k i w i

- 38 -

- arabella -

Clapping along with the crowd of people, I sat up on my chair as my butt started to hurt. I had been sitting here for about an hour now, guy after guy just continued going up on stage and giving long speeches.

"Pareces que tienes lombrises." (it looks like you got worms) Regina hissed to me as she held onto my elbow, sitting me back down when I was about to reposition. "Sientate y estate en paz." (sit down and stop moving)

Sighing with a roll of eyes, I followed her harsh instructions and did as was told. Feeling a hand resting on my lower back, I look over my shoulder at Zayn, raising an eyebrow at him.

"It's almost over." He chuckled, his thumb rubbing lightly my back. "After this, its time for the party next door."

"Really?" I whisper back, a little excited that it was all worth it. "Yes!"

"But you're pregnant, so we're gonna head home early." He added, giving me a sweet smile as I turn to look down at my belly, a frown definitely forming. "We can party-"

"No." I whined back, turning my body and leaning against his chest. "I want to party with Louis."

He chuckled, shaking his head and patting my head as he looked to the front. I began to play with his fingers, one of them holding a ring.

"We got to get up." He said all of a sudden, nudging me to sit back up and then pulling me up to my feet. "Come on, I want to get out of here as soon as possible."

I turned to Regina, tugging on her arm as she spoke with her son. "Gina, I'm going to get going now-"

"No, you gotta stay." She said back, not bothering to look at me as she fixed Julian's suit. Once she was done, she looked at me over her shoulder, giving me a hard look. "Aunt El is here. I'm sure she'll love to see your baby and the dad."

"I saw her already." Julian piped in, fixing his hair as he smirked. "Gave me a check to get myself something nice."

"Are you?" I ask, smirking back knowing that the check was not just a hundred dollars, but more. "We are in New York."

"Shut up." Regina groaned, fixing her gown and hair. "He's barely fifteen, Bella. Don't be a bad influence."

Biting my lip to keep myself from saying something nasty, I nod and looked back at Julian, sending him a wink. "Get something other than clothes. You already have tons of that."

Turning around to grab a hold of Zayn's hand, I smile up at him and began to pull him behind me. We squeezed our way around, me trying to find Aunt El and him trying to get us out of here.

"There she is." I whisper to myself, turning back to Zayn and sighing loud enough to catch his attention. "Hey, Zayn? We're going to meet my dear aunt, so can you like, um, go along with the story?"

"W-What story?" He asked back, uncertain as I began to pull him again. "Hey, Arabella, calm down!"

Shaking my head, I continued to pull him, trying to act normal as I stood behind a man that she was talking to. Squeezing Zayn's hand, I quickly moved the ring from my pointed finger to my ring finger.

"Bella Doll, is that you?" She almost squealed, gasping and looking over the man's shoulder, she turned to him and smiled politely. "Mr. Hemmings, it was nice to talk to you. Shall we talk business later?"

They said their goodbyes, I tugged Zayn closer and didn't even let go when Aunt El brought me to a hug.

"Hi, auntie E." I muttered to her ear, trying to put some space between her body and my belly-she could probably squeeze it. "How are you?"

"I'm wonderful!" She beamed, turning her eyes to my belly, her mouth falling open and her hands resting above the bump. "Oh, dear, so it is true. You are pregnant."

Giving her a small smile, I nod. "I am."

Her eyes then turned to Zayn, she gazed at him, examining him before extending her hand to him. "I'm Elena Astor."

Zayn eyed me, then turned back to her and shook her hand back. "Zayn Malik."

"Ah, an entrepreneur." She said, her tone sarcastic as she pulled her hands back to her side. "Malik. That's a good business that your father created there, Mr. Malik."

"Thank you, Miss Astor." Zayn politely replied, holding tighter to my hand. "We're proud of that."

"You should be." Aunt El said back, biting back as the atmosphere began to get awkward. I cleared my throat, shaking my head at her as she put on a smile. "Oh my, God, I saw Julian, he is so handsome! And his dad-"

"Aunt Elena," I finally cut her off, already knowing where this was going. "I am not going to talk about this right now."

"What's the harm anyway, Bella?" She asked, insisting to keep on the subject. "He went to an ivy league school, works with his father-"

"Zayn has a whole ass business!" I almost yell back, raising our hands and using my other to motion to him. "I just can't reverse the baby and go consume one with Bill."

Did I just do that?

Realizing that I had raise my voice at her, I took a step back and looked around, thankfully everyone in their own world to notice us.

"I-I'm sorry." I whisper, letting go of Zayn's hand and bringing it up to my mouth, my throat tightening a little bit. "I am so sorry, auntie El."

I just fucked things up for myself, Zayn, and maybe my whole damn family.

She gave me back an emotionless look, her smile long gone. "Well, at least you were smart enough to get engage. I'll see you some other time."

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