Zayn Malik's Long Lost Sister (Unedited)

67. Roots Before Branches

"Good morning," Patricia greets me when I enter the kitchen, a fist rubbing one of my eyes. "Hungry?"

Everyone was here, already eating chocolate chip pancakes and eggs. Edward smiled up at me, his mouth closed as he chewed.

"No, I'm not all that hungry." I answer with a soft smile toward my mom. "Thanks, though."

"Of course." She says with a nod, returning to her own plate of food.

"So, what are we doing today?" I chirp, leaning myself against the counter before pulling myself up on to the surface top.

"We could do a lot of things." Zayn stated before a smirk grew on his face. "But you can't."

"And why's that?"

"Because of that boot on your leg."

I groan out loudly at his words and slump over, laying across the counter bench on my side with a pouting face. "Kill me now." I playfully whine.

"Are you feeling okay today, pet?" Patricia asks me, her whole body turning in her seat to stare at me. Everyone stared at me, so I sat upright again.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I wiggle in my position, trying to get the feel of my whole body to be absolutely sure that I felt fine. I did. "Yeah, see? I'm good."

"You're acting different." Yaser accused, pointing his syrup cover fork at me. I raised my hands like it was a gun point.

"I didn't know being cheery was a crime." I giggled quietly before dropping my hands to my lap. "I'm just... I don't know; happy?"

"Are you masking your feelings with a smile?" Safaa asks.

"No, no. Really, I'm fine." I give one stiff nod before Yaser sighs.

"We heard you crying last night." He says. "You didn't sound okay."

"I wasn't crying all night." I defend. My eyes dart to Edward before returning to Yaser. "I was fine after some time."

Yaser's mind must've caught up to why my eyes went to Edward as I talked about this.

"You didn't." He nearly growled at Edward, his fork dropping to his plate.

Edward nearly choked on his pancake from the intensity of Yaser's voice. "Pardon?"

"You slept with Marley!" Yaser shouted, standing from his chair abruptly which caused it to tip over backwards. "How dare you?"

"No, no, see, what happened was-" Edward quickly stumbled over words before Zayn held up a hand, staying oddly calm in this situation.

All I wanted to do was laugh.

"Dad, hold on. I'd like to think Eddie has more integrity than that." Zayn says, casually twisting himself in his seat to completely face Edward. "Did you sleep with my sister?"

"No," I answered for him. "I'm still a virgin."

"You could be lying to save him from-" Yaser counters, his eyes restlessly looking between the both of mine.

"I'm not. And if you think I'm lying, I'm sure we could find a doctor to tell you otherwise." I nodded my head once, my cheeks splashing with pink. "I needed comfort and he was very understanding. He knows I'm not ready."

Last night, it very much would've led to sex, but he stopped. He was the one who pulled away to ask if I was okay. After we talked, he held me and let me fall asleep in his warm embrace. It was lovely.

"I trust you." Yaser says, fixing his chair and sitting in it once again. "My apologies for exploding, I just had fatherly concerns."

"And I appreciate the love." I say, walking over to him to place my hands on his shoulders and kiss his cheek the way a proud daughter would.