Today is a special day--- it's my birthday! :)
*****
After working three consecutive weeks with back-to-back photo shoots, Sophia was looking forward to a full week vacation. She planned to do some shopping, mani-pedi sessions and catch up with some friends.
Her morning started with caffeine. After taking a sip of a cup of hazelnut flavored coffee, she heard her phone number. There was an Unknown Number flashing on the LED screen, making her curious about who was calling her. She pressed the answer button, she heard sobbing.
"Hello?"
The person on the other line mumbled that it sounded like gibberish. Sophia could not understand at all, but one thing for certain that it was a guy.
"I'm sorry, I can't understand you," she said, taking another sip.
It took a couple seconds until the guy calms down, and when he spoke, Sophia almost dropped the cup on her hand.
"Sophia, it's Niall..."
"Oh, my God! Are you alright?" She asked, putting down the cup. Sophia feared for her Irish friend.
"I'm al... right..." Niall sniffed, still feeling the heavy heart. He tried the best of his ability to remain calm in a situation like this but how could he?
"Everything is gonna be alright, just tell me what happen," Sophia listened carefully to Niall. After a couple of minutes, she felt her heart breaking in two after hearing the devastating news. "Oh, my God, Niall. I'm so sorry to hear that," she frowned. "Is there something I can do?"
Niall sniffed, trying not to drown from sadness enveloping him. "I might be asking too much here... but I could really use a friend right now..." he said. "If it's not too much trouble."
"Of course, of course," Sophia nodded. "Say no more, Nialler. I'd book the earliest flight I could find."
"Thank you, Sophia," Niall said. "I'd appreciate if you didn't tell anyone about this, most especially the lads."
Sophia found the request odd, but she didn't say anything about it. The most important thing is to be a leaning shoulder for her friend, and that's what she intended to do.
"Of course, Niall. Don't worry about it."
*****
With time against her side, Sophia left her flat as soon as possible to avoid getting stuck in traffic. She still has to find a cab to drive her to the airport. She gave one more glance on her flat before leaving to check if she left the stove open or any electrical appliance that could catch fire. As soon as she opened the door, she was surprised to see a familiar face standing on the doorstep.
It was his ex-boyfriend, Liam Payne.
"Liam?" She asked, her brows furrowed in confusion.
"Hi, Soph..." Liam chuckled nervously, grinning. "How are—"
"What are you doing here?"
"Oh... I... uh..." Liam felt cold sweats forming on his pores, making him more jittery. The stare coming from his ex-girlfriend made him really uncomfortable. But then, he noticed the luggage behind her, indicating him something. "You going somewhere?"
Sophia looked back at her bag behind her. "Uh, yeah. There's this photoshoot that I have to go to," she lied. Sophia can't exactly reveal where she was going, recalling Niall's request not to tell anyone what happened.
"Oh, that's alright."
Sophia glimpsed one more time at her watch. She gasped, realizing that she really need to more her ass before the plane leaves.
"Look, Liam, I hate to be rude, but I really have to go. I have a plane to catch."
"Yeah, of course," he replied, giving way to his ex-girlfriend. "I'll see you when you get back?"
"Sure, yeah, whatever..." Sophia waved, sprinting on her heels to get out of there as she was racing against time.
As for Liam, he watched the retreating back of his ex-girlfriend disappeared from his sight. No matter what he does, the feelings he had for her was still there, still strong, but the question still remains in his head the affair she had with Louis.
*****
Zayn couldn't recall what time he went to the bed, or did he even sleep. His mind wandered, remembering every single moment of last night. He regretted on how things progressed. If only he could control his anger and his mouth, none of it would happen, and Niall would still be by his side, and everything would be okay. He thought that after the Perrie issue that things would calm down between them, but it did not. Zayn doesn't care all the hardship and the hoops that he has to jump through as long as Niall stayed by his side, but it seemed so impossible.
His entire body weighed heavily as if he carried the whole world on his back. The bed seemed so comfy for the past twelve hours, and he doesn't plan on doing anything for the rest the day but wallow on his broken heart.
He opened his phone, seeing the wallpaper made him more sad and depressed. The wallpaper is a photo that Niall took where Zayn gave the blonde a kiss while Niall has a big smile on his face. Looking at it now made Zayn regret on how he hurt Niall so bad. If only he could turn back time, Zayn would be more careful with the words that he was going to say. The more he thought about it, the more Zayn realized that he doesn't want to stay single. Time to do some damage control. He has to bring his A-game to bring back the light of his life.
There is only one person that could tell what Niall thought whenever the blonde shuts down...
*****
"Thank God you're here!" Zayn gasped when Louis suddenly pulled him back into the flat. Apparently, Louis was doing some cleaning. "Make sure to get some bags and help me fold with these..." Louis pointed the scattered clothes on the floor."
"Louis..." He glanced at Louis, who was busy dusting the wooden bookshelves on the far corner of the room.
"You know, I'm thinking of putting some of these things on an auction site then donate the money to a good charity, what do you thi—" Louis looked back, but was irritated when he saw Zayn was standing there doing nothing. "Okay, I know cleaning is not really your thing, but it would be nice if you can help out once in a while," he said. "Now, I can tell my Niall kept complaining that he does all the cleaning in your flat."
Just the mere mention of his name, Zayn felt his knees buckled until he found himself on the floor. Louis panicked when he saw his bandmate just collapsed into the floor.
"Hey, you alright?" Louis put down the dusting stick, dashing through the floor with the raven-haired lad. It didn't take a second until he heard Zayn crying. "Are you in pain?"
"No... it's Niall," Zayn responded after recollecting himself from the sudden burst of emotion. He missed him so much that it was physically hurting him hearing the name of his beloved.
"Why, what's wrong?"
As much as he wanted to control it, Zayn couldn't help for the tears to form in his eyes, rolling down on his cheeks.
"Are you perhaps hungry?" Louis questioned because it seemed like he was not getting through to his bandmate. "Or maybe you wanna smoke weed, eh?" He smirked, trying to enlighten Zayn's mood, and it did work because he saw a small smile from his bandmate.
"No, Louis..." Zayn shook his head. "I don't wanna smoke. We quit that stuff, remember?"
"Yeah, I remember," Louis scoffed humorlessly. "You don't have to remind me. Your boyfriend is a scary person."
"My boyfriend... right..." Zayn sighed. As for Louis, he sensed that something was wrong based on how Zayn responded, but decided not to dwell on it.
"Where is he, anyways?" Louis said, pushing himself up to continue dusting. "Does he even know you're here?"
"He left."
Louis glanced back; his attention was still focused on his chore. "Left? You mean at the store?"
"I... uh—"
"I'm sure he'd be back after an hour so you don't have to fret, okay?" Louis smiled, turned his back on the raven-haired lad, continuing his chore. "I know you miss him and all, but you don't have to brag that you have a great love life," Louis shook his head, ranting about being single for an extended period of time. "It sucks being single so I'd advise you to take care of our little Nialler."
Hearing those words from Louis made Zayn even more terrible. "No, Louis. He left me," Zayn said. "He left me for good."
The shock didn't quite register to Louis. He slowly turned around with a surprised expression on his face; his mouth hanging wide open. The dusting stick on his hand fell onto the ground, making a clanging sound that reverberated through the living room.
"I'm sorry, I didn't quite get that," Louis said.
"Niall broke up with me."
Louis had to blink multiple times, trying the best of his ability to process the bomb that Zayn dropped on him.
"What do you mean broke up with you?" Louis questioned, confirming if he had heard it correctly. He wondered if his ears were playing tricks on him.
"Didn't you heard what I said?" Zayn asked. "He broke up with me. Niall left me!" Tears were forming once again on his eyes, cracking his voice. "And it's all my fault, and I don't know how to fix it..."
"Zayn..." Louis called out, frowning. Feeling sorry for his bandmate, he wished he could do something about it. "I'm so sorry to hear that. What happened?"
With the chance of being judged again, Zayn told the entire story of how things went down with Niall. It didn't take that long as he saw the similar expression on Louis.
"You did what now?!" Louis raised his voice; mouth twitched involuntarily. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell what Louis felt at the moment.
"It's... uh..."
"Let me get this straight, you practically told Niall that he is the main reason why you and your family has got some friction."
"Th-that's not what I..."
"And you accuse him of turning you gay!"
Zayn sighed deeply. It was no wonder that Niall and Louis been friends since they think similar, not that it was a bad thing. An idea popped into his head, that maybe if he could convince Louis then maybe Niall could magically forgive him since they were practically one and the same.
Louis noticed that Zayn has his thinking cap on, but the grin on the raven-haired lad made him suspicious. Within moments, he could practically read what Zayn was thinking...
"So, Louis... I was thinking that—"
"The answer is no, Zayn," Louis cut him off before he could gain momentum.
"But you haven't heard what I'm going to say."
"Whatever it is, I can tell that it's no good. Don't drag my beautiful and fabulous name out of your sneaky plan," Louis held his head up high, trying to make a statement. "You created this mess, you clean it up."
*****
Although it was saddening for the sudden departure of the little, adorable angel in the Horan household, the family tried their best to deal with it. The only way to do that is for them to stay together through this sorrowful times.
Niall, on the other hand, still feeling the after effects. He wiped away the tears rolling down on his cheeks as he stared at the land where his nephew was buried. Somehow, he wished he could spend more time with him, but for an odd reason, Niall was glad that Theo was in a much better place where he could be free.
The blonde looked back when he heard someone clearing a throat, trying to catch his attention. He was more than surprised to see Aiden, his ex-boyfriend, standing close to him with a black suit, and an apologetic smile on his face.
"Aiden..." Niall croaked. "What are you doing here?"
"I've heard what happen..." Aiden said. "Condolence."
Niall doesn't know what to say, but an inside voice screamed at him, urging him to say something before he could make a fool of himself.
"Uh... thank you."
"How are you feelin'?"
"I'm doing okay considering..."
"Of course, I'm sorry," Aiden apologized for asking an inconsiderate question. "Theo is such a wonderful boy. After meeting him a couple of times, I'm sure that he is in a much better place, you know..."
"Yes, I know," Niall nodded. Still confused on why was he still talking to this guy, but being a nice person and everything, he decided to endure as much as he could. The curious side got the best of him so he decided to get the bottom of it. "So, Aiden, I have seen you and Perrie's collaboration..." Right away, he noticed his ex-boyfriend became tensed and stiff. Although, Aiden tried his best to hide it, but Niall knew better, and the blonde got him where he wanted him. Niall was holding the smirk wanting to come out on his face.
"Wh-what are you talkin' about?"
"Oh, come on, Aiden," Niall scoffed humorlessly. "I might be blonde, but I ain't no dumb." When his ex-boyfriend didn't make any responses, it was definitely confirmed his suspicions. At the time he saw the obscene video, Niall had a feeling that it was Aiden, but was not one-hundred percent sure, but now seeing Aiden face-to-face, his suspicions were definitely cleared away from his mind.
"But, I gotta say, I'm a little bit disappointed," Niall continued. "You and Perrie, really?" He cackled, not to make fun of Aiden, but baffled at the weird behavior of his ex-boyfriend.
"I know, and I'm sorry," Aiden confessed. "It's just—"
Niall shook his head, not wanting to hear any more lies from Aiden. "Look, if you really like Perrie, then go ahead. Do what you like, just leave Zayn and me alone."
Aiden frowned. That was the last thing he wanted to hear from the blonde. Although he hurt Niall miserably in the past, he was hoping to make things right with him.
"So you and Zayn are okay?" Niall tensed up, but luckily Aiden was not quick enough to pick it up. Of course, the blonde doesn't want to know that things ended between him and Zayn already, and he'd like it to keep on the down low. Besides, he has that signed contract. He wanted to honor it because of legal issues behind it.
"Of course, we're okay!" Niall squeaked. "Why wouldn't be okay? We are more than okay. Okay?!"
"You used too many okays..."
"Oh, did I?" Niall laughed, trying his best to conceal his embarrassment. No one can find out about their break-up. "Seriously, myself and Zayn is steady as a rock," he formed a fist as a representation of their relationship.
"That's good to know then."
"Yup," Niall nodded. Then, an awkward silence between them, but he decided to cut it short as soon as possible. "I still appreciate that you take a little bit of your time to be here. I'm sure you're busy..."
"It's not a big deal, Niall," Aiden said, smiling. "Is it okay if we... uh... hug?"
The request almost disoriented Niall; he didn't expect that Aiden would ask something like that. His blue eyes widened, mouth hanging wide open. Fortunately, he was able to snap out of it and gave a nod as permission for Aiden to get closer to him. But the odd thing was, Niall felt his heart thumped hard, getting all nervous and anxious. But the moment he felt Aiden's body warmth and the sensation of hands and arms wrapped around him, Niall felt the feeling of familiarity that he thought was all gone. He thought that he was done with Aiden. But he got more confused when he felt Aiden whispering words in his ear.
"I miss you..."
*****
Is Niden going to return?