The Taj Mahal Hotel (One Direction Fan Fiction)

Chapter 12- Elephanta Island

Zayn’s POV

I woke up with a start, to feel my mouth numb. I looked down to see, stuffed inside my mouth...a carrot? Louis.

Why did these strange awakenings only happen to me? I thought as I hopped like a ninja out of bed, ready to go and yell at that Carrot Boy. The alarm clock on my bedside table caught my attention, however. 6:30am. Dammit! We were supposed to all get dressed and be ready by 7, so we could start the trip early to the Gateway of India today. Curse my clumsiness. Without stopping to see if the other lads were ready yet, I made a dash for the bathroom and did my normal morning routine. I made sure to slip my pocket mirror into one of my hoodie’s pockets and slipped on a pair of dark wash Abercrombie jeans. I could never go anywhere without my baby, I thought, glancing at my mirror one last time before grabbing my wallet and exiting the hotel room. Sure enough, the rest of the crew was outside, waiting for me.

“About time, sleepyhead!” called out Louis who was now in hysterics.

“Shut up! None of you even thought of waking me up?!” I asked, a tinge of frustration evident in my voice.

“I did. That’s what the carrot in your mouth was for,” replied Louis, clearly amused.

“Yeah, and that was supposed to wake me up, how exactly?”

“Whatever, mate. ‘Twas Liam, he said that you’d get up eventually and to not wake you up,” Louis answered, chuckling.

I was utterly confused. Liam out of all people wasn’t worried about waking me up? Okay, well that was something new. I glanced over at Liam, who just gave me a straight face. No greeting, no wave, no acknowledgment. Okay then. Someone woke up with their knickers in a twist.

“Okay, so what are we waiting for? Let’s go pick the girls up. We’re lost without them.” Harry broke the silence.

We all nodded in agreement and made our way to the third floor. Niall insisted on taking the stairs instead of the elevator. When asked why, he only replied, “To burn the calories off, mate!” Pssht. That boy had the highest metabolism I’d ever come across and he was so worked up about losing calories?

 It came as a surprise when we met the girls halfway up the stairs. We all laughed at the mere coincidence and then promptly quietened down to the stares we were receiving from fellow hotel residents, surrounding us.

~

Amina’s POV

“Woah! That’s absolutely beautiful!” I exclaimed in awe at the spectacular scenery surrounding us.

“What is?” I turned around in surprise to see Liam looking at me in curiosity.

“The rare turquoise colour of the ocean and the towering, green mountains around us, of course! What else?” I asked him, turning back to take in the view, not expecting an answer to my rhetorical question.

“You.”  It took me a moment to register what he had just said, but when I did, confusion and surprise took over my face. When I turned to ask him what that was about, however, he had disappeared. Strange.

After a few minutes of standing out in the fresh air, I decided to go downstairs to the bottom deck of the cruise and make myself a cup of coffee. I hadn’t realised when I nearly bumped into Zayn who was going back up the stairs, a cup in his hand.

“Hey, Gorgeous! I was just coming back up to join you. You here to make yourself a cup of coffee?” He asked, flashing me his signature smile. I nodded in response and he handed me his cup, smiling. “Here, have mine. I’ll go make another cup.”  Aw, he was too cute.