𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎 ✓

e-p-i-l-o-g-u-e

It's been a long seven years since he left London in search of bigger and better things. Niall, true to his word, kept in touch with Zayn's family. He mended his relationship with his mother through their emails and weekly phone calls, and each time he returned home, he would visit her and Greg.

Greg, who now has a three year old son with Denise, who is probably the cutest thing Niall has ever seen. He's such a sweetheart, but through Niall's uncle duties, he's realized he doesn't actually want children. He loves his nephew, but being a parent isn't for him. His mother is fine with that, she already has one grandchild and she has her hands full with him.

His father is another story. Niall attempted to repair his relationship with his father numerous times through the years, but to no avail. Bobby Horan still has yet to let go of the grudge he holds thanks to Niall running out on his wedding and leaving the family in the lurch.

Niall couldn't really care less.

Tricia and Yaser are still as active as ever in his life, sending him care packages and calling weekly. Niall even flew them, Greg, and his mother out for his opening night at the restaurant he opened two and a half years ago, Javadd.

Both Tricia and Yaser teared up when they first saw the sign, and they couldn't have been happier that Niall named it after their little boy.

Niall has managed to keep in touch with Liam and Louis, who also came to his opening night. It was a nice treat to have all the people he loves from back home, supporting him on his big night.

A lot has changed in seven years. Louis found a girl named Anna and Liam found a pet fish, which everyone teases him about. They all live near one another in New York where they decided to settle. Liam is pursuing a modelling career because apparently he needs the attention - both Niall and Louis tease him about it constantly.

Louis, on the other hand, went to become an interior decorator, so Niall is living a life of luxury in his apartment thanks to the fact that Louis decorated it for him. It was helpful, Niall is a total dud when it comes to decorating anything.

During Niall's travels, he picked up recipes in nearly every country he went to and used them to open up his restaurant after attending culinary school. It was the most fun Niall ever had in school, and he excelled. After working in a couple restaurants for a few years, Niall decided to open up his own and fulfill his and Zayn's dream, thus giving him Javadd.

He's no longer so sad about what he lost because Zayn is still with him, he knows that, but some days are harder than others. He still wears the engagement ring and he still has the necklace with Zayn's ring, though that one is hanging on a framed picture of Zayn and Niall slow dancing from Zayn's last birthday party, which is placed on Niall's mantle in his apartment.

All in all, life is good. His day to day life is fun and exciting and there's always something new to discover, always something new to do. He's never loved living so much.

He's still lonely, and has been for seven years. He never opened his heart back up, never even considered it. His heart is still solely occupied by Zayn, and he expects it will be for a long time to come. He hasn't even bothered to find someone to just sleep with, he feels like it would be too much of a betrayal to Zayn that way.

He thinks of Harry sometimes. As much as he didn't want to admit to himself for so many years, a part of him did fall in love with Harry. As hard as it has been to accept that fact, he did. Not as much as he loves Zayn, he will never love anyone that much, he still had love for Harry in his heart.

The betrayal doesn't hurt so much anymore, either. He has long since forgiven him. Hell, they were so young, they all made mistakes. Niall regrets leaving his friendship with Harry on such a bad note. There have been nights where all he could think about was how he could have done things differently, how he could have forgiven Harry and made things better between them before he went and ran off to New York.