Liam Payne’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy shares the heartbreaking marriage plans he wrote before his death

Liam Payne’s girlfriend Kate Cassidy has taken to social media to share the heartbreaking note he left her before his tragic death, which outlined his near-future plans to get married.

The One Direction star passed away last week from serious injuries after he fell from the third floor of a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires. Authorities found Payne’s body after responding to calls from concerned staff about a guest acting “aggressively,” with the singer later found to be under the influence of various drugs. 

Now, Cassidy has come forward to pen a heartfelt tribute to her late boyfriend while sharing some of the letters he wrote her prior to his death. Her Instagram post features an image of the singer’s note, written at a time when the pair was manifesting their life together.

“Me and Kate to marry within a year/engaged & together forever,” Payne’s note read. In her accompanying tribute, Cassidy said Payne wrote the note just “a few weeks ago” while they were sitting “outside on a beautiful evening.” She went on to say that she will “keep [Payne’s] note close, even though [he] told me not to look at it.” 

While his plans for an engagement were tragically cut short, Cassidy reassured herself that she knows “we’ll be together forever, but not in the way we had planned.” It marks the first time Cassidy has individually responded to Payne’s death, with her broader tribute remembering the singer as “the kindest soul and the most fun-loving spirit.”

Cassidy said her “heart is shattered” following Payne’s death, adding that she feels as though she has “lost the best part of [herself].” She continued: “None of this feels real, and I can’t wrap my head around this new reality of not having you here. I’m struggling to figure out how to live in a world without you by my side. Together, we got to be kids again, always finding joy in the smallest things. I will love you for the rest of my life and beyond, carrying our dreams and memories with me everywhere I go.”

Cassidy is one of many to pay tribute to Payne in the days since his death, with One Direction members Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, and Niall Horan describing their former bandmate as a “brother.” In the wake of the news, Malik postponed a series of planned shows to process his grief. Elsewhere, fellow musicians Halsey, Zedd, and Rita Ora also commemorated the singer, while his sister called out the negative fan commentary he had been receiving in the weeks before his death. Payne’s father, meanwhile, vowed to testify in the investigation into his son’s death. 

The story placed intense scrutiny on both TMZ — who received backlash for posting photos of Payne’s body — and X Factor, the reality show Payne featured on that some have cited as the cause of his mental ill-health. Meanwhile, Four One Direction songs — including “Night Changes” and “What Makes You Beautiful” —  skyrocketed back to the top of the Global Spotify charts following Payne’s death.