Hate That I Love You

18. Zayn - Why Am I The One?

I woke up to the sound of giggling, as well as a loud crisp sound of an iPhone camera flash and my eyes slowly opened. I looked up and my sisters are staring at me with a mischievous glint in their eyes, so is my mum but before I can even say anything I remember where I am and who I’m with. It almost made me jump off the sofa when I realized that Perrie and I are lying down side by side and our arms are wrapped around each other. She was still asleep, but when I gently tried to get up from my position she is roused from sleep as well and her face mirrored the shock in mine as she looked over my family.

“Rise and shine, lovebirds! You’ve got a big day ahead!” My older sister, Doniya coos.

“Shut up.” I mutter, rising from the sofa, grabbing the blanket and pillow with me as I made my way my room and my sisters laugh in the background with my mum. Surely, I won’t hear the end of it. Seconds later, Perrie follows me in my bedroom and I close the door.

“I’m sorry, that was embarrassing. Now I feel shy around your mum and sisters.” She says hurriedly, her cheeks are red and her hands are covering her mouth.

She looked adorable. I laughed lightly, “It’s fine, honestly. Don’t worry about it.”

“It’s my fault.” She sighs, sitting down on the bed with me.

“It’s not; I was the one who decided to sleep on the sofa with you.” I defend her and before we could argue further someone knocks on the door, “Breakfast is ready!”

I stood up, offering my hand out at her to take. “Let’s go eat breakfast, and then right after that we’ll get ready to leave so we can arrive in London before noon.”

She nods quietly, taking my hand to help her stand up and we both got out the room. As we made our way to the dining room, she ties her hair up in a ponytail and I can’t help but marvel over the fact that she has no make-up on. Honestly, she looks better this way, not that she looked ugly with make-up; I just prefer this natural look more—anything looks good on her to be frank. Wow, I feel like an utter fool staring at her and thinking about all this. I sound like a girl.

My mum hugs Perrie before they both sat down, I think that they’ve built some kind of mother-daughter relationship already and I’m glad for it. The food on the table consists of toasts, a plateful of scrambled eggs, chicken sausages, and beef patties with mum’s special mushroom & gravy sauce. I gulp down my glass of orange juice and I was never one to talk a lot so I just listened in on the chatter my sisters are currently engaged in with Perrie and my mum that is something about Little Mix and Perrie’s birthday. I think they’ve taken a liking for her as well.

Perrie’s so oblivious to the effect she has on people, it infuriated me when the waiter in my favorite café in London suddenly flirted with her shamelessly and she thought of it as him complimenting her. She’s so innocent; she doesn’t think of people in a bad way but rather chooses to see the good side in them. I remember when she sought for an answer from me when I kissed her in front of Eric years ago, willing herself to understand me before I pushed her away and made her believe that I didn’t want anything to do with her so she started to hate me by then. Sometimes, I kind of regret doing that but I guess things turned out a bit okay now.