FLO: I Am Not My Father's Son [Zarry Stylik AU]©️

14

PART I

Zayn sat on the edge of his bed, fixing the sleeves of his dark grey suit. He was nervous about this dinner. He mentally prepared for the worse but hoped for the best. This dinner had been a shadow that loomed over them for the entire week. A quiet reminder of what was to come. He had thought about the issue time and time again, pondering the pros and cons, but the cons seemed to be the majority.

Deep down Zayn knew Liam hadn't been willing to let him go. He knew Liam still had feelings for him, or he would have made everything easy for him and Jaimie. Zayn knew very well that Liam could see an opportunity in this dinner and hated it.

Every day it got closer, Zayn would get more nervous. Unsure of what to expect. Treading on foreign territory.

"I can't believe you're mad at me," Harry commented from the bathroom, as he finished preparing himself.

"I'm not mad at you, Harry. I just wished you hadn't mentioned it."

"Why not? What are we hiding? We did nothing wrong."

"No, but it may seem like we're trying to pull Jaimie away from Liam. That's not what we're doing." Zayn explained. "It's like we're painting him in a bad image. We seem petty. At the end of the day, Liam is his father and I gain nothing from putting them against one another."

"No, he did that to himself." Harry's voice echoed from the bathroom. "He made up shit about us and painted us in a terrible image with Jaimie - I merely returned the favour. Gave him a taste of his own medicine."

"By putting Jaimie against Liam...."

"It is what it is. You and Cheryl just want to protect him all the time - which I get, but you seem to forget that Liam had years of influence on Jaimie." Harry explained. "Also, they were already bickering before I even opened my mouth."

"I want to try and be cordial. I want to try for Jaimie, but fuck me my instinct is just yelling no. I've been these past three years without him in my life and we've been fine." Zayn ran his fingers through his hair and fixed his suit. "But, I'll try. I'll always try. Again. Even though, he never extended me the same courtesy."

"Well, at least he'll get to see our wonderful wedding rings and die of envy."

Zayn let out a soft chuckle. "My baby..."

"Oh God-"

"You're being cocky again. You don't need to be cocky."

"I'm not being cocky."

"There's a reason why I don't want to go back to talking about what we did in our past. It serves us no good. You telling Jaimie what Liam did is unnecessary. Liam's going to be pissed-

Harry came out of the bathroom, leaning against the doorframe.

"He's been pissed all his life, Zayn. And if he was truly angry, he would've cancelled dinner. He said no such thing. Tom even asked me what I wanted to eat! So, he's fine. He's just upset that Jaimie knows who he is and what he's capable of and-"

Zayn had stopped listening a long time ago. His eyes were glued on Harry, who wore a dark blue suit with a black shirt. His hair was all combed back, showing his striking jawline and his shirt exposed his collarbone. Looking as dashing and breathtaking as always.

"Zayn?"

"Hm?"

"Did you hear me?"

"Yes."

"What was I saying?"

"Something stupid about you not being cocky."

Harry showed him a smile full of dimples. "You're staring at me."