*[Louis POV]*
Harry stiffened, and his big green eyes looked at me worriedly. "A-Are you going to leave?" he asked with raspiness seeping in his tone. I frowned, and nodded a curt nod. A gasp escaped his throat, and wrapped his newly strong arms around me. "Don't leave Lou." he silently pleaded burying his head on the crook of my neck. I wanted to no more than sooth him of his worries, but I couldn't say no, I couldn't refuse my mum's request no matter how big it pained me. I had to leave.
"Harreh, it's not going to take that long, love... I'll try my hardest to leave.. I.." I was aware that my mouth spewed nothing but nonsense. I know my mum, and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't call unless it was something dire, and urgent. His grip tightened on my waist not allowing me to move. "Harry... It's not going to take long... Promise?" I offered. He simply shook his head--allowing his curls to brush against my neck in a fanning manor. "No." he weakly murmured, burrowing his nose deeper into my neck, and slightly inhaling my scent.
"Uh Lou, you do know that if you leave him with us, he'd be complaining how much of an idiot you were for leaving him, yadda, yadda, yadda, then you guys have a fight like the last time yadda, yadda, yadda, then kiss, then you make up, then start with another argument" Zayn snorted with a big smirk on his lips, but you can actually see the irritation in his eyes. Harry's face never left my shoulder, and I could hear a faint agreement to Zayn's comment. Realization dawned over me. It was true. He's not going to let me live it down that I literally rejected his request twice, and the first one deserved like 2 day session of "Avoid-Louis-as-much-as-possible" day, which in my book felt longer than it actually was. I can only imagine how unbearably painful a second rejection would be.
"But whose going to take care of him? It's not actually in environment for one of my mum's business rival's son to be in there." I huffed. "Then, this'll be a party of 5 in the private jet eh?" Niall quirked an eyebrow. I deflated in defeat and analyzed my boyfriend who looked up at me expectantly with bright green eyes showing that he knew that he already won.
"But--" I tried protesting, but heaved a sigh. "Fine." The boys cheered happily "but!" I held up a warning finger at them. "The blame would be on you guys if he gets hurt in any way." they nodded with stern gazes knowing what job I already assigned them; that was why I personally hand-picked them... They knew the risk of working under my name. Under a Tomlinson.
**Zayn POV**
Niall threw an arm around my shoulder without dropping his gaze from the two. "Does Harry actually know how much of a risk it is to visit Lou's mum?" he asked. I shrugged the weight of his words. "Seeing as he's content now, I don't think so." Liam approached us with a smirk on his face. "Well, there is a fantastic specialized trio behind his tracks just in case.. Though I 'm not entirely if he'll need it." he remarked with a dry humor in his tone. I looked over at the brunette to see what he meant, but he already approached the two as he patted Harry's back proudly, receiving a playful glare from Louis and a smug smile from Harry.
I looked over my boyfriend to ask what Liam meant, but he gave me a small shrug. "I don't know mate, but if it's Liam.. I'm sure he's got something up his sleeve." he chuckled while drinking from a fresh bottle of Blue Ice (some kind of beer) with a content smile on his lips.
I snorted. If I knew Liam, he's already had things planned even with that puppy-like exterior, those chocolate brown eyes often tell another story, and most of the time, pleasant was definitely the opposite of the secrets he hid. I can remember as clear as day how I met the boy.
**Flashback**
I was nearing to the end of my book, until I heard a car pull up the curb of the place. My feet slackened on the footstool and I kept on reading till the doors flew open. Louis gracefully strides in with a half-conscious brunette at his arms, Louis made a quick eye contact with me, and I gently slid my bookmark in place of the page, and literally ran to Mary who was hauling a medical bed behind her. "Thanks." I murmured as I swooshed in to where Louis was, in time as he plopped the boy down.
"O negative." he demanded urgently, and Georgia appeared with an IV marked O in the side, and effortlessly slid it into an exposed vein from Liam's arm. The boy had his eyes closed, and breathed heavily while clinging onto the metal railing on the side of his bed. "Uh Mr. Tomlin--" "Louis." he corrected while taking out a thick needle, and some metal-like string wound up on his arm. "Mary, aesthetic." he ordered sternly. Mary arrived seconds later and plunged the needle to the boy's other arm not occupied by the IV.
"Alright, Louis..." I corrected myself. "What exactly is going on here? Is there anyway I can help?" he held up his index finger indicating for me to wait another minute as he finished sewing up the boy's wounds. "Some sponges and a bucket-full of water would be nice." he smiled as he snipped of the remains of the string, and flung it on the trash. I nodded understandingly returning within a minute, and quickly handing it to him. "Thanks." he muttered, and he started cutting up the boy's thin white shirt drenched with I'm assuming was his blood. The boy remained still, but it was evident that he was sleeping with faint heaves of his chest up and down.
Louis wiped the boy's wounds clean of blood, dried them, then wrapped some bandages around it. He wiped his dampened forehead with his cuffed sleeves that hung loosely around his arms, and whispered some relieved words to the boy who quietly slept, with some snores escaping his lips. Louis finally turned to me.
"This boy.." he looked at the brunette for a short second then flickering his gaze on me. "is Liam Payne." I gawked. "The Liam Payne? You're kidding right?" I've heard vaguely about this boy on the news, but alot around my workplace. He happened to be a boy genius who made it to SS at the finish of his secondary-studies from the University of Wolverhampton. He was a legend, but something happened with one of his mission, and suddenly his files were deleted from our systems. Very little knew of the details around his case, but no one would dare ask around.
Louis coughed snapping me out of my train of thought. "I'm guessing you've heard of him?" he smiled knowingly, and I nodded. "Who hasn't?" Louis barked up a laugh while he rinsed his hands clean.
"Then I'm guessing you know of what happened to him?" I shook my head. "Barely anybody knew.." Louis hummed as he prodded unknowingly. "I'd mention the details, but I'm sure Lili here would like to tell you himself." I chuckled lightly at the nickname and nodded. I'd wait till he woke up.
~*~
Liam weeks later sat down on a chair by the fire while sipping at his tea. His eyes seemed blank at the moment, as if he was blocking out reality. He did not notice my presence until the floor creaked from beneath me, and his eyes snapped to my direction.
"H-Hello." he mumbled shyly as he indicated to the chair right by him. "You're Liam Payne." I snorted as blood rose to his cheeks and silently nodded. "Wow." I raised my voice a little and held out my hand. "Nice to meet'cha Liam, I'm--" "Zayn Malik, I'm quite a-aware of y-you.." he stuttered as he took my hand for a short handshake then gripping hard on the arms of the cushion with his knuckles shaking slightly. I gasped slightly. "Y-you know about me? H-how?" I questioned.
He chewed slightly on his bottom lip trying to stumble upon the right words. "W-well you w-weren't exactly a wallflower." he shrugs with a small smile on his face. "Wow.." I mused. "A legend who knows me..." His features darkened with his eyebrows furrowed, and a frown quickly replaced his lips. "No." he whispered slightly. My eyes darted to him in confusion.
"No?" I repeated cautiously. "I'm no legend.... Why is everybody saying that?" his voice rose slightly, and I leaned back on my chair wanting for him to relieve himself of the burden that was hidden before, and now was exposed. "I mean sure, I got the job when I was 19, but come, on... I'm no genius.. My dad had great connections with the government, and I had a sense of duty towards protection. And what to do you get? A job for the secret service... Nothing about that proves intelligence Zayn... Nothing, so please stop calling me a legend." I remained silent letting the words sink in.
He slowly eased down, and took deep breaths. "So what happened during your last mission then?" I unconsciously thought out loud. I covered my mouth the same instant, and noticed that his knuckles paled to a chalky white. "I-I mean I don't mean to pry... You don't have to tell me if you don't want to..." I trailed off. He analyzed me for a second and slick back his hair with his hands. The room remained silent for a few minutes, and I thought he wasn't going to say anything, but he started speaking as if he relived those same memories he has before with pain, and betrayal flashing among his features. "I was framed.." he simply stated. I cocked my head slightly. "Framed?" he nodded.
"There wasn't supposed to be any mistakes.. There wasn't supposed to be any mission, any requests.. But it was laid out for me... " his body shook slightly, but he kept on going. "It was only supposed to be mere request, a delivery for what I thought was for a little event." he grumbled feeling the anger shoot through him. "But how could I be so stupid?!" he whipped up from his chair. "I didn't check the packaging like I usually do, then I screwed up, I freaking screwed up!" It looked he loathed every word he was saying. "There .. There happened to be a secret auctioning for the event for that 'cake' containing some illegal substance and I brought it. I brought it myself."
Tears escaped his eye and dribbled along his cheeks. "and that.." he croaked "is how I got these." he indicated to the fresh scars that Louis just wrapped a few days ago. "It--" "It wasn't your fault Liam." Louis smiled as he approached the both of us. I snorted. "You were there the whole time weren't you?" he smiled innocently and shrugged. "What can I do? It was worth hearing it again from the victim's point of view."
His eyes flickered to Liam once more. "Anyways, I was pretty happy they let you go to be honest.."
he confessed sully making us gasp in return. "I need your service Li, as much as I need Zayn's.. I need your assistance boys, and I'm pretty sure it's worth more than what you're getting from the--" "Naa, getting payed by you is not worth it." I snorted. "Yeah." Liam added. "Even working under a Tomlinson is important enough..."
Louis clutched his chest feigning pain. "You guys are sweet, and such saps, but news flash, your pay was already sent the moment you stepped inside the threshold. " Liam looked at me with slight confusion, but we nodded. "But how were you so sure we were going to take the job?" I teased making him howl in fits of laughter. "What can be inserted can easily be removed boys, remember that." And with that he sauntered up his bedroom. And like I said before, maybe working under a kid might not be so bad.
~*END OF FLASHBACK*~
"Hey Li, c'mon, at least tell me!!" Niall literally begged to the boy. Liam rolled his eyes and just chuckled. "Ni, if I was hiding something, there's not a single thing in this world where I would tell y--" "Hi Danielle." he giggled slightly; turning himself away from Liam, and approaching me. "Ah yes, I am the Irish one, yes, yes, thank you, you too. Anyways, y--" Liam clutched Niall's phone from his hand, and started speaking to his girlfriend instead. "Yeah, he was trying to get me to tell him a little secret of mine by calling you, can you believe that?" he lolled his head back laughing like a lovestruck fool. "Yes, yes, LooOooove you too babe, bye." he smiled sweetly but was completely smoldered into a smirk as he stared at Niall. "Check and mate." he stated as he leaned on his hand that had was at the edge of the counter, and placing his other hand on his waist.
Louis coughed in the background. "Maybe I should really just leave all of you here if you guys are going at act like 10 year olds." Louis rolled his eyes with Harry behind him; their hands entwined. "Alright, alright, let's go Zayn. I'd rather go somewhere classy than stay here with boring O'le Liam." he teased. Liam groaned and threw on his coat. "Be back in 5" he murmured as he got out the driveway.
"Let's go Zayn." Niall giggled happily as we strutted down also hand-in-hand.
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Author's Note:
Okay, here it is, the long anticipated chapter that I have finished days ago, but not bother to upload because it needed to be polished and shined, and here it is. Anyways, I was scrolling down my profile for anything new, and I stumbled upon the page views, votes, 'followers' etc, and let me tell you guys, it brings a tear to my eye to see all your support with 63k reads, 261 'followers' (still used to fans), and 956 votes.. Wow, can you guys believe that?! OMG!!! I'm basically in tears because I never had that much people supporting my works before.. EVER. I know barely any of you guys read the author's note section, but I just want to let you guys know that you guys are perfect. Definitely happy with these results, and hopefully you guys are aware that I love you <333333 Infinity times this much :)!!
P.S. I'm starting to write most chapters in my notepad (in my phone) so, even if one is not updating as much, I shall have you guys know, I am trying my best to make every chapter perfect and longer, so I write bit by bit in the notepad by day depending on the amount of inspiration I have in writing, then upload it to wattpad to be further enhanced with nooks and cranny of each chapter before uploading.
~Cam xoxoxo