Zayn's POV
As I walked through the busy training gym I found myself feeling pride in how far I have come. This was a nice gym here in Cheshire and had pictures on the wall of all my fights that pretty much brought me to this very place. However, the best pictures are the ones that are in my office. The pictures of my two boys are hanging on the wall of them in their school uniforms. Niall and I decided the best education they would get would be at the most elite schools here. Both of them are very smart, so I know they got that from Niall. The next picture I have is Niall and I on our wedding day. That was one of the happiest days of my life and I knew from then on, I could want for nothing more. Well, I actually still wanted to make Niall happy in our marriage, but that's as easy as telling him how pretty he is and kissing his soft cheeks any chance I can get. Life is good for us all, and seeing the success my boxing career brought all around me only makes it so much sweeter.
"Left jab there, Jeremy. They always expect the right, that's why you need to go left. Work on strengthening that arm." I corrected one of the guys that was training. He nodded and continued on with his sparing partner. I stood there for a minute to watch then walked away when I saw he didn't do the jab that I had just told him to do.
The thing about this job is that it makes me want to get back in the ring. Up until Ezra was about seven I was still fighting. It wasn't anything like how it was when I was trying to get him and Niall out of Bradford, but it was still fighting. I would do one or two fights every year or sometimes when Harry and I couldn't take the breaks between fights we would go for a couple rounds until we were too beat up to look like we were just practicing. Seeing these guys come in here for a work or to actually try going pro makes me feel the way I did before I grew up a bit. It made me stupid enough to itch for the leather gloves to be strapped on my wrists. Now, the media is pretty consumed with Harry, but after each of his fights they ask when I'm going to fight again.
The thing is, I can't fight again. I took the cowards way out into retirement. I didn't say anything to the press. I didnt speak of my last fight as if it were my last fight. I just played it off like I would be back. Niall is happy that I don't fight anymore so our children never have to see their father getting beaten bloody. I'm not that happy about not fighting, but for Niall, I would do anything. Plus, we have enough money for the rest of our lives and the kids lives. Really, the money we have is just going to go down from generation to generation and no one will have to worry. The only thing I need to worry about is how I can keep my fists from making decisions for me.
"Malik! Come here a minute." Mark called across the gym. I smiled at him and went over to him. He pat my back then closed the door behind me as I made my way into his office. He went over to his desk and pressed a few things before turning it my way so I could read the email.
"There's some magazine that wants you on the cover of it. I think you should do it to stay out there. There will be a short interview that you'll have to give, but it's actually not that bad if you ask me." Mark said. I looked away from the computer screen to see him looking at me like he was ready for my reaction. Ever since I've stopped the actual fights, I've been doing stuff to keep my name out there to keep money flowing in even if we don't need anymore. The more I do, the more money I get to send my son's to uni in the future and to make Niall feel more than comfortable in where we are in our lives. But that doesn't stop me from feeling more like a show dog rather than the fighter that took down Liam Payne.
"How much are they offering for it? You know how much I hate standing shirtless in front of twenty cameras for four hours of my day when I could be standing shirtless in front of my husband." I said. Mark laughed at me then told me to just bring Niall to the photo shoot. I thought over it and nodded slowly, but I still needed to know more about what I was getting out of it. I hate being on the cover of magazines. Whether it's because I posed for it or because there were paparazzi pictures, I hate it. I especially hate it when there are pictures of my kids and my Niall. Some always try to say Niall is pregnant again while others just like to point out that Ethan is looking more and more like me every day. What else is weird is when I got grocery shopping and my kids see that type of publicity.
"They wanted to give you one hundred thousand. I countered at one hundred and fifty thousand and they said that was fine." Mark told me. I nodded and sighed as an answer to him. He smiled and begin to reply back to the email. I slouched back in my chair and waited for him to finish because I wanted to talk to him about our family stuff too. I guess you could say he's pretty much my adopted father, but I'm still the same wounded man in the sense I don't want him to leave either. My kids call him grandpa and Ezra has asked me why I don't call Mark dad, but I still can't make that step in my life to do so. I love him and he loves me the way a father and son could. I think that's what counts the most. Plus, he loves Niall and would die for him the same way I would.
"I found these little boxing gloves for the boys the other day." Mark said as he finished his email and sent it. I smiled and watched as he got up and went over to get two boxes off the cabinet in the corner. He pulled out one pair of the gloves making me smile so big because they said Malik on them in Ezra's favorite color which was the strangest color of green. It was like a brighter olive green. He even painted the walls of his room that color. I reached forward to get the gloves and looked over them to see if they were good enough quality for my little boys.
"You should teach them. I know you think that it will make them experience the world that you did, but I think it will be good to see if they have that in them. They could be great at it." Mark mentioned for the hundredth time. I just didn't want my boys in the ring. If anyone in our family was going to experience pain for money, that was going to be me. I fought so my family didn't have to.
"Ethan might get some of his energy out from it so I would definitely do that so he can go to bed at a decent hour and stop bouncing on the couch. Ezra... He might not be able to because of his asthma. He's always had weak lungs and this sport needs a good set of those." I said. Mark nodded to me, no doubt remembering the scare we all had when Niall was pregnant with Ezra. I hate reliving that, but the pregnancy with Ethan only made us all remember once again. With Ethan, Niall was bleeding quite a bit each month, but the doctors said that was just Niall's body trying to menstruate because he had such high estrogen levels. I think that was when we both decided that we didn't want anymore kids. Plus, his doctor in that department, my sister Doniya, would have recommended that we both stop before we loose a baby or loose Niall. Neither of us wanted that, but we didn't need it either because our family was perfectly complete the way it was.
"Just bring them in for an actual lesson one day and see if they like it. Anyway, you need to get out there and do your own work out. You have a photo shoot next week. Your dad body needs to go." Mark joked with me. I rolled my eyes at him before putting back the boxing gloves in the box they had came in so Mark could give them to his grandsons.
I went and changed my clothes into something I could work out in then started by jogging on one of the few treadmills we had. I did this workout nearly everyday just to keep in shape and to try and tone down my muscles that I didn't use to fight anymore. I did train the same that way I would keep the same stamina so a fight wouldn't kill me, but the muscles I had were leaner that way I didn't have to do such crazy stuff. I'm older now and that stuff could kill me. Well, at least according to Harry it could but I don't believe him for a second.
Once I finished running I went and did a cycle between push-ups and jumps. I wasn't really aware of the fact a few of the people that were training here were watching me closely. I don't always like to train here just because I become more of an entertainment piece in this gym rather than just a normal person. I know I hold the world's biggest boxing title and I own this gym, but I'm just like all of these guys I here. I love the fight just as much as they do, if not even more than they do. All I want to do is slip my gloves on and get in that ring, but that's not me anymore. I'm not able to do that anymore because it's really not the life I need to be living anymore.
After that part of my workout finished, I got my gloves on and let out a sigh of relief that I had them on my hands. I got to a bag and begin to punch at it some just getting back in the feel of it. It's honestly one of my favorite things to do because I can pretend it's any of the up and coming boxers that I know I could take down in a second. I'm no longer that underdog from Bradford anymore. I'm the champion that did what he had to do to get his family to the best future.
Everyday I'm proud of what I have done. I'm proud that I'm successful. I'm proud that my name brings hope to younger boxers that want to fulfill that dream that I had attcheved. But mostly, I'm proud of my family. I love them all with every ounce of my binging and would do anything for them. Before I would take the physical beating in the ring for them. Now, I take it each day at a time so that I don't get back in that ring because I don't need to. The only things I need in this world are my two boys and the best father and husband in this world; my Niall.
A/N: I'm getting better. There's a lot going on for me, one is in the works now, but it will all be okay. Just please send me some love and encouragement to get back to writing. I love this and I love you all, but I need some support at the moment. Thank you all. Comment/Vote!
-Bri ;)