NIAM STORIES (BXB ONE SHOTS)

Meeting at Westminster

This isn't exactly a Niam story. This story is dedicated to every single one of my followers who reads my stories, and to the one and only Zayn Malik.

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I was crying – really crying. For two straight weeks, there was nothing in my head but making word art of their songs, especially his lines. What made my apparent hobby worse was the fact that it was summer vacation and there was nothing else to distract me. No paper works, no class projects that need to be done.

Two of my friends in college kept in touch with me. We talked on Skype once in a while and every single conversation would end up in tears. We would re-live the memories when they were whole and it just went from sniffing and occasional tears to downright outburst of crying.

I felt horrible. Somehow I just wished it wasn’t real.

Eight Years Later.

London, England.

It had been a busy day. My feet were aching and yet the subway at Westminster was still a few feet away. The sea of people were moving about and I just groaned internally. Two years of staying here in London and I already felt tired of the rush hour in the Tube.

For today, I got squeezed between a tall college dude listening loudly from his earphones and a business woman who kept sanitizing her hand with alcohol. I was sitting until the next station stop when I stood up to let an old woman carrying her groceries sit down. As I grabbed hold of the railings, fearful that I might tumble at the sudden lurch of the compartment, someone caught my sight.

He was standing a few feet away from me, earphones plugged into his ears, and a little girl was talking to him. Sleepy as I may be, my eyes began to widen upon realization. I scanned him from head to toe: ear piercings, tattoos under his coat, a somewhat perfect stubble. My heart began to beat fast. Apparently, I was so awkwardly staring that he glanced right at me and I felt myself melt.

Hazel eyes. Holy shit. He has hazel eyes.

When he smiled, I willed myself to smile back. But after that polite exchange of silent pleasantries, he turned away to focus his attention to the little girl who was with him. I found my fingers shaking, my breathing and heart rate elevated. This can’t be happening right now.

The drone of the rushing carriages down the tunnels were suddenly drowned in the sound of shouts and screams that rang in my head, of those hot summer nights when me and my friends would jump around like crazy to the beat of the drums and the melodic foursome on the stage. By that time I had already graduated from college and was standing front row, the four of them almost within reach.

For four more years after the heartbreaking incident, the band carried on touring and singing and making songs. They visited my place, back in old Manila, two more times before announcing that the band would be breaking up for them to pursue their own solo careers.

Everyone seemed alright with that – even I was okay with that.

A year before they disbanded, Niall and Liam told the public they were dating. This was a few months after Liam and Sophia cancelled their wedding due to untold circumstances. Of course, I was all but hysterical and simply cried that the people I used to just imagine being together were in fact together for real. Sophia expressed her happiness for the couple, especially her childhood friend, and shockingly told the media about what went on a few years back.

No one heard from her ever since.

Four months after Niall and Liam started dating, Louis and Harry revealed to the public in an interview that they did in America that they were dating for the first two years since the band’s inception. Sadly, they also said that they were just close friends now after breaking up before their third album’s release. Louis said he was dating someone privately and Harry on the other hand was still looking for that special someone.

A few months, maybe three, after they had disbanded, Niall and Liam officially called it off. I remembered not going to work for three straight days because of that news. My boss had to come over to my apartment to talk about it along with a friend from work and they finally convinced me to get over it.

It was a fun, satisfying roller coaster kind of life for me. Both with and without them.

Sometimes I hear their old song on the radio and I would just smile and sing along. When I first came here to London for work, the things that kept me company were their songs, some fan fictions I kept in my laptop, and videos I made with my friends during their concerts. I felt like a kid again, having to rekindle those midnight memories inside my head.

Before I could get even more washed up in floods of memories, the train suddenly stopped and I was jolted back to reality. I quickly got off on my stop and searched for him in the crowd. I finally spotted him walking hand in hand with the little girl and I ran past the maze of human beings just to get closer. When he was almost near the stairs, I felt a shout tear through my lungs.

“Mr. Malik, wait!”

He stopped walking and turned around. Zayn looked surprised to see me, somewhat embarrassed as well that some of the commuters were staring at us with tired looks in their eyes. “How do you know my name?” he asked, getting closer.

I felt myself blush, both from the cold and the nervousness in my chest. “I’m a fan,” was my oh-so-stupid answer because what else could I say? I couldn’t even form a more civilized response in my head let alone force it through my lips!

But then a smile ghosted on his lips. “That was a long time ago, dude.”

“Yeah,” I quickly responded, “but I still am. Even if it was a long time ago, I’m still a huge fan.”

“Listen, I’m a college professor now,” he replied, trying to make it sound disappointing. “I teach English to students. I’m not that singer from a boy band like before. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry that you had to leave or sorry that you’re not that person anymore?”

“A little bit of both,”

“Don’t be,” I answered. “There’s nothing to apologize for.”

“Please,” he insisted, “I’m not that person anymore. I’ve got a family now, a normal job, and a normal life. What’s there to like about me? I’m just like you now. I’m ordinary, nothing else but that. I’m not famous anymore.”

“We liked you for who you were, not because of your fame.”

He smiled. “Well, I’m glad to know that.” Zayn glanced down at the little girl beside him and then back to me. “We’d better get going. Trishie here’s gonna be really sad if she doesn’t get to watch Finn and Jake.”

As he started to walk away, up the stairs, I sighed.

“Are you going to Niall and Liam’s wedding?” I suddenly asked.

“Of course I am.” Zayn beamed a toothy smile at me. “Louis, Harry, and I are the best men.”

When he disappeared up the stairs, I took a step forward and into the night feeling lighter than I ever did eight years before.