ROMANCE | "Sometimes things change."
A marriage arranged to help her start a new life has left Isabelle and Zayn stuck in the middle of a relationship neither of them are enjoying.
In the beginning, this marriage wasn't meant to be about love, rathe...
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(Isabelle's POV)
When we get back inside, Zayn's mom and my mom are both prepping for dinner.
"What's on for tonight?" Zayn asks, grabbing my hand to have me follow him to the kitchen.
"Spaghetti, hope you guys are up for that."
"Anything you make, I'll happily have." I smile.
Ms. Malik giggles and continues on with my mom while they make dinner.
"Well, we will get back to you two when it's ready." My mom says, basically shooing us away.
With that, Zayn and I go to the living room and put on a TV show before sitting together and watching it while we wait. He puts his arm around my shoulders while we sit and, after a little while, I find myself leaning back on him. At first, being intimate with him felt a little foreign but the more time I've spent with him, the more I find myself wishing that we could have met so much sooner.
"You two look comfortable." My mom chuckles to herself as she brings in two plates of spaghetti for us.
"Dinner in the living room?" I question, seeing as my mother always insisted on eating in the dining room at home.
"As I said, you two seem comfortable. There's no need to disturb you both." She winks.
Ms. Malik follows my mom in with two more plates - one for her and one for my mom. They take a seat around the TV while we all sit, eating and watching.
As we eat, the silence between everyone feels less awkward and more comfortable. It's as if we've done this every night our entire lives and this is simply routine. That is until Zayn manages to spill an entire forkful of pasta and sauce onto his lap.
"Oh my... are you kidding me?" He scoffs before laughing at himself.
"Oh Z, come on." His mother laughs.
"I've got it!" I get up quickly, rushing to the kitchen to grab a bunch of paper towels - some wet and some dry.
When I return, I take Zayn's plate from him and hand him some paper towel to let him get the bulk of it off before I dab the remains on his chest with a wet paper towel.
"Never a dull moment with you, Zayn." I chuckle, causing everyone to laugh.
"Nope never." He laughs. "I guess I'll be right back. I'll go change."
. . .
After Zayn changes and everyone is finished eating, we all return to the living room to continue to watch TV.
While I sit in Zayn's arms, I find myself looking up at him. The way his eyes lay softly on the TV and his body shakes slightly whenever he laughs or scoffs at something someone said in the show. The blue light from the screen lights up his face and causes his eyes to gleam. It takes me back to the lake and how that night changed everything. So much change all at once could cause someone to lose themselves within it, but I feel like I've somehow managed to find some of myself with him. I've been able to achieve a little bit of normal back within this chaos.
I look to my mother and his mother as they laugh in-sync, truly showing how good of friends they are by looking to each other whenever they laugh. It's as if they're more interested in seeing the other's reaction aside from actually reacting to the jokes themselves. It warms my heart.
Then, among my thoughts, I realize that this is it. This is my family, my future. We could have this all the time. I could always know that Zayn is there to hold me at the end of the day. I'd never miss the look in his eyes when he looks at me or the way his smile peaks off to one side whenever I'm near. The way he loves me won't go away and I had forgotten that not every relationship ends in hate. Some never end. I don't know what's in store for Zayn and I, but I know that I could never hate him - ever.
In the very same way that I don't think my love for him could ever end.
I love him and I can't wait to have this life forever.
