PAYBACK » Zarry ✔

Sixteen

"They had an argument in the bathroom. Well, he was on the phone with him but I was listening in cause it was on speakerphone and he didn't know I had come home. The very next day, Harry ran off to see him and I guess they made up pretty good because he's still seeing him." He cringes.

"Yet you're still doing all those things with him and for him."

"Yeah."

"Stay focused, Zayn." Melissa tells him as she pushes the basket down the aisle. "You make me worry that you'll go back to him one more time and end up staying for good."

"No, no. I'm not. I mean... I am going to miss him. A lot. Harry means everything to me. But at the same time, I know nothing will change. It's just... while I'm here, I don't think it's so wrong to enjoy his company or the things we always enjoy. Who else am I supposed to sleep with without being unfaithful myself, you know? I haven't broken up with him either. Not until the day I move out."

"Well, do you know when you'll be moving out, then?"

"Yes. End of next month so only five weeks away. I've only been working part time so that means I wasn't really making enough to live in an apartment all by myself yet. But as you know, I'm going to full-time soon, so I will."

She nods. "Yeah. I see. It's good to keep him as collateral just in case. Who knows what Harry might do if he finds out you know."

"Exactly."

"He could put you out and replace you with the guy he's cheating with."

Zayn shakes his head. "No. Now that's too far. He'd never do that."

"How do you know?"

Someone walks on the same aisle they're on and starts to browse the shelves very close to them. So they take the basket and keep going on to the next aisle.

"I know because he doesn't love him. The way Harry talks about me to him when he doesn't think I'm listening tells me that. I just can't understand why he's cheating if he doesn't love him though. What is the point of still being with him? I get it's probably the sex. Maybe I'm not giving him enough. I don't know."

"No, don't you dare. This is not your fault. Don't say things like that. Whether it's enough or not, he has the ability to control his actions and he chose not to remain loyal. Even so, as long as you two have been together, he should be comfortable enough to communicate with you and tell you if it isn't. His strange behavior means something else. I can't guess it but there's definitely another reason for it."

Zayn huffs and and looks down at the ground sadly. Her words remind him of the night Harry proclaimed his love for him in front of everyone else at the dinner party when he first opened his firm. Harry had​ promised to remain loyal in every way. But he lied. It hurts to know that he lied and hasn't stopped ever since.

"Well, I don't know. And I guess it won't matter whether there is a reason or not if I'm planning on leaving. But I do have to admit something."

"Sure. What?"

"If I'm going to be alone, I just want Harry to tell me why. Yeah, I already know why but I want him to look me in my eye and tell me the reason I'm leaving him so that he understands what he's fucked up. I'd be satisfied with that."

She looks apprehensive. "The way he's been lying and the way he lied when he first confronted you makes me think he'll never do that. Not unless you tie him up or pin him down and make him say it."

Zayn looks at her but the way he looks at her causes her to stop walking and draw back. "But you would never do that. You would never harm him before you leave him. Right?"