Away

2

Zayn walked towards Liam and frowned "What's wrong?"

Liam leaned back against the wall with his eyes closed, Zayn sat down on the floor beside him

"Liam, what's happening?"

Liam shook his head "I'm just not feeling too well" he mumbled, he rested his head on Zayn's shoulder

Zayn rubbed Liam's knee "Do you want to take you to the hospital?"

Liam shook his head "No... I'm sure it's just a stomach bug..."

"Can I have ice cream?"

Liam shook his head "You know you can't" he leaned against the counter and looked at Aileena

"It's bed time, love"

She pouted and Liam laughed "You know Mama Nurah, and you end up having a lot of ice cream when you're her anyways"

She perked up "Tomorrow?"

Liam smiled and nodded, Aileena cheered and clapped and Liam laughed before he picked her up.

He was about to walk upstairs with her when the doorbell rang, Liam put her down and told her to give him a minute before he walked towards the door

He opened it and his eyes widened "Zayn?"

Zayn looked at him "I'm sorry... I didn't know where else to go"

Liam quickly shook his head and moved out of the way, Zayn walked in and slumped against the wall

Aileena poked her head out and perked up "Baba!!"

Zayn turned to her and smiled "Hi baba"

She tilted her head to the side "Are you tired, baba?"

"A wee bit..."

She walked towards him and he picked her up and kissed her cheek before he hugged her tightly

Liam smiled and looked at Aileena "Baba will be staying here tonight"

Aileena perked up "Really? Really really??"

Liam nodded "Yeah, really really"

She hugged Zayn tightly and he laughed as she looked at Liam "Can we make waffles tomorrow?"

Liam hummed "I'll think about it" He said then took Aileena from Zayn

She looked at Zayn "That means yeah!!"

Liam shook his head and rubbed her back before he looked at Zayn

"You know where the guest room is"

Zayn smiled and nodded "Thank you, Liam"

Liam waved him off and walked away "Your house as much as it is mine"

~~~~~

Zayn leaned against the wall and watched them make waffles, his muted phone was vibrating in his hand but he ignored it

Aileena turned to him "Strawberries, baba?"

Zayn smiled and nodded, he then looked at Liam "What do you have planned for today?"

Liam looked at Zayn "Your mother will be here soon"

Zayn frowned "Really?"

Liam nodded "She found out Leena was with my parents a few days ago and said she'll be taking her today" Liam looked at Aileen "If you want to spend time with Leena, I can tell your mum to take her when we go back to work"

Zayn sighed "She'll skin me alive if she found out"

Liam dusted his hands on his aprun and chuckled "True"

~~~~~

"Where's my sweet little girl?"

Aileena jumped up and she ran towards the door and Zayn followed

"Oh my sweetheart" she whispered then bent down and kissed her granddaughter's cheek

She looked at Zayn and gave him a look "I saw your car, what are you doing here?"

Zayn shrugged "Wanted to spend the night here and wake up to my daughter making me waffles, is that too much?"

"Yes. You have an apartment"

Zayn shook his head then walked towards his mother and kissed her head

She smiled "Now that you're here, let's give Liam a break from both of you. I'm sure he needs it"

Aileena pouted and Zayn frowned and at the same time, they both said an offended

"Heyyyy...."

~~~~~

"Now be honest, what happened?"

Zayn kept his eyes on Aileena who was playing with another kid

"Ceclie and I got into an argument; I broke up with her"

"And you decided to go stay with Liam"

Zayn nodded "Yep, because I didn't know how to react and I still felt like I had to make it upto Leen for almost not letting her be there for the second most important day in my life"

"I still don't know why you agreed... How did that even happen, dear?"

Zayn shrugged "She said if we just have adults, they'll be able to enjoy it more and she also told me how much more things we could have"

"Still... are all these 'more things' worth not having your daughter there?"

Zayn shook his head "No... No but I just wanted her to be happy" Zayn looked at his mum

"I'm never putting my daughter's happiness second again"

His mum smiled and gripped his hand before she looked ahead, she then frowned and looked at Zayn

"Don't you have a trip planned... For you, Ceclie and Aleena?"

Zayn nodded "Yeah, but I'll just cancel-"

"Or..."

Zayn frowned "Or?"

"You can take Liam... Aileena has been looking forward to this trip, don't let it be another thing you'll cancel"

Zayn frowned "Ma-"

She raised both hands "I'm just saying, it may be nice"

Zayn shook his head "I don't know, Ma. I dont think it'll he appropriate"

She frowned "Why? You could change the hotel booking and just think about how good it'll be- for your daughter, that both of her parents and her will finally have some family time"

Zayn looked at his hands "Still... It'll feel wrong, I just got out of a relationship and I'm going on a vacation with-"

"Your daughter and her other parent" she frowned "Why are you making it more than what it is? If you don't make it weird it won't be"

~~~~~

"DAAAAAAAD"

Liam ran down the stairs while tying his hair up and caught Aileena just before she bumped into his leg

He knelt down and kissed her cheek and hugged her tightly

"We had ice cream, and fries, and nuggets; and Mama Nurah even gave me cookies she made at home!!"

Liam nodded "Mhmm" Liam looked at Zayn "I'm hoping you included some healthy things into today"

Zayn smiled "We went to my sister's house, we had some apples, plums and carrots"

Liam nodded then stood up "Is your mother still here?"

"Nah, baba called her saying he missed her. I dropped her off then came back"

Liam nodded "Ok" he looked at Aileena "C'mon, let's get you cleaned up"

Zayn cleared his throat "Can I ask you something?"

Liam looked at him then patted Aileena's back "Go to your room, love"

She nodded and ran upstairs, Liam looked at Zayn "What's wrong?"

Zayn looked at him then took a deep breath

"Want to go on a trip?"