No Control (Book 1)

34. Half A Heart

I was tempted to tweet something back, but I didn't want to open myself up to more questions, or worse, confirm or deny any rumours surrounding me and Harry, so I eventually decided silence was the best course of action. I went to work as normal, and apart from explaining to everyone in the office that Calvin was my brother, and I wasn't going out with Harry Styles anyway, the next couple of days passed uneventfully.

I woke up late on Wednesday morning and literally had to run to the tube station, and then run from the tube station to the office. I made it through the door at 8.59am and flopped in my chair, completely breathless.

"Have you seen the Daily Mail?" Sarah practically screamed before I'd even had time to catch my breath. I shook my head, wordlessly. "Zayn's been a naughty boy!" she announced.

"What do you mean?" I asked, creasing my eyebrows. She thrust her phone in front of me. It was a picture of Zayn with his arms around a blonde girl who was definitely not his fiancee Perrie Edwards, apparently in a club in Thailand. "Christ," I breathed. "Poor Perrie."

"Did you know about this?" Sarah demanded.

"Course not, why would I?" I replied, confused.

"Well, you have insider knowledge."

"Hardly," I said. "Harry barely mentioned the band, and I never really asked about them."

"Text him and ask him what's going on," Sarah urged.

"Definitely not," I said.

Truth be told, I hadn't heard from Harry since their show in Singapore, and I was a bit nervous he might have seen the pictures of me and Calvin. But if I had texted him to explain Calvin was my brother, it would look like I thought Harry needed to know, and as we were just friends this might have seemed a bit strange. So I every time the thought had entered my head to get in touch, I had firmly pushed it away. Besides, I had texted him first the last time. The ball was in his court now. It didn't stop me thinking about him constantly though.

The band was due to perform in Hong Kong that night, and when I got home after work I went straight online and watched a load of youtube video clips of the concert. I had to admit Zayn looked off. But who wouldn't, I reasoned. Not with the media spotlight on you, watching your every move, and potentially your relationship hanging by a thread.

However, bigger news was due to break when Sarah texted me on Thursday evening, not long after I'd got home from work.

From: Sarah: ZAYN'S BEEN SIGNED OFF FROM THE TOUR WITH STRESS!!!!!!!!! :'(

To: Sarah: WHAAAAAAAAAAT?????????? xxx

From: Sarah: Daily Mail. I'm crying xxx

I logged onto the Daily Mail app, and sure enough, she was right. There was a full article about it, saying Zayn had been signed off from the next few shows with stress, but was expected to rejoin the boys in South Africa at the end of March. I couldn't believe it.

I remembered back to my conversations with Harry, and recalled him mentioning Zayn had been out of sorts lately but Harry had been hoping their break would do him good. Wowzers. I hadn't been expecting this, and from the sounds of things, neither had Harry.

I got into work the following morning to find not only Sarah and Nicki with glum faces (which was to be expected due to the Zayn bombshell) but Gary too.

"What's up with you?" I asked him as I sat down at my desk. "Zayn Pain?"

"Nothing," he mumbled, avoiding my gaze. I looked over at Sarah for help, but she just shrugged her shoulders and looked back at her screen. I pulled my phone out and checked the Daily Mail for further 1D updates but there was nothing new.