for your eyes only

T W E N T Y - T H R E E

Zayn follows Harry, rather awkwardly, as Harry opens the door. Which, by the way, proves futile. Because as soon as Harry steps up, it flings open, revealing a middle-aged woman sporting a scary glare. But then she spots him, and her face contorts into confusion before relaxing into a nice, sweet smile.

"Mum!" Harry exclaims, clearly not expecting his mother (as Zayn now knows) to be here.

"Hello, honey." She smiles at Zayn, ignoring Harry. For the time being, something inside Zayn says "I am Anne. And you must be?"

"Zayn." It's Harry who says "Uh, I met him at the art gallery. He is a painter. An amazing one."

Zayn blushes at that, and shuffles awkwardly when the woman's...Anne's gaze turns to him. "Oh, nice to meet you, Zayn. Come in."

And Zayn does. He follows Harry into the castle trying not to drool at how spacious and beautiful it's interior is. He is so awe-struck that when Anne asks him if he wants anything to eat it takes him a few minutes to stammer out a response. Anne leaves them alone after that. She goes to the kitchen to make something light for him despite his protests, so he gives up. And he continues following Harry around because that's the most he could do.

"This," Harry declares, stopping in front of a deep cream coloured door "is my room."

And Zayn doesn't know how to feel when Harry opens the door and a girl is sitting on his bed, going through her phone.

"Harry!" the girl exclaims, bouncing over to Harry and throwing her arms around him. She is beautiful. All brown curls and big, brown eyes. She is extremely petite and hardly reaches till Harry's shoulders as she jumps up on him.

Harry laughs too, and hugs her back. "Adena!" he grins.

At the familiar name Zayn's shoulders — which he didn't even realise were tense — relaxes, and he finds himself smiling softly at the duo.

"I missed you! I haven't seen you in a week!" Adena is saying, and Zayn sees how strong their bond actually is. And then, she looks over at him, and her brown eyes widen "Oh, you must be Zayn! I am Adena Collins. This curly headed here's bestest friend."

She is wearing pastel coloured clothes but still had this strong, 'badass' aura around her. He finds himself liking her immediately.

She hugs him as well, and even though he generally finds any sort of human contact really awkward (this hug being no exception), he still hugs her back.

"Anne didn't say you were here." Zayn wonders when they all settle down.

"She never does." Harry shrugs "Adena is practically a sister to me, and a daughter to her. So whenever she comes over...well, let's say, she proves to be a surprise to either me or mom."

She is so different and still so much like Claire that he immediately sees a little sister in her. He doesn't know why, but he imagined her to wear dark clothes and dark make-up. Simply because she had tackled the 'Logan Situation' so maturely. Guess looks can be deceiving. She wears childlike clothes, but somehow, still looks tough and independent.

She proved to be a surprise for Zayn too.