See You Again (Zarry)

CHAPTER 14

After a busy week, filled with preparations, up and down nerves and excitement, the day finally arrived. Today he'd show him to the world and he knew there wouldn't be a being who would look at him and not like him. No, he wasn't being biased, just appreciating true beauty.
It was a journey of the green eyed lad from zayn's little heart to his little room to now a big art gallery where all eyes would be on him.

It was his first time and the amount of bodies cramming the entrance to the gallery made him trepidatious. Chuckling to himself, he walked through the halls looking up at the paintings hung up on the wall. They were all fierce in a way, enticing even yet serene to the eyes of the beholder.
His face wasn't the thing he focused on, perhaps, driven by possessiveness, the oils were smugded all over the face or just hidden with thick, dark brown masterly knife strokes. Zayn himself was never a fan of dark abstract work like this until now. His eyes, however, were his obsession and were painted like how they deserved to be portrayed. Dark, bold green with a mixture of pale brown for the iris and slightly darker for the pupil. They spoke of a beautiful, mysterious soul, like the artist himself had been trying to unravel this enigma.

He glanced at his wristwatch, a Rolex, the one his dad bought him as a good luck charm for a new beginning; adulthood. His mum and siblings were already here, in fact, they were the first ones to arrive.

"All these super rich elites, they're here to buy your portraits?" waliyha leaned in and whispered, quickly standing straight right after, and smiled at the man that just walked by.

"Perhaps." zayn stated as he smiled at his sister. He looked over at his mother who was chatting away to the men in grey suits, who were now the owners of some of his paintings, like she'd known them all her life.

"She's very proud of you."
Zayn hummed, his gaze trained on his mother who couldn't stop smiling.
"So am I."
He looked back at his sister.
"Oh you can be sweet sometimes. Drinks are being served here. You can sneakily grab some and I won't tell mum about it."

Harry hadn't shown up yet and it was bothering him. He wanted to see the look on his face when he saw those portraits. Sipping on his drink, he kept scanning the entrance for a familiar, enthralling face and a charismatic personality. But a pair of blue, intimidating eyes and the stupid smirk was not what he'd expected. He almost choked on his drink, but he regained his composure. He was rooted to the ground, frozen and he wanted Harry to magically appear next to him and save him from having to deal with Louis.

Louis took small, steady steps, his eyes trained on Zayn. It wasn't really surprising for him to see Zayn standing in a fancy art gallery and selling all those portraits. He knew Zayn was talented. He'd always wanted to tell him that. Perhaps destiny was now taking its course.

"They're wonderful." He kept a firm eye contact with Zayn, a soft smile playing on his lips. Zayn was confused as to what exactly he was talking about. Was it the eyes or the art, or maybe both or maybe the art or maybe not. It wasn't the first time he had this effect on him, just surprising how he still managed to do it.

"Thanks." He simply nodded, licked his lips and bit his bottom lip, something he usually did when he was stressed or too focused on something. He chuckled lightly and looked over at the entrance again, silently praying Harry walks in, and he does.

Despite the rising tension he couldn't fail to notice how clumsily Harry made his way through the crowd, bumping into them and meekly apologising after. He smiled when their eyes locked.

"I'm so sorry...." He looked at Louis for a second and stepped closer to Zayn.

"This is Louis. My....we went to the same high school."

Harry nodded and shook his hand. "I'm Harry." He let his other hand rest on Zayn's back, rubbing his thumb on the material and no further introduction was needed.

Louis forced a smile and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I'll just take a look around."

It was, however, a fantastic night and Zayn just hummed along to whatever Harry was singing as they walked down the boulevard, hand in hand and barely sober.

If only Zayn knew about the unexpected turn of events, he wouldn't have waited oh so patiently with collywobles for Harry at the gallery.

..................
Haven't updated in forever lmao.

Thanks to those who constantly keep asking for updates with the same enthusiasm each time lol. It really means a lot to me! ❤️

Also, I thought of mentioning a bit about his dad. No offence but I've read how he's portrayed as the bad guy  in many fanfictions and I wanted to show him as the loving and supportive father but then I didn't do it in the previous chapters and it would be really weird if I did now. XD

Honest opinions on this chapter?

Happy reading!
Love,
-Z