The A-hole Next Door (completed)

FORTY SEVEN

Lauren removed the blanket over her head and sat up with a heavy grunt. She covered her face with her palms and let out a sigh of defeat.

"You need to sleep more, Lauren," she hissed angrily to herself, clutching her hair. She lay back in bed and clenched her eyes shut, forcing her muscles to relax and let go so she could doze off.

But her hard attempts were worthless. Her mind couldn't shut down and let her rest. She glanced at the alarm clock on her side and she sighed heavily when she saw the time.

3:30 in the morning. She just had three hours of sleep, and this had been happening every single day for over a week now. Ever since she met Zayn again.

Usually, she would just lay down in bed and wait for the clock to hit 6. But now, she wasn't in the mood to stay buried under the sheets and think about the things that were bothering her sanity.

She slowly rose and dragged her tired body to the kitchen. She made a cup of warm milk tea, then sat on the stool and looked around her apartment.

She stared at the living room, particularly on the corner near the fireplace where a pile of five boxes where lazily placed beside a huge brown teddy bear. Api was curled in a ball and sleeping soundly on the bear's lap, like he was looking after the gifts that Zayn gave her these past week.

She still didn't know why Zayn was suddenly sending her gifts and flowers in her apartment. She didn't know how he found her new address. He hadn't showed himself to her ever since their heated confrontation in Oxford, but a day after Grams' death, a man knocked on her door and gave her a bouquet of sunflowers. There was a little card attached on it with Zayn's handwriting, telling how sorry he was about what happened to her grandmother.

At first, she thought he was just being kind. She knew how Zayn loved her Grams. So she accepted the flowers and even placed them in a pretty vase. But the next day, another man knocked on her door and gave her a box and another bouquet of red roses. Again, it was Zayn who sent them to her.

She didn't open the box, neither the envelope that was attached on it. She wanted to throw them away but she couldn't do it and she hated herself for it. She also wanted to get rid of the flowers but she wasn't that heartless.

Lauren thought that if she would ignore Zayn and his obvious efforts to get her back, he would stop. But he didn't. He kept on sending flowers, letters and gifts to her apartment. The delivery man would ring the doorbell every morning at exactly seven o'clock, just fifteen minutes before she would leave for work. And it had been happening for nine days now.

She didn't know what to do. She wanted Zayn to stop bothering her. She even told the delivery guy to stop sending the gifts to her place but the poor man just told her that he was just doing his job.

She knew that the only way was to talk to him. But she didn't want to see him. She didn't want to break down in front of him again. She still wasn't ready to face him.

So she got no other choice but to wait. Wait for him to get tired with what he was doing. Wait for him to stop. Wait for him to lose his patience and give up.

Api suddenly moved on his cozy place and stretched his legs. He looked at Lauren, and she gave him a soft smile.

"Come here," she told him, patting her lap.

The cat ignored her offer and stared at the five boxes that were arranged to a small tower beside him. He then scratched his paws to the boxes, surprising Lauren.

"Hey, you have your own scratching post," she said, annoyed that her cat was acting weird again.

But Api didn't pay attention to her. He continued with what he was doing and after a few seconds, the tower of boxes collapsed. The box on top fell down on the floor, along with the things inside it.