Stealing Hearts (Zayn Malik Fanfiction)

CHAPTER THREE

Getting my life back on the rails again, isn’t that hard. I catch Harry frowning at me when he’s with me, thinking I’m not seeing it. But I do and I know that he finds it utterly bizarre how I take this whole thing so easy. But what can I do? I have a weekend to take it all in and on Monday I have to stand in front of my class again. So there is no time for losing control.

Two weeks pass and I find myself thinking a lot less about the deep brown eyes after a couple of days. Work creeps up on me and I literally have no time to think about that stuff. It’s for the better though.  It’s a bit unhealthy to think like that about someone who was pointing a gun at you.

It’s Thursday and school’s over. I pack my things in my classroom and go down the two flights of stairs again, ready to leave the building. But when I want to cross the playground I notice Lucas sitting on the ground, with his backpack next to him. Lucas is one of the kids in my class and normally his mother picks him up just after school, so it was weird, seeing him sit alone at this time of the day.

‘Lucas? Where is your mom?’ I ask him when I place down my own bag and sit next to him.

He looks up, not worried at all. ‘Mommy has to work longer today. My uncle will pick me up, but he will be half an hour later he said.’

‘He’s taking longer than half an hour.’ I tell him, looking at my watch. School finished almost an hour ago.

‘Is he?’ Lucas asked.

I nodded with a small smile.

‘Are you sure I don’t have to call someone?’

‘No… He’ll be here.’

‘Is it okay I wait with you?’

‘Of course Miss White.’

I propose we take a look at his homework. He has to read a couple of pages from his book. We read it together out loud and by the time we want to start with the math assignment, I hear footsteps coming closer. We both look up at the same time, looking at a dark haired man heading towards us.

‘Uncle Zayn!’ Lucas exclaims in excitement, jumping up and running towards the man to give him a hug.

‘Hey, buddy.’ The man rubs the back of the kid and runs his hand roughly through the light brown hairs of Lucas. ‘I’m sorry I’m later. I got caught up with something.’

I wonder if Lucas even hears what his uncle says. He seems too excited to notice. I smile at the sight and stand up from the ground as well.

When Lucas lets go of him, the man steps forward to shake my hand. ‘Thank you for taking care of him. I appreciate it.’ And just when he’s about to smile after looking up at me, his face freezes for a split second.  

‘That’s Miss White, Uncle Zayn. She’s my teacher.’ I hear Lucas say and I vaguely see him pull the man’s sleeve. Quickly his eyes goes back to normal again and he smiles. His smile is warm and it brightens his whole face.

‘Oh. Well. Nice to meet you then.’ He mumbles quickly, looking away faster than normal. That’s weird. It’s like he saw something he didn’t want to see.

‘Nice to meet you too.’ I say. But I don’t trust him and I’m not planning on letting him leave with Lucas just like that.

‘Pack your things, Lucas. Or your mom will be home before us.’ His voice is low and slow. Sexy in a way. Vaguely familiar too. He wears a dark grey long sleeved shirt. The sleeves rolled up to his elbows. A black pair of skinny jeans with boots at the bottom. He kind of looks very bad ass with his dark hair in a quiff and his dark beard contouring his cheekbones.

‘Are you her brother or the father’s brother.’ I ask, knowing I shouldn’t do this. But I really want to know how he is related to Lucas. My voice doesn’t make him look at my face again. He just stares at Lucas packing his back pack while he answers.

‘No. It’s not like that. I’m not really his uncle. I’ve lived next to them for a long time and he just calls me uncle Zayn, now. But I’m not really related.’ He explains. And it all falls into place, because neither Lucas, or his dad or his mother seem like they could be related to this man.

‘And you take care of him once in a while then?’ I guess.

He nods. ‘I do.’

He definitely does not want to talk anymore. But Lucas takes a long time to make sure everything is neatly packed.

‘Have I seen you before?’ My thoughts slip. I didn’t mean to say this out loud but I did and I can hit myself in the head.

It does make him look up in shock. Like I said the one thing I shouldn’t say. His eyes are wide and they wait for more to come. It’s the first time I really look at them and I have nothing more to say. I just stare back, ready to drop my jaw when I realize it.

And he soon figures out the mistake he made by looking at me.

I flash back to the café I sat in two weeks ago. Staring at the exact same chocolaty brown eyes. Staring at a man who’s conflicted with himself whether he is doing the right thing or not.

And now he stands in front of me again. Without a mask. Without a gun. Just picking up a child who seems to love him a lot. A child who calls him uncle although he is definitely not his uncle, but still family in a way.

‘Come on, Lucas.’ I hear the man say, turning his back on me and walking away in a faster pace than usual. I hear Lucas shout goodbye to me, but I’m too in shock to reply. I just stand there, frozen in the spot. There was no way of me to think I would ever see him again. And suddenly being in the position to hand him over to the police, took me off guard. Because I technically could. And he knew that too. I’m able to track him down and call the mom and dad of Lucas. I’m able to make sure he gets arrested. I’m able to maybe arrest all of them at the same time.

But I’m also able to take away Lucas’ uncle. And I’m able to punish a man who, in my opinion, looks like he gets  punished every single day in a lot of more ways than just getting arrested by the cops.