Opposites

t h i r t y - s e v e n

Melody

"That's a wrap. You're improving day by day, love."

Sighing, I lower my hand that was in the air two seconds ago, and stretch a bit. I wipe off the beads of sweat over my forehead and smile genuinely at them, "Thank you, I really hope I am."

"Indeed darling, don't worry. You are improving, and with an extra month you'll be ready for that live show, surprising everyone with how amazing you are." Liam says, and I feel relieved after what he said.

Niall smiles nodding in agreement. "Want us to drive you back home?"

I decline, "Oh no, I'll go by myself, thank you. I'll see you guys later." I pick up my backpack, exiting the room to go strip from my now sweaty costume.

After I finish, getting out to the fresh air, I begin walking while turning my phone back on. When I fix the strap of my backpack, I unlock my phone to find no notifications (more like texts from Zayn) whatsoever waiting for me. Groaning, I stuff it back in my pocket. I really have to stop thinking about him this much, it's surprisingly unhealthy. Sometimes it's not in your hands to control your feelings, it's quite hard to do that, and I've been trying, really. But obviously I'm failing miserably at this, and I can't suppress my feelings toward Zayn anymore. I'll put an end to this soon, and confront him about how I feel. Let's just pray and hope he doesn't reject me.

I cross the street, the neighborhood getting clearer in my sight. Humming an Ed Sheeran song, I suddenly stop when I feel something cold press against my forehead. With furrowed eyebrows, it suddenly hits me that it's a gun that's pressed up against me.

My breathing becomes uneven, as I slowly move my head to look at who's pointing the gun at me.

"Hey buttercup," a strange, deep voice fulled with venom speaks in my ear.

I gulp down, my heartbeat increasing by each second that's passing.

"Remember me?" The voice speaks again.

I furrow my eyebrows, getting more confused. Just when I'm about to ask the man who he is, he gets in my vision. My breath gets hitched in my throat, my eyes watering. This is the man who threatened Zayn at his house. He's the one who demanded money from him. Oh god. No no no no.

"Walk." He demands, now pressing the pistol against my lower back, forcing me to move forward.

A few tears flow down my face, my knees trembling horribly. "Please, just—"

"Shut it."

He presses the pistol harder into my back. I whimper, "I didn't do anything, please."

My flat gets more into my vision as we get more closer and closer to the neighborhood.

"You know too much now, my dear." He whispers darkly into my ear. Whimpering again, I look around helplessly trying to attract someone's attention. I notice that Harry's SUV isn't parked, which means he's still at work.

"If you scream, I will shoot you right here."

I choke on a small sob, as he makes a turn and turns toward Zayn's flat. The man knocks furiously on the door, until minutes later we hear a chant of "coming". The door swings open to reveal a shirtless Zayn, like usual. His eyes widen, almost bulging out, when his gaze falls on us.

"Get in." The man growls pushing me inside, my chest bumping into Zayn's.

Zayn walks backwards, still looking shocked as ever.

The unnamed man, shuts the door with his foot, smiling widely at Zayn then approaching me again.

"I want my money, Malik." He says curling a strand of my hair around his finger.

"Just—just leave her out of it, James. She has nothing to do with this." Zayn speaks, with furrowed eyebrows.

The man, James, removes my hair to one side, revealing my bare shoulder. He points the metal pistol against my jaw hardly, making silent tears to roll down my face.

"Where's my money, Malik?" When Zayn doesn't reply, James screams, pressing on the trigger. "Where's my fucking money?!" I flinch away, more tears flowing down, and choking on the lump in my throat.

"In that fucking jar!" Zayn shouts back, pointing to a jar on the coffee table.

James drags me with him to retrieve the jar. He opens it wrathfully, getting out stacks of money. He takes his time counting all of them, while the pistol is still pressed up against my jaw.

James finally leaves me, smiling again. "Had fun dealing with you, Malik. Call me when you need some more."

He then leaves. Just like that.

Taking a deep shaky breath, I wipe away the dried tears with the back of my hand. I look over at Zayn to see him pulling at the roots of his hair, while pacing back and forth.

"What—w-what was that about?" I ask him timidly.

"You don't want to know." Zayn states, turning around and giving me his back.

"No, I do want to know. This had happened twice, Zayn. Twice! Am I safe? Do you expect me to feel safe after what happened? Do you?" I press him, both annoyance and fear laced in my voice.

He doesn't reply, his heavy breathing is the only audible sound in the room.

"I want answers, Zayn!" I flinch a bit at the note of my suddenly loud voice.

"I do drugs, okay! I do fucking drugs." Zayn turns around, his chest falling up and down.

My mouth hangs open, my hand automatically going to slap against my lips in shock. I shakd my head vigorously at him, can't believing what I just heard. "No, no y-you do—"

"I do, deal with it." He snaps.

"Zayn, let me..let me help you get over this. You can't live with taking drugs, it's dangerous and—and you—"

"I don't need help."

"Zayn, please."

He sighs, taking a seat on the couch, placing his head in his hands. Approaching him hesitantly, I sit down beside him, placing my hand shakily on his bare shoulder.

"You can get over this. You can try to stop, okay? I will help you, I swear I will." I talk in a low voice.

Zayn pulls backwards, turning to me. "Listen Mel," He grips my shoulders, looking into my eyes. "You can't tell anyone about what happened today. I promise that James won't touch you nor lay a finger on you ever again, but please promise me you won't tell anyone."

I shake my head, "Drugs are harming you, and all you care about is me not telling anyone? This is the second time this happens, Zayn."

He ignores what I said by repeating, "Don't tell anyone," He adds quickly, "Please."

I look back and forth between his brown irises, feeling my heart ache. "On one condition,"

"You name it," He says, scooting closer to me until his hot breath is fanning my face.

I look down at his plump lips, my eyes trailing upwards again to meet his. I press my lips softly against his, softly saying, "Promise me that you'll try to stop."

I look at him through my eyelashes, awaiting for his answer.

Zayn kisses my lips passionately, slowly pushing me backwards until I'm laying down, and he's getting on top of me, supporting his weight with his arms.

He whispers, "Promise."

~❤️~❤️~❤️~❤️~❤️~❤️~❤️

[a/n: you guys should probably check out my elounor fic 😊, you'll get free cookies bc why not]