Sunflower | ZARRY

Gold

Everyone has a limit, Zayn included.

The band is heading to the Asian part of the tour when he finally reaches it. He calls Simon and marks a meeting.

He's the sole passenger on the first class – he excuses himself from the boys saying he needs to spend a week with his family –, and it's perfect for him and his burning throat. The coughs are getting worse day by day, and he vomits twice, yellow petals and yellow bile and small green leafs. The flight attendants all appear desperate and pitying, one to the point of shedding tears at his feet, wiping his sweat covered brow delicately. For the rest of the flight, they treat him with the utmost care, sitting by his side and caring for his hurt being.

Impressive how people care. The girls swear secrecy, and wish him the best.

A van waits for him in the airport, and takes Zayn straight to Simon. The stoic men smiles upon seeing him, but the thin-lipped smile turns quickly into a concerned frown as he absorbs Zayn's wrecked appearance – he lost good fifteen pounds, and his clothes hang from his body, similar to his hair, greasy and messy.

The boy doesn't know where to start, and he doesn't need to; a fit of coughs make their way through his throat before he has a grasp of them, and Simon watches horrified as beautiful yellow petals of sunflowers rain above his desk.

cough. cough cough cough

"Hanahaki" it's all he whispers, running towards the boy with a glass of water. "Who...?"

"Harry"

Simon doesn't ask about it anymore, just what Zayn wants to do. He cries for hours – or minutes, but at this point, he can't tell the difference – before asking – begging, pleading almost on his knees – to leave the band. The older man widens his eyes but keeps himself from protesting, accepting the request readily, not having the courage to deny a dying person their wish.

Oh, Zayn knows Simon knew about him never opting for the surgery; back on X-Factor days, he would say to the younger what he thought about him, about the way he carried himself made him think Zayn was an old soul, knowing and understanding the world beyond his years. Ironically, he doesn't feel these supposed years of wisdom, instead, he feels like a baby without a mother to care for him, completely lost in a world to wide for him.