Empire of Deception (Harry Styles AU)

Chapter 4

It was weird seeing Mia's stuff on the opposite side of the room, and even weirder for me to walk towards it. Aimee Blue was the only person I knew to occupy this desk long term, so seeing Mia sitting at it made me feel disoriented.

Her brown eyes meet mine for brief second before I see a grin spread across her face. "One second," she says, and somehow she manages to speed up her already lightning fast typing before turning to properly greet me. "I'm convinced that you spend more time here than the people who actually work here."

I roll my eyes but she's still smiling. She nags me about being at the Malik Building all the time, but I know deep down she wishes I could be here 24/7. "What are you working on?" I ask.

"Just the monthly reports. I'm so busy all the time that whenever the end of the month comes around, I'm struggling to finish on time. If I have some information now, might as well start."

I eyed the empty desk across from her, "You know... I think there is a job position for these types of things."

Mia laughed but I could visibly see that something was off. Hiring someone to fill her old position as assistant to the Head Assistant was something she wouldn't even consider, and I wondered why.

"Zayn's on a call right now but he should be done really soon," she says, her eyes turning back towards her monitor screen.

"It's fine... I just... Needed to ask him something," I say absentmindedly as I take a seat on the plush chair that was placed by the wall.

There was something oddly calming about watching Mia work-the soft clacking of the keys, and her determined eyes which never left the screen.

By her computer rested a rather large picture frame. Louis' giant smile pretty much swallowed up his ocean blue eyes. Meanwhile Mia's smile was more demure and contained but her eyes ran wild. Between these two friends, you could see the undeniable joy of a strong friendship.

Deep down I wondered if Mia blamed me.

Or Zayn.

Louis was always the first thing on my mind when I woke up and the last thing on my mind when I lay down to sleep. He was a little bit older than both Zayn and I, but his youthfulness kept him hanging with a younger crowd. He was always slightly immature and always down for something crazy and something that would get us into trouble, and I suppose that is what everyone loved about him. Louis Tomlinson was a lad who was always around and always had your back no matter what. Thanks to my stupid mistakes, I never got to really see him grow up, but despite being alienated and hated by the both of them, I still kept tabs. I'm just happy to have been able to call him a friend before he was killed.... I just can't help but wonder if I stayed alienated and hated, the Tomlinson's would still have a son.

When I finally managed to make it out of my own head, I saw that the picture frame had been moved out of my line of view, tilted more towards Mia than me.

Things continued to be silent and I started to get sucked back into my muddled mind. Suddenly I had a thought. Malik Enterprises sits at the top of the corporations here in London and in most of the world. If anyone was wanted as an ally, it would be Zayn.