Pelican » Zarry ✅

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Now Harry smiled and clasped his hands together. "That is all and thank you for coming. This meeting is dismissed."

Slowly, everyone got up from around the table and began to file out. Harry went over to the window to look out. He now had twelve new people to add to the list of people he misled. Before long, the entire world was going to be on that list. If it hadn't already been added... in a way.

When he turned from the window, Liam and Carla were still there talking to each other silently. Harry raised his brow.

"I dismissed the meeting already. You both can leave and go back to your offices." He said.

"Oh. We know." Carla said. "We were just talking. If Zayn is too sick to come to work, we could come by and visit him or bring him something to cheer him up."

But Harry quickly shook his head at them. "No. No visitors."

"But look who you're talking to. We're not just your employees. We're your friends and Zayn's good friends too."

But he didn't budge as he swooped past them. "No visitors. No friends. He doesn't need any of you."

Liam was going to let it go. But Harry's response came out so unusually rude that he just couldn't let it go. So he followed him out of the conference room and all the way to his office.

"Harry, what's going on?"

"Excuse me?"

"How sick is he?"

"How sick is who?"

"Zayn."

But Harry sat down in his chair. "He'll get over it."

"Are you sure?"

"What do you want from me?"

He shrugged. "I don't want anything from you. I just want to make sure you're alright. You seem obviously tense about something."

"Maybe I am tense about something."

"Do you want to talk about it as a friend?"

But Harry gave him a look that meant he was highly annoyed. The frustration in his voice confirmed it. "No, Liam. I do not want to talk about it. Not as a coworker. Not as friends. Not as anyone. Don't worry about me. I am going to be just fine. And as far as I'm concerned, so will Zayn. He doesn't need you or Carla or anyone to cheer him up. So tell her that and back off. Okay?"

Liam was quiet. He wished he could convince him to tell him but he knew that would not be appropriate. "Okay."

"Thank you."

Without another word, he left Harry's office. And Harry was so glad that Liam closed the door behind him because it allowed him to put his elbows up on his desk and cry into his hands.

Everyone here loved Zayn. So of course they were going to ask about him and want to see him if they believed he was ill. But when it came to his good friends, he had to let them know he was serious so their persistence couldn't get Zayn killed. Maybe it wasn't necessary to push them away. But at the time, he panicked and it was all his mind could think to do. Hopefully sometime down the road when the truth came out, they would forgive him for both lying to them and treating them this way.

* * *

Around seven forty, Rod came inside the shed and pulled the door up behind him.

Zayn was awake and watching him carefully.

"Hello, Zayn. I hope you are ready."

"Ready for what?"