Royally Flushed

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~Louis~

The man who the tabloids had accused Malia of cheating on Louis with was standing in his way, and although he knew there was no way she could cheat on him if they weren't really together, seeing him in her home made him feel a flash of something he hadn't felt in a long time: jealousy.

He had been invited in for tea while the other gentleman had seemed like he was just leaving, something that needed to happen soon otherwise Louis could feel the anger needing to come out and find an outlet to attach itself to...preferably the new guy's face.

"Goodbye, Daniel."

Malia's voice was harsh and that almost made Louis smile but he reminded himself to remember his manners in front of her family.

The new guy was roughly the same height as Louis although Louis had roughly a half inch on him. He seemed like he was trying to be threatening, a permanent scowl etched onto his face that looked like it had seen better days but he could tell why Malia had been with him once upon a time, and it was clear that it had been a few years since those pictures had been taken with them together that were plastered all over the internet.

He wondered why someone would go to so much trouble to paint Malia in a bad light for having an ex boyfriend, as lots of people had exes they had to deal with, but finding their old relationship pictures and posting them as if they were still together was a bit...strange to say the least.

The man brushed past Louis and turned to head out the door, but not before saying something to Malia that sounded a lot like a threat.

"I'll leave now, but this isn't the end. This is not the way we say goodbye forever."

"I thought I already said goodbye to you forever at your funeral, I much prefer that parting to this one."

Louis' head was spinning with unanswered questions just begging to be asked, but the way her aunt was holding onto her and the amount of tears still falling from Malia's eyes told him that he had better wait a while before asking.

As soon as the door was shut, more like slammed, behind them, Louis decided to try and brighten the mood.

"So, how about that tea everyone?"

He'd made her grandmother smile at least.

"My God, who knew adopting a teenager would be this stressful. Marissa, you and your sister didn't have this many gentleman callers before did you?"

He saw Malia crack a smile and that was enough to make Louis feel certain that it was alright to joke around with her again, but the sight of her tears made him want to unravel in the very spot that he stood.

He wanted to turn around out the door and follow that bloke and punch him to the ground for making her cry, but he knew he didn't have the full story and would probably just cause more trouble than anything if he did something like that.

"I-I'm sure you have a lot of questions.." Malia started, but couldn't seem to get the words out of her mouth fast enough.

"Yes, quite a few actually, but they can wait until we've had that tea, right?"

Her grandmother's eyes softened in relief and Malia even relaxed at his words and although he felt rage coiling up inside with the thought of what that man could have done to her, but he pulled it all up and shoved it to the back corners of his mind, for Malia's sake. That didn't mean he'd ever forget.

The anguished look on her face was enough to make him realize that he couldn't ever do anything to hurt her, no matter what the cost would be. He refused to be the cause of any tears spilling their way down her perfect porcelain skin on her face.