Zayn was sitting at the kitchen island, looking through the handbag section of a catalog. Nema was in the high chair next to him, eating a bowl of cereal. "What are you going to be for Halloween this year, Pumpkin? Pa wants to order you a dress."
"Cinderella!" Nema exclaimed.
"Oh that's easy. We can just get you a puffy blue dress to wear, then. But what will uncle Niall wear? Because he's the one that's going to be taking you trick or treating this year."
"A dress." She giggled.
"Oh no. Now, you know he doesn't wear dresses. He's different from me. You have to pick something he'll like."
She smiled. "Uncle Niall can be whatever he wants to be. I just want to be Cinderella."
Zayn sipped from his coffee and turned a page. "And I'm sure he'd be happy to know that."
She ate a bite of cereal and waited until the food was chewed and swallowed before speaking again. "Mr. Mummy."
"Yes?"
"Too bad you're not taking me trick or treating because you could be another princess too. I think you wear dresses the best."
"You do?"
"Uh huh."
"Well, that's so sweet of you. Thank you."
She ate more cereal and in walked Harry with wet hair.
"Good morning, loves."
"Hey."
"Good morning, Pa. I was just saying how he wears the best dresses."
"He does, doesn't he?" He came over and kissed her cheek and kissed Zayn on the lips. Then he went to the cabinet for a mug so he could get coffee. "Um... Where's Charlie?"
"He wasn't feeling well this morning. So I gave him some ginger tea and put him back to bed."
"Oh."
"I'm worried about him though."
"Why?"
"He loves to sleep a lot and too often he's not feeling well. Not to mention, he is small for his age. Based on the things I've read online, those are symptoms of malnutrition. Obviously, I can't really understand it because he does eat healthy and he eats enough. But apparently some children just need a little more than others. So I've been looking online and found that there's a chocolate milk that helps boost his immune system and help him grow."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. I think I'll go by the store and check it out today. Maybe you could stay here with him while I go out with Nema."
Harry looked at him with furrowed brows. "The day I actually intended to sleep in late with you, you decide to ditch me for the store? Why don't you just give Marie the name of it when she comes tomorrow and we'll have her go get it."
"No. I think I'd much rather get it myself and take Nema with me. She has not been to a proper grocery store since she's been with us."
"Alright, that's a bit of a reach. We have taken her to stores before."
"I said grocery store. Toy stores, gift shops and candy stores don't count. I mean to actually grab a shopping cart and go shopping for household needs. She has never done that." He held up a finger as he got an idea. "As matter of fact, that gives me an idea. I might just take the whole list and do the shopping myself this week."
He got down from the chair and Harry was still looking at him in confusion. "Why is that at all necessary? You can't wait another day for Marie?"
"This is not about Marie. This is about teaching Nema how to shop on her own. What is she going to do fifteen years down the road when she's twenty one and decides she doesn't want a housekeeper for herself?"
"I'm finished with my cereal now. Take my bowl, please."
Harry gave him that look and Zayn threw his hands up. "Okay, so maybe that was a reach. But what if her housekeeper suddenly gets sick and can't shop for her, or maybe even something permanent like... The D word... What's she going to do then?"
Harry finally poured his coffee. "Hire a new one?"
"Will you please not think like a rich person for like, two seconds. I'm trying to be a parent here."
"And I'm not?"
Zayn let it go. "Never mind." When he turned around, he noticed Nema had got down from the chair on her own and was gone. "Nema!"
He waited patiently until she came trotting back. When she stood in front of him, he bent down to her level. "From now on, we're going to do things a bit differently after breakfast time."
"We are?"
"We are?" Harry asked.
Zayn glanced back at him. "Yes we are. First things first. You never order me or your Pa to do anything for you. You ask the way a child should ask an adult and that is 'will you take my bowl, please' because that's a sign of respect. Secondly, you're six years old. You're very much capable of doing some things on your own. If you can get up and down from that chair, you can put your bowl on the counter next to the sink when you're finished with it. Understand?"
"Yes."
"Okay."
He took the bowl down from the island and handed it to her. She took it from him, then carried it over to the sink and set it on the counter next to it. When she left the kitchen, Harry looked at him with a mildly confused expression.
"Hmm..."
"What?"
"Nothing. Just observing." He sipped his coffee and didn't fuss that it wasn't as hot as he wanted it to be.
"And?"
"I don't know. I'm not even entirely sure of what I just witnessed."
Zayn sighed. "Well... You'll have plenty of time to think about it while you find a puffy blue dress for your daughter. She wants to be a princess for Halloween."
"Ah, let me guess. Cinderella."
"Bingo."
"So now I've got to get a tiara and those little plastic shoes the kids wear."
"Don't forget the hand gloves."
"Yes. And this time I'll get her glitter and let Niall and Gwen figure out how to clean it up."
"Good thinking."
As Zayn scooted past him, Harry reached for his hand. That caused Zayn to come back to him and he spun under Harry's arm as if he was dancing with him.
"Ooh. Smooth. And you didn't even spill your coffee."
"Because I'm that good."
Zayn scoffed and watched Harry place his mug down on the counter behind him. "I know you have plans today so I'm not trying to stop you. I just wanted to say that I'm glad you changed your mind and decided to do the trial filming. I've been looking forward to this for a while so you really made my day when you told me that yesterday."
Zayn hesitated. "Really?"
"Yes. You did. And after we're finished, if it turns out that you still don't like it, then we will still have the film to look back on. Plus I'm thinking a family movie night when we get the film. With you, me and the kids under one giant blanket."
Zayn felt his heart melt a bit. "Yeah."
Harry let out a closed mouth giggle and kissed Zayn's forehead. "I guess, while you're out with Nema, I'll keep an eye out on Charlie to make sure he doesn't end up puking everywhere. I don't want him to have to lie in it."
"Actually, you know what? I'm gonna stay home after all. One, because you're a big baby about me leaving you alone. And two, once he's feeling well, we need to put him on his potty training toilet and try to get him to go again. He's getting close to wanting to use it on his own. I can feel it. And I don't want to miss that."
Harry grabbed his coffee again. "See, this is what reality shows are made of. You taking Nema shopping for the first time. And then us, waiting for the day Charlie uses the potty on his own. Tell me that's not good TV."
Zayn hummed. "Oh, it's good TV. I'm just not sure I want others to share in that joy with us."
"I bet you'll change your mind eventually." He said. "Just like you did with this."
He looked passively at him. "You hope."
➡➡➡
Zayn knocked twice on an office door and a woman looked up at him.
"Finally. I was beginning to wonder where you were."
"Sorry, Carla. I got stuck on a phonecall."
"Oh."
He sat down in front of her and put a plastic container on her desk. "So how is everything going?"
"Just fine. I just bought a new billboard off the highway. We need something to get the drivers' attention. I'm still thinking about what to put there though. It's got to be something catchy."
Zayn smiled. "You're creative so I know you'll figure it out. You always do."
"We'll see. But how about you? What have you been up to?"
Zayn sighed and popped the top off of his plastic container. "I agreed to the trial thing."
Carla twisted her head sideways. "I thought you didn't want to do that."
"I didn't and I still don't. I'm just doing it for Harry to try to get through to him. Because he's got a one track mind. All he wants is this TV show."
She looked sympathetically at him. "I'm sorry, Zayn. Things will work out. I'm sure."
"You know... I just, I don't like to be a show for people. The reason they're even doing this is because of Harry and I. They think it's such a perfect love story that the billionaire, Harry Styles, turned out to marry and start a family with a man who's wardrobe is half dresses. Even if it was a love story, they're trying to wedge themselves into our family life until our private life, or what will be left of our private life, is eventually ruined. That's not a successful love story and it's certainly not one that I'm trying to promote to the world."
She picked up a stapler from her desk and mindlessly played with it. "Well on the bright side, it's not going on TV. So there's nothing to worry about right now. You've just got to focus on your family. Focus on your family and especially your children and it all will be fine. You're Zayn Malik. You've been overcoming the odds ever since I met you."
A smile crept on his face. Ever since he met Carla she had always given him the best advice. That was why he loved her like the sister he never had. "See? This is why Niall jokes about you stealing his best friend."
"I'm sorry. I'm just trying to help you. Not steal you from him."
"I know, I know. Thank you."
She sat the stapler on the desk and pulled out her own lunch. "You're welcome. Now let's eat."
➡➡➡
"Now, for this reality show, I'd like for you to pretend we're not here but also, don't forget we are." Bella was saying.
Zayn scoffed. How was he supposed to pretend that two cameras, a director and an entire camera crew wasn't all standing in his kitchen ordering him and his family around. That didn't even sound realistic. "What does that mean?"
"It means do things as if we weren't here observing you. But if you look directly into the camera or say something to us every now and then, that's okay too. It lets the audience know you are inviting them to see what your family is like. The more you virtually engage with an audience, the more it helps get them to want to tune in every week. But be careful, too much engagement makes it seem as if things aren't real and you'll come across as only doing things for the camera. So I would mostly recommend leaving most of that type of engagement up to the children. It's cute and really draws the audience."
"Alright."
"So we're going to start filming right now. But just so you know, in case one of you decide to split up and go somewhere without your husband and or one of your children, then I have an extra camera crew on standby and they will be ready to follow you wherever you go, while at the same time, allowing this one to stay here and record what the other half does at home."
"Nice." Harry said as Nema left the kitchen, bored of all the bossiness.
"Yep. It sure is. Now, just do your thing. Be a normal family. Starting now. Action!"
"Wait, wait wait. If this is reality TV, why do you yell action?" Zayn questioned.
"Because it's the thing we do to let you know the cameras are rolling. Now let's get some action because the camera are rolling, Zayn."
He huffed. What did he want to talk about? Nothing much. He wasn't much of a full conversation starter in the morning. But there was one thing he wanted to ask about. "Harry, did you order the dress?"
"What dress?"
"Nema's Cinderella dress."
"Oh. No. Not yet."
"What? Harry, she's going to be trick or treating in two weeks. She needs that dress."
"She needs it? I thought you didn't like saying things like that."
"Let's not."
"Remember, the cameras are not here. Let yourself be free." Bella reminded.
"Truthfully, I need you for that stuff. I don't really know what I'm doing."
"Well, why didn't you just ask then?"
Harry took a banana from the fruit bowl. "Because you've seemed tense lately. Plus you're suddenly wanting to do all these strange things. So clearly, you're busy and have a lot on your mind."
Zayn stilled. Well, thanks a lot for saying that, Harry. Now people were going to think they were already having problems in their marriage and that Zayn and Harry didn't communicate with each other enough.
"Well, you get Charlie's breakfast fixed up while I do Nema's. And when we finish, we'll go look online together."
"Sounds good to me."
"So is that how you always do things?" Bella questioned as Harry pulled back the banana peel and began to cut slices over into a plastic bowl. "Does one always cook for one child?"
"No. Marie usually does this for everyone when she's here but she isn't here today." Zayn answered.
"But when she isn't here, usually only one of us does the cooking for the entire family."
"Mostly Harry." Zayn said.
"Mhm. I dabble in food when I'm not too busy."
"That's wonderful." Bella said. "That's something we don't know that much about. You can explain this all again when we set the green screen up and sit you down in the living room chair."
Zayn held a finger up. "Wait, what?"
"Yes. You didn't think we would only film you, did you?"
"I... I–"
"You know how on reality shows when they switch from the actual film and you see someone sitting in a chair against a background? That's what I'm talking about. You, Harry and on rare occassions, the nanny and housekeeper will have a seat in the chair in front of a green screen and that is where you let out your realist feelings. You know... what you're thinking, how you're feeling or what you were thinking at the moment that something happened in the film. The audience likes to know that."
"But Bella. I'm not sure I can do that on camera."
"Z."
He looked at Harry. "What?"
"You never know what you can do until you try it. Let's wait, baby."
Let's wait? Zayn tightened his lips. He didn't want to wait and he didn't even want to do this. So why didn't they just sit him down in the chair and pull out the green screen now? He would love to give them a piece of his mind, regarding how he really felt about all of this. "Sure."
"Camera's still rolling."
"Uhm... Okay."
Zayn went to the refrigerator and did his own thing and Harry went over to the table where Charlie was sitting in his fast table chair. "Come on. Let's count these bananas together."
"1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8. That's Eight bananas."
"Eight banana."
"Yes. Good job. Now Pa is gonna whip you up some oatmeal, okay?"
Charlie nodded and Harry ruffled his hair.
As he went in search of a small pot, Zayn just leaned his head back in frustration. He was trying this out just to teach Harry a lesson but this avenue seemed like it would be a lot harder than he thought it would be.
* * *
Later in the day, Zayn and Harry found themselves on the couch together and they were looking online for blue dresses. For some reason, even with the cameras in Zayn's face, this was where he felt the most relaxed. Because they were in the round loveseat in the library, with Nema in her playroom and Charlie fast asleep for his nap. This room had become the most special room in all the house for them because it was the very room where they exchanged their first 'I love you's'.
"What about that one, baby?"
"Uh..." Zayn was engaged but it was so hard to really focus with that stupid mic hanging above their heads.
"Bella."
"Yes?"
"Can we please stop filming for a while? We really need to get this done but we can't if you're distracting us."
"Cut!" She sighed. "Alright. I guess we're done for the day but if we're going to end this properly, let's get you on film as if you have finally found what you've been looking for."
He was confused. "Huh? But we haven't found it yet and I doubt we'll find it for a while."
"Yes, I know that. That's why you need to pretend like you found it so that I can get that reaction."
"You mean you want us to fake it?"
"Yes. If you don't, then this scene will be unfinished."
"And what? That can't happen?"
"Exactly. Now you're getting it."
"Actually, I'm not getting it. If this is a reality show, why do I have to fake a scene? That wouldn't be reality then. That would be acting."
She chuckled. "Zayn, you can't possibly think that every reality show out there doesn't include a little bit of acting, do you? Because if so, then I have to tell you that you are wrong. If you really want people to watch your show, then sometimes you have to go the extra mile to make sure that happens. And occasionally that does require a little bit of acting and one or two do overs. That doesn't mean you're lying. It just means you're... How do I say it... Adding a little more pizzazz and flare to what you're already going to present. Now do you want us to stop filming for the day or not?"
Harry and Zayn looked at each other. Bella was serious.
"Fine... We'll pretend."
"Good. I promise it's not as bad as you think it is. Action!"
They jumped at her voice, then looked at the computer. "Do you like this one?" Harry asked him.
Zayn hummed. "Yep..."
Then he looked at Bella, who was only urging him to keep going.
"And... Uhm... It looks amazing with the sparkles. Of course... Yeah. Let's get that one."
"Well, she's a size six or pretty close to it so we need to choose that one and put it in the cart."
"Done."
"And cut." Bella said with a single clap. "That was great. Really great. Zayn, you'll need to work on your acting skills a bit because they're poor. But for now, this will do since it's only the trial. Good job."
He almost turned his nose up at her, but refrained.
"I'll walk you all out." Harry said and he got up out of the loveseat so that he could see them to the door.
While he was gone, Zayn pouted to himself. His acting skills were poor? Well, of course they were. Because he wasn't even supposed to be acting! They signed up for a reality show and that was all it was supposed to be. He didn't know why he didn't consider the possibility of acting when he was worrying about everything else surrounding this.
Harry finally came back in and he looked excited to be alone again. "So what do you think?"
"I think it's nonsense." Zayn said. "Acting doesn't belong on a reality show."
"Actually, it does these days."
"So you're okay with it?"
He sat back down in the loveseat next to Zayn and draped an arm over his shoulders. "Well, I'm not opposed to it. As long as I don't have to act out my love for you or Charlie or Nema, then I don't see what the big fuss about it is. I don't care that we had to pretend to find a dress. We were going to do that anyway."
"But how do you know we were going to do it that way?"
"We don't, but now we do at least have to get a blue dress with sparkles on it since you said the dress had them."
He saddened. "I did say that, didn't I? I really am a terrible actor."
He rubbed his shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. And besides, we know our daughter. She's going to want sparkles anyway. So we get to narrow our search with that."
"Now if only we could narrow our search for reality shows to none, then..."
"And miss an opportunity to show you off to the world? I'll pass."
Zayn smiled and leaned against him. "We've been on covers of magazines a few times. Isn't that enough?"
"Enough? Do I even know what that word means?"
Zayn looked at him pitifully and Harry pecked his lips.
"It'll be alright, sweetheart. Stop worrying your pretty little head about it."
Those were assuring words in themselves. But for some reason this time around, they did not sound so sure.