3 [BLUE]: He Winked.

Taking another drag from his cigarette and another and another, trying to finish it as fast as he could; Zayn Malik was feeling awkward at the stranger standing in front of him; who finished his cigarette, but still stood there, watching Zayn.

"So are you bored here?" The man suddenly asked, making Zayn jump and gasp at the unexpected voice, and he started coughing terribly.

Zayn sensed a hand on his back, tapping gently.

He felt his face getting hot from embarrassment but seriously the man had been silent for minutes now, he didn't think he'd actually speak to him.

Zayn's cough died down, and he tossed the filter of the finished cigarette on the ground and quickly stepped on it.

"So are you?" The stranger asked again, but no sign of lack of patience was heard in his deep voice.

"What?" Zayn asked, sounding more high-pitched that he wanted.

"Bored?" The tall dark-haired asked again.

Zayn looked at the man's face, after his eyes got used to the dark more, he could see some details of his face; pretty handsome face, with a strong jaw, slightly tanned, making his eyes pop out pleasantly.

In his professional opinion, he thought this man was a ladies' man.

"Yeah quite a bit actually. We've been waiting for Mr. Styles for a while, and he hasn't showed yet."

"I was waiting for him too."

We all are that's why we're here duh. Zayn thought.

"Harry Styles." The man introduced himself to Zayn, offering his hand to shake, which Zayn accepted.

"Zayn Malik. Are you Mr. Styles' son?" Zayn asked, wondering why the son was earlier to arrive than the father.

"That's true, and I guess you're Yaser Malik's son, the assistant?"

"Yeah correct." Zayn beamed at the mention of his father.

Not even more than a second of silence, Harry spoke again.

"Tell me Zayn, are you here alone?"

"No, I came with my father obviously." Zayn thought that was an unnecessary question.

"Alone with him?" He pressed on his words again.

Oh I got it now.

Just ask if I have a partner, I know you're probably bored as hell, same as me and want someone to chat with.

Why not?

"Yeah." Zayn confirmed shortly, but with a small smile.

"Lovely." Now noticeable, the green-eyed man smiled. "Do you wanna head inside?" Harry asked politely.

"How about we just stand by the pool? I still don't wanna get inside and have to talk with people."

Harry snickered, while walking along with Zayn,"Someone's annoying you?"

"Not really, but there is this girl, she clearly wants my attention, I'm not in the mood to talk to her."

"Why not giving it to her? I mean your attention." Harry wondered, and smirked at his choice of words, that went unnoticed by the younger Malik.

"I'm not interested." Zayn stated, looking away from Harry's eyes.

"In women?"

"Yeah."

Harry's smile widened. A pretty guy, wondering alone, without a partner, in his home? Just his luck.

"Me neither." Harry finally stated.

Zayn's eyes showed his surprise, he isn't a ladies' man after all.

"I love what you did with the pool," Zayn gestured towards the flower petals resting on the surface of the water.

"Oh really? You're the first to comment positively on them tonight." Harry chuckled.

"They're probably just sad for the flowers, I guess." Zayn tried to offer some comfort.

"I got a permission from the governor to do that, no worries." Harry explained.

He was happy inside that Zayn didn't look at using the flowers like it's a disgusting act. A supporter, then. Harry thought.

"So," Zayn faked a cough, ready to change the subject, "Do you have any idea about who's gonna be the new CEO after your father?"

"Of course I do, I'm his only son after all." Harry shrugged a shoulder.

"Who is it?" Zayn asked eagerly. Harry let a laugh at Zayn's cute curious face.

"You'll find out in like ten minutes. Why so eager to know?" He smirked.

"Well, my dad just told me there are a few candidate names for the position. But he said that one of them doesn't deserve to win."

"Oh really? Didn't he tell you the name so maybe I could tell my father? At the end, your dad's opinion means so much."

Harry uttered, and Zayn was quite oblivious to the sarcasm in Harry's tone.

"No, sorry, he didn't." Zayn shook his head.

"I think I know who your father was refering too." Harry grinned again, moving a hand through his hair.

But before Zayn could ask who, a waiter came and informed everyone that Mr. Styles was waiting now for everyone in the ballroom.

"Let's go now, curious head." Harry mumbled, putting a hand on the small back of Zayn's.

Zayn felt a bit weird at the gesture, he was not exactly comfortable but he wasn't uncomfortable either. The only thing that was in his head right now that Harry Styles was extremely handsome, it should be illegal to be this sexy!

So he swallowed and remained silent.

When they got inside, Harry whispered softly in that deep voice of his, "I'll see you again, Zayn."

It wasn't a question but Zayn let a "Sure." anyway.

Zayn sat back on his seat beside his father, who was looking attentively at the small stage where Mr. Styles was standing.

Everyone was actually.

He looked down at Juliana, she had quite buffy eyes. Oh as expected.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for accepting my invitation. Seeing you all here warms my heart as I have a special story with every single one of you. Each one helped Styles Enterprises became the biggest advertisement company in Ethereal City."

Everyone clapped.

"I know you all want to know who's gonna be the new CEO, so I won't take long, but before, let me thank one of the best men I have ever met, the one who helped me from the start to build this empire; Yaser Malik."

Everyone clapped again, and Zayn was the one clapping the hardest throwing a loud "Oi Oii!"

"So again thank you my friend, Yaser." Mr. Styles spoke again making Yaser smile the biggest smile he could possibly give.

"But after thinking for a long time, the man I'm going to give my company to is.."

The room was silent. Everyone was holding their breaths.

"My son, Harry Styles."

The whole room was quiet for another second, no one expecting that bold move, but eventually they all clapped again.

Zayn was a bit surprised, he was just talking to the new CEO, why didn't he mention it?, if Zayn was gonna take after his father, he would have loved to show off at every chance.

Zayn clapped softly, and looked at his dad. Yaser was pale, so pale that Zayn got terrified he might be sick.

"Dad, dad are you okay?" He asked loudly above the noise of the claps.

"This.. this is the name I said I didn't wish to hear tonight." Yaser uttered and got paller if that was even possible.

Zayn's eyes got wide open, as he darted his gaze from his father to the new CEO, Mr. Harry Styles, while still clapping unconsciously.

Harry's eyes were looking Zayn's direction.

And he didn't just smile at Zayn, he winked.

~

General rules of Ethereal City:

◇ ᴛᴏ ᴜꜱᴇ ꜰʟᴏᴡᴇʀꜱ ɪɴ ᴀɴʏ ᴡᴀʏ ᴏꜰ ᴅᴇᴄᴏʀᴀᴛɪᴏɴ, ᴀ ᴡʀɪᴛᴛᴇɴ ᴘᴇʀᴍɪꜱꜱɪᴏɴ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴏᴠᴇʀɴᴏʀ ᴏꜰ ᴇᴛʜᴇʀᴇᴀʟ ᴄɪᴛʏ ɪꜱ ɴᴇᴇᴅᴇᴅ ♡

~
Heyyyy 💛💛

I have nothing important to say and I don't know how I feel about this chapter.

I'm dedicating this chapter to Elijah_weiss

Plz tell me what you think, I'm so excited to what's coming