*Ohhh Zayn running.
Charlie's POV
It's almost like you could hear a pin drop, and if the music wasn't playing softly now in the background, I'm sure you could hear each person inhale and exhale.
And I'm embarrassed-no, I'm more than embarrassed. These people are my friends, my coworkers, my future in laws for crying out loud, and for her to just say something like that makes me so upset to the point where I want to cry.
And I know Zayn knows me well enough to understand how much these words impact me-I've heard them so many times before, and I don't doubt that he can see my eyes clouding over. I hear him saying things- switching between reassuring me and cursing the hell out of her- but I don't process any of it. I don't want to let her break me, but...
She's such a bitch, drunk or not. How does she even know any of mine and Zayn's story to be able to pull out that bit of information and run with it? Zayn's in the public eye more now, sure, but he's not famous to the point where people are watching his every move-at least I hope not. And before he took over the business, his parents fought so hard to keep their children out of the spotlight, so Zayn led a somewhat normal, unbothered life.
Like me.
And there's no way she could know anything about me. I was just another nameless face in the big streets of New York City; just someone else with a story that most people don't care to learn.
But then again, she slept with him way back when, so maybe she's been following what he's been up to since she found out she was pregnant. Or maybe he even spilled all about me that one drunken night and she hasn't forgotten while he has, in a haste, trying to forget. Because if I'm being frank, she's the kind of person who remembers every single detail about everything to the point that it's scary.
"I think you need to leave," I hear in a venomous tone, and I'm not entirely sure who it comes from until I look up and find Harry standing next to me, seething.
Genevieve smirks. That bitch fucking smirks and I want nothing more than to wipe it off her face. She knows she's struck a chord, but something tells me she already knew that because she's just that meticulous. "Well I'm not-"
"But you are," he spits. AngryHarryAngryHarry. "I've sat around and put up with your meddling shit for the past month on the strength that he's my best friend and you dropped a fucking bomb on him. But I'll be damned if I sit back and watch you rip something apart that they've spent so much time building up, something that they've fought so hard for, because you're bitter and jealous and just batshit crazy. If you cared about your kid at all, then you would have enough respect for his supposed father to let him be happy. You've got no one to blame but yourself for keeping them from one another for two years, and now you expect him just drop everything, and what? Come running to you? Cater to you? I watched you worm your way into a position at his company, just so you could pick the right time to announce that you've got a child together, I've seen the hell he's been putting himself through since you told him about the kid, I've watched him grow to like the kid, I've watched you flirt, horribly, might I add, like hell with him and continuously piss her off," he points to me, "which pisses him off, which pisses me off-not only because he's my boyfriend, but because those two go together like peanut butter and jelly. So you better pray that this kid is actually his because if-not-so-help-me-God-"
"He'll put on his street clothes and drop you, ho," Bryson cuts him off. He offers a sheepish smile when Harry glares at him. "Sorry," he shrugs. "But if it's any consolation, I'll help you."
Genevieve, being the annoying little shit that she is, just blinks. "Well then," she starts. "I guess you told me. And I guess," she leans further into the cake table. "We'll see what happens when the results come back." Her eyes rest eerily on me instead of Zayn before she drags Adrian off through the grass.
But then she turns around. "Oh and...supposed father...since you've grown to care so much about him, then you can take him home with you tonight."
And with that, she storms off, leaving Adrian right in the middle of the grass...and Zayn fuming.
Zayn's POV
The entire car ride home is filled with nothing but silence- well at least from Charlie and I; the kids are wide awake and hyped up on sugar and it's all my fault, really (a candy bar, cake and cupcakes. Fuck Zayn, who does that?) And I can't forget my sisters, who are lined across the backseat all on top of one another. Jet lag's kicking their asses now, since they apparently got right off the plane and a driver brought them straight to the party.
Anyway, Charlie was nice enough to sit in the back and hold Marley in her lap. She was gonna hold Adrian, but Mar insisted that his 'new friend can use his seat and he will sit wid mummy.'
She's such a fucking Saint and she's another one who shouldn't have to deal with my shit, including Genevieve. My hands grip the steering wheel at just the thought of her. How the fuck does one just leave her kid in the middle of a fucking birthday party?
We arrive home soon enough and head into the house. I force my sisters to get up and out of the car and trudge upstairs into the guest bedroom. The kids, on the other hand, immediately start asking to play. "Daddy, we gonna play wid my cars! Him wants to play!" Actually Mar, you have no idea if Adrian wants to play with your cars, but carry on.
He begins to pull Adrian along. "Come on! You gonna help me get dem from my room!" He's so fucking excited that there's another kid here aside from Liyana; another kid who doesn't wanna just play with doll babies all day long. He's never really had a friend stay over who wasn't Harry. "I gonna put on my jamas too, and daddy? He gonna sleep in my room today?"
I smile and nod, glad that he's taken a liking to Adrian, cause I could totally see that becoming a problem. Charlie disappears upstairs with Liyana, but comes down shortly thereafter with all of the kids, each of them dressed in their night clothes. "I um, I gave Adrian one of Marley's old Spiderman sets to put on to sleep in, since he's you know...smaller." She fidgets with the end of her t shirt as she fills me in.
We need to talk and not about fucking pajamas. I also need to smoke a joint to calm my nerves, but that will have to wait. Though I don't see me and Charlie having alone time anytime soon with Li running across the living room floor and Adrian and Marley playing with the racecars and the track right in front of the television.
"Charlie, we need to talk...about a lot of shit," I tell her as she sits down on the couch next to me. I can see that she's exhausted from today, probably more than just physically. "Come on. You promised me you'd hear me out when we got home."
She sighs, "I know," but doesn't elaborate as she crosses her legs and leans back against the couch and I pull my beanie off and run my fingers through my growing hair.
"Thanks for bringing my sisters. You know it probably meant more to me than it did to Marley," I start with. "I'll pay you back for the money you spent on plane tickets."
"No need. They came over on your parents' jet," she responds. "Not that I would ever make you give me the money back. And you're welcome. I'd had the idea for a while, and I knew how happy it would make you, so..." She gestures aimlessly to signal that that's why she did it.
"I never said any of that to Genevieve, Charlie," I blurt. Okay. Alright, Zayn. "I don't know where the fuck she got that fro-"
"Mummy, daddy! Come play da game wid us! We drivin da cars on da road!" Charlie and I both exchange glances before we find ourselves sliding onto the floor with the two boys. It just isn't meant for me to have this conversation right now.
"Mummy, you can be da yellow car. And I gonna be da blue one, and daddy gonna be da green one cause he likes dat color." He hands us each our respective cars and we begin to drive them on the track.
Adrian looks up at me. "Daddy, look." I just stare at him as he speaks, but I can't do anything other than blink. And try to pick up my jaw, fuck. "I have red one."
But before I can respond, Mar steps right in. "Why you call him dat? Him is my daddy." Well I guess Mar has limits. I don't know if he's just confused or if he's angry, but whatever the deal is, I know he's not gonna let it rest until someone answers the fucking question.
And Charlie just looks outright uncomfortable as she holds the yellow car. And maybe a bit shocked.
Adrian looks down to his lap. "Mommy said," he mumbles. "You dat." Oh, did she now? News to fucking me. I thought it was sort of an unspoken thing that we wouldn't fill Adrian in until the results came back. Cause I sure as hell hadn't planned to tell him yet. Or Li or Marley, for that matter.
I notice Charlie swallow out of the corner of my eye, and begin to knot her fingers together. I know that look...she's getting upset and all of this is finally getting to her; the reality of the past month catching up. Adrian's sort of sealed everything in a way by calling me that, and we've found ourselves in a situation that we never thought we would. She stands up abruptly and excuses herself, leaving me to try and explain this to the two of them. "Baby...Charlie," I try to call after her when I hear her sniffle as she quickly makes her way down the hallway.
Fuck.
Marley stares between Adrian and I before speaking. "Why you called my daddy your daddy? Why you did dat?" See what I mean about him wanting an answer all the time. Blessing and a curse.
"Mar, listen. Sometimes..." I'm at a loss for words.
"Him don't have a daddy?" He asks me now. Poor guy's just trying to sort everything in his head.
"Well..."
"You gonna be his daddy because him don't have one? Him has a mummy?"
I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. This might be the hardest thing I've ever had to do.
"Well dat's okay. I can share my mummy and daddy wid you. Like I shared wid Li Li. And like I shared my toys wid you today," Marley says to Adrian this time and I've never been more proud in my whole life. He's an amazing kid and I'm beyond lucky to have him. "Because my mummy and my teacher said we should share our stuffs."
*
I spend the rest of the night playing with my boys and the race track before they finally tire themselves out and decide to call it a night-even though it's only after nine. Liyana tried to play with us, but the boys kept getting mad when she would try to take everyone's cars whenever she found a new color she liked. Or when she'd rather smack the cars on the track than drive them.
So now that I finally have a minute to myself (and before I decide to check on Charlie), I head out to the balcony for a smoke. My phone's been ringing nonstop, and I know exactly who it is, so I don't answer it and let it go to voicemail.
And she leaves three voicemails. Shocker.
"Look, I'm sorry..." I listen to the third one. "Zayn, please. Pick up. I'm drunk and I shouldn't have," she hiccups, "I shouldn't have said all that stuff, and I shouldn't have left him there or stayed at the party, or e-even got drunk, and shit, I just need you. Will you come stay with me please? I just...can you hold me please?" She sobs. "I have something I need to say. I need you and I-" I close my eyes, ending the call.
I make my way upstairs and Charlie's in bed already. I throw the covers back and slide in. I'm not even sure if she's upset with me or the situation that happened today. Or both? Yeah, probably both.
"Babe? You awake?" I whisper as I lay on my back and she lays on her side facing the window. I know she is but I figured I'd ask anyway.
I turn on my side and snuggle up behind her. Fuck it, I'm going for it. "Is it okay if I do this, little spoon?" I whisper into her hair. She doesn't respond, but she doesn't push me away either. "Can we just...look, I know this is more than you ever bargained for, and I'm sorry for that. But I know that we can work this out; I can't do this without you. It's probably selfish, but you keep me sane and you're my voice of reason, and I wish that...no I don't because he's a great little boy. It's fucking Genevieve; she's the one I wish never stepped into our lives. But she's not going to break us apart. I won't let that happen to us because you're the greatest thing that's ever happened to me and I'm really shit with words, but you know how special you are to me, love."
I skim my hand over her belly and tangle my legs with hers, wanting her as close to me as possible. "I know I've got a lot to do to make this up to you, but I'm gonna do whatever it takes because I'm in love with you." I say those final words of the night to her without a response, but feel like I have a chance when she snuggles further back into me.
*
"Daddy, I think we gotted da biggest one!" Marley giggles as I try to carry it into the house. I'm surprised I haven't toppled over yet. It's just after ten, and for crashing after their sugar rush yesterday, I'm shocked that they were awake to go with me to get something for their mum.
There's a pretty good reason for me being up (because let's face it, the last thing I wanted was to untangle myself from my babe this morning). And that reason would be none other than Genevieve. She showed up at around six this morning to pick up Adrian, who was pretty reluctant to leave. I told him I'd see him soon, even as his mum yanked him through the doorway without so much as a thank you or a fuck you to me.
"Daddy!" Liyana squeals, just as excited as Mar. At least Mar's trying to help me carry it (not really). Liyana? Oh, she's just clinging onto my leg as I now try to go up the stairs. Honestly, though, they're probably gonna make more use of it than Charlie.
"Okay..." my voice trails off as I fight to get it through the bedroom doorway. She still isn't awake yet as I start setting it up in the corner by the bed. But of course the kids begin jumping up and down and giggling in excitement, causing her to stir...and wake up.
"Shit," I mutter, literally caught setting up the surprise. Her brows are wide and her lips are pouted as she stares at me and I stare at her. "Um..."
"What is that?" She says, pointing to the surprise.
And leave it to Mar to fill her in. "It's a giant teddy bear, mummy!" He explains, walking up to her. "And it says I Love You Dis Much!" He spreads his arms apart. "Daddy gotted it for you today and me and Li Li went wid him but you cannot see it yet."
I feel a bit of heat rise to my cheeks as I refuse to make eye contact with her. When the words fall from Marley's lips, I realize just how fucking stupid this idea was. I should have just went with something simple. But no Zayn, go out and spend a shit ton of money on a shitty, giant teddy bear that she's not even gonna fucking u-
"Oh, is that so?" She chuckles at Marley, before glancing at me. He nods his head fervently, telling her to close her eyes. She follows his instruction just because.
"Okay, you can open dem!" He shouts, running up to her and pulling her hands away from her face, full of giggles. She acts surprised as Li climbs all over the bear and I just stand there awkwardly. "Daddy loves you! And me too, and Li Li!"
She chuckles, eyes scanning over the giant stuffed animal. "Wow, this is...wow."
I purse my lips to the side. "Yeah, I mean...it's...it just kind of reminded me of you. Not like size-wise you know, but just...because it was the biggest bear I could find and stuffed animals are kind of our thing because like, remember when I got you that stuffed rabbit when I fucked up before, not that stuffed animals are gonna fix all of this shit, but-"
"Zayn, stop talking," she laughs. "Wow, it feels good to say that and not have someone saying it to me for a change."
She gets up out of the bed then, marching over to me. "Look. I appreciate everything that you've been doing for me, I do. But this is...I love you so much, I do, you know that. But it's a lot to process right now, and I know that we're gonna work it out at some point. But...I can't throw myself back into this wholeheartedly right now. I told you we're still together, but there are still some things that I've got to work out in my head before we can move forward. For one, I have to come to terms with she-who-shall-not-be-named, being in the picture; I've got to learn how to tolerate her at best, and I don't think I can do that yet, considering every time I see her, I want to punch the shit out of her."
I guess I've got to take it. She could be leaving me and apartment searching, so this is much, much better.
"Do I have any other options?" I pout, trying to hold her, but she evades me.
"Nope. But..." She reaches up and pecks me on the cheek. "For you. As a thank you."
Fuck me. But once again, I'll take it...
... And have to wank later.
*
"Oi, don't bother him. He's working off this built up sexual frustration. Though if you would've just called me, babe, I would have helped you out." My headphones are doing absolutely nothing to block out Harry, Niall and Liam as they banter back and forth over my supposed built up 'sexual frustration.'
Listen, I haven't been laid in going on three weeks. It's a problem.
But getting laid is the least of my concern.
"My back door is always open for you, love."
"Oi, oversharing, Harry, fuck," Liam comments, adjusting his headphones and the speed on the treadmill.
"Seriously, people are staring-which, you know, I could give two shits about, but...Jesus Harry! What the fuck are those?" Niall points to Harry's gym attire, which pretty much consists of red Cheer shorts as I like to call them, a white tanktop and a white headband. Hey, Niall should be happy he's not naked. "If your shorts were any shorter I'd be able to see little Harry."
"Wouldn't be any worse than Liam walking around with his pubes out that one time," Harry defends. "What a sight."
"So my sweats were a little too big. Sue me."
Niall snorts. "Or your crazy as fuck hookup from the Jersey Shore stole your underwear and wore them around town."
I laugh at that one as Liam smirks. "Details."
"So any news on the results?" Niall asks and it takes a minute to realize he's speaking to me.
I slow the treadmill just a bit. Smoker equals can't really run and talk at the same time. "Nope. The last I heard, they were backed up at the lab."
"You don't seem all that concerned," Harry says. "With that crazy chick involved, I'd wanna find out immediately. Now call. Now. See what the hell's going on."
"Yeah, something's off with that one," Liam adds. "Who the hell gets smacked at a child's birthday party?"
"Niall," Harry laughs, as do the rest of us. "What'd you have, Ni? Six vodka shots, four beers and a Jager bomb in the four hours? Hell, maybe the two of them should hook up."
"I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy," I find myself saying. Well, maybe Luke.
"No way. I don't do crazy...well...I've done crazy," Niall snickers. "Plus, I, Niall James Horan, have a lady in my life."
Liam chuckles. "Is that so? Why didn't you bring her to the party?
"She was busy."
"AKA, she's a figment of your imagination," Harry snorts. "I was actually rootin' for you and Nina. You're both the perfect amount of weird- call, Zayn."
"Yeah well. She wanted to travel the world and I didn't. Plus I'm leaving for Boston in a few weeks, so...yeah," Niall shrugs it off, and if it wasn't Niall, I'd say there are still feelings there. Fuck it, maybe there are.
"Which brings me to my next topic for discussion. My baby Ni is entering adulthood...well, going to grad school, so I'm throwing him a going away party...after the fourth because I wanna have a party for that too," Harry states. "Shit, I'm gonna drunk for like, three weeks straight. Perfect."
Educating the youth of America, folks.
"Yes because Niall actually getting into grad school is a huge accomplishment," Liam laughs, but I take out my phone to dial the lab, not really wanting to think about any of my friends leaving this too big of a city just yet. Though I knew it was coming, I suppose.
"DNA Diagnostics. How may I help you?"
"Hi, my name's Zayn Malik and I wanted some information on a paternity test I had done a few weeks ago."
"Okay, Mr Malik. Well, we can't give results over the phone."
"I'm not asking for the results. I want to know when they're gonna be mailed off to me," I explain, pausing the treadmill from my cool down. "It's been a long time now, and I just...I really need to know the results."
There's a pause, then, "Oh right! I spoke to your wife on the phone."
"Yeah, thanks for that," I snip, though I should probably genuinely thank her; chances are, Charlie still wouldn't know if it wasn't for her. "Anyway, when are they being mailed off?"
I hear some clicking in the background. "Hmm...well it seems, Mr. Malik, that you should have received them already, considering they were mailed off early last week."
What the fuck? "But I talked to someone a couple days ago who said that you guys were backed up, so all results are on a delay."
"True, but," she quips. She's way too fucking cheerful for me. Or for her line of work, really. I'm sure she gets cursed out on a regular basis. "Like I said, yours had been mailed out some time before then, Sir. And according to the tracking number I have here for your particular results, they were delivered four days ago."
A/N: SO WHAT DO WE THINK ABOUT THAT?
Hope you like it! hope to have the next one up sooooon :)
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And Happy New Year!! Sorry I forgot to wish you all one last update!