Niall Horan has paid a touching tribute to his One Direction bandmate Liam Payne saying he did not realise when he last saw him he would be saying “goodbye forever”. Payne died aged 31 after falling from a third floor balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, having previously flown in to Argentina to watch Horan perform on tour. Horan said he will “cherish every moment” he had with his bandmate “forever” after they rose to global stardom together with their fellow bandmates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik following the boy band placing third on The X Factor in 2010.
“I’m absolutely devastated about the passing of my amazing friend, Liam. It just doesn’t feel real”, Horan wrote in an Instagram post alongside a photo of the singer giving Payne a piggyback ride in their younger days. “Liam had an energy for life and a passion for work that was infectious.
He was the brightest in every room and always made everyone feel happy and secure. “All the laughs we had over the years, sometimes about the simplest of things, keep coming to mind through the sadness. “We got to live out our wildest dreams together and I will cherish every moment we had forever.
“The bond and friendship we had doesn’t happen often in a lifetime.” Payne was spotted dancing at Horan’s show around two weeks ago at the Movistar Arena alongside his girlfriend Kate Cassidy. Horan continued: “I feel so fortunate that I got to see him recently.
I sad.