Sincerely, L //Zauren

19.

The water coming out of the shower head is cold. She doesn't seem to mind the freezing temperature that's raising good bumps amongst her arms and back. Lauren sits on the shower floor letting the water rush through her dark hair while her head rest again the top of her knees.

She walked the 20 minute distance from Zayn's home to hers, despite his offers to give her a ride. Walking made the throbbing ache between her thighs worsen but she needed the time to mentally prepare herself to return home. Not ready to face them yet, Lauren managed to walk into the house and upstairs to her bedroom undetected.

After coming to grips with the thoughts that she's been denying all this time, she's now going through the stage of acceptance.

The girl felt like a piece of her was missing all this time and once she caught a glimpse of Zayn she was drawn in like a fish on a rod. There is something about his comfort and his embrace that makes her feel whole again. As she grew into a young woman, which was one of the roughest stages of her life, she never had a strong male figure that she wanted. That she needed.

With her wobbly legs, Lauren stands from the shower floor and turns off the shower. Water drips from her body as she stands out of the bath tub and walks over to the mirror.

Its as if she's trying to find a difference in her appearance. Other than the purple bruises on her neck, she can't spot anything that's changed. On the inside she feels different. Not just from the dull pain in her lower region, but there is something else. She no longer feels like the naive girl that everyone sees her as. There's a sense of maturity running through her veins.

~

Summer is already fast asleep in her bedroom. After seeing her come home with so many shopping bags, Zayn was sure that she had a lot of fun being spoiled by her grandmother.

Its 2am now and Reign isn't home yet. Zayn doesn't even bother to questions it, because he has a pretty good idea of what she's doing. It couldn't be worse than what he did in their bed earlier. The sheets beneath him are now clean and no longer smell of Lauren. The blood and sweat are gone along with her intoxicating scent.

He's been listening to the sound of his own breathing for the past hour now while the young girl runs though his mind. It isn't like Zayn to pity anyone, but he does pity Lauren. He's completely oblivious to what she's going through, and he hates that he's only contributing to what she's feeling. When he held her in his arms while she cried, he could practically feel her pain radiating. He felt so useless because he couldn't help ease her pain. All he could do was hold her and tell her it was going to be ok, even it that wasn't true.

The sound of the front door closing breaks him from his deep thoughts. Zayn turns to look at the clock, not bothering to sit up on his side of the bed. 2:15am.

Her footsteps near the bedroom and the door opens with a creak.
She looks taken back once she sees that Zayn isn't asleep like she'd expected. Instead, he watches her expression carefully.

"Over time, huh?" He stares at the couple of buttons that are undone on her dress shirt as she tries to slickly pull down her hiked up skirt.

Zayn can practically see the guilt in his wife's eyes.

"Mhm." She hums, not thinking the tone of her voice would be believable enough. She shuts the bedroom door behind her and makes her way towards their closet.

He notices how unsteady she is on her feet and the smell of alcohol hits him like a bus. Zayn sits up against the headboard and looks at her in disbelief.

"Have you been drinking?" His voice sounds more worried than angry.

Reign hiccups and let's out a giggle as she kicks her shoes off her feet, letting them fall to the floor with a thump. She turns to look at him over her shoulder while opening the closet door.

"Just a little. Me and Janice got a few drinks after work. We must've lost track of time." She slurs, dropping her dress shirt to the floor. Janice is always her excuse and Zayn is done buying it. By the look of the red and purple markings on her neck, she did more than just drink.

"You drove here drunk? Reign, what were you thinking?" Obviously she wasn't. Now dressed in nothing but one of his oversized t-shirts, she walks back over to the bed and sits down next to him with a growing smirk on her lips.

"Oh please, I only had a sip." The lie rolls off her tongue with ease. By the delay in her words and the smell of her breath, she must've had more than just a sip.

Zayn cringes when she crawls onto his lap and begins to kiss along his neck, her legs on either side of his hips. She even smells like another man. He becomes overwhelmed with disgust.

"I was just a little stressed out. I'm sorry, baby." She breaths against the crook of his neck.

He decides not to dance around the burning question.

"Who is he?"
As soon as the words leave his lips, she stiffens on his lap. She goes back into a sober mindset with the snap of a finger. They look at one another with knowing eyes.

There is a pain in his chest, believe it or not. Despite his infidelities, she's still his wife and she still has a piece of his heart while Lauren is tugging on the other half.

She knew that there was no talking around this. Tears start to spring to her dark green eyes. Zayn tries his hardest to continue looking her in the eyes as tears begin to run down her cheeks, but its too painful.

No words are spoken between the two of them.
There's just a silent knowing in the air.

I'm just as guilty as you, he thinks to himself as he holds the woman he mistakenly married.

A/n
I kinda want this story to have a dark ending.