I'm very sorry, some urgent work came up and I won't be able to make it to dinner. I'm ordering Chinese though, maybe we can eatatmy place?
Liam read the message from Zayn over and over again. He had sent another message with his address, without waiting for Liam's reply first.
Liam knew that if his boss was paying attention then he would be aware that Liam had opened his messages over eight minutes ago, and was yet to text back.
Liam had prepared himself to tell Zayn that he would like to remain professional. That he wanted to draw boundaries. He had mentally psyched himself for having this conversation in one of the booths of the diner; a public place. But Zayn just had to
throw a curve ball and invite him over.
Liam absolutely did nottrust his resolve. Especially not when he was going to be alone with Zayn. But he knew he had to. He couldn't risk Zayn's job, not when he had bent over backwards to save it.
Liam texted him back, letting him know that he'd be there in thirty. Surprisingly, Zayn only lived a few blocks away. Or maybe it wasn't that shocking considering both of them lived in a rich neighborhood.
Liam decided to take a shower, after which he got dressed in a grey button down shirt and black jeans.
He looked at himself in the mirror, remembering how Cole always complained about his dress sense.
Liam never cared about branded clothing, and back in school he mostly showed up in band t-shirts and sweatpants, much to his ex's dismay.
After grabbing his wallet, keys and phone, Liam left his penthouse. Apparently Zayn had already told the doorman about Liam's arrival, so he was quickly buzzed in. Zayn lived on the eighteenth floor, and Liam made his way to the boss's front door.
He ran a hand through his hair, cursing internally when he realised it was still wet from the shower.
Why did he assume his hair would dry in a ten minute walk?
"Here goes nothing," Liam muttered to himself before knocking.
Liam tapped his foot, feeling impatient as Zayn took his sweet time (forty seconds) to open the door. Liam's eyes raked in the view in front of him, it was his first time seeing Zayn dressed casually. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt with grey sweatpants. Definitely a gay man's weakness.
Liam sighed. Why, oh why, did Zayn have to wear that. A hot man in grey sweatpants was a wet dream of anyone that swung that way.
"Hey, come on in" Zayn moved aside to let Liam enter, which he did without saying a word.
Zayn closed the door shut, before continuing, "I'm really sorry about all this. Jiya called me an hour ago and told me the new COO of SoulTech wants to have a meeting first thing tomorrow morning to discuss-"
"It's okay" Liam interrupted him, "work can be unpredictable, I get it."
"Sure."
"Yeah, but again, I apologise," Zayn said.
"And once again, it's fine," Liam said as Zayn led him to the living room, "do you need any help with it?"
"Actually, I wouldn't mind. I just have a few slides left to make and maybe you could give them a look?"
With both of them working together, it didn't take long before Zayn was done with the pending work. They only took a five minute break in between to order dinner, and now the two were sitting on the couch, with a drink in their hand.
"So, what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Zayn asked. The two of them were sitting on opposite ends of the couch. Zayn had one arm resting on top of the couch as he tilted his body to face Liam.
