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Liam picked the pen from Simon, his knuckles turning white as he squeezed it tightly. "Simon, this isn't really necessary," he said harshly. "We're able to take care of him."
"Wait, you're not willing?" The mother asked.
"Of course they are, they'll just miss him." Simon turned to them and gave them a look.
"We're willing," Louis said quickly. "But before any of us sign, we'd like to talk to Simon in private."
The parents exchanged looks but nodded and left the room, the girls following him. The youngest looked at Zayn worriedly before she left. He was trapped tightly between Louis' arms, mouth covered by Louis' hand.
"What is it?" Simon asked irritably. He glanced at Zayn. "Why can't you control him?"
Instead of answering, Louis looked around. "Where's Jeff?"
The boys looked at him in confusion and Simon shrugged. "Down to fetch coffee maybe. Why?"
Louis took a deep breath. "You can't force us into giving Zayn."
Zayn's heart skipped a beat. He looked at Simon who opened his mouth to argue.
"The reason is," Louis continued, cutting him off. "You're not allowed to by the contract." He set Zayn down, ignoring him completely. Zayn wiped his face and rubbed his wrists, looking up in confusion. He glanced at the door behind him. He contemplated his choices. When the family came back in, he needed to bolt. If he ran now, they could catch him.
"Here is the summary contract we signed," Louis said and pulled out a thick installation of papers. He picked up the adoption papers, two different sets of them. One belonged to them and one was going to belong to the other family.
"It says here that family members are to follow the same rules regarding the confidential discussions between management and the members of the band. They are not allowed to speak up on anything that might hurt their image, right? And then here, it says that family members will not have to go through the process of P.R like the band members will have to unless they want to share the responsibility."
Simon looked at him, a blasé look on his face. "Your point? Zayn counts as a member."
Louis pointed to the adoption papers. "Here it says we are the legal guardians of Zayn Malik, which makes us his family." Louis looked up, looking more confident than he had been when he started talking.
"Zayn still counts as a member," Simon argued. "This was done to give you a better image. It's like having a fake girlfriend."
