what I had planned back when I was writing this. I re-read this story these past 2 hours and took notes and brainstormed the last chapters. so 2 more chapters and I'll hopefully be able to close this book after literally like 7 years of writing this?? or more I think yikes!! I have really been so uninspired with this book and idk why! I was re-reading it and there are so many holes in the plot and its so cringe to re-read especially cause I was such a little teen when I wrote this and dgskjdg it's crazy, but I just wanted to finish this!
hope you are all good, happy quarantine! crazy how many years this book has seen lol but hopefully we close this book in 2020 because I have notes for what the next 2 chapters will have. 1 more chapter and an epilogue and the end!! love you all thank you all for putting up with my updates!
