Levirate [Haniaal/Zarry]

Chapter 28

Harry is a baby hoarder. That is the best way that Anne can think to describe him. He has been back for a week now and he has not been away from Azad and Akilah for more than an hour. He is the kind of parent that acts like no one else knows how to care for his babies other than him. He is rude, impatient and easily annoyed. Anne having given birth before and being around new mothers knows that it is the baby blues but sometimes she just feels like reprimanding him strongly because she did not raise him like that. The funny thing about Harry though is he does not want to be away from his babies like other carriers do when they are going through the blues, he hoards them and only lets each person carry them for 5 minutes at most. Anne has resorted to sleeping in his bed despite his moodiness because she would not get a hand on her grandkids otherwise.

Gemma is not as affected by Harry's hoarding. She had not held a baby ever in her 30 years of living. She has managed to duck and dive through all the family gatherings and now with her nephew and niece she is not exactly comfortable with holding them, with Harry's constant coaching on how the head should be held and how the neck is not supported. She got overwhelmed the first few times with his comments and has resorted to just cooing and dancing for the babies from afar even if it seems like they have no idea what is happening.

Zayn on the other hand is a natural. Having helped with raising Safaa, he knows how to hold them and has managed to get very minimal coachings. He does not get as much time with Azad and Akilah as he would like because going into Harry's bedroom feels a bit weird for him still. He learned from a very young age to respect the privacy of the bedroom and thus he tends to keep away and only check in once a while. With the Styles also living so far away and having limited time to see the twins, he tries to give them as much time together as possible and not be intruding on whatever private conversations they might want to have. 

Yaser and Trisha call daily to check on the babies as well as the registration of the birth. That is the reason why Zayn finds himself sitting in Harry's bedroom, with Akilah in his arms to try and distract himself knowing how foul Harry's mood has been these days. The other Styles are downstairs and might join them later depending on how receptive Harry is to the discussion.

"Talk Zayn. I need to rest" comes Harry's voice. The tone of it does not inspire confidence in Zayn at all but he needs to do this in order for their relationship to not be strained further.

"Well Harry I thought that we should discuss the implications of our marriage and certain requests that might come up in this journey"

"Uhm...O-okay. What did you have in  mind?" asks Harry, not even lifting his head while he cooes and does funny faces for Azad. Akilah is hanging on to Zayn's finger and keeps twirling and trying to bite it.

"Well, I know that you were forced into this- i mean we both were - but do you know the reason why this marriage happened?" 

Harry chuckles bitterly and says "Because your father is a revengeful man". Zayn waits to see if maybe Harry will provide a more serious answer but after the silence, he decides that maybe that was his final answer

He clears his throat and continues "Yeah that might have been a factor but the fundamental reason was Akilah and Azad. I was hoping you understood that" Harry does not respond and just continues to play with Azad "Okay so how levirate marriages came about was for the protection of the children and to maintain a tie with the father's side of the family because relationships tend to sever between children and the father's side. This marriage between us would likely not have happened if the babies were born before Daniaal passed on because they would then be registered as Maliks and that is what is important for our family. With Daniaal passing before the babies were born, my family needed someone to look after the interests of the babies and ensure that they are registered as Maliks. Do you understand that? 

Harry raises his head and looks at Zayn now as the topic seems serious now. "I guess I do but I would have wanted to be trusted that I would know what is best for my children and the fact that I have never seen any of you before just rubbed me up the wrong way"

Zayn was about to discuss how the Maliks also felt a need to ensure that the babies inheritance will not be shared with another male in case Harry remarried and took the new husband's surname but after what Harry has said, he swallowed that sentence.  "I understand how you feel but also I am asking you to look at it from the Maliks point of view. My dad is a really stubborn man and I know you have horrible impressions of him but he is a man that learned his lesson and is trying to remain in the lives of his grandkids and hopefully fix the mistakes he made with Daniaal. I know you might not believe that due to your first impressions but he is trying"

"I don't think I believe you. The man I met is not the one you are describing"

Akilah is getting fussy now and Zayn stands to lay her on the bed next to Harry. He sits back on the rocking chair and rocks himself.

"I know you have no experience with arranged marriages but tell me, were you not expecting my father to have visited by now to come and check on us?"

"Yeah, I guess I would have"

"He has not done that because he wanted this to progress at whatever pace we felt and we would determine how we want to proceed. He knows he did wrong by Daniaal and he might have done it the wrong way but you being part of the Maliks as well as the babies is the way he felt he could honor him" The room is silent as Harry absorbs what Zayn is saying and Zayn awaits to hear his response. The silence is broken by Azad's cries and Akilah joins shortly, frustrated by being awoken by her brother. Zayn instantly stands and walks towards Akilah. He looks at Harry and silently asks for permission to take her. Harry nods and he takes her and soothes her while Harry cradles Azad. When the babies are calmer, Harry continues the discussion.

"But then how will they be registered as Maliks because Daniaal is no more?"

 "Well uhm that is what I needed to discuss with you. We were hoping that you can maybe register me as the father" Harry's head snaps up at the speed of lightning at that and Zayn shrinks into himself at the glare that he gets from Harry. He is thankful for Akilah because he now has somewhere else to focus his attention

"WHAT?"

Silence

"Zayn?!"

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Thoughts??🙈🙈