Back for Me

ch 2

Zayn’s POV

It’s been a week since we all left the flat. I wonder what happened to it. I’m sure Simon dealt with it. Or else he would have said something otherwise. I can’t believe myself. Liam called the day after he left to ask if I had gotten home ok and I said everything was fine. I shouldn’t have lied. I’ve been too scared to go home. I’ve been living under a bridge, I can’t exactly use my card to book a room or it would be all over the media. The lads would know I haven’t gone home and my family, well that was the last place on earth I wanted to go to, so instead I used the last bit of cash I had left and bought a few blankets. It’s funny how fast you begin to blend in with people from the streets. Two nights ago a couple showed up and offered to get me a hotel room. I denied and asked them to get it for someone who needs it more than I do. They insisted on getting me a room so led them to the bottom of the bridge I’d been staying at and showed them my luggage full of expensive brand name clothes and other things to which they were shocked. They forced me to a little diner by the river and interrogated me.

“What are you doing under a bridge if you can clearly afford a place actually by the looks of it you could afford a few places” I was a bit ticked off at how they acted like they cared actually they acted like they were offended so I snapped.

“What I do and by reasons behind my actions is none of your business I don’t need to explain myself to anyone. If I won’t give my reasons to my family or friends what makes you think I’ll give my reasons to a pair of strangers?” I was about to walk away when the lady said “well were strangers. That’s the reason you would talk to us. Maybe you won’t talk to your loved ones because you are scared of being judged but were strangers we don’t know you we have no right to judge you and even if we did judge you which we won’t were strangers what we think of you won’t matter to you because we have no importance in your life.”

I began sobbing and the lady ran to my side and gave me a motherly hug whispering comforting words in my ears. After I had calmed down her husband looked at me and said

“We don’t expect you to tell us anything but if you decide to let it out were here for you it helps to talk, sometimes all we need is a pair of ears that are willing to hear us out.”

After that I decided to tell them the basics I told them how I had a traumatizing experience and ever since then I haven’t been the same and how I had been the cause for the falling out between me and my friends I told them that I had plenty of places to go I just didn’t want to go I needed time alone and even if this seemed like something only a crazy person would do it was my way of coping with my situation. After I explained everything the couple seemed to be more at ease and decided to leave me alone, however they insisted on dropping me off under the bridge. Once I got out of the car I asked them to wait. I ran to where I had hid my belongings and took out a watch that harry had given me along with the rest of the lads as a joke. Harry being harry went all out anyways and spent too much. I quickly grabbed the watch and returned to the couple. “Here have this watch maybe you could sell it and help out more people that need the help. It’s not the best I could do but it’s something. My friend gave me the watch as a joke but it’s worth about the same ass a car so if it helps then please by all means take it.”

I wasn’t sure if the watch would actually be used to help but hey it’s the thought that counts. Plus those people didn’t seem like the kind that would be selfish and keep the watch.

~~~~

As routine I woke up and went to the nearby gas station to get the newspaper and to say I was surprised would be an understatement. There I was on the front page and the headline read “Zayn Malik secretly donates expensive luxury watch to charity.” I was awestruck, but content that the stayed true to their cause, I was scared yes because that meant the lads would know something was up but I was happy none the less. For the first time since I can remember I did something genuinely nice for someone, well a few someones in this case but that’s not the point. The point is I helped someone. It felt great! I decided to read the rest of the article which read like this.

”Zayn Malik, a hero in disguise? We hope so, we have all been hearing the worst things about him, how he’s moody, how he avoids fans at all costs, how he is rumored to be the reason for the sudden separation of the big boy-band One Direction. Well for the first time since his breakup with Perrie Edwards we are seeing his positive side again. He has reportedly given an expensive watch to a couple so they can give it to charity. The couple was adamant about giving any information about the watch. They were taken to the local sheriff’s department and held in separate rooms for questioning until the husband finally told detectives that the expensive watch had been given to him by a passerby on the street. But the wife said that the watch had been given to them by a friend. Once they had both given their statements they were put in the same room for further questioning only this time they were under oath due to both of their statements being different from each other’s. Once they were questioned together they decided to be completely honest. They told the department that they had met Zayn Malik on the street and he asked them to give the watch to charity, the department was skeptical but luckily the sheriff’s daughter Erika was in the building and being a Directioner she was instantly able to prove that the watch belonged to none other than Zayn Malik She was quick to state a few distinct marks that the watch would have if it belonged to Zayn. She mentioned that the watch ran backwards, that engraved on the second hand it would say 1/5, on the minute hand it would say 1D, on the back of the watch there would be the five names of the band members his being the third one, and lastly the leather straps would say Vas Happening. She then showed her father the watch on her Instagram account @mrsgocky_1d (it’s a real IG she is my amaZAYN buddy) in which she had a detailed picture of the watch. Once the sheriff was completely convinced that it was in fact Zayn’s watch the couple was let go but asked to not leave town in case the watch was reported stolen they would be brought back in for questioning.

After the ordeal the couple went to their favorite charity and gifted the watch. The charity decided that the best thing to do would be to auction the watch, that way the watch can find a nice home maybe in a fanatic’s home. The auction is set to take place this coming Sunday.

On a second note Zayn wherever you may be we hope to see you at the auction house on Sunday. We would be honored to have you as our guest of honor, you along with the rest of the lads.”

By the time I was done reading the paper I was in tears. Those people almost went to prison to protect me! I’m definitely going to be at that auction so I can thank them personally.  I decided to turn on my phone for the first time since I called Liam the day after everyone left. I had a few missed calls and texts but I ignored them I didn’t want to communicate with anyone, instead I wanted to log on to twitter and see how the fans were holding up from our split. I was surprised to find that one of the twitter headlines was “One direction breaks records along with hearts with their split” I decided to read on

“One Direction has split up; the popular boy band has been broken up for one week now and the whole week their split has been a trending topic worldwide. This twitter storm is bigger than anything else we have ever seen; these five boys really are the world’s heartthrobs.”

I can’t believe our fans were that affected by us! I mean I knew we had a big impact but I never knew it was that big! I then decided to check the trending topics and sure enough we were on them, well I was on there but surprisingly it was not related to the break. It was all about the watch there were happy tweets thanking me for being generous but there were a lot more angry/sad tweets I read a few that said things like

“I can’t believe you hate the boys enough to get rid of cherished items like the watch, what’s next are you going to get your tattoo’s removed?” or sad ones like

“I’m crying, I mean I’m Glad you donated the watch but did that mean you want nothing to do with the boys anymore?”

 I couldn’t believe myself how did I not think of it that way! Why would I not think about how the fans would misinterpret the situation? I decided to tweet a response

“I apologize for any confusion, I still love the lads, they’re still my family but the charity needs the money more than I do. The lads are and always will be my family. P.S. see you at the auction.” And with that I logged out of twitter.