Break up with your boyfriend

Chapter five: if I were you, I'd watch my tone

Notes: did I finish this at 3 going on 4 in the morning on a Monday? Yes. Should you guys instead of judging me for my poor sleep habits be grateful that I updated so soon after the last update? Yes.

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Zayn isn't standing on the porch for too much longer before Adam's mother is opening the door with a bright smile on her face.

"Zayn! It's nice to see you again honey." She greets warmly, immediately pulling him into her tight embrace. It makes him feel all the more guilty. If only she knew what he was about to do to her son. Swallowing slightly hard, Zayn forces a smile onto his face as he hugs her back. "It's nice to see you again too, Mrs. Payne." He hums before they're pulling away. The blonde woman gives him a narrow eyed look before placing both her hands on each of her hips at his words, "Now what have I told you about that? You are more than welcomed to call me Karen and you know it." She lightly scolds and it brings a more genuine smile to Zayn's face.

"But I like calling you Mrs. Payne, it makes my pain puns make sense." He responds jokingly, trying his best to relax even though it felt like his heart was about to beat right out of his chest. "You know, like Mrs. Payne brings the pain, grrr." He does an imitation of tiger claws and a bite that has the older woman chuckling in amusement. "That sounds fair enough, come on inside love." She says gesturing for him to enter the house. He stares at the threshold for a moment with hesitation in his gaze before stepping forward and into the house.

It feels a lot like signing his very own death certificate.

In the entryway, the raven haired boy pauses for a moment to take off his shoes and place them neatly on the shoe rack right next to the front door. He begins to shrug off his jacket, all while Karen stands a few feet away. "I just can't wait for you to meet my oldest son Liam, I know Adam probably talks about him a lot to you." The woman gushes and she isn't exactly wrong. Adam does talk about his older brother quite a lot, though maybe not in the way Karen thinks.

Adam had never really given any descriptions of Liam or the way he behaved. Most of their conversations regarding the older sibling were usually ranting sessions for Adam where he bashed the poor guy. The most Zayn knew about him was the fact that he had a different dad which led to him saying some pretty shitty things to Adam in the past. But other than that, he knew next to nothing about the oldest Payne. He didn't even know what looked like.

And to be fair, the Paynes don't exactly have any photos hanging up on display seeing as it doesn't match the 'aesthetics' of their house (according to Adam), so Zayn can't really be blamed too much for it. "Can't wait to meet him." He says sending her back a tiny smile before hanging up his jacket on the coat rack as well.

"We ordered Chinese takeout from Liam's favorite place for dinner, I hope that's okay." She shoots him a slightly concerned look that he waves off, "Yeah, that's completely okay. I love Chinese food." He shrugs, trailing after the woman. "Goodie, it came just a few minutes before you got here so it's all already set up in the dinning room and still warm." Karen assures as she leads the way towards the dinning room.

With not too much of a choice, wordlessly Zayn follows behind her.

"Look who I found." Karen announces in a lighthearted tone as she enters the dinning room with Zayn in tow, directly behind her. At her words, the room's occupants look in their direction and Zayn's stomach drops when familiar brown eyes lock with his own. He feels frozen at the sight of the man, his feet rooted to the floor. He's almost positive that his heart has stopped beating in his chest but that can't be right because he can still hear it pounding in his ears. He stares at the man like a deer caught in headlights and in return after a few seconds, the man soon smirks. The motherfucker smirks at him as if it has finally clicked in his mind just who Zayn is.