He did end up taking care of me, for a few hours. Anything I needed, he'd bring to me, anything I wanted, he'd get immediately. He seemed preoccupied with the other things on his mind too, though, as he'd disappear out of the blue to answer the phone or make a call. I knew it was because he had to cancel his trip because of me.

We spent the day being lazy for the most part, even if he did take some time for work and his phone calls. I was too hungover and in pain to be curious. I felt like someone had dragged me right out of hell.

I was currently laying on the couch, watching a melodramatic lifetime movie that had just the right amount of cheesiness. It seemed like the main character was too consumed by her relationship to notice how she was changing in a negative way... How ironic.

"Anastasia!" Zayn called from his office, "I need you in here."

I rolled my eyes. "For what?" I hollered back.

"Can't work if you're not in my sight."

"We could facetime..." I suggested, hearing him groan in disapproval, "I'm really sore and hung over. Getting up requires too much effort."

"You can sit on my lap in here and watch a movie on the laptop instead..." Z says in a sing-song voice.

I give in, but take my sweet time getting off the couch. Every part of me burns and the most insignificant movement causes my entire body to ache. I didn't take any time after my bath to examine the damages, but if I looked like I felt, it wouldn't be too pleasant to look at.

I shuffle to the office where I see Zayn has cleaned up the desk a bit. His computer is just there, waiting for me, and so is he.

The office is really tidy. Zayn hates mess. All his books are arranged according to author - his favorite ones are on his desk, at his disposal. His office is sort of like his man cave, I suppose. There is a TV in here, a cabinet with alcohol, his XBox... It feels strange that he works in here since it looks a lot like a playroom.

"Thank you," he whispers as I near him, eventually pulling me on his lap. "We have an errand later."

"Where are we going?"

I wrap my arms around him, but he dodges the question. "Wish I could bend you over this desk right now. What will it take to convince you?"

Rolling my eyes, I shake my head in amusement. "Stop it, pervert. Tell me where we're going."

"It's just something I have to handle and I can't leave you here. It's something about work. You're not actually going to see what i'm doing, you'll stay with Harry." His voice changes when he mentions Harry and I try to not say anything about this.

"Why can't I stay with you?"

He chuckles. "Not good for you."

I stand off his lap and look around, ignoring his last statement. I really hated being treated like a kid by him sometimes. It seemed like he thought I was completely oblivious to what he said on the phone, but I heard a lot of these conversations.

Zayn is a lot more productive once we have our chat about the plans. He writes emails back and forth, takes phone calls, and even has me answer one of the calls while he's outside on another conference call. He's busy. And this leaves a sour taste in my mouth. It feels as if something big is approaching and that's why everyone needs to reach him, they need to know what to do. Zayn says that for every operation carried out there is the alternate plan B to Z, because nothing, absolutely nothing can go wrong. Still, I fear something eventually will go wrong.

He picks my clothes again. I think he enjoys this more than I think he does. He has a really weird obsession with control, which I don't really mind.

I don't have any time to put on makeup or at least do my hair, because we're out the door right after I finish putting my shoes on. Zayn looks really serious or at least he appears to be deep in thought, probably about whether taking me along is the best choice. I don't blame him.

"You're going to behave, Anastasia." He says on the elevator.

I nod. "I am. I promise."

Zayn smiles down at me and gives my hand a squeeze. "We're only gonna be there for two hours, maybe less. I just need to do a quick run through, make sure nothing is missing, and give Harry a copy of our key."

"Why does he need a copy?"

"He's going to be at the house a lot... I probably should have had a talk with you about this, fuck. You know how I expect you to behave, so it shouldn't be too bad. We'll be around him a lot."

I don't know how I feel about someone having 24/7 access to Zayn's place. It makes me nervous and really suspicious. Zayn must really trust him if he's letting him just come and go as he pleases, with a key. I'll have to remember to tell Z to change the security codes.

-------

We pull up to this big, gray building, it looks like a prison with the barbed wire and watch towers. I suppose it could be, but I'm too fascinated by it to even ask Zayn about it. Instead, I just get out of the car and take it in. The building looms over the courtyard menacingly, and in the distance, I can see figures with big dogs. The watchtower doesn't look abandoned, but it's hard to tell. Something about this place makes me want to run, but I'm stuck.

Zayn takes my hand and guides me along. He puts in a really long code at the front, metal gate, greeted by machine-like noise when he's unlocked it. It's eerie. It looks like the place from the Saw movies. Z doesn't seem to notice that I'm walking really slowly, but that's only because now I can see everything better. There is signs on the actual building- general warnings about an electric fence that can be triggered by any little movement, signs about guard dogs, signs about the guards themselves holding the guns in the watchtower.

As we approach the entrance, I notice how thick the windows look on the outside. They look like really thick glass and I don't understand how this works at first.

Bulletproof glass.

When we enter the building, I feel slightly comforted. Outside is a whole other story. The lights are really bright in here and everything is spotless white - the floor, the walls, the doors. There's only one room in the lobby, per se, but there are one too many hallways. It looks like a jail outside but inside it just looks like a puzzle. There's nothing hanging on any walls, there's no instructions on how to get to the staircase or elevator that will lead you upstairs, there's really nothing to help you at all here. So I guess everyone who is here knows what to do and their way around.

But I feel terrified all of a sudden to be here alone with a stranger, without Zayn while he's busy.

Zayn puts his hands on my shoulders, "I'm only going to be a little while. I'm going to leave you at the office right here, and I'll leave my phone with you while I'm gone. If you need me, for whatever reason... any reason at all, even if you just miss me, dial 3."

He leads me to the door, of the office I assume. It's just a plain room with a computer, a couch, some chairs. There's a coffee maker on the little table, a little TV hung on the wall that plays a foreign movie. And on one of the chairs is an intimidating looking man, who just sits there scowling at the television.