Hidden Beneath Brown Eyes (A Zayn Malik Fanfiction)

Chapter 25 - Jack

* Almost 5 years later *

"Happy Birthday dear Jacky! Happy Birthday to you!"

"Now blow out your candles and make a wish." I said to my son as I bent down next to him and rubbed his shoulders.

He drew in as much air as his little lungs could take, and sent out a big puff of air, extinguishing all of the candles in one shot.

"Yay! good job!!" We all shouted above the thunderous clapping.

"What did you wish for baby?" I asked him excitedly, the whole room quieting down and focussing on my little boy.

He looked up at me with those beautiful brown-gold eyes, the ones that reminded me of his father, and pouted his little lips, the ones that looked just like his father's.

"For my daddy to come and see me."

As if the room hadn't already been silent, now it was a sad silence. Sympathetic towards me and Jack.

He asked about his dad often, and my reaction was always the same; stunned and heartbroken. I was unable to speak for a few moments. All I could do was look at my son, with a look of hope in his eyes that I never wanted him to lose.

This certainly wasn't the first time that Jack had asked about his father, and it wouldn't be the last. It was like he came out of the womb with curiosity about who is other parent was.

His first words were "mama" and "daddy". "Mama" didn't surprise me, considering I'm his mother and I took care of him, but the fact that "daddy" was his second word was a bit strange because he was never exposed to that word or a person who would fit that role.

My parents never asked about Jack's father in front of him. In fact, no one did. Of course, curious people would ask me in private, but I never gave them any answers. I only requested that they not bring it up around my son.

By now, his 4th birthday, I knew what to tell him, and I always told him the same story, to which he smiled and laughed and proceeded to tell everyone how great his daddy was.

Sometimes, I wished that his father knew about him. I wished that we could be a family. I wished that Jack could have a proper father figure in his life. But then I wake up and realize that that can't and will never happen.

It had been over four years since I walked out of Zayn's house, since the last time I saw them, since the last time I cried really hard.

After I closed that door behind me, I knew that there was no going back, only moving forward. I'd made my decision and I couldn't allow myself to back out.

When neither of them ran after me, the heart that I thought couldn't possibly break any more, completely fell apart. I took a cab back to Liam's house and packed my things quickly.

As I stood at the front door, I looked back into the house for the last time, but forced myself not to linger too long. The house held too many memories, and I knew that if I looked for too long, those memories would drown me and make me change my mind.

So I tore my eyes away from the house and loaded my suitcase into the trunk of the cab and had the driver take me to a hotel. It was one right next to the airport. I checked in under an alias, not forgetting that I had been caught with Liam and that I could be mobbed by paparazzi at any moment. I hid up in my room, alone, until my return date, when I could go home and forget the entire thing.

I had never felt such relief in my life as when I did when I stepped off that plane and back onto American soil. I knew that people would be looking for me, especially since they'd made such a big deal about my relationship in my hometown.