Hearts Devoured • LT&ZM

18 || Closure

When he found out that Louis had whisked Jewel away in the wee hours of the morning, it was safe to say that Zayn didn't like it. He hated that Louis had pulled one on him again. Typical Louis – ever the sore loser. He just knew that if he did the same, Louis wouldn't forgive him for doing it. He was mad; Zayn suddenly felt all his progress with Jewel had pushed him further back than he wanted. When he told Niall about what happened, his brother gave him a sad sigh and a pat on the back.

It sure was a lost fight by now. How does one compete with someone who was willing to break the law just to get what he wanted? Zayn was honestly running out of options. Was Jewel even worth it? Loving his previous girlfriends hadn't been this complicated. He didn't have to compete with Louis, of all people. Zayn knew it was pointless to follow Louis' private jet now – who knows where he had taken her by now? Thankfully, the last leg of their tour was about to start soon and Louis wasn't going to miss that.

Still, the whole idea of Jewel spending such an intimate time with Louis made Zayn lose his temper more so than usual. After saying his farewells to the two pairs of newlyweds, Zayn had flown back to England the next morning. Niall had stayed back to enjoy the country a little bit more, having only spent a few days there. His little brother was disappointed because of what happened, but even he couldn't call out his brothers considering he hadn't been in love before.

When the plane landed, Zayn knew there was one person he had to talk to before pursuing this whole love triangle with Louis and Jewel. A few hours later, he stood in the doorstep and knocked. He smiled as he heard the rush to open the door for him on the other side. The door swung open to reveal the woman he loved the most.

"ZAYN!"

"Mum."

_ _ _ _ _ _

It was probably expected that his mother wouldn't react so kindly with the fact that he and Perrie have truly broken up, and now he was after a girl who he was sort-of sharing with his brother. He didn't know how fucked up that was, but he didn't actually feel horrible about it. He felt the rebel inside him relish the fact that he was doing what he wanted to do with his life, and not what others expected of him.

The tables have turned. For some reason, Perrie had become so normal to him, so safe. But this thing with Jewel and Louis, however, it drove him insane. Sure, he was mad at Louis for basically abducting their girl, but he liked it. The thrill. It made him want to move mountains and write poetry. This was a love like no other, he wanted to think. Now that he thought about it, Louis had a point. They both cared for her so much that they don't mind letting her have them both. Although he had a hunch that Louis was just playing it up to pressure Jewel into making a choice between the two of them, it wasn't completely out of the picture.

And now he was thinking about really doing the whole three-way relationship as his lovely mother explained why Perrie had to be the woman for him. He couldn't blame her; the women loved calling each other in-laws for fun. And Perrie was literally part of the family by now; of course his mother would completely flip hearing about this new girl.

"Don't you think that Perrie deserves another chance? You've been together since forever, sunshine," Tricia Malik sighed. "And she's good for you."

Was she? Hadn't he told Jewel that it became so destructive between him and Perrie? In the public's eyes, they were the perfect happy couple. In private? He couldn't say the same thing. He wished he could, but every time he remembered Perrie – sure, there were still traces of love and regret, but there was a darkness in their relationship he did not want to touch ever again. She was like a bad drug. He loved her to death, and that was a bad thing in his case.