Never Knew [Zarry AU]

18. Realization

It was a Wednesday evening and Zayn was cooking his dinner when he received a message from Louis.

Louis: Hey Zayn, are you at home? I need to tell you guys something.

Zayn: Yeah, I am.

Louis: Cool, me and the lads will be there in 20 minutes.

Zayn raised an eyebrow before replying and put the phone down afterwards.

Zayn: Okay.

***
"Where were you last Saturday? We came to your house but you were not there." Liam started but Louis cut him off.

There were in Zayn's living room, on the sofa. Niall was munching on his bag of chips while the rest 3 of them were sipping on their glasses juice.

"Forget about it. Guys, you know, I have got a good news. The detective said Harry is here." Louis said excitedly.

"WHATHhh??? RHEALLY?", Niall said in excitement with mouth full of chips and Liam's eyes went in shock. He was glad, he wasn't sipping his juice at that moment.

"Yesss!!!! I contacted Aaron that day after we went back home from here and be promised to help us. So today, while at office, I've got a call from him and he said that Harry is in UK. Hell, he even is in this town. Aaron gonna give me his address tomorrow.", Louis said as his eyes became glossy.

"I miss him so much.", Louis whispered and Niall stopped eating. He looked at Louis. His heart aching.

He reached out for Louis and hugged him. Louis placed his head on Niall chest and breathed in his scent. He missed this. Missed the feeling of Niall's protective arms around him.

Zayn, who was watching all these silently, suddenly felt guilty. He should have told them about his meeting with Harry. He looked down at his lap.

Liam at his side, at Zayn and raised an eyebrow. He knew that look. The look when Zayn hides something.

"Zayn, spill it out. We all know that look. You are hiding something.", Liam said in a caing tone. Niall and Louis both looked up and saw Zayn who was still looking down at his lap.

"Um.", Zayn started.

"I-I met Harry."

"WHAT?!", the three said in unison.

"Y-Yeah. Just hear me out okay?", Zayn pleaded, now looking at his three friends who just nodded.

"Um, so that day, after I ran out of the Café, I went to a park to think it all through. I met a little 6 year old boy in there.", Zayn smiled at the memory. His three friends looked at him in confusion.

"Raphael. He is such a sweet kid. Was scolding me for smoking.", Zayn chuckled.

"Um, I don't know why guys, but I wanted to keep in touch with him, so I gave him my number." He said, smiling unaware of the confusing glances his friends were giving him.

"So last Friday, he called me up and he chatted a lot. Then he invited me in his house for dinner. Long story short, turned out, Harry was Raphael's dad. So yeah, last Friday and Saturday, I spent the house at Harry's.", Zayn said,scratching the back of his.

He looked up at his friends to see them giving each other some secret looks. He frowned.

"So Harry didn't say anything about you staying in there?", Liam asked.

"Uh, no. He said I can come to his house anytime to spend time with Raphael and warned him, not to hurt his son. Typical dad.", Zayn chuckled and Liam's frown deepened.