𝐚 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐚 » 𝐳.𝐬.

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

"i love you."

the words were out of his mouth before he'd even settled into the wicker chair, but it had been three long years since he first thought those words and he'd been holding them in long enough.

zayn stared at the young boy across the table, mouth gaping in bewilderment. his eyebrows furrowed and he instinctively pressed his finger between them to relax his muscles, remembering the words of his mother:

you're too young for wrinkles, dear, and quite frankly, it makes your pretty face very unattractive when you frown like that.

he loved that woman but he was nearly forty years old. he figured the few wrinkles he had were justified at his age, especially with this particularly unbearable brat sitting across from him.

"excuse me?" he asked, keeping his voice quiet. it would be more than just a simple inconvenience if anyone in the cafe heard this child confessing his feelings to man nearly double his age. no... scratch that. if his math was correct, he was more than double.

"i love you," the boy repeated, lifting his head and staring at zayn with such intensity in his eyes that he had to look away. "i've been in love you with you for three years."

"harry..." zayn sighed heavily, pinching his eyes shut as he tried to take a deep breath. "you're a child. and you're my-"

"i'm not a child. i'm almost eighteen."

"almost means you're still a kid," he countered, keeping his eyes closed as he rested his hands against the frosted glass table between them. he was thankful for the two feet feet of space between them. he didn't know what ulterior motives lied beneath those fiercely jade eyes.

"age doesn't matter."

"yeah? well, the law does," zayn sighed, finally opening his eyes. he was surprised to see harry staring at his lap, relieved but still surprised.

the boy pouted his lower lip, a movement that made zayn take a deep inhale from his cigarette.

"it's only illegal if you touch me-"

"keep your voice down!" zayn suddenly snapped, glancing over his shoulder when he noticed a few heads turn in their general vicinity. he pinched his eyes shut again, leaning back in his own wicker chair as he ashed his cigarette.

"what do you want from me, harry? what do you expect me to do in this situation?"

their eyes met and harry stared at him as if he were looking straight into the depths of his subconscious, making the older man highly uncomfortable. "i want you to take responsibility," he said softly and zayn rolled his eyes.

"absolutely not."

"why?"

"because you are a child!" zayn whisper-yelled, taking a quick glance around to make sure no one heard their conversation.

"i already told you i'm turning eighteen in two months."

"if you're seventeen, that means i'm twenty-one years older than you. and in a month, i'll be twenty-two years older," zayn countered with an arched brow, letting the smoke from his last inhale trickle out of his nose.

he could see harry's eyes, could feel them watching him, and it made his skin crawl.

"that doesn't matter to me," he said firmly and zayn groaned, fisting his black hair out of frustration.

"then what about your sister? i'm still married to her," he pointed out, taking his glasses off and laying them down on the glass table between them.

"you're getting a divorce."

"it's still wrong."

"she would understand."

"harry."

"zayn."

"that's enough. stop messing with me, i don't have time for this," he said firmly, putting his cigarette out in the ash try before standing up, grabbing his work bag from beside the table. he couldn't even gather his thoughts before harry was standing up as well, slamming his palms onto the table.

"you think i'm messing with you?!" the boy yelled and zayn wanted to slap the mystified look on his face.

"yes."

"i love you."

"harry, stop-"

"i've loved you from the moment i saw you in italy! and i haven't stopped loving you for three years-"

"i don't care. leave me alone," zayn sighed, grabbing his glasses and folding them up before tucking them into the pocket of his dress shirt. he pulled a twenty out of his bag and tossed it onto the table before walking through the maze of tables and chairs outside of the cafe.

"zayn!" the boy yelled, footsteps heavy on his wake.

he kept walking, trying to make it to his car as quick as possible. he was almost there, two steps away from the passenger door when he felt a hand on his wrists, turning him around.

"zayn, i love-" he grabbed the boy's wrists in turn and tugged him forward, twisting their bodies before pressing harry against the side of his car. he noted the frightened look on harry's flushed face and he perked up.

"i don't know how many times i have to say this, but listen to me clearly this time. i don't want anything to do with you," he hissed, his grip tightening on the boy's arm. harry whimpered and shrunk back against the tinted window of his car. "ever. so stay away from me. do you hear me?"

zayn didn't wait for a response. he released harry's wrists before walking around to the driver's side, pulling out his keys so he could get in the car.

he saw harry push himself away from the car as he turned it on, setting his work bag down in the seat beside him. the last thing he saw was the glisten of tears in harry's eyes as he whipped out of the parking lot, wishing he could go back to his normal, boring life.

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A/N: what do you think so far? 😌