Some promises are made in silence. And some hearts never let go.

Zayn Malik left London five years ago with a suitcase full of sketchbooks and the quiet certainty that he was meant for something bigger. New York was supposed to be the place where it all happened, the galleries, the recognition, the life he had imagined for himself. But dreams don't always unfold the way you plan them, and when things fall apart, Zayn finds himself back in London with nothing but a few unfinished paintings, a bruised ego, and no real idea of what comes next. He tells himself it's only temporary, just long enough to figure things out. What he doesn't expect is to run into Harry Styles. Harry was the boy Zayn grew up watching from a distance: all sunshine smiles, messy curls, and an easy kindness that made everyone around him feel lighter. The boy Zayn never quite had the courage to talk to, even though his heart had been quietly stuttering around him for years. Five years later, Harry hasn't changed in the ways that matter. He still laughs too easily, still remembers everyone's name, and still has that warm, impossible brightness about him. Only now he owns a little café-bookshop tucked onto a quiet London street, the kind of place that smells like coffee, old pages, and something that feels a little bit like home. And it just so happens to be right around the corner from Zayn's new flat. Zayn tells himself he's just stopping by for coffee. But maybe, this time, he'll finally find the courage to say something. Word Count: 128,632

[COMPLETED] "𝓢𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮𝓼 𝓹𝓮𝓸𝓹𝓵𝓮 𝓭𝓸𝓷'𝓽 𝓾𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓶𝓲𝓼𝓮𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝔂'𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝓪𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓶𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓶." -John Green

ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ'ꜱ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇᴄʜᴏ ᴏꜰ ꜰᴏʀᴇᴠᴇʀ, ʟᴏɴᴇꜱᴏᴍᴇ ᴀꜱ ᴀ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴍɪɢʜᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʙᴇᴇɴ. ʟᴇᴛ ᴍᴇ ɢᴏ ʟᴏᴠɪɴ' ᴀɴᴅ ʙᴇʟɪᴇᴠɪɴ' 'ᴛɪʟ ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴏᴠᴇʀ. ᴘʟᴇᴀꜱᴇ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴛᴇʟʟ ᴍᴇ ʜᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛᴏʀʏ ᴇɴᴅꜱ. ~ Kris Kristofferson

[Completed] "ɪᴍᴘᴏʀᴛᴀɴᴛ ᴇɴᴄᴏᴜɴᴛᴇʀꜱ ᴀʀᴇ ᴘʟᴀɴɴᴇᴅ ʙʏ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴏᴜʟꜱ ʟᴏɴɢ ʙᴇꜰᴏʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏᴅɪᴇꜱ ꜱᴇᴇ ᴇᴀᴄʜ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ." ~Paulo Coelho . . . . . WARNINGS ✧Huge age difference ✧A lot of smut ✧Mpreg ✧Cross-dressing . . . . Written by a friend.

Zayn Malik does not do emotional crises. He does art. He does casual hookups. He absolutely does not do pining. Harry, on the other hand, is a hopeless romantic in the most catastrophic way. He falls in love quickly, wholeheartedly, and only when it means something. Which is exactly why they work as roommates. Complete opposites. Disaster-proof. OR Zayn is a man-whore. Harry is a lover boy. What could possibly go wrong when those two worlds collide?

Zayn Malik and Harry Styles built a life most people only dream of: married, successful, and raising their six-year-old son in a home overflowing with love. But when Zayn's business entered a critical stage, endless travel and late nights left Harry feeling like he was carrying the weight of their family alone. No matter how much Zayn tried to hold on, Harry's patience wore thin, and the divorce papers followed. Now their once-unbreakable love is reduced to co-parenting schedules and carefully polite conversations. Zayn is haunted by the question of whether the man who was once his everything could ever be his again. Harry, thriving in his career as a sought-after commission editor, refuses to look back... at least not out loud. But some bonds don't fade, no matter how deep the cracks. Between love and the sacrifices that tore them apart, Zayn and Harry must decide if they're destined to remain broken, or if after everything, they're still the one.

On a lonely island off the European coast, where the sea hides more secrets than fish, Zayn has been living in silence ever since the church called him "cured" of his homosexuality. Seen as a redemption story by the faithful but trapped in his own past, he's shut himself off from the world-until Harry arrives. A young man sent by the same church, supposedly looking for the same kind of salvation. What starts as an awkward, forced connection slowly turns into something deeper, bringing back old wounds and feelings Zayn fought hard to forget. Together, the two begin to push back against everything the church, guilt, and the small community expect from them. Between whispered confessions, fake promises of purity, and stolen kisses, Saints of Salt tells the story of how fragile the people the church tries to "fix" really are and how powerful love can be when it refuses to fade.

This is NOT my story. I just made it into a Zarry version. The author is Nora Phoenix. You should check out her work. I thoroughly enjoyed this as an audiobook.