1D | I'm Right Here

Niall Knee Surgery

Niall's POV
Two days after performing on the royal variety show, the boys and I were going to appear on James Corden's Late Late show: on which we were going to announce our four month break.

Our next album was nearly finished and it would be released in November, a month before we released dates for our next world tour in 2014. That way, I had time to both have my surgery and time to make sure that I was fully recovered before we went back on tour.

The interview with James began as normal, with some jokes from James and banter from the rest of us. He asked about the tour, our love lives (which everyone always seems obsessed about) and life living with each other.

He then asked about our next album and what our next steps were going to be going forward.
"I'll take this one. We've got our next album coming out soon," I said and everyone cheered.
"When's it going to be coming out?"
"In a few months time."
"A few months? You can tease us like that Niall. I asked what your next steps were, not what your future plans are going to be."
"That is our next step James, because," I said before I paused. It was only five days to my surgery. Five days. As I thought about this, I felt Louis gently poke me in the ribs. I zoned back into the world and found that everyone was looking at me.
"Niall? Hello? Are you back with me?" James asked.
"Yeah. Yeah, I am."
"We were talking about our next steps," Louis reminded me.
"Oh, yeah. The album release is our next step because the boys and I are going on a four month break."
"What?! A four month break? Are you being serious right now?"
"I'm being really serious James. This is our announcement, we're announcing it right now."
"What? When? Why?"
"Three very good questions," I said with a small laugh. "What, is that it's a break. So no tours, no interviews and no making new music."
"Actually there will be a bit of that," Liam added.
"Yeah, there will be a bit of that. But it's a break, so we'll be having some time off to be able to see our families and friends. When, is in five days."
"Five days? Shit Niall, why such short notice?"
"Because that's how much notice I had."
"What? Hold on. Do you mean that this is a management decision and not your own?"
"No. Well, management signed off on it but it's my fault."
"What do you mean, it's your fault?"
"You know how I was going to have surgery on my knee in the new year?"
"Yeah."
"Well, it's been moved forward."
"To when?"
"A few days' time."
"Oh. How did this come about? Was it the hospital's decision, or are you in pain?"
"I'm in pain," I told James directly, forgetting about all the cameras and the audience. "While we were on tour, my knee was getting worse and I kept it to myself. Eventually, I ended up collapsing from the pain while I was playing football with the lads."
"Oh no. They doesn't sound very good."
"No, it's all red and swollen, and I'm on high dosage paracetamol at the moment."
"Oh Niall. I'm really sorry to hear about that. Are you nervous about it?"
"I'm very nervous, yeah. I mean, I'd already planned to have it done in January, but having it moved forward is terrifying."
"Aww. Well, I wish you all the best for the surgery and please keep me updated."
"I will."
"And are the rest of you boys going to be helping Niall through this?"
"Yeah, we will be James. I'm going to stay with Niall while he's in hospital, and after that he's going to go back home to be with his family," Liam told him.
"How long's the recovery time? Is it going to take the whole four months?"
"Pretty much yeah. It's going to be a major surgery and my surgeon told me that I'll only be able to move around on crutches after a month."
"A month?"
"Yeah."
"Oh wow. Niall, I'm so sorry."
"For what?"
"That you have such a bad knee. Are you going to be able to attend the BRIT awards in November or is that too soon?"
"I don't know. I should be moving round with crutches by then but I'll just have to see how I am on the day."
"Well, I hope that you can come, otherwise I'm really going to miss you there."
"Aww thanks James."
"Right, shall we move onto a game?"
"Yeah, sounds good," Harry said and we carried on with the show.