36: He Knows.

Chapter 36:

Zayn POV:

*3 days later

"Fuck! What was the line again?" Harry asked, removing his headphones to hear the answer.

I rolled my eyes and continued fiddling around with my phone. Niall was passed out on the sofa, Louis was sat down next to Zel and another producer on the table that had all the controls on it and Liam was talking on the phone outside.

"Don't promise that you're gonna write, don't promise that you'll call, just promise that you won't forget we had it all," Zel replied while rubbing her forehead.

I wouldn't blame her if she wanted to strangle the life out of him. We had been trying to record those three stanzas for almost an hour now and I was getting hungry.

"Right," Harry replied and put back on the headphones and tried the stanzas once again and finally remembered them.

The producer that was in the studio with us wanted another recording of the stanzas. After four more tries, Harry got out of the recording booth and laid down on Niall.

"What the fuck, mate?" Niall grumbled and tried getting him off of him.

"Language, young man!" he scolded him and I chuckled, smirking at the two in front of me.

Liam entered the studio and sat down on one of the chairs present in the room, frowning to himself while Zel, Louis and the producer chatted about something. I heard my name being mentioned once, which quickly caught my attention. Louis was rolling his eyes and smiling, Zel shook her head while the producer looked at the two, confused. He raised his eyebrows and closed his eyes for a moment, turned around the chair and looked at me.

"Zayn you're up next," he said while Lou and Zel turned around to look at him in shock.

I raised my eyebrows and with a sigh, got off the couch. I rubbed my eyes and tried to shake myself awake but the tiredness didn't go away. I yawned and closed the door behind me, walking towards the mic stand.

"Which line?" I asked, turning to look at the window waiting for a reply.

"Um, your last solo," the producer replied, adjusting the buttons on the control panel. He gave me the thumbs up and I put the headphones on.

The music started playing and I waited for my line to start.

"So please don't make this any harder, we can't take this any further! And I know there's nothing that I wanna change, change."

The lyrics left my mouth naturally and the harmony sounded almost perfect. I scrunched my nose and looked at the others.

Mike, the producer, was arranging the buttons and re-listening the audio, Louis was smiling like an idiot and Zel wasn't even there anymore. I furrowed my eyebrows and looked around the room behind the window. Harry and Niall weren't there either and instead of Niall sprawled out on the couch was Liam sat down on the couch yawning and giving me a thumbs up when he noticed me looking.

"Where are Haz, Niall and Zel?" I asked curiously.

Louis shrugged and I bit the inside of my cheek, feeling as though I was missing something.

"From the top and try and do the chorus, Zayn," Mike instructed and without a second thought, I turned back around and waited for the music to start playing through the headphones.

The song hit home hard and I wanted to reverse time back to five years to try and arrange things back with Hazel. Maybe there would have been a possibility of a chance of 'us' if I had pushed and tried more. She tried to keep contact and I did too but after some time it got hard and I stopped contacting her, relying on Niall to call Jesy and then I talk to Hazel but that never happened. Jesy and Niall were over a week later and I didn't bother picking up the phone and calling her.

And I still regret that decision to this day, hour, minute, second.

**

Hazel POV:

I slammed the bathroom door shut behind me and heaved in deep breaths of air, trying to calm myself down. Louis knew how I'd react if Zayn would practise singing that verse! He bloody knew well what would happen and yet he took the risk.

Over the past three days, the rest of the guys had somehow realized and remembered me. Niall had obviously told them and the bear hug that I got tackled with from Harry sent me flying to the floor. They had managed to keep their mouths shut and didn't tell Zayn. I had no idea how they managed to keep it from Zayn but I was thankful for them. They knew it wasn't something for them to tell but for me to tell him.

I choked on my own tears and heaved in a deep breath making a weird sound, making tears spill out of my eyes. I let out a frustrated breath and buried my head in my hand, letting more tears fall. I had been crying every night for the past three nights with no one to hug since Mark was in New York recording songs with other famous singers that couldn't make it to England.

I wiped away at my eyes furiously and took in several breaths to try and stop crying but ended up shaking my head furiously and crying even more. I was sobbing like a little child and whenever I tried to stop myself from continuing to cry, all I did was hiccup and find it hard to breath.

I heard a knock on the bathroom door and the handle being pushed downwards but it didn't open since it was locked.

"Hazel? Hazel we know you're in there. Please open the door!" I heard Harry say and I clamped a hand over my mouth to block out any crying noises that were probably coming out of my mouth.

"Hazel, please! He didn't even realize anything!" Niall said, trying to comfort me.

But it only made me cry harder. He didn't even bloody realize that it was me! I knew that the lyrics were about the 'relationship' we had five years ago but yet he didn't realize it was me! Funny how the brain works. I slid down the wall and buried my face between my chest and knees, crying even more.

"You idiot!" Harry said and heard his hand make contact with Niall's head. "Hazel, he didn't mean it in that way did you Niall?" he asked sternly.

"No no no, I was meant to say that ... he didn't ... I-"

"I know what you meant Niall but what you said is still the truth!" I replied sniffling, cutting him off. "But if he really did love me all those years ago, he would have at least put some pieces together just like you guys did."

"Niall was the only one that realized it was you, then he told us but I did make the resemblance," Harry admitted and I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

"Hey! You swore you wouldn't tell her I was the one that told you!" Niall said, knowing he was frowning.

"Like she didn't know you don't know how to keep your mouth shut!" Harry deadpanned and I let out a tiny smile, realising how much I missed their daily banter.

"You still didn't have to make it obvious man!" Niall replied grumpily.

I hiccuped and felt my stomach churning. My eyes widened and I scrambled on my knees to open the toilet seat and vomit my stomach out. Literally. I coughed and vomited one more time before heaving in deep breaths, trying to catch my breath. I didn't realize the rapid knocks and my name being called out from behind the door until I flushed the toilet and wiped my mouth.

I shivered and reached for the door lock, turning it round and sitting back down on the floor. The door barged open and I looked up to meet Harry's and Niall's worried eyes.

"Hello there, how you doing?" I asked smiling weakly.

"Are you sick?" Niall asked, his eyes wide.

"No, no," I replied way too quickly. "Uh, I usually either vomit or feel tired whenever I cry a lot."

"You sure you're okay?" Harry asked, not convinced.

"Yep," I replied, trying to stand up.

After being pulled upwards by Niall, we headed back towards the studio. Harry opened the door, entering the room, Niall following after him. I followed after them and closed the door. I turned around and my eyes went wide when I saw the face expressions in front of me.

Zayn had his jaw set in anger, leaning against the table in the room, looking at me in an expression I couldn't quite place but it was either anger, sadness or betrayal. Louis and Liam were avoiding my gaze and Mike stayed quiet. Then there was Mark, looking totally confused but his face brightened when he saw me enter the room.

"Hey babe!" Mark greeted me with a smile, giving me a kiss on the lips. "Where were you?"

"Um bathroom," I replied and he nodded, turning to look at Harry and Niall.

"Where were you two?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows, curiously.

"Uh, well, we went to get a coffee," Niall replied, lying.

"Where is the coffee?" Mark questioned him, narrowing his eyes.

"Um, we ... we ... didn't know how to work the coffee machine!" Niall stuttered, licking his lips in anxiousness.

Mark raised an eyebrow at him but finally nodded. I avoided Zayn's gaze, knowing something was up. While Mark chatted to Mike about something, I exchanged a look with Louis and in one look I knew what happened.

Well that escalated quickly.

"Hazel, can I talk to you outside?" Mark asked, turning around to look at me.

My eyes widened in shock. "Um, yeah."

Without another look at anyone else in the room, I spun around and left the room waiting for Mark to come out and talk.

*

Zayn POV:

"You guys bloody knew, didn't you?" I asked through gritted teeth the seconds Hazel and Mark closed the door. "The four of you. You fucking knew."

"Zayn-" Louis started but I cut him off.

"Don't bullshit me Louis!" I replied, my voice rising. "You knew! All of you knew and you didn't even tell me!"

"We couldn't," Niall replied, looking at me sadly.

"Why not?" I asked them in disbelief. "Did she tell you not to? Because she's with that douche? I don't care if she's with someone! All I wanted was her back in my life and all of you fucking knew that! At least I would have had her as a bloody friend."

"We knew you wanted you her more than a friend, she knew that, the whole bloody world knows that!" Harry replied, his voice rising as well. "It wasn't our thing to tell, it was hers so we bloody kept our mouths shut like a good friend would do! If you can't accept that then fuck you because you don't respect her choices!"

I kept my mouth shut knowing he was right. Except the last part.

Before I could reply or someone else opened their mouth, the door opened and Mark entered, closing the door shut behind him.

"Where's Hazel?" Harry asked him curiously.

"Why do you care, may I ask?" Mark replied, narrowing his eyes.

"Isn't she the one that's supposed to help us with our album?" Harry asked boldly.

Mark arched an eyebrow. "She went to go get food then she'll be back. I'll be working with you for now."

I had to talk to her, I had to get this over and done with. The problem was that I couldn't get out of this studio because then Mark would question it and I don't think he knows about what happened five years ago. Niall entered the recording booth and sang his lines a few times before Mark decided that after the tenth time Niall sang the lines, the harmony was perfect and in line with the music. Then Liam went in, then Louis.

Since mine and Harry's were already done and recorded, all that was left to record was the chorus part and the backing vocal that I did. I bit my lip, tapping my foot waiting for the door to open and for Hazel to enter the studio but the door never opened.

"What time is it?" I asked, not directing my question towards anyone.

"5.30pm," Niall replied and my head shot up, my eyebrows furrowing in worry.

"It's already been two hours since she left, aren't you getting worried?" I asked, now directing my question towards Mark.

His head snapped in my direction and furrowed his eyebrows, confused. "It's already been two hours?"

"Yeah," I replied trying to stay calm.

Right at that moment, his phone rang.

"She's calling," he announced. He tapped the green button, answering the call. "Hey babe, where are you?"

We all heard the conversation since the volume was loud. My jaw tightened and my heart literally dropped out of my rib cage.

"Sir, this is Officer Martins. This cellphone was found on Ms. Hazel Anderson that has been in a recent hit and run. She is being directed towards hospital and is said to be unconscious. From her contact list you are said to be her boyfriend, so it was our duty to call and tell you. She's being taken to the St Mary's Hospital, a few minutes away."

He stood shocked, not being able to respond. Liam wretched the phone out of his hand and put it to his ear.

"Thank you for telling us, we'll be there in five minutes," he replied and ended the call, not bothering to wait for the officer to reply. "Let's go."

"Where do you think you're going?" Mark snapped, turning to look at Liam. "She's my girlfriend, you don't even know her!"

"Shut the fuck up mate," Louis replied, already heading towards the door. "There are a lot of things that you don't know."

And with that, he headed out the door and I heard him jog down the corridor. I smiled and walked out of the room, the rest of the boys following Louis and I, leaving a shocked Mark in the studio before hearing him run after us.

Throughout all of this, Mark didn't even open his mouth.