STARBUCKS
"Just the usual please." Zayn tells the barista with a smile. He pulls a bill from his pocket and slides it over.
"Honey, how many times do I have to tell you? It's on the house." The barista chuckles as she slides the bill back to Zayn
Zayn found himself at the campus Starbucks almost everyday or every other day. He'd been doing this since his freshman year. Now since he was a senior everyone knew Zayn's order. In fact they even named his order "The Zayn," and had a special sign for it.
"A thousand and I still refuse to take a free drink." He slips the £20 bill back. His drink was only about £3 with his student discount, but he always wanted whichever barista took his order to keep the change.
"Ugh whatever Zayn" she smiles then proceeds to make his drink.
Zayn makes his way to Harry and plops down on the couch. He loved the campus Starbucks because it was especially designed for comfort and studying. The franchise close to his loft was more of a commercial location. Those seats were not as comfortable as the university's.
"I literally don't know why you insist on coming so early." Harry drags out clearly tired.
Zayn scoffs. "It's only half past ten. Relax mate. Be glad I didn't tell you eight am."
"Definitely would not have come." Says the tired one out of the two.
"Of course you probably stayed up hours after we last texted. Seriously what do you do? Make up scenarios of you and Kendall dating!" Zayn grins ear to ear because he knows he's got the attention of Harry.
"KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN." Harry half yell whispers. "Someone could hear you." He rolls his eyes then pulls out his textbook.
As Zayn pulls out his text book along with Harry he retorts "You act like she goes here. If someone even heard you do you really think they'd know you're talking about Kendall Jenner?" He lowers his voice towards the end of the sentence.
"Well no but still... I don't talk about your little crush on Liam out loud do I?" He challenges Zayn's efforts.
Zayn narrows his eyes and shakes his head, "first I don't see how you even think you're right all the time, second I know you are just trying to get under my skin, and Third I DONT HAVE A CRUSH ON HIM." He then opens his laptop to check the notes he took the day before.
"Okay okay whatever helps you sleep at night. If you want to hide your feelings by all means. I can't stop you, but I've been talking to this therapist, and she says saying your true feelings will lift a huge weight off your shoulders."
"So you're saying I'm lying to you then?" Zayn says getting annoyed.
He could tolerate Harry saying these ridiculous claims, but sometimes he just pushed it too much for Zayn's liking. Its not that he was bothered by the statement it's just Harry brought it up way too often.
"I didn't say that. Guilty conscience though." Harry winks at Zayn.
"You're horrible. Anyways I was going to ask before you started making assumptions about my love life, if you wanted to go with me to my fittings tomorrow? If you say no because you'll be busy I know you're lying. we both don't have class tomorrow." Zayns says dropping the topic.
"Well jeez what if I wanted to sleep in psycho." Harry blinks.
Zayn laughs at his best friends response. "Please Haaaaz. I don't want to go alone." Zayn whines. "Plus it's at noon so you have plenty of time to snooze all thirty of your alarms."
"You're so needy." Harry motions his finger close to his mouth as if he's barfing.
"Please please please." Zayn groans.
Zayn could always go on his own, but he didn't enjoy going alone. He liked having someone there whether if be Harry, his sisters, or even his parents.
"Are you going to get me lunch then since it's at noon?" Harry quirks his brow.
"Duh." Zayn states obviously.
"Cool then we're on." Harry begins to type some notes.
They sit in silence for a bit, both typing away at their studies when Zayn's phone rings.
"Hello?" Zayn picks up.
Trisha: "Zaynie how's your morning going.
Zayn: "Its going good mom. Just here with Harold grabbing some coffee. What's up?"
Trisha: That's good sweetie! Tell him I said hi. What are your plans for tonight? Your father and I want to have dinner with you."
Zayn: "I was going to be at the library studying, but I can study after dinner when I get back to mine. I'll tell Haz to come ton-" Zayn tries to finish his sentence but gets cut off by his mother
Trisha: "Actually Zaynie we were hoping it would just be you tonight. Your father and I have some uh- news to tell you."
Zayn can sense the slight hesitation in his mother's voice.
Zayn: "Umm sure... what about?"
Trisha: "Oh it is much too difficult to explain over the telephone. We'll see you tonight then yeah?" Trisha hums.
Zayn: "Yes mother. See you tonight." He says nonchalantly.
Trisha: "Perfect! Love you Zaynie! Remember to tell Harold I said hi!" She says eagerly then hangs up the phone ending this conversation.
Zayn seems confused for a bit then tucks his phone in his pocket. Harry had heard the part about him get cut off so he was curious as to what caused Zayn to stop mid sentence. He caught a glimpse of Zayn's confused face as well so he began to ask.
"Who was that?" Harry questions the dark haired boy.
"My mom. Told me to tell you hi." He shrugs it off.
"What else did she say. I heard you say something about inviting me" Harry states as he shuts his laptop done with his pre class preparations.
"Oh she just said she had to tell me something at dinner. Kinda a more private thing I guess." Zayn brushes it off as he packs his bag getting ready for class.
Harry grows a little skeptical at his friends words and actions. "Hey are you okay? You seem tense."
Zayn scoffs "Me? No I'm fine why do you ask?" Zayn makes his way to the door."
Harry growing real suspicious stops his friend by the shoulder. "Zayn. I've known you for the past three years. You get really antsy when something is bothering you."
Zayn sighs heavily. Of course he couldn't hide anything from Harry. "I don't know. I guess I'm just anxious with Liam being the head of the company now. What if he fires me or something? My parents want to talk to me about something important because I couldn't have you there so it's something big. What if Liam already ended my contract. I don't even know why he would but you know he doesn't like me so out of spite maybe he ju-" Zayn starts rambling out everything that had been bothering from the nights events to this morning when he woke up.
"Woah woah wait. You seriously think he'd fire you already? I'd give it at least a couple days before he did that." He says jokingly. Zayn just widens his eyes. "Mate seriously calm down. Is him taking over seriously bothering you this much?"
They had been standing in the same spot in front of the doors to the cafe for a bit now. Harry motioning for them to start walking to class seeing as a couple of people had to walk around them to get in line.
"Well maybe. I guess. I don't know. I just know we've had our problems in the past it just makes me nervous, because I can simply look at him and he'd have a problem with it. He literally has the executive decisions now to do so, so I wouldn't doubt it." Zayn let's out.
"Oh puh-lease... as if Mr. Payne would let that happen. The dude considers you as his son. Do you really think he'd let that happen." Harry rolls his eyes at his best friends worries.
Harry did have a point. Zayn knew he was Liams dads favorite. Geoff always had a soft spot for Zayn. Though Zayn never fully understood why. He just went along with it and tried to not boast about it to others.
"I guess you're right." Zayn agrees.
"Of course I am. I always am, duh." Harry flashes his cheeky grin making his dimples show.
"Anyways... I'll text you after they tell me news." Zayn said as they begin to part ways.
"I wasn't expecting you not to." Harry states facing away from his friend heading down his lecture hall.
Zayn rolls his eyes again because his best friend was such a "divo." A nickname Zayn came up with for his best friend only 2 months after them meeting. He then proceeded down his way to his designated lecture hall.
After his classes for the day Zayn headed back to his loft to change out of his school attire.
Mostly everyone at his university dressed in a hoodie and sweats for lectures, but Zayn knew better than to give into the comfort of that outfit.
His career was quite literally based off high editorial fashion. Though, he did cut himself some slack for his school clothes. He opted for more of a street wear feel than something couture to wear to class. The image of him showing up to class in something from Milan fashion week made him chuckle.
To go have dinner at his parents he chose to wear sweats though. He figured since he's only going straight to his parents why not. Plus he'd been dressed up all day so if anyone had anything to say he was ready with a comeback.
He approaches his parents door with tons of thoughts in his head. He couldn't seem to shake it off. The whole day he had been on edge.
His two younger sisters, Waliyha and Safaa, attended boarding school. Apparently they really wanted to go. Zayn shivers at the thought of boarding school. They clearly wouldn't be in attendance tonight.
The eldest sister, Doniya, lived a few blocks from his parents. He raises his brow when he doesn't see her vehicle because usually when he's over his sister will tag along.
"Maybe she's coming in a bit." He thought as he pushes the door open.
"Mom, Dad, I'm here." He yells through the elaborately open halls of the home, plopping his keys in the bowl.
"In the kitchen sweetie!" He hears his mother's faint voice.
He makes his way through a couple of living spaces and a library to reach the kitchen. He sometimes questions why his parents had this house. Mostly all the time the house his empty seeing as the two eldest kids moved out already, and the two younger were only home for the holidays. Maybe that was just him liking a cozy home though.
"Hi mom." He spots his mother and kisses her cheek. "Smells good!" He states sniffing the aroma lingering in the kitchen.
"Hi my Zaynie. Thank you." She states as she stirs the sauce in the pan. "How was class?" She asks washing her hands.
"Average. Since it's my senior year things are more tense. With graduation months away the professors are on edge I guess." He states plopping a grape in his mouth which only baffled his mother because when did he have the time to go in the fridge and get one out?
She shakes her head and chuckles. "I turn for one second and you're already eating me out of house. Are you at least caught up and not falling behind? She asks. She knows sometimes the modeling can take up some days. Zayn often has to miss class due to shoots and campaigns.
"Yes of course! For winter break I asked for a lot of the assignments we'd be going over next semester in advance just to be safe. With the collab in the works I figured I'd give myself a head start." He shares with his mother who smiles at him.
She loved that about her son. Always one step ahead. She would still find herself in shock at him, because how did he juggle all of this?
"Well that's good honey!" Trisha says pulling out the plates for them.
Zayn sees she only pulls three out and furrows his brows together. "Is Doniya not coming?" He asks.
Trisha looks down at the number of plates she pulled out. "No. She had some uh- business to take care of so she won't be joining." She states feeling guilty knowing she told her daughter not to come because she had to break the news to Zayn.
"Oh- uh okay." Zayn shrugs and sits at the table.
"Hey son." Yaser pats Zayn's shoulder passing behind his chair.
"Hi dad! How was your day?" Zayn asks his father.
"Oh just busy as usual. What about you? Ready for graduation yet?" He laughs out.
"Well yes but no. I'm just sad because what am I going to do after?" Zayn states truthfully. He actually was nervous. For the past four years he's been in the routine of studying for exams, going to class, attending the cheesy activities the university offered, and walking around campus. Now his life would be consumed by modeling.
"Ahhh. Well I'm glad you enjoyed your experience. It's not easy handling all you do son." He says proudly to his son.
"Well he is our son." Trisha says hovering over them serving the meal on their plates.
Zayn looks back and forth between his parents as they share a moment. He doesn't know how he was blessed with such understanding parents.
"So Zayn how are you dealing with the news?" Yaser states taking a fork to his dish.
Zayn picking up his utensils starts digging in. "I'm really shocked. I didn't think Mr. Payne would make such a huge announcement. I'm happy for Liam though."
Trisha doesn't look up from her plate once. "Such a surprise. Have you congratulated Liam on his position?"
Zayn almost chokes on his dinner at the comment. No one ever asked him anything about Liam. Only Harry. "No." He dabs his mouth. "Not yet anyways. I left early last night since I had class." He manages to get out.
"Oh well you definitely should! After all you will be seeing more of each other" she states.
"Oh-okay..." he says hesitantly.
"Now we do have something to inform you about..." Trisha says looking to Yaser."
"Okay..." Zayn drags out hesitantly. He could feel the energy in her voice shift.
Yaser reaches down into his briefcase and pulls out a document then slides it into Zayn's view. "Before you flip it open let us explain."
Zayn's eyes scan the title of the stack of papers. "Merger Agreement Contract" it says. "A merger?" Zayn thinks to himself.
"Zayn we love you. You know that right?" His mother asks him.
Zayn begins to panic because that's stuff you say in movies then something bad happens. He starts thinking of all the worst possible scenarios in his mind."
"Yes I do bu-"
"Zayn." Yaser states abruptly cutting his son off.
"Sorry." Zayn let's out a breath.
"Now way before you turned eighteen your father and I were thinking of ways to elevate your status from just a model to a business owner." Trisha says as she pushes her chair back standing up.
Now he was really having a panic attack. He has no clue what they're trying to get at. He'd dealt with contracts all the time with brand deals, covers, and some shoots, but never had he been given a contract from his parents.
"We are so proud of you and everything you've accomplishe-" Yaser starts but gets interrupted by Zayn.
"Can you just spit it out already." He blurts out then soon is aware of his sudden outburst. "Sorry, just what is this contract about." He says in a calm tone.
Trisha sighs "Zayn... Liams position isn't final just yet. There's a certain- uh- how you say circumstance that he has to meet in order to fully take over his fathers chair."
"I-Im not understanding. What does that have to do with me?"
Yaser breaths in heavily ready to rip the band-aid off. "You two have to get married." His father spits out.
Zayn looks between the two and begins to laugh. "Okay guys very funny! Honestly what is this contract for though." He looks at the two pointedly but begins to drop his grin.
Trisha half sits and leans on the table by Zayn's side and caresses his cheek. "Honey this isn't a joke. Like we said, we wanted nothing but security for you. This agreement, or contract, was set to go into play as soon as you turned eighteen but you came to us saying you got accepted to university and how badly you wanted to go. We knew we couldn't put all that pressure on you then but now, well, even now we don't want to put it on you however this is Mr. Payne's decision.
"Mr. Payne?" Zayn questions sitting still in his chair.
He doesn't know if this is some joke still or if his parents are being serious.
"Yes Zayn. Mr. Payne and I had this agreement that our families would merge to benefit his company. Also with you at Liams side you'd be a shareholder in the company and along with your modeling career with good publicity you'd be helping Liam and the company." Trisha says to Zayn now crouching next to his chair.
Zayn sitting in his chair is still. His mind and heart are going a million miles per hour. He's never heard his parents in a more serious tone. At the same time he feels betrayed by them. How could they just give out his life like that and to think this was made before he turned eighteen to go into play once he turned the age... he couldn't breathe.
"You can read over the contract. It goes into more detail however in retrospect you two are to be married." Yaser states
Zayn let's a tear slip out that he didn't realize was forming. "H-how co-could you?" He looks between his parents questionably.
Trisha sighs and begins to get teary eyed "Zayn sweetie..." she reaches out but gets swatted away by her sons hand.
"No. Don't touch me." Zayn sniffs.
"HEY. Don't touch your mother like that." Yaser yells.
Zayn angrily pushes his chair out from under him and scoffs "whatever. I'm not doing that." He turns to head out of the direction the front doors in but gets stopped by a very angry Yaser.
"You take one more step and you can kiss that collaboration goodbye." He states in a serious rather calm voice.
Zayn turns in disbelief. Was his father threatening him with something HE worked his ass off for? How dare he think he has a say in whether Zayn does it or not. Zayn was fuming. It was too much to take in all at once. His parents he loved so much were sitting here telling him he had to marry someone. Someone Zayn didn't care for at that. What gave them the right to dictate how Zayn gained his success. He'd only ever heard about things like this in the books and movies. How the hell did he get ripped into this soap opera plot?
"Excuse me?" The boy says angrily.
Trisha turns to Yaser as if she's caught off by what he said.
"You heard me Zayn. If you don't take these papers read over them and sign, you're not doing the collaboration... I didn't want to have to hold that against you but you leave your mother and I no choice." Yaser says sternly.
Zayn can't believe how south this turned. One minute they were asking Zayn about school and now he's threatening to take everything from Zayn if he doesn't sign a stupid marriage contract.
"Yaser this does-" she gets interrupted by her husband.
"No. I thought he'd at least listen and think this through." The older man states.
"That was before you told me you guys practically gave my life away!" Zayn loses it. "I'm about to graduate for gods sake. I have built myself and my brand as and individual, and not just another Malik! How could you not even tell me about this till now? Who pawns their child's life away like some damn poker game!! HUH!?" Zayn questions bawling his eyes out. "Did you guys even ask what I wanted to do with my life? Who I was interested in, or what kind of family I wanted to have? NO! because you were so concerned about etiquette classes, and good publicity! So excuse me if I'm not willing to sign a fucking contract binding my life away!
With that he storms out of the dining room. It's a while before they hear the front door slam and Zayn's car screech out the driveway.
They both sigh and drop their shoulders because they'd never heard Zayn nor saw him that angry before.
"I told you this wasn't a good idea." Yaser sighs and heads upstairs.