Update time again. I'm sorry if it's a bit late this week, too many errands to do earlier.
I finished writing chapter 23 but still unedited so watch out for the spoiler on my Twitter (@Shime_TheWriter). For this chapter, as the usual drama was present. Speaking of drama, I hope you won't hate me after reading this chapter because I wrote something (for the sake of the story) that was awful and horrible. There was a bit of action as well, so I hope you guys will enjoy reading this.
*****
Everything was going so well with the three of them: Liam, Louis, and Harry. They each other's embarrassing moments on the tour. There was one time that he slid from the stage, taking down Louis in the process.
"You were trying to kill me, just admit it," Louis scowled in a humorous manner. Remembering that night was a good one. It was one thing to perform in a massive audience as well as fulfilling their own dreams. Looking back, he never thought that he would be at this point in his life. If someone asked him what he would be doing five years ago, Louis would've said that he would like to pursue a career in education.
"Did not," Liam defended. "The stage was slippery with all the water that Harry threw."
"So, it's my fault then?" Harry batted his eyelashes, projecting the 'I-am-just-a-victim' expression on his face.
A mixture of laughter and giggles exploded in the entire room as they shared more memories of the tour. Having a full day all by themselves, writing songs felt like a good routine to them although some parts could do some improvement. All the good vibes in them disappeared as soon as they saw Zayn hugging their crying assistant entering the room.
Louis was the first one standing up, helping Zayn with Niall. He caressed his best friend's back, throwing a glare towards Zayn, who had a blank expression on his face, totally unreadable. It might take a miracle to crack him open.
"What the hell happened?" Liam asked. Worry was evident on his face as he stood up. He placed his phone in his back pocket and wanting to address the issue at hand.
"I'm... sorry..." Niall sniffed. "It's my fault..."
"No, Pumpkin. It's not your fault. We've talked about this," Zayn explained, still getting confused looks from his band mates. He looked them in the eye and although leaving them all of a sudden felt so wrong, but he had no choice. His heart weighed heavily than his dreams. Being with Niall was the best thing that ever happened to him next on being in a famous boy band. Zayn hoped that his band mates would understand why would he do something like this.
"I'm leaving One Direction," Zayn stated, pulling Niall closer to him. Right away, he saw the jaw dropping expressions of his band mates. He knew that as soon as they realized what he just said that they would pounce on him. And that's why he had to pull his boyfriend behind him, just to make sure that his Pumpkin would not get in the middle of the incoming argument.
Louis scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief and joked, "What are you talking about?"
Both Liam and Harry were still reeling their mind from the bomb that Zayn dropped on them. They don't know if Zayn was just playing a mean joke on them.
"Before I proceed, I'd like you to check on your Twitter, and you'll know what I'm talking about," Zayn said, his voice was drained of emotions. His face was not telling anything, he has to stay like this because, at the back of his mind, he knew that his band mates would tell him a lot of awful insults and humiliations. He was just preparing himself for that.
The three lads in the room didn't waste any time, checking their Twitter accounts. It did not take too long until Zayn heard Louis gasping, Harry covering his mouth from the shock, and for Liam who stood in his position as if he saw a ghost staring back at him.
"Holy mother of-" Louis hissed. He could not believe his eyes as he saw two familiar figures snogging the hell out of each other in a locked bathroom stall. He recognized those two as Zayn and Niall. Confusion and more questions throbbed in his head.
"What does this mean?" Harry asked, looking expressionless back to Zayn. Zayn was about to respond, but Harry threw another question. "Are you two really together? I thought it was just casual flirting back and forth..."
"No, Harry," Zayn shook his head, disagreeing with his curly-haired best friend. "Me and Niall are together. And this is why I'm leaving."
"What!" Liam raised his voice. Anger and rage were undoubtedly seen on his face-on how his face was contorted, how his brows were scrunching together, and how his mouth was twitching involuntarily. "This doesn't make any sense!"
It was the first time that they saw Liam snapped like this as if the ground was shaking beneath them. They could feel the fury in his voice. They didn't expect for Liam to blow up like this.
It took Zayn to regain his composure and when he does, he replied to Liam. "Anthony fired Niall."
"What!" Louis screeched, his high-pitched voice bouncing off on the four corners of the room. Fear crept up on him, realizing that his blonde best friend would leave him for good. Louis could not have that.
"The video was leaked online hours ago, I didn't know how," Zayn sighed. "All I know is that the public knows that what I had with Perrie is just for PR purposes only. I'd rather lose my spot in the band than to lose Niall altogether."
The sound of a muffled sob erupted into the room, creating more tension between all of them. Zayn tried his best to calm Niall down because hearing those coming from him felt like something was piercing his heart, crushing it into pieces.
"I can't believe this!" Liam raised his voice, shaking his head in disbelief. "How could you let some fag ruin our hard work for five years!"
Hearing that offensive word made Zayn snapped. He glanced at Louis, telling him to hold Niall for a moment while he deals with the homophobic friend of his.
(Author's Note: The first gif is Zayn's reaction to Liam. Angry Zayn is hot, in my opinion).
"Who the fuck do you think are!" Zayn growled, gaining distance to Liam. Anger and rage pulsated inside of him. The overwhelming emotions were clouding his judgment and all he wanted to do was to inflict some damage.
Harry placed himself in between Liam and Zayn, who were having a glaring contest at one another. Using his long arms, he tried his best to push the opposing forces on both sides as his eardrums were being shattered by the exchange of growling voices on both sides.
"I will not let you insult my boyfriend!"
"Boyfriend? Is that what you are?" Liam scoffed. "As far as I know, you're just a rebound!"
The anger in Zayn kept building up, feeling like he was on the verge of doing something he'll regret later, but that doesn't matter anymore. He would protect Niall at all cost even if it meant putting himself in a dangerous predicament.
Zayn pushed Harry on the side then his fist made contact with Liam's cheeks. The pain pulsated from his knuckles made him hissed. He saw how Liam lost his footing from the impact of the jab and ended up on the floor.
Louis screamed, telling them to stop, but none of his words was penetrating from the enraged boys. He turned to Harry, who was on the ground, begging and pleading to do something. Louis saw how Zayn jumped down on Liam and beating the shit out him. Blood spluttered and growling voices erupted into the air.
Zayn was killing Liam, literally.
Zayn felt the stinging sensation vibrating from his knuckles, but he pushed the pain and kept going. Using both of his knuckles, he kept pushing his fists toward Liam. Some of them hit and some of the missed. He saw dots in his eyes, that's how enraged he was. Zayn was not thinking straight anymore.
The more Niall felt guilty as the scene unfolds right before his very eyes. Liam was being pummeled to death by Niall's boyfriend. Louis was screaming his lungs out. Harry was crawling back, trying to stop the feud between best friends. This was not what Niall wanted at all. If only he could turn back time, he would. It was all his fault, after all. If only he controlled his urges, none of this would happen.
Liam was enduring enough damage; he could imagine how messed up his face was. Before darkness swallowed up his consciousness, he had to do something, something to stop all of this. He could not let Zayn hurt him any further. Liam took all of his energy, bending his knee as he placed both of his feet in Zayn's stomach. Liam gathered enough strength and pushed Zayn with all of his might. He saw how Zayn step backward, losing his balance, smashing his back towards Harry, who was slowly standing up. Both Zayn and Harry crashed into the floor.
"Stop this!" He heard Louis yelling at him. With all this anger beating inside of him, he didn't notice that he grabbed Louis on arms and pushed him towards the lads. The Liam that once sensible and rational was all gone and was replaced by this furious Liam that they didn't recognize at all.
With all the three lads out of the way, Liam grabbed on the large table in the center of the room and used it to barricade between him and the lads. He was not done with all this fury enveloping his entire existence. He turned around suddenly and saw Niall crying his eyes out.
"You're next!" He growled. Liam saw the panic and fear in those blue eyes. He used that as motivation to fuel the anger and rage pulsating within him.
Niall hitched his breath as soon as he saw Liam getting closer to him. He saw in those brown eyes the intent to kill. The once innocent, puppy eyes that Liam had been all gone and turned into this vicious monster that wanted to end his life. Niall stepped back until calves hit the edge of the sofa, making him lose his balance until his ass hit the sofa cushion. He shrieked, embracing himself for whatever that Liam would do to him. It was obvious that he would never see the next day. The image of his family back in Ireland flashed before his very eyes. If only he had one more chance, he would like to see them again at least one more time.
"I'm... sorry..." He whispered to Liam, who was towering over him.
"This is all your fault!" Liam roared. "It's because of you why Zayn would have abandoned his best mates. A faggot like you should just roll over and die!" And with that, Liam grabbed Niall on the neck, restricting the blonde's air intake. He put more pressure on the grasp until he felt Niall trying to pry his hold on the neck and Niall's skin was turning blue and a restrained choking sound was escaping from the blonde's lips.
"Ca-can't... bre-breathe..." Niall begged for his life to be spared. His fingers were digging into Liam's hand, but it was no use because the lad in front of him was not hearing him anymore.
Zayn got terrified for the worst as he saw his boyfriend's life was slipping away. He feared that if he didn't do anything that he would lose Niall for good. With adrenaline rushing into his bloodstream, not feeling the fatigue and numbness of his entire body, he pushed himself up. With the erratic heartbeat pounding on his chest, every second counted. Zayn used Louis and Harry as a stepping stone then jumped over the gigantic table blocking them. He almost slipped as his feet touched the ground, but time is of an essence. He must act fast and quick before he lost the one thing that mattered to him, and it was his boyfriend, Niall Horan. He grabbed the folded metallic chair and sprinted towards the killer who wanted to end his boyfriend. With all of the energy left in his body, he used it and smashed the chair into Liam's back. A loud cracking sound of metal hitting a flesh erupted into the air. Zayn used that split second to separate his boyfriend from Liam. He heard how Liam grunted from pain as Liam arched his back. Without any notice, Zayn grabbed on Niall, checking if his boyfriend was still breathing. The former blue pigmentation on his boyfriend's skin was turning pink once again, indicating that Niall was returning back to normal.
"Are you okay, Niall?" Zayn asked worriedly, caressing his boyfriend's cheeks. Relief washed all over him when he felt his boyfriend was nodding his head at him. He placed a kiss Niall on the forehead and hushed, "I'm so glad that you're okay now. Pumpkin, you give me quite the scare."
With the fear of dying still beating inside of Niall, he never thought that he would actually be at that point but it was a good thing that Zayn saved him. He would do anything to repay Zayn for extending his life. His blue eyes widening in fear once more when he saw Liam standing before them as Zayn's back was facing Liam, not realizing that the vicious monster was getting closer to them.
"Zayn..." He called out, but his boyfriend was too busy caressing his back. Niall tried shaking Zayn but it was no use so he screamed his lungs out and that made Zayn turned around.
Zayn stood up, his entire body was all tensed up. He used his body frame as a shield to protect Niall behind him. The instinct to protect the love of his life kicked in as if it was his second nature. He saw Liam had this look on his face that was entirely foreign to him. Not a moment later, he noticed that Liam's hands were shaking as if he was about to have an epileptic seizure.
"What's happening... to me..." Liam whimpered. "What did I just do..."
Still not believing to Liam's acting, Zayn kept this imaginary wall between them. He had never seen this side of Liam that went into berserk mode. Zayn was still feeling a lot of emotions brewing up inside of him-anger, fear, terror, rage, and much more.
"Keep your distance," Zayn threatened, his right hand was stretched forward, using it as another extension of protecting him and his boyfriend behind him, and the other hand was placed beneath Niall. He was so desperate to hold on to his boyfriend, fear that Niall would disappear from him.
With the fury dissipating from Liam, he noticed that the entire room was thrashed. He glanced at back and he noticed that there was a large table separating the room and Harry and Louis were nowhere to be found. And when he glanced back to the front, he saw Zayn glaring back at him. With his heartbeat slowing down, he doesn't remember a thing. The last thing he remembered was Zayn telling the band that he was leaving and after that everything went black.
"I mean it, Liam!" He heard Zayn growled, making him startled. "You have to go through to me first before you kill Niall!"
"Kill Niall?" Liam whispered, "Why would I kill Niall? He hasn't done anything wrong?"
"Cut the fucking crap!" Liam saw how Zayn was gritting his teeth together, evidence of rage was seen on his face. "I don't know what the fuck did you smoke, but I am not letting you hurt Niall!"
"Zayn-I..." Liam tried voicing out anything but his mind was all jumbled up and with his heavy breathing, he doesn't know what the hell happened earlier. He took one more step, but he once more got startled when he heard Zayn growling back at him.
"I fucking told you! Don't take another step!" Liam saw the fury and rage emanating from those golden amber eyes. He had no choice but to step back, raising his hand in the air as a gesture of him surrendering.
"I don't know what happened," Liam said with remorse in his tone. He had a vague idea that he did something wrong, but he doesn't know what it was. "Please tell me what did I do!"
"I'll tell you, you almost killed Niall. You were strangling his neck!" As soon as those words reached Liam, it felt like he was a deer caught in headlights. Right away, memories from moments ago played in his head, on how he snapped at everyone after receiving the most horrifying news, how he hurt Harry and Louis, and how he was choking Niall to death.
His brown eyes were widening in shock, he looked down at his hands and it was trembling in panic. The thought of him almost ends someone else's life gave him the frightening feeling. Growing up, he always followed rules and stick to them because that's what his parents and his family ingrained to his brain. But after realizing the aftermath of what he had just done, Liam didn't recognize this part of himself as if he has an alter ego and that scared him the most.
"I'm sorry," Liam frowned, whispering his apology. He honestly feels extremely awful for what he did to Niall and he will spend the rest of his life making up for that. "I didn't know what came over me..."
Zayn narrowed his eye altogether. A part of him was not believing in those words because he had to put his boyfriend's safety first. For now, he must put his guard up just in case Liam took another shot at his boyfriend.
All of a sudden, the door slammed wide open and the three of them were surprised to see Anthony standing and was kind of surprised to see the entire room was trashed.
"What the hell happened here?"
"I've had enough of this shit!" Zayn said. Venom was dripping off from his voice. With his boyfriend under his arms and still quite shocked with everything that happened, he guided Niall out of the room.
"We still need to talk!" He heard his new former boss yelling at him as he passed him by the doorstep. Then he turned around with anger evident on his face and screamed back, "We have nothing to talk about! I am leaving this place for good!" And with that Zayn escorted his trembling boyfriend out of the hellish place and into a safe haven.
*****
About a half hour ago...
"Zayn, get your ass back here!" Anthony was screaming his lungs out as he saw Zayn was walking out on him with the assistant. He has no against towards the blonde but after seeing the leaked video put a crack in the pretend relationship of Zayn and Perrie he put in the public eye. And once the people put the pieces together, it would all blow up in his face and that was something that he cannot take.
His inner thoughts and turmoil came to a halt when an associate of him came knocking on the door. He saw Katrina Murphy, one of the big bosses of the management team.
"Bad day?" Katrina teased but soon realized that her humor was not taken lightly by the way glares were coming from Anthony. "Sorry," She giggled, raising her arms in the air.
"What do you want?" Anthony snapped, turning around and went back to his black swivel chair. His mind was racing with ideas on how to get Zayn back or else he would lose his job. Then, subconsciously, he bit his fingernails, one of his bad habits that he picked up ever since he was a young kid.
"Didn't your parents tell you that it's bad to nibble on your fingernails?" Hearing that made Anthony pull away his hand from his mouth.
Anthony had to breath hard, trying to clear his mind. But the situation with Zayn took precedence over anything. If the public knew what happened, it would create chaos. This issue must be dealt right away!
"You know, I've found a solution towards your leaked video." That was enough for Anthony to snap away from the million questions running through his head. He looked straight in those minty green eyes staring back at him. Anthony pushed his ass and back towards the chair, making himself more comfortable.
"I'm listening..."
"It would be a bad idea to fire Niall Horan," he heard Katrina. Anger started boiling inside him.
"How did you-" Anthony asked but he was cut off before he could finish his sentence.
"Oh please, Anthony," Katrina giggled, rolling his eyes out with sarcasm in her voice. "Words travel fast."
Anthony was contemplating. He stared at Katrina in front of her. Although they were on the same team, he doesn't like her at all. Sure, she was manipulative and a control freak but her methods was intriguing and dirty. All Anthony knew that Katrina was a cold, hard bitch. At the back of his mind, he knew that Katrina was after his job as the main boss of the management team. He had a taste and power, and he was not willing to give that up. He would crawl and roll over even if it meant having his position intact with him.
"Continue..." Anthony stated, his face was drained of emotions. His voice was cold and calculating.
"Listen to me, Ant..." Anthony cringed when he heard that from the woman. He knew that Katrina was messing with his head, calling him by his childhood nickname that he hated. Only his mother called him that whenever he did something wrong. "Niall Horan is the glue that holds them together. Didn't you notice how the boys reacted to him? Zayn had this heart eyes whenever he sees Niall. Louis is best friends with Niall. Don't forget Harry, which I think has a little crush on Niall. And lastly, Liam get along with Niall really well. He had control over them, practically had them at his fingertips..."
Anthony was thinking hard as the information was sinking in his brain. He did notice those subtle changes in the boys as soon as the blonde was nearby, but he didn't think too much about it.
"And if you control whoever's controlling them, you can do anything you want. Think about endless sponsors and publicity, and that would mean more money. Don't you wish to have more money?" Anthony saw the familiar smirk on her face. The point that Katrina imparted was somehow becoming more appealing to him. But the question is, does she have a hidden agenda?
"Heck, you can even make them dance like stupid monkeys in a circus!"
Still, Anthony was skeptical to the idea but it was worth testing for. The question now was how to implement it?
"How do we go about it?" Anthony asked, still unsure about Katrina's agenda.
"Hire back Niall Horan and draw a contract of him and Zayn being in a relationship and made the public know about it."
"But wouldn't that contradict Zayn and Perrie's relationship?" Anthony questioned, wondering if it was a good idea. This was all new to him, feeling like crawling on the floor with your sense of vision taken away from you.
"Look, I don't have any grudge towards her and her group. But that group was a lost cause," Katrina answered. "Even Zayn was not paying attention to her whenever they're together in public."
(Author's Note: I don't hate Perrie and her group. Actually, I have one of their songs in my Spotify playlist. This was just for the drama purposes of the story. Peace!)
His mind was processing all this information that was presented to him. Logic was a requirement to push through this. Anthony hoped that he was not making a big mistake or else he would be jobless.
"If you pursue this, this would bring a lot more revenue as more fans being welcome in our circle. With all these homosexual issue erupting globally, you're making a statement here. You would be a great hero, didn't you think of that?" The chirpiness of Katrina's voice was giving Anthony a severe migraine.
"But we did that already with Harry and Louis but look where it got us. When they broke off, the people turned on us," Anthony shook his head in disagreement. "This is a significant step and a risky move to make."
"Hah!" Katrina scoffed. "Since when does an Anthony Carlton afraid of risks?"
Anthony could practically hear the mockery tone dripping off from Katrina. If he didn't know any better, she was setting him up for a trap.
"Are you losing your touch?" He saw the feign frown in her face, definitely taunting him. He found his hands were shaking in irritation. Although he knew that he was walking into a trap, Anthony would turn this around and show her who is the boss!
"No," Anthony stated plainly. "Just tell what the plan is."
"Great!" Katrina grinned. "So here's what's going to happen..."
*****
Anthony knew that Zayn was still in the building. Convincing him to stay in the band would take one hell of a miracle but Anthony was praying in his head that everything would go according to his plan.
He could feel his chest tightening as the chilly air grazing his cheeks. Anthony almost jumped from the shock when he heard crashing inside of a room. With the fear that some unauthorized personnel got into the building, which happened a lot of times, Anthony quickly opened the door and was astonished to see that the room was thrashed-chairs scattered, a table was lodged at the center of the room. A sizzling tension crackled into the air, seeing Zayn was glaring at Liam.
"What the hell happened here?" He questioned, trying to put the pieces together why there was chaos in the room. At one corner of his eye, he saw Harry and Louis unconscious beneath the table.
His thoughts were snapped away from him when he heard Zayn's angry voice.
"I've had enough of this shit!" Anthony looked at Zayn with confusion as he was passing by him with Niall under his arms. Things were slipping out of his control and Anthony couldn't have that.
"We still need to talk!" Anthony raised his voice, but he was ignored completely. "We have nothing to talk about! I am leaving this place for good!"
Fear sank in within Anthony. The reality of being jobless was becoming more apparent. Anthony must act quick before it could end up in disaster. With that being said, he pulled the phone out of his pocket, pressing a sequence of numbers on the keypad then placing it on his ear.
"We have some major problems..."
*****
It didn't take too much time before Zayn and Niall arrived on the parking lot. Zayn gently guided Niall to the passenger's seat after opening the door. Then, he moved on the other side, to the driver's seat, putting the key in the slot. The machine roared, but his mind was still reeling off what happened. Zayn glanced sideways at his boyfriend, wiping the dry-stained tears on his boyfriend's cheek.
"Everything will be alright, Pumpkin," Zayn said with utmost sincerity. "You just have to hold on."
Then, Zayn focused his attention on the road but he was startled when Niall spoke all of a sudden.
"This is not the way to my flat."
"I know that," Zayn answered. "Before you say anything, you'll have to stay with me for a while."
"Why?"
"In case Liam wants to finish you off." Right away, he felt his boyfriend tensing up on his seat even though his eyes were focused on the road. "Don't worry, Pumpkin. I'll protect you."
(Author's Note: Look at the second media. Just imagine Zayn put his hand over Niall. I couldn't put another picture but just in case you wanna see it, search this story on AO3, I think you could see it it there)
By the time they arrived at the flat, their aching bodies and exhausted minds were all they had. Even if Zayn wanted to initiate something, it felt like it was a wrong time. For now, they were just going to take one step at a time. The future holds so many things, he just wanted to be ready whatever life threw at him.
With only his underwear on him, Zayn made himself comfortable as the quiet and peace of the room calmed his senses. The heat escaping from his boyfriend on the other side of the bed was doing the same thing. Zayn looked at the ceiling as if something amusing was crawling on it.
"Pumpkin..." He called out, wondering if Niall was also awake.
"Hmmm..."
"What you thinkin'?" He heard his boyfriend lets out this long, deep sigh. Zayn wondered what could it mean? Was it good? Or the other way around. A lot of things were running through his head and imagination took him to places that he never thought possible. But also the fear and worry never left him. With all the things they had to go through today, it would be questionable if Niall decided to stay with him. Niall could just walk away from him, not to deal with this crazy drama. But a part of Zayn was hoping that his boyfriend would never leave him.
"I'm scared..."
Zayn hitched his breath as the warm touch of his boyfriend, grasping his wrist. It was tight, restraining his circulation. Although, the sting of the touch was hurting Zayn, he bit his tongue and not wanted for his boyfriend to freak out on him.
"Scared of what, Pumpkin?" He asked as he placed his other hand on top of Niall, letting him know that everything would be okay. Soon enough, he felt his boyfriend loosening on the grip.
Zayn didn't hear anything for a while until the spoken words hit him like a gut-wrenching punch in his gut.
"Hit me, Zayn..."
Zayn had to glance sideways, looking at his boyfriend, who was looking at the ceiling as well. With this dim lighting in the room, he could perfectly see the profile of his Irish boyfriend. Even with the dark enveloping the room, he saw how sexy and how alluring his boyfriend.
"What?" Zayn asked with confusing thoughts swimming in his head.
Zayn became breathless as he saw Niall rolling his body towards him, facing him. The sparkling blue eyes piercing his heart was making him breathe harder, making his heart pound stronger in his chest, making all the logic and reason in his head to leave him completely. None of all those matter with just one look at his boyfriend.
"I know you think that it's not my fault for all of this. But actually, I'm the root cause of this," He heard his boyfriend spoke. He wanted to counter him, not filling Niall's head with more remorse because that's the last thing Zayn wanted for Niall to think. But he wasn't able to do that as Niall pressed his finger towards Zayn on the lips. "If only I didn't attack you in the bathroom then none of this wouldn't happen. If only I had the control over myself, your career wouldn't be in jeopardy. This is all my fault..."
Zayn frowned, his insides felt like were being scrunched up together as soon as tears were forming in those blue eyes that he adored so much. He ran his thumb as the tears flowed out of those eyes.
"I told you, Niall. This is not your fault," He smiled, his eyes crinkled together. "Actually, I wanted to thank you for giving me the nudge to get out of their manipulative hold on me. I've wanted to find a way to get out of them and now I did it because of you. Thank you so much, Pumpkin. You gave me this courage..."
"But I ruined your career and now there's nothing left of you here..."
Zayn had to agree to that but either way he had to turn this around in his favor. He'll know that it would be a struggle at first, but what's the fun of doing things lightly. If you wanted something so bad, you have to work hard on it because the result would be totally worth it, like the one he had for Niall.
"You know, I could go back home and return to my normal life like school. I also miss my family. That could be fun too," Zayn chortled. Although those reasons were good enough to leave his fame life he built for five years the energy and adrenaline that fame gave him was too hard to ignore. He just doesn't want to voice out that his boyfriend was the reason why he was going to be a jobless first thing in the morning.
"You're lying, Zayn. I could see it in your eyes," Niall frowned. The thought of ruining someone else's life felt like this huge weight was being pressed on his shoulder. He knew that his parents taught him to be a respectable human being, but this thing that he did wasn't something a decent human being would do.
"You know what, I'm just gonna call Anthony and tell him that everything was a mistake and you'll be coming back first thing tomorrow morning," Niall panicked, reaching out for his phone on the nightstand table near the bed.
"Fuck! Niall, no!" Zayn growled, restraining his boyfriend's movement. Anger was building inside of him. "I don't wanna come back to a hellish place like that. I hate that they control every single thing in my life. I hate how they made me feel... Please, Niall, don't do this..." Zayn begged, his voice squeaked as the tears were flowing out from his eyes. "I don't wanna live this life. I'd rather die than to live without you..."
Hearing those words caused this unexplainable feeling beating inside of Niall. As much as he wanted to fix this, he can't. There was too much damage and repairing it would require one hell of a miracle.
"I don't wanna live without you too, Zayn," Niall whispered, running his hand over Zayn's cheeks. The warmth exchanging on their skins were somehow made them calm. "But I can't let you walk away from your dream. This is what you wanted in the first place. I remembered when I saw you TV the first time, doing this interview telling the whole world that singing is your passion," He continued. "What kind of person would I be knowing that I destroyed that for you?"
"I don't care about that!" Zayn pleaded. "That was before. Now, you are my dreams and my everything. Please don't leave me. I love you so much, Niall..." With that, he enveloped his entire body against his boyfriend encasing him with a big, warm hug as the tears flowed from his boyfriend's shoulder. Zayn doesn't care if he sounded like a clingy boyfriend. That doesn't matter anymore, he just wanted for Niall to stay with him.
"I'll do anything you want, Niall," Zayn sobbed. "Just don't leave me!"
Seeing Zayn in this state was making Niall felt incredibly awful and terrible. This was the last thing that he wanted for Zayn. For now, he was just going calm his boyfriend down. Even if he wanted to get out of Zayn's life, he couldn't do that because his heart was telling him that leaving Zayn would be the worst mistake that he's going to make.
"Shhh..." Niall hushed, caressing Zayn on the back. "I promise I won't leave you..." Soon enough, he felt Zayn relaxing under his touch until he noticed that Zayn fell into a deep slumber.
Hours later, he was woken by a buzzing sound of his phone on the nightstand table. He reached it up but the name flashing on the screen made him terrified. As instincts, he glanced at Zayn who was still fast asleep and that made him calm a little bit. Niall pulled himself gently out of the bed, taking the call outside of the bedroom.
"He-hello..." He squeaked, panic was felt through his voice.
"Good thing that you answered the call."
"What do you want, Anthony?"
"Is that what you call me now?" He heard the mocking tone of his former boss from the other line. Even if he wanted to throw the phone in his hand, he wouldn't dare to do that. There were a lot of emotions beating inside of him right now, but he tried his best to calm himself down. He was not going to give Anthony the satisfaction.
"Why are you calling me at this hour?" Niall growled lowly, sounding like a threat. "You know I'm not your employee anymore."
"Hmm... Feisty," Niall was beyond irritated when he heard giggling sound on the other line. But the next words from his former boss knocked the wind out of his lungs.
"Do you still want your job back?"
"Wh-what?" Niall squeaked once again. He had to pull out the phone out of his ears then glancing back at the phone, with confusion etched on his face. Then, putting the phone back again near his ears. "Is this some kind of a joke?"
"Nope. I'm serious."
"What's the catch?" Niall asked, knowing that his former boss doesn't do this kind of things at all. Of course, there's something that he wanted.
"I want you to..."
Niall listened carefully at Anthony's words but after a minute, he felt his eyes widening in shock.
"What!" Niall exclaimed. "I'm not gonna do that to Zayn. He will kill me!"
"You're not listening to me, Niall," Niall heard his former boss reasoned with him. But the thing was, he wanted his old job back but was it really worth it going behind his boyfriend's back. Something doesn't feel right, as his gut feeling telling him that this maneuver could bite him in the ass later on. "If you really wanted your job back, I mean with our unstable economy, how could you find a decent job? How about your family back home, are you just gonna let them starve to death?"
"You fuckin' bastard!" Niall hissed. He was beyond on his boiling point, but all those screaming emotions inside of him disappeared out of him when he heard a croaking voice behind him, made Niall spun around on his heels.
"Pumpkin..." Niall saw his boyfriend standing on the door with messy, spiky hair, and barely opening eyelids. Zayn's cheeks were a little bit red due to the way he slept through the night. Niall's blue eyes traveled from his boyfriend's face down to his tattooed chest and down to his happy trail. That made Niall a little bit excited.
"Who are you talkin' to at six o'clock in the morning?"
"Uh... no one," Niall replied, unconsciously licking his lips in a seductive manner as he does things to Zayn inappropriately in his imagination. But all those dirty thoughts in his head dissipated into the thin air as he heard the annoying voice of Anthony on the other line.
"Don't forget, I'll be waiting for you this afternoon, and the bets are off if you tell Zayn everything..." Niall was about to voice his anger towards his former boss, but the line went dead before he could do anything.
With all these things happening, Niall wondered what was the best thing to do right now. Of course, he wanted his job back but he doesn't think he could betray Zayn. He doesn't want his boyfriend getting pissed off at him, considering he saved him from the brink of death, that should count for something, isn't it?
"It was just my landlord reminding me that the rent payment is due this week," Niall lied, chuckling. For now, he was just going to distract Zayn, hoping that next couple of hours would give him a sign which path was better in the long run.
Would he really betray Zayn just to get his job back?
*****
Any thoughts on this week's update?
1. Making Liam the villain was a bit hard for me, I feel awful writing that part, but that's only for the story's purposes only.
2. Niall is always on the verge of death, why is that? LOL.
3. Protective!Zayn is always the death of me, just sayin!
Did you know that when I got into the fandom since April 2012, my first ship was Niam? And that's why I wrote "The Way To My Heart," my first 1D fanfic I've written. That book has more than fifty chapters, and most of it were crappy haha! I just want to share :)
After that, I wrote three more books (which are all unpublished):
1. An Avatar-themed 1D fanfic (The GrandMaster)
2. Robot-themed fanfic (My Bionic Heart)
3. A Harry Potter -ish 1D fanfic (The Diplomat)
I will be most likely to rewrite #1 & #2... Spoiler (something to look forward to in the future) :P