in the hills • zayn malik

twenty three- bedlam

twenty three- bedlam

song for this chapter: “small things” by Ben Howard

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“Where’s Liam?” Zayn asked as he slid into the passenger seat of Louis’ car, immediately feeling worried.

“With Niall. Paul said he shouldn’t be at the meeting today, and he’s still pretty weak.” Harry said, his unruly hair tied up into a bun, something that made Zayn smile a little.

“Don’t worry, mate.” Louis said, shooting him a smile. “I think Niall’s taking him for lunch in some exclusive restaurant, they’ll be fine.”

“Well Niall will be fine.” Zayn muttered, a smile on his face.

Harry and Louis laughed at that and for a moment Zayn felt content, settling into the leather seat. For a small moment he didn’t have to worry about all the troubles that had been suffocating him since he’d gotten home.

Liam had been his priority and he’d spent most of his time with him, like they used to. One time they wrote a song together, even though it really had been Liam who did all the work. Zayn had sat there thinking of words that rhymed and tried to make Liam laugh, which he sometimes succeeded in doing.

It had all been in some vain effort to distract Liam from the horrible media frenzy which had started immediately as the photos got online. Hysterical fans waited outside Liam’s old apartment for days on end, crying and calling out, hoping that he was okay. But in their hysterical state the fans didn’t realise how suffocating they were being, how more than anything Liam needed space and time to get everything back on track.

Zayn wasn’t angry at them, he felt extremely grateful that they had such dedicated fans, but there was no way to tell them to leave them well alone without getting backlash from the already crazy media.

The crueller people of the internet believed the whole thing was a hoax in order to get more attention, and it was when Zayn read these delusive articles that he wanted to scream and punch a wall. It never occurred to Zayn that after all that Liam had been through, Liam would have to also undergo the scorn of the whole world.

A month, Zayn thought, looking out the window at the grey murky skies of London. Already a whole month. He shivered as he thought about Iris being alone at the moment, the weather getting colder and colder. He knew that she had gone through many winters without him, but he couldn’t help but feel guilty when he thought of her alone in the dark, gloomy house, with only blankets to comfort her.

All of the media attention had shifted away from Zayn, so he could have left today or tomorrow if he so wished, but he knew management was still keeping a close eye on him, and Zayn wasn’t sure it was such a good time to be disappearing again.