k i w i

- 15 -

- zayn -

"Hello?" I sigh, laying back down in bed as my phone rang annoyingly.

I furrowed my eyebrows, hearing breathing and a light footsteps from the other line. The person talked before I hung up, their voice bringing goosebumps to my body. "Hi, um, Zayn Malik?"

Her voice was nostalgic, the memories of us together coming back to my mind. I cleared my throat, sitting up and trying to look presentable even though she wasn't here.

"Arabella?" I ask, trying not to come out creepy that I remembered her voice. "Astor? Arabella Astor."

She gave me a small breathy laugh, "Yes."

Relief wash over me, I lay back down, wanting to relax with this relaxing-and surprisingly-phone call.

"How are you, doll?" I ask, closing my eyes and trying not to imagine her naked. "I'm surprised to hear from you."

I was, after I had walked on her, I thought she would of never called me back. When I did that to girls, they always texted me to call me an asshole.

"Um, yeah. I know." She says, her voice a bit too shaky. "I'm doing good. What about you?"

Staring at the window in front of me, I saw that thee day slowly start to get darker."I'm great. Thank you for asking."

"So, I, um, was calling to see if you wanted to meet up?" She rambled, her words almost too fast for me to catch on to, but somehow, I did. "I wanted to talk about something..."

Is this about Gigi? Our night together?

"Um, yeah. Okay." I nod, running a hand through my hair. Standing up and beginning to pace around my temporary room. Grabbing my planner, I flipped through it and noticed the only time available was tomorrow evening. Hopefully she'll be free. "How's Friday evening sound?"

She hummed to herself, "Uh, yeah, that could work."

"Great." I grinned, fist pumping the air. "Do you want me to pick you up?"

"No!" She exclaimed really fast and loudly, I jumped at the loud sound. "Sorry. Can we meet in my apartment? I'll have dinner."

My grin widened a bit more, "That's fine. What time should I stop by?"

"Well," She hummed again, "what time can you stop by?"

Flipping the pages of my planner again, following down the many meetings my assistant had booked me for. "Um, my last meeting is at seven, so I'll be at your flat around eight."

"Perfect." She giggles, sighing lowly after her giggle. "I'll see you at eight, then? Um, I'll text you the address."

Nodding back, I finally sit back down in case I passed out of happiness. My heart racing a million times faster, "Okay, I'll see you."

"Bye." She said before hanging up.

Before I could dance in celebratory, my door flew open, my two younger sisters flying in. I raise an eyebrow at them, confused as to why they were still awake.

"Have you seen this!?" Safaa asked, sliding to sit next to me and shoving her tablet in my hands. "Its about Arabella Astor."

Taking it off her hands, I began to read the article: ARABELLA ASTOR WORKING HER WAY AROUND THE BRITISH BACHELOR SQUAD!?

Furrowing my eyebrows, I scrolled down the gibberish and went to look at the pictures. My heart stopped the fast beatings, it started to slowly slow down.

Niall Horan was seen walking out of a restaurant with Arabella, both chatting away. They looked awkward together, like the tension lingered through them as Niall dragged her to his car.

Is this what she wanted to talk about? She's now fucking with Niall?

Skimming through the paragraphs, I catch on that they met up and then Niall had taken her to her flat. There was no proof of him going up to her room, and it brought ease to my body.

"Nothing bad." I say, shoving the tablet back to her hands and turning to the other one. She looked mad. "What?"

"This girl doesn't have boundaries, Zayn. This is the third guy she was seen with." Waliyha says with a worried look on her face. "It was you a couple months ago, this weirdly hot guy a couple days ago, and now Niall."

Scrolling all the way down, I saw her name in a couple of articles, one of them being about her with a mysterious guy. Doing the same I did with the Niall article, I saw that they were coming out of a building with huge smiles, her face shinning in happiness.

"She isn't like what they say she is." I defended her, knowing well that Niall will never do this to me. He isn't that type of friend. "Plus, didn't mum tell you, you shouldn't believe what you read?"

Waliyha rolled her eyes and got up, shaking her head at me. "You're an idiot if you believe what she says. Night."

Watching her leave, I felt Safaa nudge me, her small smile sympathetic. I knew she was always a person to see the good in people, but also a bit too naive.

"I'm sure she's nice to some people." Safaa says with a shrug, her innocence making me want to squeeze her cheeks a bit too hard. "She's really pretty too, maybe she's like Gigi and Perrie."

Sighing, I shake my head and pull her to a side hug. "She's nothing like them, Saf."

"Do you like her?" She asks softly, her eyes still watching me and full of her innocence. I knew she was studying me, she was really good at doing that. "You like her, huh?"

Shaking my head at her, it was my turn to nudge her. "Stop doing that, Saf."

"What?" She asks, laughing a bit and pulling off my hug. "Oh come on, Z, you can tell me."

Do I like her?

Gulping down and looking down at my hands, I shrug at her, not really knowing an answer. Grinning at me, she hugged me back and kissed my cheek. Holding the tablet to her chest, she stood up.

"You do." She states, "It'll be between you and me, Z." Doing a zipping motion, she wiggled her eyebrows before skipping out of my room. "Goodnight, Zayn!"

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