"Mhm. Yes sir, Mr. Gussy. And the official launch day is March 2nd.... Oh. Right. Sorry. Gus.... Mhm. I have it in Mr. Styles' agenda..... Flying in for lunch? I'll have to check the schedule..... Yes sir. How about I check back and shoot you an email later?..... Sounds good to me too. I'll do that today when I get a chance. Thanks for calling, Mr. Gussy- I mean Gus..... Alright. Goodbye."
When the call ended, Zayn hung up the phone and decided to check Harry's agenda on his computer. Samuel Gussy was going to be flying in this week and wanted to have lunch with them since he passed on having dinner with them the last time they saw him. It did seem like much needed fun.
"Good aftenoon, Mr. Malik."
He looked up from the desk and gasped quietly when he saw Bella Lurrant standing across from him. Then he stood up to shake her hand.
"Good evening. How are you doing today?"
"I'm doing great. How about you?"
"The same. But I wasn't expecting you here today if I'm being honest."
"You weren't?"
"No."
"Oh. Well, I talked to your husband on his mobile phone earlier this morning because I wanted to set up a meeting about your final decision. He told me your CD'S for the show came in yesterday and asked me to come up to Anne again today. I thought you both planned this meeting."
"No. I didn't know about it. Today has been very busy for us. In fact, I've hardly seen him because he's been on a surprise conference call in his office since ten o'clock this morning. But let me knock and see if he has a break."
"Sure."
Zayn got up from behind the desk and knocked on Harry's office door.
"Come in!"
He opened the door and there Harry was, eating lunch out of a plastic container with a fork. "Mr. Styles."
"Yes?"
"Bella Lurrant is here."
When he heard her name, he quickly put the fork down. "Shit. I forgot... to tell you she was coming. I'm sorry."
"That's okay. I know you've been busy. Do you want me to bring her back now or wait until you've finished?"
He shook his head and put the top on the container. "No. Bring her right on back. It shouldn't take too long. And you should come in as well."
"Okay."
He waved her back, then came in and closed the door behind them.
"Hello, Mr. Styles." She said excitedly. "I hope I'm not intruding on anything."
"No. That's okay. It's just a late lunch. Nothing too important. Have a seat."
"Okay." She took a seat in one of the chairs and pulled a bag off her shoulder.
"Come sit with me, baby."
Zayn smiled when he saw Harry patting his lap, wanting him to sit there. Sometimes Zayn hated when Harry addressed him as baby when he was aiming to be professional in the workplace. But this was not one of those times. So he happily came over and sat in his lap, then let Harry put one secure arm around his waist.
"So anyway. I was partly suprised by your eagerness to meet right away. I don't know whether to be excited or worried."
"Well..."
"But nevertheless, I can't help but be excited, I guess. Especially since this likely means you've already viewed the sample shows together. I have the contracts with me. It's contracts of acceptance and contracts of declining but six of each. So that's twelve total but I hope the six you choose are the six we hope you choose."
She sat two stacks of papers on the desk and pointed to one.
"So this contract here would be the contract you would sign if you agree to do the show. In summary, it's saying that you would like to work with our studio to put your family on air. Here you will agree to three seasons. The first season is a trial season. So that makes six episodes. If it does relatively well, season two will be thirteen episodes. If the show is rolling by then- which I believe it will, then we will move on to a full season of twenty two episodes. Are you following me?"
"Yes."
"Good. That contract also states that you are giving us limited rights to the footage we have of you and that we have permission to use it only for the show. So don't worry. Even if we do keep it, we are not allowed to sell it to anyone or share behind the scenes footage without your permission on any social media platforms or with anyone not aphilaited with the show. And don't forget you'll see every episode before it airs so anything not in the originally aired shows counts as behind the scenes."
"Yes. We know."
"Good. Moving along. If this is the contract you choose, you start off at three thousand five hundred an episode for you and three thousand five hundred an episode for your husband. The children start low at one thousand since they would likely appear less and don't get interviewed. So if you add all that up and then mutiply that figure by six, that's fifty four thousand for the first season. Yes, I know that isn't anything compared to the money you're already making but it's still money. And the contract is built so that as popularity rises, so does your paycheck. And that is not the only benifit. TV popularity means more business popularity. Your empire would be worth more than it is now and it will leave even more to pass down to your children and even put into your cancer research foundation or whatever else you like."
"Yes. That's all true-"
"Each contract has one name for all six members. You, Mr. Malik, Nema, Charlie, Hannah and Marie. Only difference is that only yours is exactly like your husband's, only Charlie's is exactly like Nema's and the help has the same contract as well. The children are in your hands because they are minors and belong to you. But as for the help, their contracts are based off your decision. Even if they do want to be on TV, we will not film them without your own contractual agreement because the show is for the Styles family. Not the nanny or the maid. So if you agree, they get agreement contracts too unless they specifically state they want to be omitted from the show and request otherwise."
"Okay, okay. And what if we didn't agree? What if Zayn and I said no?" Harry asked.
She winced then pointed to the next stack. "Then this one would be the contract to sign. Signing it would be just like saying you would not like to work with our to studio to put your family on air and that you agree to zero seasons and in turn, the payment amount of zero dollars. We would then have no rights to your footage. So we would either have to remove it from our archives and give it all back to you or remove it from our archives and completely destroy it. Either way, we can't keep it. And you have within thirty days of the contract's issue date to decide or the footage is automatically destroyed whether you agree or disagree to move on with the show. You'll also find that line in the contract of acceptance by the way. That element is there to protect you and your family just in case someone from the company one day decides to be a criminal, steal the footage, breach the contract and use it as extortion."
"That's good."
"I agree. Furthermore, just like the last one, each contract has one name for all six members. You and your husband, Charlie and Nema, Hannah and Marie. Yours and your husband's are the same, the children's are the same and the help is the same. If you disagree, you also must sign the children's contracts of decline. Obviously without you we cannot film them. But this is more so for us so we don't get sued down the road if footage of them is shared by you and then claimed as our studio sending it out in order to receive a payout."
"Trust me. We'd never do that."
"I know, Mr. Malik. But it's just something we have to put in there for everyone. You can't trust everybody."
He folded his arms and looked pointedly at her. "You sure got that right."
"As I said before, your help's contracts are based off your decision. So if you say no, we can't film them and they cannot receive an agreement contract regardless. So if you disagree, they don't really get a choice because again, we are here to film the Styles family. Not the maid or the nanny. So that's really something to think about when you're making the decision as well."
She smiled, then sat back in the chair. "So that's pretty much the gist of it. There are many more details in both contracts. You have thirty days to sign either contract or the offer is off the table no matter what. If you don't sign either, we would then take the safe route and take it as a disagreement and destroy the footage. So feel free to sit down together or with your lawyers and read over it so you don't miss anything. Then you can know what the details are and make an informed decision."
"I see." Harry said. "Thank you for explaining all that. But I want you to know that we've already made our decision."
She perked up. "That's good. That's really good." Then she picked up the first stack of papers and tried to hand them to him. "So when you sign this, that first season salary is guaranteed even if the show is cancelled before the second season. Not so much for the second or third but that's all laid out when you read it. For the help, I'll go ahead and give you both contracts for them just is case someone decides-"
"Ms. Lurrant."
"Yes?"
"I haven't told you what we decided yet."
She paused. "Oh. What'd you decide?"
"After the trial filming ended, Zayn and I had a lot to think about. We also did some talking as well. We talked about this show and what it could mean for our family and our future together. And honestly, we didn't like what we came up with."
Her face fell. "What? Why not? Was it the episodes we sent you? If so, that's just a sample. We can always redo those. What ever you want. It's your show."
"That doesn't matter. And if we're being honest, Zayn and I didn't watch the sample episodes last night. We broke the CD'S and tossed them in the trash. We didn't want to see ourselves like that and we certainly don't want six, thirteen or twenty two episodes of that. So we won't being doing the show. And that footage is to be destroyed instead of given to us as well."
She looked both confused and offended. "But... Mr. Styles, you wanted this. When I came to you, you said it would be a great idea."
"I know I did." He looked up at Zayn with a smile and then brought him down for a quick kiss. "But that was before I realized I was wrong and my baby was right. It's best that we keep our family life private and keep our children out of the spotlight. After the way they were abandoned by their drug addict and incapable mothers so young, they deserve to grow up in a wonderful, teachable and stable envioment right now The entertainment business won't provide that for them. Plus there's still some things Zayn and I both have to work on first before we try any other endeavors. We've got all the money in the world. A few thousand more is not worth losing my family over."
She looked like she was scrambling for words. "Uh... Mr. Malik, Mr. Styles. I'm begging you to think this through just a little bit more."
"We don't need to think about it. We've already made up our minds."
"I don't fully understand."
"What's not to understand?" Zayn asked. "He already told you we made up our minds said no. This is it. We're done. There will be no show and we won't change our minds either. I'm not sure what part of that you can't understand but it's pretty clear to us which contracts we'll be taking today."
He reached forward and collected the second stack which held the contracts for declining the show.
"Thank you very much and I'll assure you we won't need thirty days. We have a lawyer on hand. He'll read this with us and we'll set up a meeting to sign this in front of you in four days. That's Monday. Thank you for stopping by and lending us your time though and we do appreciate the opportunity. But it isn't for us."
She looked speechless, but she slowly slid the other contracts toward herself and picked them up to be put in her bag.
"Um... okay... If that's what you're sure you want to do."
"It is. And it's still our final answer, Ms. Lurrant."
Right then and there, she got a tight feeling in her chest and throat and she knew it was from the feeling of rejection. She was so close to crying right in front of them.
"Very well then." She replied as she shoved the papers in her bag. "You have my number. When those contracts are signed, we can start the process of detroying the footage. Until then."
She didn't say goodbye or even thank them for their time. She simply helped herself out of the office and out to the elevator. As the doors opened and she stepped on, a buzz came from her phone. She checked it and noticed it was a text from Orlando, the would be producer of In Style.
Have you had the meeting with the Styles family yet?
And that's when she did finally cry. The Styles family was her one chance. Her one claim to fame. But not anymore. And while they were probably thinking about where their future was headed together, she was making her way down to the first floor, thinking about how she had no choice but to throw away the greatest career offer she ever had.
➡➡➡
"And so since that's what Zayn and I decided, we plan to have you come back on Sunday when Niall can be here and we'll all do an overview of these contracts together. Once we all have a clear understanding, we'll go up to the conference room at Anne on Monday and sign them in from of Bella and her boss. Are we all okay with that?"
"Yes. I am." Marie said.
"Me too." Hannah added. "Whatever you choose."
"Good. Then it's settled. Overview on Sunday, Signing on Monday. Thank you for your time and most of all, thank you for your cooperation and understanding."
"You're welcome."
"You're welcome, Mr. Styles."
Marie went back over to the stove to continue preparing tonight's dinner. But Zayn reached out and touched Hannah's shoulder before she could leave.
"Hannah."
"Yes?"
He looked back at Harry and saw that he too was listening. "We just wanted to tell you that this new routine we've been doing the past month with the children has nothing to do with you. We think you are an amazing nanny because you always follow directions and have always cooperated with us. When we send you home after we get home, it's more about us and our children and our relationship with them. We decided it's important that we spend more quality time alone with them. The last thing we want is to be emotionally detached from them when they grow up. That's all."
"You don't have to apologize, Mr. Malik. I completely understand and I think what you're doing is great. When you're not there, Nema always speaks about you both so lovingly. Trust me. She knows she's cared for and very loved. They both do. And they're so fortunate they ended up with you two as their parents."
Zayn blushed but he couldn't say too much in return without bragging on himself. "Thanks."
"You're welcome. I'll see you both tomorrow. Enjoy your evening."
"We will. And you do the same."
As she was leaving out, Nema came running in. "Pa!"
"Yeah?"
"Can you teach me the piano?"
"You want piano lessons?"
"Yeah."
"Now?"
"Yeah, Pa." She laughed.
He scooped her up and put her on his hip as he started to carry her out. "Well alright Sunshine. If you insist. I guess we'll start with something I know very well."
"Like what?"
"Just a little something my mother taught me growing up. The first song I ever learned."
When he disappeared out of ear shot, Marie turned to Zayn.
"Well that's certainly a sparkle in your eye I haven't seen in the last three months."
Zayn turned to her with a grin. "I know. I can't help it. He makes me weak when he's like that with the kids."
"Aw. That's sweet. My husband and I never had children so I don't know that feeling personally. But it warms my heart to see you feel that way because I know you two are alright. Although I have to say Harry is like my son and you are like the partner I never knew I wanted for him. Those babies in there are like my grandchildren. And I always want you four happy, healthy and home. You understand?"
She pointed at him as if he were in trouble, but he leaned forward and embraced her in a tight hug.
"Thank you so much for the advice you gave me before all this began. It worked. It was a bit shaky at first. But in the end it worked."
She patted his pack and smiled. "Of course it did, sweetheart. I never had a doubt that it would."
Once he withdrew from the hug, he sat down at the island again. He wished he could say he didn't have any doubt but then he'd be lying. Because there had never been a time where Zayn didn't worry about the future of his family. However, truth be told, his worrying wasn't all too bad. Because if it weren't for worrying at all, different decisions might mean a few years down the line they would no longer all be together under one roof.