Chains

Chapter 24

Tension. The air was so brittle that it could snap any moment. If it didn't I know I would. The heavy tension in the room weighed us down making any one of us prone to breakage at any point in time. For the past 5 minutes, the two males have been eyeing each other. The gaze on Maluma's face was an act of violence in and of itself. Zayn,however, wore a look of complete and utter annoyance.

"What do you want Maluma?" I asked,crossing my arms. I decided that it was time to break up their glare off and release some of that tension in the air. Maluma glanced at me then back towards Zayn.

"Why is there a guy in my girlfriend's apartment?" If this were a movie,it would be just the right time to conveniently drink some wine and perform a spit take. But my carpets were white and stains weren't on my to-do list. 

"Oh," I said,my hand finding its way to my chest as I cocked my head to the side, "so now I'm your girlfriend?" Now his attention was fully on me. His eyes softened a bit but still kept their intensity. 

"I thought we were gonna make this work?" he questioned. I dramatically took a seat on the couch and crossed my legs.I placed my hands under my chin.

"Oh so you broke up with her?" I asked ,my fingers tapping his chin,waiting for a response. His hatred-filled glare was not replaced by a look of guilt.I nodded my head knowing exactly what was about to come.

"You didn't,did you? So what exactly did you want to make work? Having two girls at the same time? Was that it?"  His eyes hardened at my accusation which he chose to ignore.

"You didn't answer me. Who is he?" he asked,motioning towards Zayn. If he was going to blatantly ignore my questions, I had no problem with doing the same. 

A soft chuckle echoed in the background. I turned my head to see Zayn laughing,somehow finding humour in this whole situation. This however pissed Maluma off even more.

"What the hell are you laughing for?" he asked,crossing his arms like a little child who didn't get their way. Zayn waited until his chuckling died down before he answered.

"Oh nothing," he said, his infamous smirk making its appearance on his face," I'm just finding it funny that she actually had a thing for you. The very idea is absurd!" he purposely began to chuckle once more as he knew it would enrage Maluma. Before Maluma could reply, Zayn began to talk again,inching towards me.

"Like seriously , are you a douchebag magnet or what?" he said as he plopped down beside me on the couch. And that ladies and gentlemen was my sad reality. It had appeared that only the bad seeds were attracted to me and I had more than enough proof.

"Oh and my name's Zayn by the way,since you wanted to know so badly" Maluma gritted his teeth,obviously annoyed with the englishman.

"Why are you in my girlfriend's apartment?" Maluma asked,still referring to me as the 'g' word. Zayn glanced at me then at Maluma a couple of times but they finally settled  on me.

"I thought you guys just settle that ' I ain't your girlfriend unless you get rid of your whore' thing." he said,a quizzical look etched on  his face. I but down on my lip to prevent me from laughing and gave him a slight shrug. He gave me a small pout then shook his head.

" And by the way, your 'girlfriend' is 22. An adult. I came here to do adult things with her, if that answers the why in your question." He mimicked my position and flung his right leg over his left knee as his arm  outstretched behind me. The look on Maluma's face was enough warning of what was about to come and I was not in the mood for a full fledged fist fight in my spanking new apartment. I quickly stood up, preventing him from getting any closer to Zayn who was more than ready to entertain the physical fight. I grabbed his hand and without saying a word I dragged him to my bedroom.

"Really Lou? Adult things with him? " Although his face was completely serious, I could help but to release a light chuckle.

"Its not what you think" I said,shaking my head. But he wasn't convinced. He sat on the bed and rested his head in the palm of his hands. I watched  as he ran his hands over his face until they settled behind his neck. We were overcome by silence until I saw that his eyes were watering.

"You hate me now don't you? I'm gonna lose you,aren't I" My lips morphed into a frown. Although I had my share of crying and being emotional,I was one of those awkward people who didn't know what to do during those circumstances. I slowly made my way over to him and sat beside him. Being the awkward person I was, I rubbed his back,not knowing what to say to him. But that was short-lived as he took my hand in his.

"I'm sorry ,Lou. I truly am. I'm sorry for all the pain I've caused you. You don't deserve any of it." He kissed each of my hands. "Please, forgive me. I can't lose you". I slowly slipped my hand out of his to wipe away the single tear that fell.

"I could never hate you" I said truthfully. I've tried these past few weeks to muster up as much hatred and anger as I could towards him but it always seemed to fade away when he was here.

"I just don't know if I still love you".

Ok,where the hell did that come from? Love? Did I really just say love? Did the wretched 'L' word actually leave my lips.

"You love me?" he asked,staring at me in surprise. I quickly shook my head and said a firm no. I had absolutely no clue why that word was in my vocabulary much less why I uttered it to him.I watched as he took a sigh of relief which resulted in a painful pang in my chest. 

Well damn.