The first thing that roused Zayn from the deep slumbers was Nathan’s gloomy presence, lurking around his room. He opened his eyes to meet his step-brother sitting on the couch on one end of the room, scrolling through his phone in silence.
Zayn groaned into his pillow, wishing he could go back to sleep, and then wake up in a moment to find his brother gone. He really didn’t want to have to start his day this way, but like his father would say, it was important to tolerate everyone until they did something over the top enough to push them away.
And Zayn knew that day was coming. He could feel it on his fingertips, dark yet unavoidable. Nathan had tried all sorts in the past, but they had all hinted at efforts to sabotage Zayn’s business.
However, as a business tycoon who had been in the field for a long time, Zayn was always one step ahead. Most times, he predicted the shitty moves his brother made before they actually happened, and that made him able to nip them in the bud.
But he had a growing feeling that the next bout that would hit, he just might be unable to do a thing about it. It was enough motivation to finally kick his step-brother out of his life, but the Graham family prided themselves in unity, and even if Nathan wasn’t exactly preaching that, Zayn was going to wait it out.
“Ah!” his brother said when he noticed Zayn’s eyes were open. “You’re finally awake. At some point, I was beginning to wonder how your business got so successful when you’re still in bed by this time.”
“Nathan, what do you want?” Zayn sighed, getting out of bed. He crossed the huge room in his flip-flops, heading to his state-of-the-art bathroom. He turned on his electric toothbrush, put some toothpaste on it, and got to work, hoping it was enough to get Nathan out.
But whatever his brother was here to do, it must be pretty important to him because he got up from the couch and joined Zayn in the bathroom, leaning against the door frame.
“So?”
“So what?” Zayn’s voice sounded muffled as he spoke and brushed at the same time.
“You just woke up!” Nathan repeated like it was a very important part of a discussion. “How do you do it?”
Zayn sighed exasperatedly and paused his brushing. “It is a Saturday morning, Nathan, barely even 11 am. One of the most important things as an employer of labor is knowing not to overburden them. So, we’re enjoying the weekend. Got it? And you should be doing that too, rather than staying here in my room, waiting for me to get up. That’s creepy.”
“Not creepy for you big brother.”
Zayn would have mentioned that it was just one ordinary year that he had nothing to show for, but he shoved the brush into his mouth instead to keep himself from talking. He couldn’t wait for his brother to divulge the real reason he was here and finally get out of his hair. He had a conference to attend today where he was on a panel session, and the faster Nathan got around to why he was there, the better it would be for him.
“You went out last night,” he muttered after a minute of silence. Zayn had heard the wheels of his head turning, looking for the right way to say whatever he had in mind.
Silence.
“I came around but your doorman mentioned you were not in, and that’s really strange. It was already 9 pm and from your schedule, you had nothing to do by that time.”
Zayn chuckled to himself. He knew his brother had attempted to steal his schedule from his desk more times than he could count, so he prepared a fake one and left it out there for Nathan. He found it really stupid that Nathan had jumped at it, not bothering to think even for a minute that it was impossible for Zayn to be that careless, leaving his schedules hanging around.
“How did you come in contact with my schedule?” Zayn decided to play along so Nathan wouldn’t suspect that he’d been played. “I thought …”
“You don’t need to bother yourself with that, baby brother.” Nathan sounded smug. “I just need to know where you were last night.”
“Why?” Zayn rinsed his mouth and cleaned the brush, returning it to its place and walking past his brother back into his room. Usually, he would have proceeded to have a bath from there, but Zayn really needed Nathan to be gone. His presence was overbearing and he didn’t want it that morning.
“I have a feeling that you’re up to something,” he mused, folding his arms across his chest like he had all the power in the room to wield, whereas, in the truth of things, he was just grappling at nothing. Or at least, that was what Zayn thought.
“When am I never up to something, Nathan?”
“There’s that too,” his brother muttered, peering at him. “But this looks more intense, and you’re purposely leaving no trail behind.”
“Then leave it! Isn’t that enough proof that it is none of your business?”
“I know,” Nathan shrugged “But I’ve been thinking about what Daddy said about you getting a wife soon. I am yet to see you have a girlfriend so how do you plan on doing that? I’m right on the spot, yeah?”
Zayn laughed, a brutal and menacing sound escaping his throat. He took a dangerous step closer to Nathan, and despite the air of superiority his brother had cloaked himself with, that slipped away immediately, in the face of a more imposing authority.
“Do you really think marriage is a problem for me?” he asked in a low tone, making his brother close his eyes in fright. “Nathan, every woman under the earth would be ecstatic about getting married to me. So, while don’t you bother yourself with trying to set up your life, and leave me the fuck alone?”
Nathan took a step backward, and Zayn shook his head. “Coward, This is the last time I’m having this conversation. Stay the fuck away from me.”