once upon a love x j.t. x h.s.

we watched it fall

17th July 2019

A few days after the reunion

"I'm sorry I'm late!" Liam burst into the recording studio, sweat dripping down his face as he carried a big bag and held onto a small figure.

To be accurate, Bear Payne.

The usually spacious recording room is especially crowded today, with eight singers and two producers all squeezed in said room. People were scattered all over the room, some busy writing songs, some testing out their vocals and some, for example, Jade and Jesy, were on break. Which means that they were the first ones to welcome the small mini-Liam by his side. To be fair, Bear Payne seemed a bit too overwhelmed by his surroundings, even though he wasn't in the centre of attention. Yet. When two unknown figures started approaching him, he immediately his behind his father's legs and tugged protectively on it.

Liam bent down, placing his bag on the floor and caressed his son's curly brown hair. 

"It's okay baby, they are daddy's friends," he explained softly.

"This is Aunt Jade and this is Aunt Jesy," he introduced as Bear shyly looked up the two women.

Jade and Jesy kneeled as they cooed over the adorable child.

"'Ello Adey, Esy," Bear mumbled, giving a bashful smile. Jade wanted to melt watching the scene and asked Liam for permission to take pictures of the mini Payne, to which Liam allowed, on the basis, she doesn't post it online.

Excited, Jade whipped out her phone and started capturing pictures of the boy.

"Like, Ickey Mouse," Bear walked towards Jade and started tugging on Jade's phone. Jade was confused at first but as she observed closely, Bear was pointing on her phone case which had Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse on it.

"You like Mickey Mouse?" Jade asked animatedly using her baby voice, which Bear nodded to.

"I love Mickey Mouse too! Do you want to see some pictures?" 

"Yes please, Adey," Bear gave Jade a lopsided smile as Jade lead him to a corner of the room, leaving Liam and Jesy on the scene.

Liam watched the scene in amazement. His son has always been timid around others and has difficulty approaching others. However, Jade had just broken the walls despite having met for less than five minutes.

"She's good with kids, isn't she," Jesy remarked as she watched Jade and Bear talking animatedly with each other. 

"She is, truly. Bear's very shy, you see," Liam stood up and offered his hand to Jesy who was still on the floor, "I bet you're pretty good with children too."

Jesy snorted. She has always been unapproachable to children except for her nieces and nephews, and the other members' nices and nephews. Other than them, she doesn't dare to play with other children.

"Oh come on, I saw the way Bear smiled at you. He's pretty frugal with his smile," Liam teased.

"Some of us has natural mother instincts, Mr Payne," Jesy retorted, her gaze reverted to Jade, "How unfortunate."

"Yeah," Liam mumbled, "He would have been around Bear's age."

Jesy sighed. "Come on, we should not be thinking about this, Jade will be so upset," Jesy kiddingly punched Liam's shoulder, cheering the younger man up. He gave a smile in return.

"Liam!" Louis greeted as the others finally realized his presence, "Where's my godson?"

"Excuse you? He's my godson!" Niall retorted as Harry peeked out of the recording booth to see the commotion. Harry removed his headphone and walked out of the booth, Perrie and Leigh-Anne who were inside, followed him along.