Chapter 12: The Understanding

"So…. Nandos?" Niall chirped hopefully, a questioning look on his face.

"Sure, I'm up for it if you boys are? Unless of course the lines are too much for you to handle." I laughed, half jokingly. I didn't want to seem too blunt, considering everything they'd done for me, but my curiosity had been What did they do! I'd tried asking before but they all very obviously tried to steer the conversation in another direction so I willingly complied. I even tried to bring up the odd encounter at the airport Nandos but all the boys just pretended not to hear me so I let it go. But now I wanted to know, part of me had the urge to know.

"You're not gonna let it go are you?" asked Zayn, his eyes looking everywhere but at me. I felt a sudden pang of mixed emotions. What were they trying to hide? Was it actually some big secret or was I just making a big deal of nothing?

"Well, it would help if I knew. Knew why you tried so hard to avoid those girls this morning, why you never seem to talk about your jobs or anything else work-related." I spoke softly, almost ashamed of myself for having asked in the first place. Obviously it made the boys feel uncomfortable, I could tell by the way they all started to walk over to the sofa and one by one sit down.

"Lads, Eva does have a right to know." Liam said, breaking the silence.

"And it's not like it's some huge secret, I mean- half of the world already knows…" Niall added, his voice uncertain.

Horror struck every nerve of my body, oh my goodness! What had I dragged myself into! Were these boys past-serial killers? Maybe they'd robbed a bank? How could half of the world know but not me! Maybe their story hadn't been published in Australian newspapers yet. Had I really just fallen asleep in a serial killers home! A thousand questions swirled throughout my mind, I started to get dizzy.

"Here Eva, come sit down." Harry suggested, patting the empty space on the sofa next to him.

My lips were tightly shut as I shook my head. I needed to get out of here! But how! I had to do it inconspicuously too, I didn't want them following me! 'Shit!" I thought as I remembered that they now already had my Aunt Sophie's address. This was bad, very very bad.

"Are you alright Eva?" Harry asked concerned, noticing the fear in my eyes.

"Lads we should really tell her." Liam asserted confidently.

His tone of voice set my mind to ease. It couldn't be all that bad seeing they'd decided to tell me. I walked over to the sofa and sat next to Harry, my eyes travelling to look at each of the boys.

"Alright, I don't quite know how to say this but… We're in a band." Louis informed me, I could hear his voice shaking, unsteady. He looked at me waiting for my reaction.

"That's it?" I asked, my own voice shaking just as much as his.

"What do you mean 'that's it?' what did you think we were gonna say?" said Harry.

My heart stopped beating for a second as I caught my breath, only then had I noticed I stopped breathing.

"Really! That's it? You're in a band?" I repeated, trying to contain my laughter.

"Did I miss something guys?" Zayn asked, his face all scrunched in confusion.

"No, it's just….." I started,

"It's just what?" this time it was Louis turn to laugh.

"I thought you boys were murderers! Or criminals! Something serious like that" I couldn't control myself, I let out a massive laugh and sank into the sofa.

My whole body relaxed, my muscles no longer tensing with anticipation. Now I knew.

"Wait, so what's the big deal? You're in a band. So what? Or is it your habit to write offensive songs about male to female domination, which would explain the mass of girls at the airport this morning." I laughed again, my stomach shaking with amusement.

"Well seeing you took the news so well I'm just gonna be blunt." Harry said trustingly.

"We've had quite a bit of media attention I guess you could say…. You see, we came 3rd in the x-factor last year and since then we kind of just find ourselves constantly surrounded by fans, magazines, interviewers, the press, all that kinda stuff." He finished off. All the boys looked at me, anticipating what I would say next.

"Oh, how come I haven't heard of you then?"

"Also that would explain all of this." I added pointing at the song writing material on the coffee table just a few meters away.

"No idea. We have a few fans in Australia, well from what I've seen on twitter. But this is x-factor UK, so you wouldn't have had massive coverage of us." Harry explained further.

Wow. I couldn't believe my accusations before, thinking they were convicts! When really they were just a famous boy band! All at once it made sense, the reason they got to travel the world, all of the girls waiting for them at Nandos.

"Guys I think she's a bit disappointed that we're not criminals." Louis joked lightning the mood.

"No, I'm not. I'm really, really not! I am actually so relieved, you have no idea how scared I was for a minute there." I responded, sighing happily. They actually had no idea how relieved I was!

"So this is it, the big secret" I smiled at each of them

"Instead of being mass murders the truth is you're just a famous sweet boy-band." I concluded

"Sounds about right, but I wouldn't say 'famous' it just sounds so superior. You've gotten to know us, and if we hadn't told you you'd still think we were just a normal bunch of guys' right?" Niall answered in a cute Irish accent I hadn't noticed before.

"True." I admitted, my cheeks blushing. I really couldn't believe this! Here I was, boring old Eva Johnson, the girl no-one ever even thought about back home, in London, with an extremely good looking boy-band, in their apartments, who also just happened to be perfect gentlemen, about to go to Nandos.

"So just how 'well-known' are you boys?" I asked, my hands making talking mark signs in the air to emphasise. The boys all looked at one another.

"Sounds like something we should talk about over food." Liam suggested, looking at the others. They all nodded, smirking. And with that we grabbed some jackets, locked the door, and left the building.