“Is that all?” Louis asked with his greedy hands spread out before me. “I thought you made more from Liam. He never skips out on his payments.”

I gulped. Liam didn’t pay me as much as he had before. It probably had something to do with me crying for him to stop. I was still hurting from the other day. I worried about Zayn being displeased by it. I knew Louis wouldn’t take that as an excuse. “T-thats all I have for you.” I gave him this begging sort of look. 

“Don’t lie to me, Niall.” Louis pulled his grubby hands back and crossed his arms over his chest. I knew he wouldn’t stop until he had more money from me. The only problem was that I needed the extra money to pay Harry for the month when I would be gone. “Come on, Niall.” Louis grinned, showing a bit of his playful side. 

I reluctantly gave in and reached for my money in my pocket. I counted out an extra three hundred and handed it over. I was left with only five hundred and I till had to pay Harry. 

“Good. I’m leaving, but the car will be back in an hour to come pick you up. This Malik guy wants you dropped off at his place. I still have to meet up with him and discuss the money portion of this deal. Thirty thousand, Niall.” Louis said exasperatingly. “God work.” He tapped my chest with the stack of bills I had given him and smirked. 

“Uhm, when do I get paid?” I asked Louis cautiously. 

“All in good time.” Louis smirked, turning towards the door of my apartment. “The car will be here in an hour. Pack up.” With that, Louis left me behind, basically penniless, and worried about my upcoming, month long session with Zayn Malik. 

I had mostly packed up the night before in a frenzy. I wasn’t exactly expecting to leave a week before the time I was given. So, at the moment, the only thing I had left was to pay Harry. And I was freaking out because how the hell was I going to afford it? I guessed that I would just have to wing it. 

So after I left my apartment with my bags, I walked over to Harry’s place on the main floor of the apartment complex. I wondered why he and Ruth lived in the place when Ruth’s brother was Liam. He could literally afford to buy them a mansion. I still shuddered at the thought of the two of them being related. It was too weird. 

When I walked up to their door, I nervously rose my hand and rapped my knuckles on the door a few times. I wondered if they were even inside at the moment. But after waiting only a second, I heard the footsteps on the other side of the door and then I saw Harry’s face. He answered the door with a confused look on his face “Hey, Niall? What are you doing up so early? I usually don’t see you wandering around until after noon.”

“Oh yeah. I, uh, I just had some things I needed to get done before I leave.” I spoke nervously. Harry was a great guy and I always paid him everything I owed, but I was concerned that he would be like all the other people in my life. They would be nice on the outside and gain my trust and they rip it all away in one fell swop. Everyone was out to get me and I think I have that mentality from my parents. 

“Oh?” Harry leaned against his doorway. “Where are you headed?” He looked at my two duffle bags and pursed his lips. “Vacation?”

I almost laughed. “No. Uhm, I have a month long job coming up and I stopped by to give you some money. Though I don’t have enough to pay you for the whole month. But I do have most of it.” I shakily handed Harry the remainder of my money and watched as he counted it. “I swear I’ll pay you the rest of it when I get back. I just really don’t have it now and I was screwed over and-“

“Woah, woah, woah. Calm down, Niall. It’s okay. I know you’ll pay me back.” Harry pocketed the money and his expression softened. “You just stay safe out there, okay kid?”

I nodded happily. I was relieved that Harry was one of the good guys. “Don’t worry about me.” I adjusted my bags on my shoulders just as a car horn beeped in my general direction. It had to be the car here to pick me up.

“I always do, kid. I always do.” Harry sympathetically said. he offered his hand to me and we shook. “See you around.” Harry finally said and I nodded. 

“Bye Harry. Say goodbye to Ruth for me and you tell that baby in here to stay in there until I get back.” I smiled. 

Harry chuckled. “I can’t promise you that! She’s ready to pop!” He threw his head back in laughter and I started to walk away towards the parking lot where the car and Al were waiting. 

The car was the normal car we used all the time when I would be driven out to Liam. For a second I worried that I was actually going to Liam’s instead of Zayn’s. But when Al rolled down the window, cutting him off from me in the backseat, he asked if we were heading to Mr. Malik’s. I replied with a happy “yes.”

We started to drive off and before I knew it we were heading out of the city. I gasped when I saw the buildings and houses got farther and farther away from each other. We were heading towards the mountains on the other side of the city. If we kept going past them we  would eventually get on the road that led back to my old home where my parents were. 

On the mountains there were several large mansions that easily outsized the entirety of the apartment complex I lived in. I would always see them from the city as specks on the side of the mountain, but the closer we got, the bigger they started to look. Some were normal looking, just very large, but others were modern and box shaped. It was weird to see such a contrast from the house and the mountain side. I wondered if one of those houses was Zayn’s.

We kept driving up the mountain and the roads winded back and forth. I gaped at how beautiful the landscape was. On one side there were sheer cliffs and then on the other side was the city down in the valley. It made for one great combination. “How much longer, Al?” I asked. 

“Not too long. We’re going to the gray house just up that way.” I looked out the window and tried to look for the house that Al was talking about. I found it and I was more shocked to see that it was one of those modern ones. I kind of saw Zayn as having a normal looking house, not some Christian Gray nonsense. 

We pulled up to the gate that kept us from the house. The driveway was rather long, making the house even more intimidating. We waited at the gat until a loud buzzer sounded and the intercom system booted up. “Name?” The man’s voice called out. It wasn’t Zayn’s voice, so he definitely had some sort of butler. This was too surreal. 

“Niall Horan for Mr. Malik.” Al spoke in reply. There was another loud buzz and the gate opened. Soon, our car rolled up the driveway and we found ourselves in front of the house. There was an equally large garage hidden away with a black Corvette sitting out. The front of the house was flat faced with the only inlet being the front doors which were made entirely of glass. I quickly got out of the car and carried my bags with me to the front door. I couldn’t stop gaping at it all. It was amazing and I couldn’t believe that someone actually lived inside. Oh, and that that person was Zayn Malik. I guess the hose fit the man. Magnificent. 

The glass of the doors let me look into the house. I was shocked to see it was actually bigger on the inside. I wasn’t going to lie, I was a little excited about this.  After a minute or so of waiting and waving Al goodbye, an older man walked up to the door and opened it for me. He was in nice clothes and looked like he knew what he was doing. 

“Good morning, Mr. Horan.” He spoke. His voice was the one on the intercom down by the gate. “I was asked to give you a tour of the house and show you to your room.” He opened the door a little wider and let me inside. I looked around and saw that the furniture matched the color scheme of the house. There were lots of grays and blacks. So surfaces were white and there was a large amount of windows in the house. 

“Call me Niall.” I told the man.

“Why yes. And you may call me Charles.” He led me around the house and showed me a large living room, an even bigger kitchen and some of the bathrooms. So this is how rich people live. I thought to myself. We made our way to a staircase that was next to a wall of windows facing the city. 

“So, Charles.” I started up. 

“Yes?”

“Are you like a butler or something?” 

He started to laugh and turned towards me when we got to the top of the stairs. “Butler is a very old term. I am Zayn’s assistant. I plan his meals, his car trips, the events in his life, and I manage this house. There are three others like me, Annie, who is Zayn’s personal stylist. Basil who is the chef, and then there is John who manages the landscaping and pool.” Charles went on and on about the different jobs and things that happen around the house. I blacked out about half way through because I was too shocked at what money could buy. Hell, he bought me for an entire month. 

“This will be your room for the remainder of your stay.” Charles opened the door and I went inside. “Please make yourself comfortable and do not hesitate to use the intercom system to contact me or anyone else in the house.” He pointed towards the wall were this speaker and screen was set up. 

“O-Okay.” I said, my mind spinning with all of the luxury around me. “Thanks.”

“Lunch will be in two hours.” I nodded and Charles started to leave the room, but I stopped him before he got out the door. 

“Charles?”

“Yes?”

“Uhm, where is Mr. Malik?”

“He will be home before dinner. Also, please call him by his first name. He insists on it.”

A/N: I'M BACK!

Sorry about not updating last week. I was sick and tired and just wanted to relax. But I got this for you! It's sort of a filler chapter, but I really like it. Zayn will be in the next chapter! Wooooo! Update next Thursday!

Much Love 

Jachxx