Fragile Heart (Niam)

Chapter Twenty-Three: Compromise

The past two weeks have been difficult. Balancing between ignoring Zayn and pretending to be his best friend in front of Niall is hard. Well, pretending to be friends with Zayn in front of my angel is not the hardest thing to do. It's really easy to fake a smile or laugh along to something that he says. It's easier to make sure that there is always about five feet of space between us so that we don't start another slip up. At least, that's what Louis and Harry called it. Slip up. That wasn't a damn slip up. That was two damn years worth of guilt converting into anger just waiting to be unleashed. But like I said, Louis and Harry especially don't want that happening again so there's always a big gap between us. That's the easy part.

The much more difficult part to balance was and still is ignoring Zayn. Since Zayn has been alive all this time, he obviously was still in contact with the Big Man which means that my father was delighted to give us our first group mission. Which was weird because my father seemed to no suspicions about the panther coming back from the dead. And I still don't understand how my father has so much information from the Big Man. Why does he have so much leverage? But that doesn't matter at the moment. The real problem is that during those weeks of missions and targets, the four of us immediately went back to the fluidity from two years ago. We just worked so well together. Harry and Zayn with their blades, Louis and I with our hand-to-hand combat and torture tactics. As if nothing changed. And it pissed me off to no end. And it was so obvious to Zayn. After every kill, he would give me this smug look. It was always worse because a glint would pass through his amber eyes, almost mocking me by saying that nothing has changed. But everything has. And nothing will make me forgive him. Of course, Louis and Harry have tried on many occasions to place the both of us in the same room so that we could hash it out, but I burned down that bridge the minute I started firing insults at him during that lunch. But in my defense, he shouldn't have fired back. Everything would have been partially normal if he didn't say anything.

"You're awfully quiet tonight." My head jerks up at the sound, only to realize that is just my angel. I silently breathe out in relief. It's just my beautiful aquamarine eyed angelic flower singing my favorite song. His blue eyes shine with interrogation, but he doesn't say anything further. I cross my arms over my chest and lean back deeper on his bed.

"Just thinking, love," I reply. I can feel his stare piercing through my blackened soul, just slowly but surely breaking down my walls. But I'm not going to let him win. Because if that happens, then in essence Zayn wins and I definitely don't want that to happen.

A sigh comes from my angel's lips. I look up, confusion fogging my eyes. What was that for?

"Is this about Zayn?" he asks. My body stiffens. My muscles tense and my knuckles become white from gripping my arms too tightly. I don't want to have this conversation. Especially with Niall.

"Why would you think that?" I reply back. My flower tilts his head, a pout suddenly dragging down his lips. Fuck. Don't be sad. That'll just make me cave further and I really don't want Zayn to win.

"Because ever since he showed up you've been acting weird." I run my hand through my hair in frustration. Damn it, he just made it that much more difficult to avoid.

"Sweetheart, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Liam." The tone in his voice makes me falter. I squint my eyes and look carefully at his expression. And I am extremely confused. He still looks innocent and fragile with his pout, his tone brimming with delicate desperation. But something in his blue eyes is a little off. They are a little darker. His eyes are still shining with beauty and grace, but deep inside I can almost see a glint of power. I raise my eyebrows. So he is Bobby's son.