CHAPTER 18

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“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” -Lao Tzu

~

A few days (eight, to be precise) later while Autumn lay on her couch watching Scarlett making a sandwich in the kitchen, Nathan standing next to her mechanically speaking, the doorbell rang.

She sat up, throwing the cushion off of her and walked towards the door. When she opened the door and saw the visitor, she stood there dumbfounded.

“Hey.” Zayn said, smiling nervously. “Don’t close the door.” he said, holding the door before Autumn could slam it shut. “Hear me out. “

Autumn didn’t say anything. She was, in reality, amazed at how she was feeling. No matter how much she said she could deal with it, she couldn’t. Just the sight of him made her heart skip a beat. She wanted to forget everything, all the resolutions she had made and just hug him and never let go.

“Please.” He added. She sighed, coming back to reality.

It’s time to deal with it, she thought and let him in without saying a word. He took the hint and without wasting any more time, he entered the apartment. He spotted Scarlett and Nathan and smiled at them. They looked surprised to see him, but quickly recovered.

“Hey!” Scarlett greeted him. “What on earth are you doing here?”

Zayn just shrugged. Scarlett smiled and motioned Nathan to follow her out.

As Scarlett and Nathan walked out the apartment, Zayn turned to face Autumn. As soon he heard the main door shut, he pointed towards it and said “What’s going on between them?”

Autumn still stood near the door, and still didn’t say anything. Zayn asked again, “They’re dating?”

Autumn clear her throat awkwardly and replied, “I don’t know what their deal is.”

Zayn sat down on the couch and scrunched up his face in confusion. “What?”

“Sometimes I feel like they are and sometimes I feel like they’re not.”

“Why don’t you just ask?” he said pulling his legs up, sitting casually.

“Because,” Autumn replied, “It’s none of my business.” She walked towards him and asked “What are you doing here? When did you get back? You should have called.”

“I should have, but then you would just ignore me. So…yeah. Surprise!”

Autumn rolled her eyes. “Look.” She started. “About everything-“

He cut her off. “I’m gonna tell you something and you’re gonna promise not to yell at me.”

She looked at him, confused but eventually gave a nod.

“Remember when Harry called you up and you guys had this heart to heart?”

“Yeah…?” She said, unsure where this was going and how Zayn knew about that.

“I was sort of there and the phone was kind of on speaker.” He said without a pause and closed his eyes waiting for the impact.

Sure enough, Autumn yelled, “WHAT?! I’M GOING TO KILL HIM!”

Zayn opened his eyes and gave a slight grin. “Yeah, you do that.” He said.

Autumn put her head in her hands. She groaned.

“It’s no big deal.” Zayn said, trying to sound casual when in fact that conversation had changed his life.

She looked at him, her eyes flared with anger. “No big deal?!” she mimicked him. “Just when I thought nothing more embarrassing was left to happen!”

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