Toxic | nh {Sequel to Kidnapped by my Ex-Boyfriend}

XVI

I felt a soft tingle against my cheek, then one on my nose. My eyes fluttered open as I yawned. Jai was hovering over me shirtless, kissing me all over the face. 

"Happy six months, babe." He whispered. I giggled and snuggled closer to him. He kissed my lips softly.

"I can't believe it's been six months already." I sighed, feeling the warmth of his body add to the overwhelming feeling of euphoria. Six wonderful months. No drama, no tears, no pain. Jai decided it would be best if I had no access to social media, which so far has been nothing but relief. We've been to Australia a lot because he had to keep up his channel with his brothers, but other than that we've spent most of our time travelling. I loved Jai. It was a simple love. No complications. Thanks to him I've been able to reinvent myself. I've been doing quite a lot of volunteer work, and even resumed my studies through online courses. I felt good. I was happy.

Jai and I have been staying in a house they recently bought in Los Angeles, which was a lot more practical than flying to Australia all the time. 

"Want to get some breakfast?" He got off me and went to the dressing room to get changed. 

"Sure, I just need to use the computer to check if all my assignments have been graded." I propped myself up on my elbows, and watched him come back out wearing a long sleeve baseball shirt and grey pants. He grabbed his laptop from his desk and handed it to me before kissing my forehead. Once he left, I opened the laptop and the first thing I saw was Jai's twitter page. Curiosity getting the best of me, I checked his tweets. He tweeted a lot about his videos, of course, but I noticed that a considerable amount of tweets were about me. I couldn't help but smile. I stopped on one in particular that caught my eye: 'She fell asleep on my chest while watching the Euro Cup. It's okay, I still love you <3' and linked to it was a picture of me, well, sleeping on his chest. I shook my head, giggling. Jai and his football obsession. I looked at the comments, and my smile evaporated. 

'Fuck you Jai. It's your fault that Niall quit One Direction.'

My heart began to beat hastily. Beads of sweat formed around my hairline and I could hardly breathe. Then started an endless search of Niall Horan on all sorts of gossip sites. I scrolled through the headlines.

'Niall Horan Walks Out on Interview'

'Niall Horan Arrested for DUI'

'Niall Horan Spotted Smoking Marijuana in Spain'

'Niall Horan: 10 Mystery Girl Hook-Ups in the Last Month!'

'One Direction Drama: Niall Horan Quits'

It just went on, and on... I haven't felt like this in such a long time. My heart was aching. What happened to him? This was so unlike Niall... I had no idea he was hurting so much. Now I was too. 

"Babe, you didn't eat anything." Jai remarked before eating a mouthful of scrambled eggs. 

"I'm not hungry." He reached out and grabbed my hand. 

"Something wrong?" I didn't respond. My face started to burn. I was about to cry, but I held it in as much as I could. It's been so long, how could I still care for that possessive, manipulative, reckless man? Why can't I let Niall Horan destroy himself? I'm with Jai! I love Jai! 

"No. Nothing's wrong." 

I asked Jai to drop me off in Beverly Hills. I honestly didn't care for the shops there, even less for the people, but I thought I'd just take a stroll around and try to get my mind off of things. I wanted to deal with my feelings by myself, and not worry about faking happiness with Jai around. 

I sat down on a bench and watched as people passed. I saw many couples holding hands, smiling at each other. I smiled too, and it took me a while to realise that I had that... with Jai. 

This walk was quite therapeutic. Niall was out of my life now. He wasn't my problem anymore... But I couldn't help wishing him the very best...

I took an Uber back home afterwards. I knocked and Jai opened the door.

"My love!" He exclaimed and hugged me tightly. I laughed at how excited he always was to see me, even though we were barely ever apart. "I was actually on my way out. I got something special planned for tonight. Mind waiting around for me for a few hours?" Before I could even answer, he kissed my cheek and bolted. 

It was around 6PM, but the sun was already setting. I watched a few How I Met Your Mother episodes for about an hour in the living room, but Jai hadn't returned yet. As I turned off the TV, I heard a knock at the door. Jai must have forgot his key, or has his hands full! I was so excited, I sauntered over to the door and opened it hastily.

"Hannah..." Niall pleaded, his eyes looking tired and sore. The only instinct I had was to shut the door as fast as I could, but he immediately fought against it and forced his way in. "Hannah, please." He walked towards me after closing the door and locking it. I stood back, petrified. 

My phone. My phone was upstairs in our room. I ran as fast as I could, heaving and breathless. I wasn't even breathing anymore, my throat was screeching. Niall ran after me, calling my name ceaselessly.

I made it inside the room but he was too close for me to shut the door. The first thing I saw was my phone on the desk table and a large pair of scissors near it. I grabbed both, and spun around pointing the blades at Niall. He stopped, putting his hands up in surrender, a meter away from me. He stood there, breathing heavily. 

"Come near me and I will stab you." I cried, my hand shaking uncontrollably. Niall's eyes watered, staring at me desperately. He took a step forward, closing the gap, and I screeched, trying to command my hand to lunch forward, but it didn't. His hands grasped mine. His face was so close we shared our breaths. He slowly pulled on my hands, pushing the scissors into his stomach. I couldn't speak. All I did was make helpless sounds, shake, and force the air in and out of my lungs. 

"Stab me." He whispered in a shaky, lifeless voice. I searched his eyes for a sign... something, anything that would make him stop. I started pulling it back, but his hands tightened around mine.

"N-Niall I can't be with you." I choked out, tears streaming down my face. "It's over." 

"No!" He shouted, thrusting the blades towards him so hard I felt it pierce his skin, but he barely flinched. I screamed as he did so, trying to fight back for control over the weapon. "Hannah listen to me," he brought one hand up to my face, cupping it with tenderness I've very rarely witnessed in him. His left hand loosened around mine, and I immediately let go of the scissors, which tumbled on the ground. A wave of relief washed over me. "We are magnetic. It's in us. You can fight it all you want, but we will always find our way back together." He now had both hands cupping my face, his lips dangerously close to mine. "I'll do anything, Hannah, to fix this. Just let me fix it." He begged, searching my eyes for a response that would be anything but what I was about to say. 

"I moved on... I think you should as well." I whispered, staring at the floor. Niall let go of me. 

"Hannah-"

"Please leave." 

The door shut, and I collapsed on the bed, shaking and crying until my body shut down and everything went black.