Peter smirked as he looked at the faces of the four young men facing him as they scanned the headlines of the newspaper. Here was a scoop that would be far more explosive than the announcement that Niall had just made. Niall felt the breath leave him as he stared at the paper held up towards him.
'Former band member Zayn Malik saves life of Niall Horan following his recent suicide attempt'. There was also a rather grainy picture of Louis and Zayn hugging at the airport that accompanied the article.
Louis was the first to recover and he drew on all his acting ability. "Where do you guys drag up such f.cking sh*t? Anything to cause trouble so you publish f.cking lies" he poured as much scorn into his words as he could.
"Zayn is in the country" Peter said " the picture proves it"
"Proves what?" Liam joined in " it looks like a picture of two people hugging. Very conveniently for you, you can't see their faces. So what makes you think it's Zayn and Louis? You people stoop so low to create your imagined stories" Liam's voice was derisive.
"Niall, what do you say. Do you deny this happened?" Peter pressed the blond man in front of him. Niall knew he couldn't lie to save his life so he opted for a favourite trick of his granny. You don't lie but you don't admit to it either. He took a steadying breath before he responded. "I'm a Catholic and Catholics believe suicide is a sin" he said as firmly as he could. Well, that was the truth. Please, please don't push it he repeated in his head over and over again as a mantra.
"Harry, you are being very quiet. Is Zayn in the country? Did he save Niall's life?" Peter now turned his attention to the curly haired man.
"As far as I know, Zayn is in the States" Harry replied in his slow , deep voice while keeping a bored look on his face. "And as he's in the States, he obviously isn't here."
"Are you denying the evidence of this photograph then?"
"Look" Liam took over the answering of this question " It's a picture of two hooded people hugging, hardly evidence. It could be anyone but you claim it's Zayn and Louis? And you expect the public to believe that? Do you think everyone is stupid?"
"OK, you all deny this happened. That the photograph is not of Zayn and Louis but what about the suicide attempt? You all deny that? After all, it would hardly be surprising now would it, after Niall's recent announcement" Peter felt the edge he had over the boys being eroded but he was determined to get the story that would boost his ratings.
"We have already answered that question for you. Now, if you don't mind, we are leaving. We refuse to be part of this media circus" Liam stood and the others followed suit. They all walked briskly off the set, Liam silently indicating they don't speak until the mikes were removed and they were in the safety of their SUV.
Niall sat in his seat, shaking " How did they find out? It's only Zayn, my parents and you guys that know what happened."
"Someone from the hospital? Greg?" Louis suggested.
"No, the hospital wouldn't do that I'm sure" Niall said slowly "And Greg wasn't there when I told my parents. I don't know if they told him. I know things are strained between us but..no..Greg wouldn't"
"Mate, someone has spilled the beans. We have to find out who. This can't be allowed to blow up in our faces" Liam said reasonably. "If it was Greg, we need to know". Niall nodded slowly and reached for his phone to call his parents.
"Thanks Da, that's a relief. I'll speak to you later" Niall ended the call. "It definitely wasn't Greg. Ma and Da never told him. We need to find out who did tell the media though. You don't think Zayn?...."
"No, no way" Louis was adamant. "Zayn kept everything a secret. He wouldn't do that to you, bro. But somebody did and we need to find out who"
"Management didn't know, neither did Simon. Obviously we got spotted at the airport but that doesn't prove it was Zayn and I. The hospital is a possibility but we told them you flushed the pills away. Even if they didn't believe us, they still can't prove it. And it wasn't one of us" Louis was really puzzled. Just how had that information leaked out? It was a real mystery.
All four men sat in silence as the car travelled back to Niall's home. Each of them was wracking their brains trying to see where the leak had occurred and who might be responsible. The silence was broken by first one phone then another buzzing with incoming texts. "Management" Liam said as he read his message. "We are to go there immediately. Now the cat is amongst the pigeons"
"Ah, Kevin" Louis said randomly causing the other three to smile weakly at his joke. Now there was really going to be trouble. They had to get their stories straight and do it quickly. Management knew that Niall had tried to commit suicide when Zayn left the band but, apart from Management themselves, only Zayn and Niall were supposed to know about that attempt. Was Niall to admit to this second time? Did they try and bluff their way through this? And what if they hadn't convinced Peter that his scoop was just a fake report. Liam felt his head start to pound as his tension built up. They others didn't feel any better either . It was a complete mess.
"How the h*ll are we going to do this?" Liam wanted to know. "We need some sort of plan unless...."
"Unless what?" Harry asked.
"Ni, do you want to tell management what happened?" Liam looked at the younger man at his side. Niall was pale and still shaking.
"No, no I don't" he whispered
"Right, then we need to come up with a cover up and it's got to be good. Someone leaked that information but if we can continue to deny it and there is no actual proof, we can make it look like just another one of the silly rumours that are always around us" Louis looked at the other three. "Any ideas?" They all shook their heads, time was running out.
They were nearly at Modest's main office when Niall's phone buzzed again and he looked at the caller ID. "Hello.....................................He listened intently to the caller " No, you can't do that. Please, I wouldn't let you. You can't do that.....please" Niall's tone was begging but the call had already been terminated. Niall looked at his bandmates, shock and disbelief etched on his face.