To Be Loved

Chapter Two

"I don't know mate, I'm worried about the kid from yesterday he couldn't have been older then eight or nine." I said, running my hand through my hair. "Calm down mate. I bet he's fine." I rolled my eyes as I went to change the channel when something caught my attention.

"Earlier this morning, police located Zain Malik, whom has been missing for two weeks after he ran from his foster home. Police have him in custody at the moment. By an inside source, we were told he is going to be brought back to the foster in Bradford. Any thoughts John?" The news woman turned to her left.

"Yes Nancy, I do. I think it's a bit remarkable that a child could go from Bradford to London in only a few days." I stared wide eyed at the screen as they pulled up a picture of 'Zain'. It was the kid from yesterday.

"Liam..." "Louis..." "Niall..." "Harry!" We looked over to the curly haired idiot who said his own name. "What do we do?" "What do we do?" Louis rephrased my question into another question by tone. "I mean, I feel like we should do something." I explained, shrugging my shoulders. "Well..." We all looked to Niall.

"What?" Louis asked. "We could...never mind. It's stupid." "Don't think like that Ni." Harry said. "Yeah, tell us." I urged. "Okay I was thinking, well, they said he ran away from the orphanage. He obviously didn't want to be there so maybe we could, uh, maybe adopt him?"

______________________________________________________

"I can't believe you ran away, young man. That's going to look horrible on your file towards possible adopters." I rolled my eyes as Ricky kept on talking. "Look, Zain, I know it's been hard but we can't help if you don't tell us anything. If you would just tell us how you really end-" "No." I cut him off, staring out my window.

He sighed but ended the conversation as he continued to drive towards the temporary office here in London. "We're talking about this tomorrow, Zain." I rolled my eyes and leaned back, closing my eyes.

................................................................

I woke up slowly, we got to the office shortly after midnight and I crashed on the couch. "Finally, get up Zain. We have visitors coming in about an hour. Go get some breakfast and then take a shower. Okay?" I nodded groggily, not necessarily processing the situation as I made my way towards the small kitchen.

The office was kinda like an apartment but smaller I guess. It had a kitchen, bathroom fit with a shower, toilet and sink, one bedroom(I insisted that James should sleep in there) a small living room and an office.

I pulled a pop tart from the small pantry and ate it quickly, washing it down with some orange juice before grabbing a towel and clothes. I stepped in the shower, actually great full to be taking one. Living on the streets for two weeks leaves you a disgusting mess.

'Still the best place I've lived...' I shook the thought from my head as I washed my hair. I was disgusted by the feeling of the oil on my fingers. Ew. I finished washing but instead of turning the water off, I stood under the hot water and enjoyed the nice shower while I could.

Fifteen minutes later I finally got out, drying my self off and getting dressed into some black joggers, a dark grey v-neck and some regular white socks. Apparently James brought the clothes I left at the home with him...my hair fell flat on my head, the fringe getting in my eyes.

I walked out of the bathroom, only to hear not one but five voices in the living room. James wasn't kidding, there were visitors. I yawned as I walked down towards the kitchen where I grabbed water bottle from the fridge then making my way towards the living room

Here we go.

______________________________________________________

We all looked towards the entrance of the living room when Zain came in. He looked a bit different from when we saw him two days ago. For example, his face was clean and his hair was fluffier.

"Lads, this is Zain." James said. Zain just stood there, staring at the floor. "Zain, this is Liam, Louis, Niall and Harry." He looked up, his eyes going from me to Niall to Harry to Liam. "They're thinking of adopting you." That seemed to get his attention even more before he turned on his heel and ran off.

"I'm sorry, he's kind of shy and very stubborn." James said sheepishly. "I understand." I nodded. "Anyways, he's almost ten, surprising that he was able to survive while he was on the streets at such an age. He showed up at the home when he was six, he was injured but he refused to say anything,

When we asked him what happened he was silent so we worked with nodding and shaking of the head, when we asked if he was just left there. He nodded. Quite a sad story, I haven't heard him talk until three weeks before he ran." My heart clenched. "Another thing, he's fixated on going by Zayn with a 'y' instead of an 'I' so if you can figure out why, please tell me."