The Adjacent Room [h.s]

Chapter 51

'Hello Liam.' I smile, staring at the smiling face on Harry's iPhone that I'm holding. Harry decided that we need to call back Liam this morning, after blowing him off all of yesterday to be at the hospital. I wasn't in any state to talk to anybody yesterday, and neither was Harry. It's all still processing and the sadness and hopelessness we both feel is far from gone. I struggled to sleep last night because I kept thinking about Zoe, and all the children like her, but, right now, Liam's mystery call is what we're focusing on.

'Howdy, you two.' Liam says, a very typically Liam Payne sentence. 'Looking in love, just what I like to see.'

'Thank you, Daddy Direction.' I laugh, looking to my side to see Harry with a big smile on his face.

'You know us too well.' He laughs too. 'And, sorry about the other day.' Harry continues, turning to look at me. 'We were..busy.' He says, hiding a smirk. I widen my eyes at him, discreetly telling him to shut his trap.

'You made that pretty clear, actually. I wasn't calling for any rubbish reason or whatever else, though.' Liam laughs. 'I just wanted to tell you that I'm engaged..with Maya obviously. Who else would it be?' He laughs to himself.

'What?' Harry and I ask, gasping in unison. It's typical of Liam to announce this news so casually.

'I proposed to Maya two nights ago.' He says, eyes flitting away from the screen. 'Maya darling, can you come in here?' He shouts, and then Maya appears behind the camera too.

'Hey y'all!' She smiles, the Texan roots coming out.

'Haz finally called me back, so I told them.' Liam tells her, eyes fixed on her face, quite obviously mesmerised by her as soon as she's near him.

'I see.' Maya nods. 'Thanks for finally getting in touch.' She laughs teasingly, looking back to Harry and I.

'Congratulations!' I gleam with a laugh, so happy for the two of them.

'Congratulations!' Harry adds in too. He's a sucker for pregnant women and proposals. 'You're lucky she said yes.' He teases Liam.

'I wouldn't have said yes to you.' Maya shoots back with a smile, attitude coming through that I'm sure Liam adores. Harry and I both laugh in response, and he wraps an arm around my waist, drawing a pattern on the small portion of exposed skin. It's an affectionate gesture, like many of his gestures are, but they never fail to surprise me.

Maya lifts up her hand and wiggles her finger, almost as though to prove she said yes, and on her hand is a huge ring. There's massive rings, and then there's massive rings, and Maya certainly has the latter. The ring is rectangular cut, with small diamonds surrounding the massive centre diamond. It's certainly not my type of ring, but it is beautiful nonetheless. Not even Harry, the king of rings, would wear a ring this big. I'm almost stressed just looking at it.

'Is your finger going to snap with that..like, massive thing on it?' Harry gapes, eyes popping out.

'Let's wait and see.' Maya laughs, winking at Liam, who smiles back at her with all the love in his eyes. My mind drifts back to the conversation I had with Eleanor and Maya a few months ago at that restaurant, when she told us that Liam had talked to her about proposing. The rollercoaster that we've been on between then and now is something for the movies, and their engagement is like the final tie to bring us full circle.

'Can I ask how Mr. Payne proposed?' I ask, changing the topic.

'If it's as extravagant as that ring, then I'm calling it a day.' Harry comments, pulling me closer into his side.

'You'll be lucky if she says yes.' Maya teases, referencing Harry's earlier dig at Liam. 'Would you like to explain?' she asks Liam, wrapping her arm around his shoulder and leaning into him.