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Thirteen

December 25, 10:26 am
Christmas morning
Narrator's POV

Christmas morning filled the kitchen with the warm aroma of pancakes and sizzling bacon. Zayla hummed a soft carol, flipping the last pancake onto a plate just as Malik slid his arms around her waist, his breath warm against her neck.

"Good morning, my love," he murmured, planting soft kisses along her skin.

Zayla turned, a smile spreading across her face. "Perfect timing. Breakfast is ready."

"I see," he said as his hands wandered playfully.

"Malik, I'm talking about this breakfast I just cooked you," she chuckled. Any other time she would've been ready to get ate, but she'd just spent her morning cleaning and making breakfast for them and she wanted to enjoy it while it was still hot and fresh. "I mean, I can eat twice," he said.

Laughing, she handed him his plate. "Okay, well eat this first."

They ate together at the island, sharing laughs over TikTok videos on her phone. Once the plates were cleared, Zayla handed Malik a gift bag, her eyes sparkling with anticipation.

"Here, open this first," she urged.

"What is it," he asked as they transitioned into the living room.

"Open it and see," she said. Zayla watched him as he opened up his gift, smiling like she was a proud mom.

Malik's eyebrows raised as he pulled out an all-black Essentials hoodie."Zay, I was just looking at this not too long ago. How did you know I was about to buy this?"

"I saw you looking at it, so I went and bought it. You're not the only one who knows how to pay attention," she chuckled.

"I guess not, but thank you," he said leaning over kissing her cheek. "That's not all though, there's more in there," she said.

He reached back into the bag and pulled out a red cap that had her name embroidered on the side of it with a heart. His appreciation was evident, but as he pulled out the bottle of Initio Side Effects cologne, his expression shifted.

"The hat hard, but Zayla I know you ain't buy me this three hundred dollar cologne that I told you I ain't want you to spend your money on," he was appreciative, but he didn't like her spending all her money which is why he always did the spending.

"Malik it's a gift, just accept it. Plus I want my man to smell good," she laughed a bit, brushing off his concern. "Thank you Zay for real I appreciate everything you got me." He said.

"You're welcome, it's the least I could do for you after all that you've done for me." She said.

"He walked over to the tree and grabbed some of her gifts and sat them in front of her, "here open this one first," he said handing her a gift box.

"Oh my gosh, it's no way you knew I wanted this," she said pulling out the black denim Telfar he'd bought her when it dropped earlier this month. "I told you I knew you like the back of my hand, what you thought I was lying?"

"Wait and the Bape jacket oh my gosh thank you," she said as she pulled out the black and pink Bape jacket she'd been eyeing for a while. "You're welcome, now look at the stuff in the gift bag. Zayla put down the gift box and picked up the gift bag, it was filled with things. The first thing she pulled out was some perfume. Once she'd gotten it out of the bag she noticed what it was, "Malik... you didn't," she said cheesing hard as he did the same just watching her. "How did you even get this, it's literally always sold out," she exclaimed. It was Glossier You, and it smelled so good. Every time she'd went to buy it said sold out. "Man I went to so many different stores to get that, but being able to see you happy made the trip worth it."