Wednesday came faster than I had expected. And the quiz we were worrying about was over with. Now, I was waiting for Waliyha and Aaroosa to finish their classes for the day so we could go shopping for Milan.
"How was the quiz?" Seif asked joining me while I waited for the girls after he finished his lecture.
"Piece of cake." I smiled once I noticed him taking a seat next to me.
"I knew you would ace it." He said with a half-smile.
"I had an amazing tutor, you should totally call him if you are stuck on anything." I joked to lighten his mood a little since I noticed he wasn't his usual self.
Chuckling lightly, he nodded without replying which struck me as odd. He is usually a bit more talkative as this, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," He gave me another smile, "Did that Sarah girl bother you again?" He asked changing the subject.
"No, I didn't really see her all day. How about you? Anything that's bothering you lately?" I said cheekily directing my attention back at him. I wasn't just going to let him change the subject to me when he was obviously the one with something on his mind.
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." He brushed it off with smile, a kinder one this time not the forced half-smile he's been giving me all day.
Raising a brow at him and crossing my arms, I just gave him a look that said I wasn't buying what he was telling me.
Cracking a sighed laugh, he looked at me rolling his eyes, "What?"
"You what? I thought we were best friends. You never tell me nothing." I frowned faking that I was mad at him.
"There is nothing to tell." He shrugged.
"Okai, say Wallah there is nothing bothering you." This was a bit childish of me but I knew Seif would never lie if he swore.
"Yeah." He shrugged.
"You didn't say Wallah, so there is something." I 'ahed' him.
"I fought with my mother," He shrugged again making me irritated with him. He always thinks whatever he was going through was never important enough.
"Stop doing that." I said annoyed.
"What?" He asked confused.
"Making it look like nothing. It's obviously bothering you so it's important." I said meaning every word I said.
"Because it's normal things." He said trying to justify his action.
"But I still want to hear about. Unless you are not comfortable enough to talk to me." I said only now realizing that whatever was bothering him might actually be something too private to him and I was being a bit too noisy.
"Not at all. I just don't want to bother you." He said almost too fast.
"You are not." I assured him.
"I fought with my mother." He shrugged. He seems to be doing it involuntarily so I'm letting it go.
"About school?" I asked knowing she bugs him most about his studies.
"Not really. She thinks I'm changing. And she isn't really a fan of 'my new changes'." He chuckled air quoting the last part.
"Maybe you have changed but why is it a bad thing?" I asked him more curious than anything. I can't deny I had noticed the change in Seif. Maybe not in his outside appearance but definitely in his behavior. He was more open to people now, compared to his shy self. He wasn't scared of sharing his opinion or talking back when someone was being rude to him but he was still very polite still.
"To her, it is. She thinks I'm slacking in my studies and," He stopped himself.
"And?" I asked curious.
"You know she is just too strict sometimes. She, um, doesn't like me socializing with girls that much." He said it warily. I knew his mom meant me. She had a fight about our friendship before. I think the only time she actually liked me was when I was invited to eat iftar with them, but that was about it. She never did like me.
"I think most Arab parents are a bit strict in that way. If my dad would have it his way, I would've never gotten engaged." I tried lighting up the mood. I don't want to make him feel uncomfortable that he had told me this now.
Chuckling lightly, he looked down at his hand as he mumbled a 'yeah'. Well, that lightened the mood alright.
**
Saturday couldn't come any slower, the last couple of days literally dragged on as I counted down the days for Milan. I was waiting for my mom, Nadia and Ella to call me when they arrive to London so I could met up with them at Selfridges to shop.
It was already midday and I was bored. My body clock woke me up at 7 in the morning. I tried calling Zayn but he seemed to be busy, or sleeping as he hadn't picked up or called me back since, so I had been doing nothing for the past five hours.
My phone finally buzzed and I literally jumped, "Hello?"
"Hey baby. We are here." My mom chanted excitedly.
"Cool, have you checked in yet?" I asked getting up from the couch and going to my room to change.
"Yeah and we're just putting out overnight bags. We should be done in 15 minute. Then we'll head to the shopping places." She said.
"Alright, I'll meet you there." I hanged up throwing the phone on my bed as I roomed my closet.
Picking up the easiest outfit I could, I pulled my famous black skirt with a navy blue shirt and a cotton white scarf. It was a comfy outfit, perfect for a long day of shopping. It only took me like ten minutes to get dressed, so I decided to put some food and water out for Max in case we take too long in our shopping and he gets hungry.
Looking at the clock, I noticed another five minutes had passed. This was torturous. I decided to just head out and hope they wouldn't be late so I won't look a complete loser waiting in the street on my own.
The second I got out of the apartment, my phone rang. Without looking at the caller ID, I answered knowing it must've been my mother, "Are you there?"
"If by there you mean Milan, then not quite. But I will be in two days." Zayn answered making me smile. He baffled me for a second but his voice made me happy. Especially that he sounded excited about the trip.
"Hello stranger." I greeted him.
"Hey babe, who are you meeting?" He asked while somethings shuffled in his background.
"My mom. I told you she was coming to London with Ella and Nadia to shop for Milan." I said walking out of the building and hiding to the shopping center. It was a ten minutes' walk.
"Oh yeah. They are there already?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm going to meet them now. How about you? France treating you alright?" I asked having a better remembering of his schedule now.
"It's alright, haven't really gone exploring. Fans know our every move. Can't really go anywhere without police protection." He sighed.
"Well that sucks." I frowned feeling bad for him. For someone who had been all over the world, he had seen of it as much as I had.
"That's why I got us a private Villa in Milan on a private beach and everything." He said excitedly. His whole mood just brightens whenever he mentioned Milan. It made me that much happier and more excited about it. Not just cause I was going to beautiful Milan for the first time and I would be spending my time Zayn but also because this would be his real vacation for the first time in ages. And he was excited about it, going all out to make it the best for everyone.
"That sounds amazing. I can't wait. I think I've never been to the beach before." I admitted to him.
"Not even the black pool?" He asked.
"Pft, that was for commoners like you. I was a princess." I flattered my eyes like he could see and I heard him laugh whole heartedly making my smile grew so wide. I love his laugh so much, and the fact that I was the one behind it made me swell with happiness.
"Of course you are." I sensed a hint of sarcasm in his voice so I decided to tease him a bit.
"Do you have any doubt about that?" I hummed, "You do know they used to call me your majesty but I decided I like to be treated like everyone else. So I settled for queen M."
He laughed again and I was just over the moon. My stomach had a million butterfly every time his beautiful laugh echoed in my ears.
"Should I be calling you, queen M now? You know to make you feel like us, normal people?" He teased me a bit.
"I can make an exception for you, cause after all you are my bae, so I will settle for queen." I continued whatever I was doing since it made him laugh.
"Well, of course I'll be calling you queen. Because you are the queen of my world." He said with a bit of flintiness that made me blush.
"Oh, you went all cute on me, I can't." I cooed making him laugh again. Seeing me mother from afar, I decided I wouldn't be comfortable being a bit romantic with Zayn while my mom was watching me, "Here is my mom. I'm going to go now, Mr. softie."
"I'm not a softie." He protested.
"Hey darling." My mother said once she was in front of me.
"Totally are." I said to Zayn, mouthing Zayn's name to my mother as I pointed to my phone. She nodded.
"Only for you then." He said back to being a softie.
"Awww, softie." I teased him a bit more.
"Alright, you can stop." He chuckled.
"We have some shopping to do, Zayn." Nadia yelled to Zayn making me widen my eyes. She was crazy.
"Right, you go do your shopping spree now. I'm not gonna take you away any longer. I'ma be going a lot of that in Milan. Tell your mom I said hey. Love you babe" He said waiting for my reply.
"Can't wait then. Love ya more." I said fast blushing.
"You are not married yet!" Nadia rolled her eyes making me Ella chuckle. Hanging up with Zayn I shot her a look.
"Nadia, that's not nice." Mom scolded her but she couldn't care less.
"Love, blah." She pretended to throw up.
"Jealous loner." I smirked thinking I got the funniest comeback at her.
"Cringy couple." She shot back rolling her eyes.
"Girls, please. Aren't you old for those kind of quarreling?" My mother sighed.
"Nah," I said making Nadia laugh and nudge me.
"Childish." She teased.
"Says the biggest baby in the world." I shot back.
"Whatever," She rolled her eyes with a hint of a smile on her face. "Right before I forgot, on our way here we met a girl who was a fan. She rambled about how much she loves you and Zayn. Asked if we could give you this." Nadia handed me a small gift bag.
"Isn't weird how she knew where to find you guys. Like you are not even from London. How did she know that she would meet you?" I asked warily taking the bag.
"I may have mentioned I was going to Selfridges and that you might be there." Nadia said looking at me knowing I was going to be pissed. And she was right.
"Really? You just gave your whereabouts to strangers online? You could've been kidnapped. What if a stalker waited for you and had hurt you?" my voice was loud but I was trying my best not to yell at her. She was so irresponsible some times.
"No one is going to hurt anyone, you are being a drama queen." She rolled her eyes at me.
"A girl legit stalked you to give this to you. You are just lucky she was a fan not some creep online." I lectured her knowing she wasn't even listening but I couldn't help how mad I was.
"Yeah, well just open the bag already. I want to know if she got you something I could steal." Nadia changed the subject to get the heat of her back.
Rolling my eyes, I decided this was enough lecturing for the day. She wasn't even listening, so instead, I opened the bag. It had a little white teddy bear inside.
"What a weird gift?" Nadia snickered looking at the front of the bear.
Widening my eyes, my heart beat increased in my chest as I read the words printed on the bear's t-shirt.
'Trust no one.'
***
A/N
The ending is kind of creepy but it's 6.30AM so again blaming no sleep :P
I can't even write a decent A/N so I'm just going to remind you to vote and comment your opinions. Literally my fav thing about updating.
Love you loads and loads, Mwah x
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