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The clock is ticking its time away. I hate the feeling. My head is tired, my body is tired and all I want to do is leave this tiny, claustrophobic office and go outside for fresh air. But I’m stuck. Stuck with two other, way to over talkative, people in the room.‘- and we really believe that we should set some ground rules for Jasper. He needs to know when something’s wrong, so maybe we can set out some punishments for him.’If I was wearing sunglasses right now, I probably would roll my eyes at this very moment. I desperately look over to Bert, hoping he’ll say something against it. But he just stays silent.‘Well, that can be effective from time to time…’ I start, slowly and hesitantly. ‘But I do think we should focus harder on a kind of rewarding system what works for him. A young child gets a lot more confidence and strength to do the good again, when you reward him. Counts for every age, as a matter of fact.’ I say in my most friendliest voice although I really have a feeling I don’t look friendly at all.‘Rewards don’t work for him. Punishments work. It’s better like that. Don’t you think I know my child?’ The mother spits back, suddenly very defensive.Great. Absolutely great.‘No, of course you know Jasper better than anyone. I’m not insinuating that by any means. I just think we don’t have to forget to reward him. When we focus on the positive things, he will feel better as well.’‘It’s not going to work for him.’ She finishes. And I know with her words and her tone that I can’t bring anything other into her mind.‘Alright. Maybe Miss White can spend some time on thinking of things that might work for Jasper this weekend. We can maybe set a date for next month to come together again?’ Bert finally says.The mother of Jasper agrees and from that moment I stop listening to whatever they are saying. I vaguely note down the date Bert types in in his computer, but I don’t pay attention to whatever the mother and Bert say to each other. I say goodbye to her when she leaves and with shaking her hand I can feel that she doesn’t like me. Or better… She doesn’t like my age. This whole conversation consists out of her thinking I’m too young to take care of her son in my class. She feels like she has more knowledge. And of course she has more knowledge when it comes to her son. But I have all the knowledge I need to do my profession right. I graduated as a teacher. I got my degree. And she doesn’t seem to realize that.‘Take a good sleep. You probably need it.’ Bert smiles before walking into his office again. I don’t really answer. I mumble something about wishing him a great weekend. And that is it for me. I walk down the school corridor, up two flights of stairs to my classroom to pick up all my stuff. Then I go back down again and finally I’m able to step outside, feel the cold night air hit my warm cheeks.My head is hurting. And I really just want to be home. It’s an hour drive. At least. First with the tube, than with the bus. It would be much easier by car. But I don’t have the money to buy myself one yet, so this is what I have to deal with.Unless…I quickly take out my phone and search for the right person in my contacts, hoping he would answer.‘Evelyn!’ I hear the usual low but excited voice on the other end of the line.‘Hey, Harry. Are you home?’ I’m too tired to be more subtle.‘Almost. Everything okay?’‘Yes. I’m fine. Had a rough day. Do you mind driving through South Kensington on your way?’‘I can get there in half an hour I guess…’ He says without any hesitation. I love that Harry doesn’t even think about it. He just does it. ‘But please go inside somewhere. Don’t hang around on the streets. It’s late already.’ He finishes.‘Mhmm. Will do!’ My eyes close at the realisation I don’t have to go on the tube nor the bus. I just have to wait for my driver to come, and I can live with that. ‘Text me when you are here. Thank you Harry.’‘I will. See you in thirty minutes, miss White.’I hear him chuckle just before he hangs up. Just before I’m ready to tell him off.He knows I hate it when he calls me like that. Especially after hard working days. He only is allowed to call me with my name. Everyone is. Except for my second graders in class. For them I’m Miss White.I step in the closest café I can find. And order myself a hot chocolate. I could go for something stronger but I figure it is not the best idea. I’m not even sure if I would be able to stop.It’s nice, sitting there. Weirdly enough there is no other person in the café except for the bartender and his wife, who is doing the dishes. It’s Friday night. Normally the pubs in London are packed, but apparently this one isn’t that popular. I don’t mind though. The hot chocolate is good and let that be everything I want right now.But being alone, makes the mind go crazy and before I know it I’m thinking about the conversation I just had with Jasper’s mom. Jasper is one of my kids in class. Second grade. He’s a good worker and he’s basically good at everything. His behaviour though, isn’t really how it’s supposed to be. He can’t concentrate, can’t sit still and has a lot of problems with social behaviour. That’s why I sat together with his mother and an elder teacher to find a solution for that. The thing with parents is, that they all want the best for their child. I understand that, completely. But sometimes they don’t realise that I have twenty other kids to take care off, every single one of them with individual problems and needs. That’s what makes these conversations with parents hard. It only adds to it that she wants to focus on punishments, when I am completely against that system.In the corner of my eye I catch three men coming in the café, but I don’t really look up. My hot chocolate is almost gone and it won’t be long until Harry’s here. I start to reach for my wallet to leave some cash on the table, until suddenly I hear a gasp. It makes me look up, not realizing where I’m getting myself into.Three masked men in the café.One of them pointing a gun at the bartender and his wife.One of them screaming and shouting to give money.And the last one… The brown eyed one… Pointing a gun at me.

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I sit there… frozen in the spot, staring at the eyes of the person in front of me, trying to figure out something I can do. But I soon realize there is basically nothing I can do. And it sure as hell doesn’t make me feel any better. So I just stay put. I vaguely notice the bartender and the woman taking the money from the cash register. But I keep staring in the eyes of the enemy in front of me. It’s like I can’t shake him. I can’t leave the eyes.Apart from the fact that his eyes are a beautiful chocolaty brown, I also see so many different hidden emotions. It’s amazing how they give away everything he’s trying to hide. He is completely dressed in black, including his mask. The only notification for me that he is human, are his eyes. So maybe that is the reason why I’m intrigued by them so much. They scream confusion and I can imagine him frowning behind his mask, although I’m not able to see. I know he’s not going to kill me. I get the feeling this guy is not in this at all and that it’s not his choice. That he’d rather be somewhere else. And that there is a lot more to it then I’ll ever be able to understand. Suddenly the shouting man, without a gun, storms over to me and out of reflex I shoot my hands up in the air. But that’s apparently not what he needs me to do.‘Give your money.’ He commands, pointing at my bag on the table.I don’t reply. I just do what he asks.It hurts though. Taking out the hundred pound I have in my wallet. Money I work for and money I need.I lay it on the table for him to grab it and when he does, he immediately grabs my wrist so firmly I surely must have whimpered.‘You have more. I want everything.’ He spits in my face. His voice is muffled because of the mask covering his mouth. I don’t like his eyes. His eyes are mean and full of hatred. This man is evil. I can tell by just one look. I feel like he probably is the leader.‘I don’t have more.’ I’m able to croak out to my own surprise.‘Bullshit. You’re a woman. Women have cash in their bags all the time.’This is the second time today I want to roll my eyes. He’s apparently not one of the smartest either.‘I’m not every women! I-…’‘DON’T GIVE ME THE TONE.’ He shouts at me and in the process he grabs the gun from the brown eyed man and points it at me.Now… I’m scared.I catch myself meeting the eyes of the brown eyed one, searching for something. It’s hard to pin point what I’m searching for, but something tells me I can find it with him.‘She doesn’t have more money, dude. We have enough.’ I hear a voice say and I realize that’s what I’m searching for. When the raging man shifts his eyes to his brown eyed companion I know the words are coming from him. And somehow it doesn’t surprise me.‘It’s taking too long. We need to leave.’ A higher pitched voice says behind the two in front of me. It’s coming from the man with the other gun. And all I can do is hope that the leader follows the other two this time.‘For fuck sakes.’ He mutters, letting go of my wrist and lowering his gun. ‘Out. Out. OUT.’ He screams, and before I realize what’s happening, they’re running out of the café, disappearing in the dark of the night.——-‘Evelyn. Can you please talk to me?’ Harry repeats for the seventh time already when he opens my own front door for me and leads me into the living room.‘I’m fine, Haz! Really. Just a little bit shaken up. That’s all.’He scoffs. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me right? They pointed a gun at you. Shaken up is the least you can say. I thought you would cry and scream and need comfort. I’m just waiting here to give you that when you need it.’I smile at his words, while I sit myself down after his insisting pushes to make me sit on the couch.When Harry arrived, the police already was asking all the people involved about what happened and what the three men looked like. It was probably one of the hardest things I had to do. I only could give them eye colours and a vague description of how they were built.The one with the higher pitched voice I couldn’t say much about. He was the shortest of all of them. But somehow I didn’t believe he was the youngest. The leader was the tallest. His eyes were bright blue and he had a scar just above his left eye. He was bigger than the other two men. But I wasn’t able to tell them much more about him. The one with the brown eyes gave me the feeling to have dark hair. I could swear to see the upper part of his black beard peaking over the edge of his mask where his eyes appeared. But it was all so vague… And the more time passed, the more I doubted every single description. Except for the brown eyes. I was sure about those. Harry practically ran inside the café and hugged me in the middle of the conversation.‘Don’t ever do that to me again.’ He breathed out, still not over the phone call he got ten minutes ago, containing me telling him what had happened. I finished up the descriptions and Harry took me home, asking the whole car ride if I was alright, how I felt and if he could do anything.And that brings us to where I am now. Lying on my sofa, my head on Harry’s lap, staring at the ceiling above me and trying to get some sense out of everything that had happened.‘I could’ve lost my best friend today, do you realize that?’ Harry’s low voice suddenly speaks while looking down on me.‘You didn’t lose me though. You won’t lose me either.’ I reply, taking his hand to squeeze it once.‘Yes. But I could’ve. It makes me feel sick. How can you stay so calm about this?’‘I don’t know…’ I mumble, meaning what I’m saying, because I actually really don’t know. ‘Maybe it still has to hit me. Maybe it doesn’t.’We don’t say anything for a while. That is one of the great things about Harry. I can talk for hours and hours with him. But at the exact same time we can spend hours in silence and still enjoy each other’s company.Harry is the first one to break the silence this time though. ‘You want me to stay over for the night?’ He asks, already knowing what the answer will be.I close my eyes and smile. ‘Would love that.’ I mean.And it’s when I lay in bed that night, knowing Harry is sleeping on the couch and I’m not alone, that I can’t shake the brown eyes off. I can’t forget about them. And all I keep doing is wonder why he was there pointing that gun at me. Because it didn’t fit him. And it sure as hell didn’t look like anything he wanted to do.

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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.

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It’s Friday night and I’m preparing myself to go out with Harry. We’re not doing anything crazy. We’re just going to Liam and Sophia’s pub for the night. I know Sophia from studying with her. She graduated as a teacher as well, but chose to work with Liam for a while. They are engaged to be married and she loves working with him in the pub. Her grade is just something she has in the back of her pocket, for when she needs it. Liam I got to know because of Sophia and Harry kind of slipped in along the way from my side. Now it’s just all four of us and I can’t imagine better friends than them.I decide to curl my hair today. Mostly I wear it straight, but on occasions I like to go for a more playful look. And that’s what curls do to my dark shoulder length hair. I put on some black eyeliner and mascara, something I only do for the weekend, and I ruffle through my hair just to give it some more volume. I decide to wear tights with a skater skirt and a loose t-shirt tugged in. On top of it I wear my black leather jacket and I choose for my little black boots on my feet. I’m happy with the look I created. Lots of layers, a bit rock and rollish, but still me.I take one of my purses that fits my outfit and just when I put on my shoes, I hear Harry’s car outside. I close my apartment door, make my way downstairs and jump in my best friend’s car. Ending the whole process with a sigh when I sit down.‘Don’t tell me you’re already tired…’ Harry smirks when he steps on the gas again.‘I had a work day today. Some people work on Fridays, remember?’ I bite back jokingly.He chuckles.‘Oh… That’s right. Friday is a part of the week and NOT the weekend.’ His sarcastic tone makes me laugh.Harry doesn’t really work. He’s still figuring out what he really wants to do. He has these little jobs from time to time, nothing more. He is quite lucky his family has a good amount of money. There is not really pressure for him to find a job. But he doesn’t brag about it. He doesn’t even like to talk about it most of the time.‘What did you do today?’ I ask him while resting my head on my arm, leaning against the window.‘Well…’ He starts and I just hear it’s going to be a story. ‘I think I found something I want to do.’I frown at his words and can’t help myself being curious about what he’s about to tell me.‘You do?’‘Yes… I mean… I think I want to write songs.’I take a minute to let that sink in. ‘You want to write songs?’ I say looking at him, totally taken off guard.‘Yes. I was jamming on my piano today and I actually think I wrote a song and I love it.’‘You think you wrote a song?’‘No. I did write a song. But I liked it.’ He smiles, quickly shifting his eyes from the road to me and back.‘Haz… You do realize it’s not easy to earn money with that, do you? You have to be in the business to actually make it as a songwriter. You never did anything other than follow piano lessons!’ I try to bring some sense into him.‘Evelyn Jane White. Why the sudden tone?! It’s Harry Styles you are talking too. People who are named Harry Styles can do anything.’‘Oh… Do they?’ I smirk at him.‘Of course. I’m telling you. In two years I will be a successful songwriter.’‘What’s the title of the song you wrote?’There follows a short silence and I can’t help but grin.‘Uhm.’‘You forgot making a title.’‘I did.’And that’s the reason why I love him. He makes me smile after busy days or busy weeks. He makes my life better. And I wouldn’t trade that for anything.It takes us ten minutes before we arrive at Liam’s. That’s the incredible unoriginal name of Liam’s pub. Looking at the name you can definitely tell his talent lays somewhere else.When Harry opens the door for me, I immediately spot Sophia taking the orders of a table close by the entrance.‘Evelyn.’ She smiles when I meet her and give her a hug. ‘Good to see you girl.’She says hello to Harry as well and points out our spot at the bar. ‘I’m coming in a sec. It’s busy today. Liam is in the back for a moment but he’ll be there any minute.’We go and sit on our usual spots. Harry pulls out the chair for me and I roll my eyes as an answer. It’s sweet though. Harry is a real gentleman and I can imagine his girlfriend being treated as a princess if he has one one day.‘I know the title of my song!’ He suddenly exclaims over the crowd so I can hear what he says.‘You do? What is it?’‘I think I’m going for Night Changes.’ He nods, happy with himself.‘And what is it about?’‘It’s about how fast a night changes and before you know it you wake up and it’s over.’I smile. It’s sounds like a good concept. He seems very serious about this.‘Evelyn. Harry!’ Liam welcomes us behind the bar. I give him a kiss on his cheek and Harry gives him a manly hug. ‘And how is it going?’‘Well. Harry here wrote a song!’ I break the ice immediately.‘You did?’ Liam is surprised. ‘On your piano?’Harry nods proudly.‘Well there is a piano over there, mate. Let it go!’ Liam points out the piano in the corner of the pub I totally forgot about. But I suddenly feel myself getting very excited. ‘HEY EVERYONE. KEEP IT QUIET FOR A SEC. MY FRIEND WROTE A SONG AND HE WANTS TO SHARE IT WITH ALL OF US!’ Liam yells into the café.Harry looks horrified and I can’t hold my laugh.The pub is silent now. Everyone is staring at us, waiting for Harry to step up his game. And then he stands up, followed by some people cheering for him as he walks towards the lonely piano.‘You go, Haz!’ I yell for him. Sophia joins us and sits herself on Harry’s spot for a minute. Just to enjoy the little concert.And then he sits in front of the piano. His back pointed to the public and he starts playing.From the moment I hear his first verse, my jaw drops. Harry’s low and raspy singing voice fills the room and he’s able to silence every single person. The words he chooses fit all so perfectly and every sentence it gets better. The chorus is so simple and yet heart felt, hitting every person in the room right through the heart. It’s weird, but it suddenly is my favourite song ever. Maybe it’s because it’s my best friend sitting there. Or maybe it is because it’s such a good song. I can’t make out what it is. Probably just both.He finishes the song and for a moment no one says something. Until after two seconds everyone starts cheering for him and even asking for more. When Harry turns around, his eyes meeting the crowd, he looks like the happiest child I’ve ever seen. It takes so long for him to find his way back to our spot, because so many people keep interrupting him about how great he did. But when he finally reaches us, I get up from my chair and gif him the biggest hug while standing on my tippy toes. ‘That was incredible, Harry.’ I say in his ear.‘You think so?’ He smiles, so bright and happy, looking like someone who knows what he wants to do in life.And I just smile back, so happy for him.‘I know so.’—-I put the keys in the lock of my door and I just long for my bed. It’s around two am and I’m just not used to going out this late anymore. And then it hits me… This is not even late. Workdays make this late. But it isn’t late. It wasn’t in my college years at least.The night had been great. It was nice to be around friends and finally let my hair down for once. Not worrying about all the things I still have to do, but just enjoy the moment and laugh. I needed that.It takes me some time to unlock the door. But from the moment I open the door, all the tables turn. I suddenly feel someone grab me from behind, covering my mouth with a hand. The person pushes me inside, closes the door and presses me with my back against the door. I don’t even have the time to scream for help. And when I do have time, I’m speechless, looking at the exact same brown eyes for the third time this month.

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He doesn’t remove his hand covering my mouth. He just stares at me, full of anger and frustration, searching for the words he needs to say. But it takes him a while. I can’t help but wonder if he prepared this, or if it was just an act of the moment. Not thought through.‘Have you told anyone?’ He growls. I think back of the moment I saw his beautiful warm smile and I can’t help but get confused. This is the same person, but he does not look like it at all.‘What do you mean?’ I stammer when he loosens his hand on my mouth so I can talk.‘The cops. Did you tell the cops?’‘The cops? Tell the cops what?’This makes him frown.‘You do know who I am? Don’t you?’ He lets go of me. And it’s probably a mistake, but I’m not the one pointing him on it. I’m too intrigued.‘I do…’‘But you didn’t tell the police?’‘I didn’t.’‘Did you tell anyone else?’I waited a couple of seconds.‘No. Except for my cat but I assume that doesn’t count.’It’s a weak effort to make him smile again. But I guess he’s not really in the mood anyway.‘Why?’‘What why?’‘Why didn’t you tell anyone?’He’s confused. He doesn’t understand. And to be fair… I don’t understand myself either. Any other person would go to the police and tell the story. But I just didn’t feel like it being a good thing.‘I don’t know. But if you’re going to keep threatening me like this, I’ll probably have to do it.’ I add. Horrible thing to say though. You don’t say things like that to a man who once pointed a gun at you and is able to carry that exact gun with him right now. Great move, Evelyn. Great move.‘I’m not threatening you!’ He disagrees. ‘I’m just asking you.’‘I know other ways to ask people…’ I mumble. ‘You can for example stop spying on them or stop using so much force while breaking into their house at the same time.’The smallest smile appears on his face. It’s barely noticeable but I can see it and it lightens my heart.‘Good tip.’ He nods, straightening his face again. ‘So you are not going to tell anyone?’I shake my head. ‘Probably not.’‘Probably?’‘Yes. Probably. Next time I’m catching you doing it again, I probably will.’He doesn’t answer or respond. He just looks away and I feel like he’s thinking of going.‘You’re doing it again, don’t you.’ I state and he doesn’t even look up. ‘You should stop though. I’m the only one crazy enough to not go to the cops. Next time it goes wrong, you go to jail. You do realize that?’‘I’m going to ask you again… Because I don’t understand. Why are you doing this?’ He blurts out, not even replying to what I said before.I wait.Mostly because I don’t know what to say.‘Because I don’t think you were ever planning on killing me.’ I say eventuallyThis takes him off guard, but his stern eyes don’t leave mine. He opens his mouth to say something, but closes it again when he realizes it’s not the best thing to say.‘I wasn’t planning on it either.’ He eventually mumbles.‘The yelling dude would though. He would’ve pulled the trigger.’He slowly nods, eyes never leaving mine. ‘But you didn’t let him. You defended me in a way.’He keeps quiet.‘So that makes me not wanting to go to the police. Because next time you are planning on doing something like that again, maybe he will kill someone if you’re not there.’He frowns now.‘I’m not the one deciding if he pulls the trigger. If he wants to shoot. He’ll shoot. You were just lucky.’‘Well… I prefer thinking it was because of you.’‘It was… Partly.’I smile.‘Thank you.’Did I really just say thank you? I really just thanked a dude who stole my money and had the nerve to point a gun at me. I’m turning crazy. I definitely am.‘That’s the last thing you should do… Thank me.’ He mumbles.‘I know. But I did… So yeah… There you go.’ I mutter, leaving his eyes, staring at the ground.He doesn’t leave a long pause before he decides to speak. ‘I’m going. I’m sorry for – for the breaking in thing. I just wanted to know what your plans were.’‘Because you need to be prepared?’‘Something like that… yes.’I nod, making an uncomfortable silence.‘Can I – can I pass?’ He says again, making me realize I’m blocking the door for him.‘Oh, yeah. Of – of course. Sorry.’‘Don’t be.’‘Okay.’I move sideways and he walks past me, opening the door and closing it without looking back. And I stay behind, realizing what just had happened. Not able to process it immediately.The one thing I noticed, and he probably thought I didn’t notice it, but I did, was that he never thanked me for not going to the police. He didn’t thank me for not telling anyone. And it only made me wonder if it was something he secretly hoped for. Maybe he hoped I told someone. Maybe he hoped I warned the police, because the situation for him right now is a lot worse than being arrested.

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Zayn POV‘I fixed it.’ I whisper between my teeth to my companion next to me. And from the moment I touch his arm, his blue eyes move from staring out the car window to me.‘How did you do it?’‘I went to her house.’I see his jaw drop for a split second, but he gathers himself even sooner. ‘You did what?’ He mouths, like he is afraid to say it out loud. ‘Are you fucking crazy? If Stefan knows it, you-‘‘Stefan doesn’t know. And he will not know as long as you don’t say anything.’‘I won’t. You know that.’‘So Stefan won’t know either. It’s done. It’s fixed. She’s not going to the police.’‘Why not? Did you talk to her?’ Confusion is written all over his face. It’s dark but I’m still able to see his cheekbones move.‘I didn’t understand it either. Long story short, she’s not going to tell anyone.’‘That’s one of a kind then.’ He mumbles while raising his eyebrow. It confuses him, just like it confused me.‘Louis?’ I ask softly after a short silence.‘Mhmm?’‘Don’t shoot tonight.’ I just say, knowing that there is a big chance he won’t be able to promise it. Louis’ eyes meet mine again and it’s literally the only thing I can see in the black of the night.‘I’m not planning on it.’‘Good. Me neither.’‘Good.’But we both know plans tend to change quickly. And when plans change, shooting is one of those things that happens first, unfortunately.‘Nick.’ I hear from the passenger seat. It’s pitch black. The only light we have is the light of the moon and a far streetlight. Nothing more. I feel Nick move on my other side, reacting to his name. ‘You go check the alarm. You send a text when we can come. Not more than five minutes. Zayn and Louis are going with me. Niall stays in the car. Got it?’‘Got it.’ Nick repeats, not hesitating for a second when he opens the car door and runs off in the black of the night.‘Niall, you drive away as soon as we’re in the car again. Got it.’I see Niall nod from the driver’s seat. Niall never really says much. He just does what Stefan asks him to do and that’s it. He just needs his money. That’s all he’s here for. And I can’t blame him.Stefan turns to me and Louis. ‘Guns. Stay focused.’ He pleads while handing our deadly weapons I hate so much. Louis and I exchange a quick look, before we load our guns. The guns we were not planning on using tonight. And I hoped to god, we could keep ourselves to that.—‘You fucking idiot!’ Stefan screams over the sound of the alarm.‘I stopped it. I really did.’ Nick cries in full panic.I make eye contact with Louis and we both know this isn’t about to end well. We can see it in Stefan’s eyes. He’s planning on something.‘Zayn. Shoot him.’This makes my mind blow. ‘What?’ My eyes flash from Louis to Stefan and back.‘Shoot him or we’re not going anywhere.’ He says again with an awful satisfying smile on his face.‘God dammit Stefan they are going to catch us if we don’t go now. What is your fucking problem?!’ Louis yelled furiously already making his way to the door.‘Tomlinson, don’t you fucking dare leaving or you are dead as well.’My eyes fixate on Louis telling him with no words that he needs to fucking stay. I was not ready to lose my best and only friend. ‘Zayn. Shoot him.’ Stefan repeats himself when he notices Louis stopped in his pace.‘No.’‘Shoot him.’‘No.’‘I’m not repeating myself after this, Zayn. Shoot him.’‘He’s one of us. I’m not shooting him, I-…’But I’m not able to finish my sentence. I get cut off with an awful gun sound, and I see the bullet go through Nick, making him fall back, out cold. I look back at Stefan and notice he pulled a gun himself. I didn’t even know he carried one with him. I thought me and Louis were the ones doing the gun threatening job here.‘You disappointed me there, Zayn.’ I hardly hear Stefan’s voice above the alarming sounds. And before I’m able to react, I hear another gunshot. I cannot pin point where it comes from because police sirens are telling us we need to leave now. So we run. First Louis, than Stefan and then me, leaving Nick behind. I hear Louis shout my name but somehow everything is one big blur. I cannot keep up with them. I cannot answer Louis’ voice and I hardly can see where we are going.At some point I feel the cold night air hit my cheeks and that’s how I know I’m out the building. I lost them though and I faintly see a car driving away. Our car. The car Niall is driving and the car I should be in right now.Fucking Stefan.—I stumble up the stairs and curse at the fact it’s three flights because I feel like I’m not holding it together anymore. Somehow I manage to fight it through the pain and the relieve that falls over me when I reach the third floor is overwhelming. I lean back against the wall when I press my hand on the doorbell. It feels like my heart is going to jump out my chest and I just hope to God that she’s home and that I don’t have to break in.And then the door opens. I get back on my feet again and I face the only girl knowing about my double life.She looks cute. With her hair up in a ponytail, and her pyjama on. She’s wearing glasses, telling me she has contact lenses during the day. I don’t understand though, because the glasses fit her.‘You again?’ She croaks out and I can tell she’s confused. But she’s not scared. This girl is one of a kind, like Louis said. I definitely should tell her she can’t trust people with guns. But that means she can’t trust me, and at this moment I really need her to trust me.I chuckle, causing a sting of pain in my right hip, making me double over.‘Oh my god. Are you hurt?’ She exclaims in a loud whispering voice. I figure the walls have ears in this place and that’s why she doesn’t talk full volume. She makes me lean on her, guiding me inside and I don’t object. She makes me sit down on her couch while she goes closing the door.‘Zayn…. Did you get shot?’I hear her words and it’s the first time I actually think about my wound. I think back about what happened. And suddenly it hits me again why I came here in the first place.My voice is slow when I respond and look down at the blood forming a circle in my shirt. ‘I think I am…’

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‘It’s a grazing shot. I’ll be alright. Just… Hurts.’ He says weakly. ‘Let me look at it.’‘It’s alright, really, I… -‘‘Let me look at it, Zayn.’ I hold on and I can see how he just doesn’t have the power to keep his foot down on this. So he lets me have a look.I gasp softly when I lift his shirt. Meeting an open wound as big as my thumb.‘That needs to be stitched. You need to see a doctor.’ I decide after a short silence of me inspecting the wound.‘Well… That’s definitely not happening.’ He chuckles but right after I see his face fall, probably because of the pain. ‘You can’t leave it like that. It needs to be stitched.’‘I’m not seeing a doctor!’ He repeats himself again and I am so ready to roll my eyes.‘Zayn, you can’t do nothing about this. It needs to be sti-…’‘You stitch it.’I stop and stare at him for a couple of seconds. Is he really serious right now?‘What?’‘Can you please do it?’ He gathers himself again, asking nicely. ‘I can’t do it myself. And I can’t walk into a hospital with a bullet wound like this. They’re going to ask questions and I can’t answer them. So please… Can you do it?’I still am not able to respond. Is he being serious right now? He probably is because what he says makes sense. Apart from me doing the stitching. That’s the craziest thing I heard since Harry decided to become a songwriter.‘What’s your name?’ He suddenly changes the subject. ‘I mean… I know you’re miss White but I’m sure you do have a first name.’I frown. I didn’t even realize I hadn’t said my name before.‘Evelyn.’ I say, still not completely okay with the whole stitching part. ‘My name is Evelyn White and I have no idea if I’m doing good telling you this.’‘Why not?’I pause for a couple of seconds, staring directly into his brown eyes I learned to know better than any other pair after all those meetings. ‘I don’t know if I can trust you.’ I answer him honestly.And to my own surprise he smiles. ‘Well I’m glad you actually are human after all.’ He smirks. ‘I show up on your doorstep after pointing a gun at you and harassing you later here in your own apartment and you still don’t call the police on me.’I think about that. It is true… And it is weird but I don’t really have an explanation. ‘You kind of knew I wouldn’t tell anyone. You trust me. Otherwise you wouldn’t have returned.’ I say back.‘I do trust you. But somehow you trust me back and I’m not sure if you should.’ His face turns serious now and his eyes don’t leave mine. It’s when I look away, that the moments fades.‘Your wound.’ I change the subject. ‘What do I need?’‘A needle, some thread, alcohol, water and two towels.’Meanwhile I walk towards the kitchen and the bathroom to get the stuff I need. ‘Two towels?’‘One for the blood. One for me.’‘For you?’‘It’s going to hurt. I need something to bite on.’Oh God… Where am I getting myself into?!‘Zayn… I’m not sure if I’m…’ I start when I sit myself next to him again with all the things I need.‘You’ll do alright. I trust you, remember? Whatever you do, it will help me.’‘That is completely not true. I can slip the needle and slid your throat!’ I say serious face.But he just rolls his eyes. ‘You’re not going to do that. Don’t worry. Just try to close it the best you can.’He puts the towel between his teeth while I make the needle ready to go through his skin.‘You owe me big time.’ I mutter just before I start the stitching process.I admire his strength. He doesn’t make any whimper sounds. And when I look at him from time to time his face is quite unreadable. Almost scary in a way. I wouldn’t be able to go through something like that without screaming the whole building together. And when I ask him if he’s alright he nods shortly, not changing his facial expressions.‘Done.’ I finish when I cut off the thread. ‘I’m not sure if this is alright but the bleeding stopped so it is something.’He removes the towel from his mouth and takes a look at the wound himself.‘Looks perfect. Thank you, Lyn.’‘Evelyn.’ I correct him.He smirks. ‘I know.’So apparently he already found himself a new name for me. Great.I clean up all the stuff and the bloody towel. I really had no idea I would be doing this when I stood up this morning. And it kind of freaks me out.‘So… Are you going to tell me what happened?’ I speak when I sit myself next to him again. I’m able to get everything together and finally ask him what I want to know from the moment he stood on my doorstep.‘I’m not telling you anything.’‘Oh… So you think you can walk in here, expect me to clean your whole mess up and then not tell me what happened?’‘That’s exactly what I think and what I’m doing.’The frustration and curiosity is definitely boiling under my skin right now. ‘Why?’‘Because it’s better you know nothing.’‘I know a lot more than nothing.’ I fill him in.‘See… More than enough!’ He smirks, leaving me only feeling more angry.I stare at him for a while, waiting for him to say anything at all. But the only thing he does is staring back with this incredibly sexy crooked smile.‘Are you going back?’ I ask.‘To where?’‘To them…’He doesn’t say anything for a while when he realizes who I’m talking about. I still can imagine the two other men in the café vividly. And I get the feeling that the shouting, tallest man with the blue eyes has something to do with his wound.‘Not tonight. But eventually… probably. Yes.’ He mumbles softly.‘Why? Why would you go back to a place where people give you bullet wounds?’He doesn’t hesitate answering this time. ‘Because sometimes there is a lot more to it than only one person.’ He answers and I’m actually surprised he does. ‘In places like that you can’t be selfish. And staying away would be selfish.’‘Stealing money isn’t selfish?’ I shoot back at him. And it takes him aback for a couple of seconds.‘It’s not that easy.’ He mumbles again, hardly understandable.‘It probably isn’t, no.’He didn’t convince me. And he knows it.We sit there for a while. Not saying anything. And that is the first moment I actually take in his appearance. He is completely dressed in black and I try to remember if it are the same clothes as the first time I saw him in the café. His hair had been in a quiff, but somehow it didn’t stand up as high as the time he picked Lucas up from school. It only makes me think he probably wore a mask over his head before he appeared at my apartment.‘You were busy with a robbery?’ I predict, knowing that was it. That was where it all went wrong.‘Evelyn. Stop.’‘That’s it, isn’t it. It went wrong and someone shot you. Did the tall guy shot you? I bet he did… He-…’‘GOD DAMMIT EVELYN SHUT UP!’ He suddenly jumps up, yelling at me. ‘Don’t do that. Don’t dig yourself into it. Just stay out of it.’‘You are the one taking me into this, you do realize that?’ I fire back.‘God.. Yes. I do realize that. And that’s why I’m leaving.’He doesn’t even look back when he heads towards the door.‘Zayn.’ I stand up from my seat. No response.‘Zayn.’ I repeat when I see him grab the doorknob.No response.‘ZAYN.’ I fully yell just before he opens the door. And it finally makes him stop.‘You can leave tomorrow. You don’t have anywhere to go tonight.’‘What makes you think I don’t have-…’‘Oh shut up. Don’t even try playing that game on me. I’ll bring you some blankets and a glass of water. You can sleep on the couch and go in the morning when you need to.’I turn my back on him while grabbing the blankets out of one of the closets in the living room. I lay two of the warmest I have on the biggest sofa. Harry uses them too when he stays over. It’s weird handing them to someone other than him.‘Bathroom is on the right. If you need something to eat, there are things in the fridge.’ I say lastly before I head to my own room.‘Lyn?’ His voice slows my pace.‘Mhmm?’A short silence follows and I can feel the electricity in the room, making me not want to leave him.‘Thank you.’ I hear him whisper, causing me to close my eyes. A small smile appears on my face but I don’t answer him. I just leave the room, not sure if I’ll be seeing him again in the morning, let alone ever.

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I wake up the next morning by the sound of him leaving. When I look at the clock on my bedside table, I read 5.55am: thirty minutes before I should wake up to go to work. What surprises me is how quietly he handles. I’m used to Harry making me think one of my big closets made out of glass, fell down on the dinner table. That’s how much noise he usually makes. Zayn’s leaving sounds on the other hand are hardly noticeable. It’s because I’m such a light sleeper that he still manages to wake me up. But I don’t mind. I like being up before my alarm goes off. It gives me some time to wake up slowly and there’s nothing better then waking up slowly, without any rush.So I wait until I hear him close the door behind him, making the apartment fall in silence again. That’s when I slowly get out of my bed, which hurts because it was a lot warmer under those bed sheets. But I hold on and pull on the sweater that’s draped over the big chair next to my bed. I think it was Harry’s once, but somehow it ended up in my closet and I never gave it back.When I step into the living room I gather a moment to take it all in. It feels like nothing happened. Everything looks just the same. No sign of him staying here, except for the blankets and the pillow that he neatly folded and left on the couch. I slowly step towards the kitchen, but again no clear evidence that a man who was shot last night, had slept here because he had nowhere to go. I couldn’t even make out if he drank or ate something, because everything was on its usual place. Although he seemed the kind of type to actually make sure everything stood in its right spot. Wasn’t that something a robber had to do? I figure there are probably a couple of types of burglars. I should feel lucky in fact I had such a perfectionist sleeping on my couch.I shake my head at the crazy thoughts and walk back to the living room. I kind of feel disappointed and I don’t really know why. Maybe because he just left without saying anything? Without leaving a single note? Not that I expected something like that… But it just disappoints me.I slowly start to make myself ready for a new day of school. Monday mornings weren’t my favourites, but lucky me, there’s only one Monday morning a week. I make myself a nice cup of tea and take it to my big mirror in my bedroom. There I put on my daily make up: a bit of concealer, a nice, sleek and thin black winged line above my upper eyelashes, and last but not least a good coat of mascara. I do my hair in a messy bun on the top of my head. Because my hair is shoulder length, it gets very messy with all the tiny baby hairs coming out of the bun. But I like the look so I leave I like that.I don’t pay much attention to the search-for-clothes-part of the day. I’m not a fashionable kind of person. I just go with whatever I like and think that fits. So I take out my skinny jeans, a big warm sweater, a scarf and I’m good to go. By the time I’m fully dressed, my tea is gone and I still have a good fifteen minutes. I love it when that happens.Just when I’m about to choose something for breakfast, I hear my doorbell and I can’t help but freeze in my spot.It can’t be him again. Can it?I slowly walk over to my front door, quietly look through the little peephole and sigh in utter relief.‘What are you doing here at this hour of the day, Styles.’ I say when I answer the door to my best friend. He immediately leans in to kiss my cheek, walks past me and places himself on the couch. And I feel so relieved that I already got rid of the pillow and the blanket. I am not ready to explain this to Harry yet. I don’t even know if I’m ever going to be ready to tell him I let the gun person sleep on my couch. Somehow I have the feeling Harry will not take it very well.‘You never guess what I’m about to do today!’ He smiles brightly, closing his eyes while he lays down happily, obviously still sleepy.‘You are going to make another song!’He gives me a soft chuckle, still with his eyes closed.‘Better!’‘Beyonce decided to have your song as her new single!’His eyes peek open in a frown. ‘I’m definitely not letting Beyonce sing my songs.’‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ I reply quickly, while rolling my eyes. ‘I didn’t know some people are not allowed on your song making list.’‘Of course there are. Night Changes is not for someone like Beyonce. It’s for a male artist. I’m not sure who yet… Anyway, this is not where I wanted to go!’ He interrupts himself, jumping up from the couch again and stepping closer to me. ‘I’m going to a recording studio today!’ He announces with the most proudest facial expression I saw of him since he performed his song in Liam’s café.‘You… What?’‘I contacted another song writer and he wants to listen to what I’ve made. We are going to work together today probably.’ He smiles brightly.I cannot help but wrap my arms around his neck and give him the biggest hug he had received from me in weeks. ‘That’s absolutely fantastic, Harry.’ I say in the crook of his neck.But just when I want to let go of him, I notice on the drawer behind him a tiny little folded piece of paper, with my name on it. I don’t recognize the handwriting and I don’t even doubt it coming from Zayn. Because it is a note from Zayn, I just can feel it from the moment I see the neat handwriting.Suddenly I feel stressed and I need to get that piece of paper away, before Harry sees it and questions the handwriting that’s definitely not mine. I don’t even want to imagine him opening it and reading sentences he really doesn’t want to read at all. What if Zayn wrote something about me stitching his wound? I need to think quick and let that be something that’s very hard for me to do in the morning.‘That’s why I’m here though. I need to go in the direction of your school. I thought it would be good to drop you off?’ I hear Harry vaguely speak while I try to think of something. But his words give me my solution and I can’t be happier about him saying them now.‘Yes! I would love that.’ Maybe I’m a bit to over excited now… ‘You go to the car already, I’ll just grab my bag and we’re good to go!’I see Harry hesitate slightly while I kind of push him lightly towards the door again, away from the drawer with the note. ‘But I wanted to have a bowl of cereal first, don’t we still have ti-…’‘No, sorry Haz. I want to be in school a little earlier today. Still some work in class.’‘Can I have one of those chocolate bars then?’ He asks, making the intention to go and grab one out of the fridge. But if he’ll do that, he’ll walk straight past the drawer and it would be impossible for him not to see it. So I block his way and send him back. ‘I’ll bring you one. Just go grab your car already. I’ll be there in two minutes.’His furrowed brow only lets me know I’m not the best actress here. But he doesn’t question it luckily. He just nods and heads out the door, making me sigh in relief when I quickly grab the note from the drawer.I fold it open, just to meet the most neat handwriting I ever saw coming from a man. It only makes me realize what kind of perfectionist he actually is. And when I read the words he wrote down, my heart can’t help it but skip a beat.Never again trust people with guns, Evelyn. Not all of them are so sick of it as I am. – Z.

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Zayn POVI figure I should feel stressed but I don’t feel a single bit of worry. I know exactly where I am going, while walking into the house I learned to hate with every single bit of my heart. I don’t even take the effort to go and meet Stefan. I immediately go to mine and Louis’ room. And when I enter I notice how he looks up instantly. He doesn’t let a second go in between. It’s not normal, being so sensitive to the most quiet noises. It’s not normal being so guarded like that.‘You fucking prick.’ Louis stands up from the bed he was laying on and walks over to me, shoving me against the wall immediately. I don’t even try to resist. I just let him be. ‘Why the fuck didn’t you call. I thought you were dead. Or arrested.’‘I’m sorry.’‘You’ve got to be kidding me, right?! Is that fucking everything I get?’ He scoffs angry. ‘He shot you! He left you behind. The least you could do was calling me.’‘You left me behind as well.’‘I didn’t know! If I had known I would’ve stopped him. I thought you were in the car!’ Louis had been building this up from the moment our paths separated. I knew he didn’t left me on purpose. I knew it was all Stefan.‘I know.’ I nod, making him calm down only a little bit.‘How are you?’ Louis asks eventually, quickly scanning how I look.‘Graving shot. Not that bad.’ I lifted my shirt so he was able to see.‘It’s stitched?’‘It is.’‘Did you go to the hospital?’ The way he asked it, was like he feared the worst, like I actually was that stupid.‘Of course not.’His body lost its tense, relief readably off his face.‘Then how did it get stitched?’I wait. I don’t say anything for a couple of seconds, debating on telling him the truth or not. But he is my best friend. And he is able to shut his mouth. So I take the risk.‘She did it.’ I mutter quietly, making sure even the walls can’t hear it.‘She? Who she-…’ And suddenly Louis realises who I’m talking about and his face freezes for a second. ‘You are kidding me. Right?’ He continues eventually. And when I don’t respond he throws his hands in the air in defeat. ‘This is it. You are crazy.’ His voice turns higher due to the emotion involved.‘She was the only one I could go to!’‘You could come to us!!’ He almost yelled but still in a whispering voice.‘Yeah right. Like Stefan wouldn’t have killed me right on the spot.’ I roll my eyes at Louis for him believing the taller man would do anything else.‘I wouldn’t let him.’‘You would try, but stand no chance.’ I correct him. ‘And we both would be dead.’‘Probably.’ Louis shrugs frustrated.We fall in a silence until suddenly my blue eyed friend comes in for a short, but heart felt hug. He pats my back two times before he lets go. ‘Glad to have you back.’ He mumbles under his breath.‘I wish I could say the same. But you know… There are better places to be.’‘Like her place.’ Louis smirks. But before I can react his jaw suddenly drops. ‘Zayn Malik, you are not falling for her don’t you?!’And that’s when I lose it. I burst out in a loud laugh, immediately realizing Stefan probably heard it.‘Of course not. Way to nosy for me.’ I snort, already hearing Stefan’s pace heading to our room. From the moment Stefan enters, I see Louis slightly shifting himself in front of me. He’s scared of what Stefan might do. I know he is. But I’m not. Not today.‘I see you’re back… Alive.’ Stefan smirks at me, making Louis scoff. I can feel the tension between the two of them from the instant Stefan joins us. They might have had some words after Stefan left me behind.‘Yes. Pretty much alive indeed.’ I return his smirk.‘You disappointed me though.’ He fakes a pout.‘I can say the same about you…’ I fire back, placing myself next to Louis, letting him know I was able to handle this myself.Stefan’s eyes turn dark and his smirk disappears. ‘Next time you decline a request of me shooting someone, I’m aiming for the head and not for a graving shot, Malik.’ He warns me.‘Why don’t you shoot yourself then? Apparently you do carry a weapon with you, so why do we have to do the dirty job?’ I feel Louis move nervously beside me. I know I’m going too far with this, but I honestly don’t care. He shot me already. The next thing he’ll do is kill me, and somehow it doesn’t scare me at all.Stefan stays silent for a while before he answers. I don’t understand why he doesn’t take the opportunity to answer right away, but the thoughts fade when he suddenly pulls the same gun like yesterday and points it at Louis instead of me.‘I know you’re not scared to die, Malik. But you are scared to lose your friend. So if you don’t listen to me, I will be aiming at your friend’s head. Or the little boy… What’s his name again? Luke-… Lucas! That’s it.’ He smiles darkly, making my stomach turn. Louis and myself both froze in our spots from the moment Stefan pulled his gun. Like one move was able to let the bullet do its job. I don’t respond to his threatening, neither does Louis. So he speaks again himself. ‘Don’t disappoint me again, Zayn. Same goes for you, Tommo. I’m not planning on hesitating.’With his last words he turns his back on us, leaving the room. And when he’s gone, me and Louis sigh out our nerves.‘Fucking dick.’ I mumble under my breath while slamming a night light from the desk.‘Okay, calm down. Let’s just hope there won’t be a next time.’ Louis tries to ease the pain. But he’s talking shit and he knows it.‘Of course he’s going to create a next time, Lou. He enjoys it. He fucking wants me to shoot someone after he ordered me to do it. He wants to threaten me.’‘Then don’t shoot! He’ll never kill the little kid. He wants us to do the dirty job, he wants us to kill instead of him. He just thinks about the time we might get arrested. He doesn’t want to be the one killing and ending up in jail for a lifetime.’ Louis explains. ‘He just needs something to warn you with. But he’ll never shoot the kid. He’ll never go that far.’My jaw drops slowly when he’s saying the words I hear. ‘It’s not Lucas I worry about.’ I mutter under my breath, not leaving his glance. ‘Will you shoot when he threatens you with killing me?’That makes him pause only a couple of seconds. ‘Yes.’‘Exactly.’ I make my point. ‘I am shooting next time he asks me. I’m not taking any risks.’A silence falls between us.‘Fucking dick.’ Louis mutters.I give him a small smile, hearing my words again, but it quickly disappears when I realize I lost the thing I need to not take risks.‘My gun.’ I mumble, stupidly searching in my pockets, although I know I never put it there. Normally I put it between my trousers and the black belt I’m wearing on nights we go for a stealing job. ‘It’s gone.’‘What do you mean it’s gone? Did you leave it when you got shot?’‘No… I had it when-‘ But I stop talking as soon as I realize where I put it. I picture the gun lying under Evelyn’s couch.‘Don’t you tell me you left it with the girl.’ Louis breathes out in shock. When I shortly nod, Louis lets out a loud growl. ‘You are killing me man. God dammit.’‘I’ll go and take it back.’ I mumble already heading towards the door.‘You can’t! We have to steal tonight. You won’t be able to get there in time.’‘Can I help?’ Suddenly another voice joins us. It’s only when I see Niall appear, I realize that the door separating Niall’s and Louis’ room was a chink open. He heard a lot, let not everything and it makes my heart race in my chest. ‘I can drive you.’ He continues and his accent surprises me. I never heard him talk more than a couple of words. Those two sentences alone were more than I heard of him in two months.‘Why would you do that?’ Louis asks, not trusting any of it. His frown is so deep, I’m afraid for him it might stay there.‘Because I heard he needs a ride and I’m the one with the keys of the car.’‘And why should we trust you?’ Louis continues, not having any of this. He does not trust the blond, Irish boy.‘Because I hate Stefan as much as you both do.’‘That’s not convincing…’ Louis scoffs. ‘Why should we believe anything you s-‘‘Because he killed my brother.’

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Evelyn POVBeing a teacher is lovely most of the time. Until you got one of those parents that rather hurt you in every way possible than say anything positive at all. When I arrived at school this morning, the mother of Jasper was waiting on me at the school gate.‘I talked to the head master about you!’ She suddenly called my attention. I was not planning on talking to her but when I heard her say the words, my head instantly turned.‘Excuse me?’‘Last time we talked, we had some agreements. But you don’t do anything with it. It’s not going to work like that, miss White.’ She sternly spoke, making my eyebrow rise at the word ‘agreements’. I didn’t agree on anything. Punishments for kids are necessary, but there are also a lot of other techniques who are maybe even more effective most of the time.‘With all your respect, madam. But I have my own style of teaching. I surely think about what parents say to me about their children, but in the end it’s me who has to make it work in a classroom with 21 children.’It silenced the woman only a couple of seconds before she said the one thing that broke my heart for the rest of the day.‘I don’t think you are a good enough teacher for my son, miss White. I asked the principal to change him to another classroom. I just wanted to inform you on that. Have a nice day further.’ And without saying another word, she left me speechless while the school bell was ringing, telling me I needed to go to my class.—-From the moment I step into the elevator of my apartment that night, tears start dripping down my cheeks. I barely am able to breathe normally, caused by all the emotions coming out. I held them in all day: in class, during lunch, on the bus, on the tube. But now, being seconds away from being home, causes me to not take it any longer. I just hope there will be no one in the hallway, because I’m not in a presentable state at all. I don’t even have the power to hold it back. It all comes out and I feel exhausted when I reach my floor and step out of the elevator, walking to my own front door. I’m silently sobbing when I open it and finally am home, ready to put on my pyjamas, take some chocolate out the fridge and cry some more in bed. But when I turn around, my teary eyes recognize a figure sitting on my couch. And it startles me at first, but then I recognize Zayn and I even feel more awful. How the hell did he even get in here?He looks uncomfortable and in doubt about what to do. Whatever his intentions might be and whatever his reason is for being here, he definitely did not expect me to meet him like this. And I sure as hell could not have predicted this either.‘You’re here. Again!’ I cry out, way louder then I tended to do so. ‘Why this time? Do you want me to operate you? Because I can tell you right now, I’m not planning on doing that and-…’I get startled by him walking over to me and placing his finger right on my mouth. During the whole period of time my tears don’t stop from falling. ‘Hey!’ He interrupts me. ‘Calm down. Just-… Calm down. Okay?’‘What do I have to do now?’ My voice tried to say, but it was muffled because of his hands covering my mouth.‘You don’t have to do anything.’‘Good.’‘Not good.’ He disagrees.‘Why?’‘You’re not good at all.’ He states, his eyes focussed on mine.‘I don’t need your comfort.’ I mumble, shaking my head loose in his grip, walking over to the kitchen. I fill myself a glass of water, maybe that will help me to calm down. But from the moment the water fills my throat, I just can feel that this isn’t working. So I empty the glass in the sink and walk to the living room again, more likely to the cabinet with alcohol and grab myself a bottle of red wine.‘Uhm… Evelyn?’ I hear Zayn’s voice, but I don’t look up and don’t bother answering. I just make my way to the sofa, sit myself down and drink straight from the bottle.Much better.‘Okay, cut it.’ Zayn walks over to me and grabs the bottle out of my hands. I’m ready to start yelling when he places the bottle on the highest shelve so I won’t be able to reach it. But before any sound leaves my throat, he surprises me and wraps his arms around me, holding me close against his chest, making me freeze in my spot.‘You need to calm down, and it’s not happening with drinking.’‘But…’ I mutter against his shirt.‘No buts. Just calm the fuck down.’ He shushes me.It surprises me how strong his grip his. Like he feels how deep I am right now and he needs to hold me together. And it surprises me because that’s exactly how I feel.‘Oh, God…’ I cry just before the tears come back more and faster than before. I feel my limbs go numb, but I’m not falling. He’s there to hold me up and he tries everything in his power to do it.‘Hey… hey… You’ll be okay. Shht… You’ll be fine.’ He whispers in my hair. But I don’t believe him. Not yet at least.‘Lyn?’ He calls my nickname softly. His voice sooths me in a way. I love hearing his voice. ‘Do you have someone you can call?’Yes. But not today. Harry went to the studio thing and I can’t reach him. I won’t try it either. Because I know Harry will come right away, although today I want him to do the thing he wants to do. And me crying over something stupid like school, wasn’t going to ruin that for him. Not on my watch at least.‘No.’ I say instead, not able to explain more.‘Do you want me to stay with you?’‘No.’ It’s a lie. I’m lying. And I hate myself for lying but I don’t want to look like I need him in my life.‘Okay.’ He just replies, not moving an inch.‘You’re not going?’‘The hell I’m not.’‘Why not?’‘Because you need me!’‘But I said…’‘Lies… Evelyn. I’m not falling for any of them.’That silences me.He’s not leaving. Instead he loosens his arms around me and grabs my shoulders, making eye contact while bending down only a little bit. ‘We are going to have a chat, you and I.’ He smiles while moving me towards the big sofa. And then he sits himself in the one person chair, still staring at me, making sure the tears stay away.‘How old are you?’‘Uhm… 21.’ I mumble, still not sure what he’s doing.‘And you already live alone? That’s fast!’ He raises one eyebrow.I just nod, agreeing.‘Why?’‘Why what?’He rolls his eyes at my repeated question. ‘Why do you live alone at such an early age?’‘That’s none of your business!’ I frown.Now he nods, understanding where this is going.‘Alright. You get a question too.’‘What?’‘I ask you something. And you can ask me something back. That’s how the game works. So come on. Fire away!’ He smiles.‘Why are you doing this?’ I squint my eyes, not trusting any of it.‘Because I want to get to know you.’ He simply answers.‘Really?’‘No. I just want you to get your mind off the things that make you cry, Evelyn. Come on. Play along please.’I spend the next seconds in doubt, whether I should do this or just send him away. And I cannot help but admit to myself that I want him here. I like him to be here. And I probably will feel very bad in the morning when I drink that bottle of red wine.‘Alright… How old are you?’’I turned 24 last month.’ He smiles proudly.‘That’s an early age to steal. Why do you steal at such an early age, Zayn?’ I bite back. And I can see him react to my words. He doubts, whether he should get mad for it or ignore it.And then his eyes darken and he licks his lips just before he answers. ‘You’d be surprised if you knew how young I was when I started.’

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‘My turn.’ Zayn says, leaving me speechless about the last words he said. ‘Why did you want to be a teacher?’ His eyes don’t leave mine and I can tell that he’s genuinely interested in what I’m about to say.‘I don’t really know. I always wanted to be one I guess.’ I think about it while explaining my thoughts to him. ‘It’s never been a question. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher.’‘There has to be a reason why.’ He smiles at me, leaving me confused about myself.‘I think I love the idea of taking care of all those children.’ I think about my words while I say them out loud. ‘Like I have 21 children in my classroom and I love every single one with all my heart. Even the ones who aren’t always easy to handle. I want to teach them things. It’s the thing that can brighten my days: seeing that they learned something of me. I love that feeling.’ I really have to try my best to not start crying again, because talking about my class reminds me of Jasper and his mom and it still breaks my heart to think that she hates me that much. I fail at it though. And when the tears start slipping again, Zayn’s smile disappears.‘Hey… I didn’t want to make you upset again.’ He sits himself forward, having that look of doubt on his face, whether he should come over to me or not. ‘Did something happen at school today? Is that it?’I nod slowly, while rubbing the tears away with the edge of my sleeve.‘Do you want to talk about it?’ He asks again.But I shake my head. ‘Next question.’ I say instead, thinking that keeping my mind of things will help me better than talking about it. ‘Why are you here?’
The question I choose for him to answer, takes him aback for a couple of seconds.Just when I think he isn’t going to answer it, he opens his mouth to talk. ‘I’m going to be honest with you, because that’s what I owe you after taking care of me last night.’ He starts slowly, no sign of any smiles now. ‘I left my gun under your couch and I needed it back. I wasn’t planning on staying. I just took the spare key out of the vase in the corridor. That’s how I got in. What reminds me to tell you to take away that key because it’s not safe for you.’ The way he says it gives me shivers. I cannot help but stare at him, barely able to keep my mouth shut. ‘I got in, took the gun, but right when I wanted to leave, I heard you in the hallway. I’m not going to jump three flights down out the window, so I just waited until you got in. That’s it. That’s why I’m here.’He leaves us in silence, and I take my time to take it all in, because it’s a lot to take in.‘Can I see it?’ I can’t believe I’m asking this, but it’s happening. And I have no idea why.‘See what?’‘Your gun.’He frowns. ‘Why would you want to see that?’It makes me want to hit my head. Exactly, Evelyn… Why the hell do you want to see the thing that almost killed you, up close?But before I can react, he opens his leather jacket and rolls up the dark grey sweater he’s wearing. And there it is. A black gun, sitting stuck between his belt and his black skinny jeans. I even can see a dent in the belt of where the gun always sits.‘Is it not dangerous?’ I mumble, loud enough for him to hear. ‘I mean. It’s just sitting there under your belt. What if it goes off?’He chuckles at my words. ‘It’s not loaded. It’s only loaded when we have a job to do. It’s never loaded when it’s sitting there.’‘Oh…’ I only breathe, trying not to show my inner reaction to the word ‘job’. A stealing job? A killing job? ‘What kind of jobs, Zayn?’ I ask him eventually, not able to keep my curiosity to myself.And just when he’s about to say something, suddenly a phone goes off that is definitely not my phone. It’s his.‘Yes.’ He answers the call, leaving my eyes. He’s face expression suddenly looks stressed. Like he lost track of time. I can’t pin point what it is. ‘I’ll be there in 5.’ He says before he ends the call and stands up from his seat.‘I really need to go.’ He repeats the thing I already figured out. ‘You sure you’ll be okay?’ He doesn’t move away just yet. It’s like he really needs me to answer.‘I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.’ I smile weakly, ready to cry some more from the moment he’ll step out that door.He frowns and shakes his head. ‘No lies, Evelyn.’‘It’s not a lie. I’ll be fine. I’m not fine now but I will be… Tomorrow. Hopefully…’ I mutter near the end.He just stares at me for a while, his eyes turning soft in the process.‘You’re a very interesting person, do you realize that?’ Zayn smirks suddenly, making me doubt about where that’s coming from.‘Should I take it as a compliment, or…?’‘You surely have to. Yes.’‘Okay. Thank you… I guess.’ I slowly say.He starts to move towards the door and suddenly there is this panic rising inside me out of nowhere. Because how can he create such a reaction on my like that. It’s not that I’m starting to like him… Do I?‘Oh, yes. Lyn?’ He suddenly turns around towards me again, right in front of the door, just not opening it yet. ‘Don’t put that key in the vase again, please.’ His voice sounds serious, just like the way his eyes look at me. I cannot do anything more than nod at his words. ‘It’s not safe.’ He just adds.‘Yeah, but what if I forget my key? That’s why I put it there.’He thinks about it for a second. ‘You have a mailbox on the first floor, haven’t you?’I nod.‘It probably has also a mailbox slot, I suppose?’I nod again.‘Tape the key down just on the top, inside the mailbox, so you can still reach it with your fingers if you need it. That’s a better place.’I give him the final nod. I cannot believe I’m discussing where I have to hide my key with the person who broke in my home just now. I’m turning mad. I definitely am.He suddenly grabs the doorknob and the panic starts coming back and I have no idea what to do with it.‘Zayn?’ My emotions speak.He stops and looks back one last time. ‘Yes?’‘Are you coming back?’I asked it. I did it. And I cannot believe myself.‘You want me to?’ He smirks at me and his brown eyes shine brighter than ever in the light of the room.‘I… think so.’‘Then maybe I will.’And with one move he’s out the door. Leaving me behind with even more questions than I had before. If he comes back, we definitely need to continue that question game.

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Zayn POV‘What took you so long?’ Niall hisses when I jump in the car, almost immediately stepping on the gas after I close the car door. ‘Sorry. Lost track of time.’He frowns. ‘How is it possible to lose track of time when you are breaking in the place?’ ‘She kind of came home, that’s what happened.’ I mumble, hoping he doesn’t pay attention, but of course he does.‘You may be able to fool Louis, but you aren’t fooling me man. If you stay and lose track of time like that, you like her. There is not even a doubt on my mind.’ He surprises me with that reaction. He doesn’t turn mad, nor starts to go crazy on me. It’s like he expected something like that had happened, and me saying the words was just a confirmation.‘Where did you meet her?’ He asks eventually, when he realizes I’m not answering his thoughts.I just stare out the window and don’t reply to him.‘You don’t want me to know?’I scoff. ‘It’s none of your business…’‘You don’t trust me… Is that it?’ He asks again, making me frustrated. I just want him to stop talking about her. ‘That only convinces me even more you know. You don’t want people to know about her because you are worried about her safety? You are worried that Stefan might know. You are worried that I’m going to tell him.’‘DON’T YOU DARE.’ I raise my voice at him, almost shooting him down with my eyes.‘Zayn… I told you. I hate him as much as you and Lou do and-…’‘Don’t call him Lou.’ I interrupt him harshly.This makes him stop and sigh. He doesn’t say a word after that. And I’m happy with the silence.Louis believed Niall from the very beginning without really knowing who he was exactly. It was Louis who decided for me that Niall was going to drive me to Evelyn’s apartment: only having eye for Stefan’s reaction when I would not be back in time. I on the other hand, am not convinced yet. And I won’t be telling him the things that are better not told to anyone else. I’m not taking any risks with her.‘I know how she looks like, Zayn.’ Niall says suddenly, making me bite my lip harder than I wanted too. ‘I saw her entering the apartment, just a couple of minutes after you.’ He continues making me so angry with Louis for making me do this with Niall. ‘I know how she looks, I know where she lives and I also know she’s the girl of the café we robbed about a month ago.’I cannot help but ball my fists in anger. ‘Then why do you even bother asking me about it.’ I groan between my teeth. ‘Because I just want you to trust me. I’m not going to tell anyone, Zayn. Not Stefan. Not anyone.’‘And why should I believe you?’‘You don’t have to believe me… You just can.’He pauses. I pause. And we don’t say anything for a while. ‘Just be careful with her, Zayn.’ He mumbles softly eventually, still making sure I hear it.This makes me look up. He surprises me again, not with his words, but with his tone. It’s a tone of care. Like he actually cares about the situation I’m in.‘The reason why Stefan killed my brother is because I had contact with him. He was the only person I still could go to. He was the only one who still cared about me. So I visited him, on days we didn’t have a job to do. Eventually Stefan found out. I still don’t know how, and he killed him. Just like that.’ He was staring at the road. Without any emotion readable off his face. ‘So when I say you have to be careful with her, I mean it. Don’t let anything slip. Make sure nobody follows you. I am here to help you with it, if you want my help at least. Because I know how hard this life is and sometimes having someone else is so god damn satisfying.’‘Why did you stay?’ I can’t help but ask. It bothered me from the moment he told me and Louis in the house. ‘Why did you stay with Stefan?’‘Just the same reason as why you stay.’ He weakly smiles, meeting my eyes quickly. ‘I have nowhere else to go. He’s good at the threatening job… You know. And mostly… Because I still dream of a revenge someday. That’s what keeps me going.’‘It’s not going to bring your brother back.’‘No, but it’s going to keep my family alive.’‘He threatens you with that?’Niall nods. ‘Doesn’t he threaten you?’I think about Louis. He’s pretty much the only one Stefan can threaten me with. I’m not bothered with anyone else. ‘He does. In different ways.’‘With Louis.’‘You do know a lot for being someone who hardly said a word in all those years you’ve been here with us.’ I frown at his knowledge.This makes the Irish boy chuckle. ‘I may not be a very good talker, but I am a great listener.’I laugh softly as well, already feeling a bit more relaxed than five minutes ago.‘Where is your family, Niall?’ I ask him, not sure how he is going to respond to that question.‘Back in Ireland. It’s not that I have contact with them. I haven’t from my sixteenth. But I still want them to be safe. I want to give them a somewhat normal life after my brother died. They didn’t deserve that. He didn’t deserve it.’ He quietly speaks. It’s obvious that he’s not over it. He has learned to live with it, but he’s not over it yet. It still hurts him. And I’m sure it’s not going to change until Stefan somehow gets punished for what he did.‘Are you going back?’ Niall suddenly asks changing the subject.‘To where?’‘To her of course.’And let that be the one thing I’m strangled with from the moment I closed her front door behind me.‘Probably not.’‘So you really like her then.’ He translates for himself.‘God. Niall! Stop with the liking thing. I barely know the girl. And I shouldn’t be knowing her either. It’s like you say: too dangerous for her, for me and for everyone else involved. So that’s it. Last time I went. Not going back again.’And with that, the conversation stops. Or at least, I stop talking. Not because I think Niall is going to tell anyone, but just because I’m sick of talking about her or just talking in general. I’m sick of being in this position where I cannot do whatever the hell I want at any given time of the day. I’m sick of being suspicious over any person who tries to come in my life. I’m sick of not being able to trust people. I’m sick of the fact that the two only people I trust are my best friend and a girl who shouldn’t be in this situation at all. A girl who I shouldn’t even be talking to. A girl I probably won’t see again.And I’m fucking sick of it.

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Days slowly passed after Zayn’s last visit, and although it’d probably be for the better that he didn’t show up again, it still frustrated me. Coming home every day, without him turning up or sitting on my couch, it all felt like one great disappointment. It was also mind blowing that even Harry couldn’t fill the aching gap I had in my chest. When Harry stayed over the day after Zayn left, it was nice hearing his stories about the recording studio and how amazing it all was, but my mind couldn’t help but drift away after two minutes of listening. Not that Harry’s stories were boring… Or maybe they were, compared to the mysterious side of Zayn, leaving me with so many unanswered questions and such a lingering curiosity that I barely was able to sleep at night.Now, after two weeks without any sign of him, I start to wonder if it wasn’t all just a dream. What if it was a dream? Something my mind set up after seeing the brown eyes of the man with the gun who made me intrigued much more than I should. And maybe Lucas’ uncle was just someone who had brown eyes and fitted the picture. And maybe all the things I saw just turn out to be imagined.I shake the thoughts out of my head while taking my bags to go home. I had been cleaning the classroom for about an hour after school, and I had enough of it now. I turn the light off, close the door and go two flights down the stairs again. But it’s just when I enter the playground that I see Lucas leave with an adult that again, doesn’t seem to be his mom or dad.It’s Zayn. It’s definitely him.My heart starts to race from the moment I notice it and my mind tries to come up with some sort of plan to not let him slip away again. Because I want to know why he never turned up.It’s probably not the best plan, but I decide to go with whatever comes on my mind and that just happens to be following them. I quickly go and place my bags in the teachers room, because I don’t like to carry them while doing such exciting and adventurous things. Those two just don't go together.After I put them away, I sprint down the playground, following the road Zayn and Lucas took. I know Lucas only lives two blocks away from school. It’s probably a five minute walk or so. It gives me enough time to think about what to do if Zayn drops Lucas off. Maybe he’ll stay there for an hour? I can’t wait an hour in the cold winter air. Of course it has to be today that I decided not to put on my winter coat. Things like that always happen on big moments like this… Great.I keep enough distance between them and me to be able to look away or hide behind a car if I have too, but luckily for me Zayn seems to be very relaxed and doesn’t look around one time. Maybe I did imagine it all? I hate these thoughts. I hate thinking I made it all up. But somehow the possibility of it doesn’t leave my mind.After five minutes, we arrive at Lucas’ place and I see both of them entering the typical English townhouse. I wait just behind the corner of the street, acting like I’m doing something on my phone, to not let people think I’m up to something… Or following someone… Or being absolutely out of my mind while doing this when it’s so cold outside. I feel my teeth shatter and my body sends out shivers to let me know that it’s way too cold to be standing still outside in the humid air. Just when I give Zayn five minutes to leave the house before I go back, I see that familiar quiff of black hair come out of the English house going the other way. I take a deep breath and I wait just a couple of seconds before I’m following him again.It surprises me how we pass so many undergrounds but he never takes one. I cannot help but hope every single time we walk past one, but he never goes down. I don’t even feel my toes and my fingers anymore. It’s turning dark and I’m definitely regretting the plan I chose to execute.And when I suddenly don’t see him anymore, I completely feel like a failure. What? Where did he go? Did I miss him going into one of the buildings? That couldn’t be, I had eyes on him the whole time.I try to wrap my head around his magical disappearing and I just stand still in my spot, taking in all the buildings that don’t make any sense to me.Until I suddenly jump up from a voice behind me. ‘And what do you think you are doing, Evelyn?’I quickly turn around, already knowing who’s voice it is and it’s only a confirmation when I look into the brown eyes I haven’t seen in two weeks. ‘Oh… Uhm. Hi, Zayn. What a… Uhm… coincide-…’‘Yeah. No… Don’t play that game on me.’ He rolls his eyes, while glaring at me. ‘Can you fill me in on the fact why you decided it would be a great plan to follow me? Because I really don’t see how that’s going to turn out well.’ The way his angry and distant eyes don’t leave mine, kind of scare me. I had never seen him this angry. Even when he was mad at me for asking too many questions in my apartment, even that didn’t compare to how he looks now.‘I just… I wanted –’‘What did you want?’ He cut me off, grabbing my arm and pulling me into a side street with a dead end where nobody could hear our conversation. ‘Seeing where I live? Following me into the building? Get killed? I can assure you, that’s not what you want.’ He rages on, leaving me in utter silence. He soon notices I don’t have any answers for him and he releases my arm before folding his own arms, leaning against the brick sidewall of a house. He doesn’t stop glaring at me, with the angriest frown I ever saw him pull. ‘If I stay away from you, it means that I have a reason for it. If I don’t come back, it means that it isn’t safe for you, nor for me. If I don’t contact you it means that I just don’t want to see you. Don’t you get that?’That’s where I decide to speak up. ‘You said you would come back.’‘I said maybe.’ He spits, frustrating me even more.‘Yeah maybe you did. But a maybe wasn’t a no. And MAYBE I was counting on it that you would come back. MAYBE I was relieved to see you today. MAYBE I just wanted to follow you to know where you hang out. MAYBE I wasn’t even planning on going inside your house. MAYBE I just wanted to know that I hadn’t imagined it all.’ I yell back in a loud whispering voice. There were still people walking past the little alley we were in and it wouldn’t be nice if they knew what we were talking about.What I say to him, silences him for a couple of seconds.‘Why would you think you imagined all of it?’ He frowns eventually, leaving me feel stupid because that has to be the one thing he remembers of my rant.I shrug. ‘I didn’t see you anymore. It felt like it never happened because nobody knew about it. Only me and you.’‘It would be for the better if it never happened.’ He replies coldly, reminding me of the fact that I really need to go somewhere warm before I freeze here in his creepy alley.I don’t say another word and just turn my back on him, going back to where I came from.‘What do you think you are doing?’ I hear his voice say for the second time today, before he pops up next to me again, walking in the same direction.‘I’m pretending it never happened.’ I spit at him, not making eye contact, feeling shivers go down my spine.For some reason I hear him chuckle, making me feel even more stupid than I already feel. ‘I’m going with you.’ He decides suddenly.‘No, you don’t!’‘Yes, I do.’ I hear him smile through his voice.‘Why would you even do that?’It takes him at least ten seconds to reply, but I don’t look at him during the whole period of time. And it asks me a lot of strength to keep myself to it. Until I suddenly feel him drape something over me, and when I look at what it is, I see his leather jacket lay on my shoulders, immediately making me feel the warmth of his body and it feels so damn good, I need to force myself not to smile in relief. ‘I’m doing this because you’re cold. And it’s dark. And it’s just not a safe thing to send girls home on their own like that. And secondly I’m doing this because it happened. And even though it would be better if it didn’t happen, it did. And there is nothing we can change about it.’His words finally make me look up at him. And it’s the first time I realize that he’s actually almost a head taller than me. His eyes peer down on me, giving me a warm look, no sign of angry feelings. And I really need to remind myself to ask him why he decided to drop those feelings. But for now I just send a thankful smile to him, before I look back in front of me, happy about him joining me on my way home. Happy he’s here. And happy because somehow this adventurous plan, still had a good ending after all.

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‘Next time I’m planning on following you it will definitely be in the summer and not in the winter.’ My teeth shatter when I stumble in my apartment after Zayn had to open the door for me, because I was not able to move my fingers.I hear him chuckle behind me before he replies. ‘You are not following me again. Don’t care which season it is. And it wasn’t even that cold…’That makes me roll my eyes. ‘Exactly. I don’t know how you even did that. Without your jacket on. How is it possible you didn’t freeze to dead?’ I mumble, still not over the fact that he was able to handle the cold so easily.He just shrugs when he places my bags down. We picked them up at school, before we took a cab to my apartment. Zayn didn’t want to take the underground nor the bus. He didn’t tell me why, but after a good forty minutes able to think about it, I figured he was just scared to get recognized. And it isn’t easy to escape when you are sitting on the tube or the bus.‘You can sit down if you want. And maybe call for pizza. I’m starving.’ I say to him while handing him the phone and a little pamphlet of the pizza place. ‘Just say it’s for Evelyn White. They know the address.’‘A pizza fan?’ He smirks at me before I leave the room.‘An I-rather-not-cook-when-I’m-tired fan…’ I reply from my bedroom while I’m picking a more comfortable outfit and a warm hoodie to wear. ‘For me a pizza Napoletana!’ I yell lastly when I hear him type in the numbers on the phone.When I changed my outfit and put on the heat, I immediately feel a bit better when I join Zayn in the living room again. ‘Anything to drink?’ I ask when I poor myself a glass of red wine. ‘I have all sorts of soda, beer, wine… Water too of course.’‘Beer is great, thank you.’ He smiles when he stands up from the couch again and walks to the other end of the room. I follow him with my eyes and when I see him reach for the guitar in the corner, I frown, but don’t say a word. ‘You play the guitar?’ He looks up at me, before he sits himself down with the instrument.‘I want to… But I haven’t found the time yet.’ I reply while taking his bottle of beer out the fridge. ‘Haven’t found anyone yet who can teach me.’And then suddenly out of nowhere, he starts playing the guitar. He starts moving his fingers on the strings, playing different chords, forming a song I don’t know. Silently I put his beer down and sit myself in the one person chair he sat in the last time he was here. I can’t look away from the dark haired man sitting on my sofa with a guitar in his hands as if he had been playing it since he was six.And then… He starts to sing. Living me breathless and unprepared.There’s a lightning in your eyes I can’t denyThen there’s me inside a sinking boat running out of timeWithout you I’ll never make it out aliveBut I know yes I know we’ll be alrightMy jaw drops. And although he doesn’t use his full voice, it’s still amazingly good. It’s more a singing mumbling sound, like he wants to remember the words again. I never would have guessed him to be anywhere close to a singer, nor a musician. And I can’t ignore his everlasting smile while he’s singing the words that obviously mean a lot, right in front of me.But then he suddenly cuts off, just when I think the chorus is coming and I can’t help but feel instant disappointment.‘Why do you stop?’ I swallow, trying to gather myself from the shock.‘I don’t know how it goes further… I just wanted to know if I remembered it, but I don’t… So…’ He mutters standing up again, ready to put the guitar away.‘No!’ I stop him, standing up myself to be more convincing. ‘Teach me… Please?’‘The song? I told you I don’t know how it go-’‘No… Playing the guitar! Teach me how to play like that.’ Meanwhile I point at the guitar in his hands. ‘I have no idea where you learned to play like that, but you love it. And you miss it, I can see it in your eyes. So please… Teach me.’He squints his eyes for a moment. And I can see him doubting about it. ‘What makes you think I miss it?’I shrug with a small smile appearing on my lips. ‘You got very into it… Into the song I mean. Like…’ I think about it for a moment. ‘Like it came right from the heart.’He licks his lips before he continues his walk to the corner of the room again and puts the guitar down, making me pout and sit back in my chair. But then he turns around at me again with a crooked smile on his lips. ‘First pizza. I’m starving.’ He adds, instantly making me show my brightest smile.—-Somehow in the following hours it doesn’t matter who he is or what his past is like. It just seems like having a friend over. A good friend. Someone I like more than I should like. And I try to hide it but it’s hard. His cheekbones never fail to make me gasp silently when he moves them to talk. His eyes are darker than usual, but somehow I feel like they fit perfectly with my green ones. His look is breath taking, and I often catch myself staring at him while he explains the chords on the guitar. His three day old beard, makes him look more manly than I ever witnessed him to be and the way his black V-neck sweater fits his chest makes my head spin a thousand miles an hour.‘Are you paying attention, Lyn?’ He suddenly snaps me out of my daydream.‘Of course. Yes. Attention!’ I exclaim, jumping up and sitting myself like an A student.It makes him chuckle while he rolls his eyes playfully. He puts the guitar down and I feel myself instantly shake my head.‘No. No! Go on… I was distracted, but I’ll pay attention now!’But he shakes his head, smiling the most incredible smile he ever send me.‘Next time. Today’s lesson is over.’ He smirks, taking a last sip of his beer.I suddenly feel totally okay with a ‘next time’, so I don’t complain. We both jump up at the sound of the doorbell. I don’t really think about it. I’m still flustered in the moment when I stand up and walk towards the door ready to open it.‘No. Stop!’ Zayn interrupts me suddenly, already standing beside me. ‘Don’t you look who it is? You can’t just open the door like that!’ He gives me a stern look before he looks through the peephole himself, looking very nervous for some reason. ‘It’s a boy… With curls.’ He describes eventually, seeming kind of relieved when he lays his eyes on me again.That’s where I bite my lip. ‘That’s Harry.’ I say, not knowing whether I should let him in or not.‘And who’s Harry?’‘He’s my best friend. I think he kind of mentioned he would come over tonight.’ I smile guilty at the boy in front of me.The sound of the doorbell sounds a second time, making me jump again. Zayn just stares at me. ‘Let him in then!’ He says eventually, signing to open the door. It surprises me to be honest. For some reason I thought he would go and hide somewhere, but apparently he’s not afraid at all. So I open the door to an, as usual, excited Harry.‘Hello, miss White. What took you so damn long.’ He kisses my cheek and enters the room immediately, but as fast as he went in, as soon as he stops when he sees Zayn stand behind me. ‘Oh.’ He stammers. ‘You have a visitor?’‘Yeah. Well. It was quite unexpectedly.’ I mutter a bit uncomfortable. ‘This is Zayn. My guitar teacher and new friend.’At the word friend, Zayn quickly shifts his eyes from Harry to me, giving me a small crooked smile, making me feel over the moon somehow.‘Oh… Guitar teacher!’ Harry exclaims, undoing himself from his jacket. ‘Well that’s good. Because she needs help with that. And I’m more the piano type of guy.’‘You play the piano?’ Zayn sounds genuinely interested.Harry nods proudly. ‘Started when I was seven. Still like it at 21 years of age.’Zayn smiles.‘It’s nice to be able to play music.’Harry nods, while laying an arm around me. ‘That’s why learning this little one is a very good thing!’Surprisingly Harry and Zayn immediately get along, and somehow I get the feeling it’s not only because of their interest in music. Zayn also lets him in so easily. I had noticed Zayn’s mood was way better today than any other day so maybe that had something do with it. Or maybe it was because of Harry’s very open personality. Whatever it was, I like it. I like how they get along. I like how we enjoye ourselves the whole night. I like how Harry pats my shoulder when we are both in the kitchen to get something.‘I like him, you have my blessing.’ He says while taking two beers for him and Zayn.‘What blessing?’ I frown, like I have no idea what he is talking about.‘He’s a good lad. And he cannot take his eyes of you. He likes you. You like him. So you have my blessing!’ He repeats with a smirk while he walks out of the kitchen, leaving me stand there with the biggest smile on my face.

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ZAYN POVIt was when I received a text from Louis, that I realized how late it actually had gotten.-Where the hell are you staying, Z. Stefan keeps asking where you are. I cannot keep making excuses about Lucas.-When I caught Evelyn following me earlier, I knew this would end like this. And I tried to contain it. But leaving her gets harder every single time. I know that I’m playing with fire, and I’d rather just stay away, but it’s like Niall said: it’s quite satisfying having someone else outside the nightmare I’m living in. And the last two weeks it was so hard to not come back. It was hard to make sure she didn’t see me when I picked up Lucas from school. It was hard not stepping by her apartment after it. It was just hard to stay away. But I did. And then she all destroyed it by coming to me… Though I didn’t blame her. Maybe I did the first few minutes, but then I just realized I couldn’t. Because for once, my heart won from my mind. For once, I felt somewhat human again.I’m still staring at Louis’ message, realizing it’s time for me to go. So I quickly reply, hoping I would make it just in time before Stefan would kick off.-I’ll be there in half an hour.-‘I really need to get going.’ I announce while standing up from the sofa. Harry and Evelyn both look up from the game we were playing. And it warms my heart in a way how they both look disappointed. This night meant more to me than they both could ever imagine. Somehow it felt like I had a home again. Somehow it felt like I had people who cared. Somehow it felt, for just a moment, that I didn’t have to go back to the place I hate the most out of all places.Evelyn does something with her eyes, asking me if I need to go because of the thing. The thing as in, probably, a stealing job. And I quietly answer her by shaking my head and adding a small smile. She nods at that, satisfied with my answer. It makes me want to lie to her. It makes me want to tell her that’s it’s going to stop and that I’m not with Stefan’s group anymore. That me and Louis, and maybe Niall… I’m not sure if I can trust him just yet, are free men again. Free to go wherever we want to go. Free to love other people and not get threatened by it. Free to be happy again.‘You need to come to Liam’s café next time.’ Harry snaps me out of my thoughts, causing me to leave Evelyns eyes and look at him.‘Liam’s café?’‘Yeah… A friend of ours. He has a café nearby Earl’s court.’ Harry explains. ‘We mostly sit there on Fridays or Saturdays.’That’s around the time I have work to do. And by the look on Evelyns face I know that she knows what I’m thinking.‘Yeah, well. Maybe someday. Thank you for the invite though.’ I smile friendly and get surprised when Harry comes in for a short pat on my back.‘I’ll leave the two of you to say goodbye.’ He tries to wink at Evelyn unnoticeably but fails miserable, giving me a hard time not to laugh out loud. He kisses her cheek goodbye. And leaves the apartment rather quickly, not that I complain.‘Did you have a good night?’ She asks me, her eyes glistering in the light of the room. I love her green eyes. They’re not just green. They look blue in some lights and rather gold in other’s. But now they are an emerald green colour and I cannot help but keep looking at them.‘I had a great night. Thank you for that.’ I smile at her and I instantly see a light blush appear on her cheeks. ‘So Harry and you… Just best friends?’She needs to laugh at that. ‘Just best friends… Yes. Never been more, never been less.’ She pauses, before her eyes suddenly switch to a more serious look. ‘Do you have one?’She catches me off guard with that question. Although I have been with her the whole night, she never asked something about me. And I think it is because she wants me to open up myself. I’m just not sure if I’ll ever be able to let her in, in my world.‘A best friend you mean?’She nods instantly, curiosity written in her beautiful eyes.‘I do… Yes.’ I smile, rather sad, but I try for it to be a happy smile.‘Is he with you?’I wait a couple of seconds. ‘He is.’‘I mean like. Is he where you are going now. Is he there? Do you have someone there?’ It’s cute how she wants to be sure. How she wants to know if I’m not alone in this.‘He is there, yes.’‘What’s his name?’I let a nervous sigh leave my mouth.And I hate to see her quickly gather herself. ‘I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to keep digging like that. It’s alright. I’m happy you have someone.’ She says, and she means it.She makes me smile.‘I’ll see you soon then? For my next lesson?’ Her voice sounds so hopeful, I want to kill myself for making it this hard.I should say no. I should say no and stay away and let her have her life. I should make her forget about me.I really should say no.But I nod instead, not able to shake my head, not able to say no, not able to stay away. ‘Yes. Soon. Don’t know when though.’ I mumble quietly, hoping that she didn’t hear it, but of course she did.‘I’ll wait.’I nod agreeing. ‘No following.’ I remember her firmly because I really need her to understand she cannot do something like that ever again. I don’t even want to think about what could’ve happened if she was a little bit less of an obvious follower.‘Never again. I promise!’ She says in a very convincing way. ‘But you have to promise me something as well.’And that made my stomach turn, because I can just feel that she’s about to make me promise to come back, and I just cannot do that.But then she surprises me, by saying something I did not expect. ‘Promise me to be careful.’ It’s almost a whisper, but I hear it very clearly. ‘Don’t be too reckless. I need you… You know…’ She pauses, making my heart stop right in that moment. ‘I need my guitar teacher.’I smile at her, while nodding. ‘Will do. Thank you.’And then, suddenly, her arms wrap around me, and she holds me tight. She’s hugging me, and I smell the same flowery scent I breathed in the last time I held her. Her head fits perfectly under my chin, and I cannot do anything else than hug her back and holding her close to my chest.‘I really need to leave now.’ I mutter into her hair after a couple of seconds. The best couple of seconds I had in a long time.Her arms quickly unwrap themselves and I instantly miss them.‘See you soon, Zayn.’ She smiles her cute little smile, trying her best to make it happy. And I exactly know the feeling.‘Bye, Lyn. Take care of yourself.’ And I hope she knows how much I really want her to do that.It’s just when I’m about to step out the door that I stop again and partly turn back at her. ‘It’s Louis.’ I say, meeting her eyes again. And when she looks confused I give her more. ‘My best friend. His name is Louis.’ I clear up.And her smile instantly turns brighter when she realizes what I told her. ‘Tell him hi from me.’—-It’s when I walk into Louis’ room, Stefan is the first one to greet me with a punch on my jaw line. I fall back against the wall, instantly feeling if my face still somehow sits in its place. ‘What the fuck was that for?’ I slur, while looking around the room, not seeing any sign of Louis.‘You are fucking late. That’s what that was for!’ Stefan spits in my face, making me flustered with anger. I want to punch him back, I really do. But I don’t know if he wears a gun and I cannot help but think about Evelyns words when she said not to be reckless. ‘WE HAD A JOB TO DO AND YOU WERE NOT FUCKING HERE.’ His words boom out his chest before he gives me another punch, right at the exact same spot, and it’s with the second one I taste blood in my mouth.‘Where is Louis?’ I spit out the blood, not able to taste it any longer. I hate the taste of blood, I cannot stand it.‘He’s at the job. Just like Niall.’ Stefan glares in front of me. I still am not able to stand up straight.‘Why are you not with them then?’‘I send Brody with them. I rather welcomed you back.’ The smile on his face makes me want to vomit. I hate him. I hate him so much. Brody is one of the other guys in the house. They come and go. And I don’t really know how Stefan finds them. ‘It’s only the two of them?’ I ask between my clenching teeth. ‘That’s not safe. There needs to be at least three of us.’Stefan scoffs at my words. ‘As if I do not know that. I only hope it makes you realize not to pull that trick on me again. If Louis doesn’t return tonight, it’s your own fault. Brody won’t stay if he needs to leave him behind. I think it’s a good way to let you think about what you did just now.’My eyes close at the thought of it. Making me want to pull a gun and kill Stefan right at this moment. But instead I feel Stefan step towards the door, making me feel even more sick.‘Oh. And Zayn?’ He catches my attention one last time. ‘You are not going back to the kid. You’re not going out this house again, unless it’s for jobs. And you know the consequences when you don’t keep yourself to that.’ Stefan sounds like he gets so much pleasure out of this. And I’m sure I hear him laugh when he slams the door behind him.I cannot do anything other than slight down with my back against the wall, digging my head into my hands and waiting for Louis to return.

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Chapter 16Evelyn POV I turn on the television when I make my way over to the kitchen. I like it when there is music or a program on, even when I don’t look at the screen. It makes me feel like my apartment isn’t that empty after all. I just came home twenty minutes ago and started already with preparing my diner. It was a huge thing for me to actually cook something, because normally I dread the idea of cooking myself. I continue taking some ingredients for a salad out of the fridge, feeling good about myself for being such so good for myself with healthy food, when a news flash suddenly catches my attention. ‘Yesterday evening another café in London has been robbed. We were able to arrest one of the members of the gang that’s been going around the city for months now. We are ready to reinvestigate everything and will hope for some co-operation of our suspect…’ Suddenly I feel myself standing in front of my television, not even realizing I walked over from the kitchen. This cannot be Zayn. Please… let it not be him. No. It cannot be him. He told me yesterday he didn’t have a stealing job. Did he? But maybe something still came up. And maybe something went wrong. How will I ever be able to see him again? God… Why am I even talking about it like it is a bad thing. I should be happy if they arrested him. It would be justice. But I’m not feeling happy at all. I feel sick actually. Because I cannot stand the idea of never seeing him again. Right at that exact moment I hear my doorbell go and I can’t help but jump up again. My heart starts to race, hoping so badly it’s the lad I spend my evening with yesterday, that I will not be able to contain my disappointment if it is anyone else. I quickly run up to the door, remembering just in time that I need to look through the peephole. But when I do the thing Zayn specifically asked me to do, I do not meet Zayn, nor Harry. It’s two men standing in front of my door. One blond lad and the other one with brown hair. One of them is supporting the other. After a short moment of hesitation, I do the thing Zayn would hate me for. But he’s not here and he does not know, so I’m not planning on telling him. ‘Who is it?’ I ask in a louder voice, making sure they hear my words. If the brown haired one wasn’t looking like he’s hurt, I probably would’ve acted like I wasn’t home. But for some reason my voice decided to let them know I was. And I couldn’t make out if it was because of the coincidence of the moment, or just my curiosity. ‘Friends of Zayn.’ The blond one answers back. I bite my lip. The possibility that they’re lying strangles me. They know about Zayn, so they are either on his side… or enemies. ‘What are your names?’ I decide to ask again. Because if one of them is Louis, I know I can let him in. And if none of them is, I just don’t. ‘Niall and Louis.’ And from the moment I hear the last name, I open the door for them to enter. I immediately see the brown one is hesitating to come in, like he does not want this at all. But because the blond boy practically drags him in, he has no other choice. ‘Where is Zayn?’ I ask while closing the door after them. ‘Probably at our place.’ The blond one answers while helping the brown one to sit on the couch. ‘I’m so sorry, Evelyn. I’m Niall. Nice to meet you.’ He sticks out his hand, but when we both notice the blood on it, he quickly pulls back. ‘I know you know about us and about Zayn and what we are doing. I had nowhere to go and he-’ Niall looks at the brown lad, who’s probably Louis. ‘He needs to be taken care of. He won’t get it with Stefan.’ ‘Niall, shut the fuck up.’ I hear Louis mutter under his breath while clenching his teeth together due to the pain. ‘No! You shut up. You are hurt and the only way we are going to fix this is with her. So shut up and get yourself together.’ Niall speaks in a stern voice. ‘What happened?’ I’m able to come between the two boys. ‘Don’t tell her. Zayn will kill you.’ Louis warns, glaring at his blond haired companion. Niall completely ignores him before he responds. ‘He got hit by a car.’I wide my eyes at that statement. ‘We had a job to do. It all escalated too quickly. I don’t know exactly what happened inside. All I know is that Louis ran out, got hit by a car, I picked him up and drove away.’‘Zayn’s going to kill you.’ Louis states, groaning in pain. But Niall doesn’t respond and just looks at me. ‘So I needed someone who can somewhat take care of his wounds. Because he won’t get anything where we live.’ ‘No band-aids though. Just cleaning up some stuff.’ Louis adds. I nod, not even trying to object. It somehow feels good, to see Louis sit here. From the moment Zayn talked about him I was curious about his best friend. I know how important mine is, and I saw that feeling in Zayn’s eyes as well. Seeing Louis sit here on my couch, groaning in pain, only made me want to help him even more, knowing Zayn would want that as well. ‘Can I see where you are hurt?’ I ask Louis in my nicest way, because I can see this is not his idea. He did not agree on coming here. And I don’t really get why. He has a wound on his head and the blood definitely needs to be stopped and cleaned up. He pulls his black sweater up and I can’t help but gasp when I see bruises all over his chest and tattoos. He decides to undo himself from his sweater to give me a proper look and then I see his right arm, covered in scrapes. He definitely somehow landed on his right side. ‘I feel some on my leg as well.’ He groans, while taking in his own wounds for the first time himself. ‘I think my ankle is sprained, maybe broken. I don’t know. Doesn’t matter. Just disinfecting the wounds is something already.’ I really need to keep myself from staring at him with open jaw. These wounds are good to be taken care of in the hospital, but it feels like he has experienced this before. It feels like this is not even the worst. ‘I’ll go and get some stuff.’ I nod, before heading towards the bathroom. ‘Evelyn? Can I borrow your phone for a second?’ I hear Niall ask from the living room. ‘It’s on the kitchen counter.’ I let him know, remembering I put it there when I started making my salad. ‘Why do you need it?’ I continue when I walk back in the living room again, seeing him with my phone in his hands. ‘I’m going to call Zayn.’ He just says. And only hearing him say his name, makes my heart give an audible reaction. But I keep myself quiet when I sit next to Louis with a bowl of water, a lot of cotton pads, disinfecting spray and towels. ‘Thank you for doing this.’ I suddenly hear Louis say to me, and when I look up I meet his genuinely thankful eyes and it makes me realize why Zayn chose him to be his best friend. ‘I think I know now why Zayn can’t seem to leave you alone.’ He adds with a small smile, letting me know a lot more than he says. Because the whole reason of them being here, is the fact that Zayn talked about me and told them about our meetings, and that alone makes me more excited than I should be right now. ‘Zayn?’ I suddenly hear from the other side of the room. ‘Yes, Niall here –’ … ‘Zayn, calm down. Calm d-…’ … ‘They did? Was it on the news? But how-’I feel Louis tense up beside me. ‘Niall put the phone on speaker please!’ And immediately the blond lad does what he asks. I can’t help but tense up myself when I suddenly hear Zayn’s voice in the room. ‘- saw it on the news. So it’s not you nor Louis? Is Louis with you? Where is he.’ ‘I’m here!’ Louis yells, but hisses right after I touch one of his scratches with my cotton pad. ‘Brody is arrested.’ Niall explains to Louis, filling him in on the part of the conversation he missed. ‘Fucking deserved it.’ Louis mutters, not even looking surprised. ‘It’s because of the kid everything went down like that. I even think he called the cops himself.’‘What did he do?’ I hear Zayn’s voice react to the one of the lad I’m taking care off. ‘He blocked the door. I couldn’t get out the normal way. I just finished emptying the cash register when he put up that awful disgusting smile of his. I think he just wanted to trap me, maybe because Stefan asked him to do it. But I got out another way. The police was already there, I needed to get out. That’s where I got hit by that stupid car. Don’t even know where that came from.’ ‘YOU GOT HIT BY A CAR?’ Zayn’s voice booms through the phone, making Louis roll his eyes. ‘I’m fine, Malik. Nothing I cannot handle.’ And I notice a small proud smile fall over his face. ‘Nothing you cannot handle.’ Zayn mimics Louis’ voice, frustrated by the light approach of his friend. ‘Where the fuck are you guys anyway?’ ‘Well…’ Niall jumps in again now. ‘That one is kind of why I’m calling you.’ ‘He’s going to kill you, Niall.’ Louis repeats the third time tonight, amused by the expecting turn of events. ‘I kind of brought him to Evelyn.’ There is a short silence on the other end of the line and I’m sure Louis can hear my heart pound. ‘You- What?’ ‘I’m sorry Zayn. But Louis needed someone to take care of his wounds because he looks like shit-’ I see Louis frown his brows at that statement. ‘I couldn’t bring him back without anyone cleaning up the mess. It won’t heal properly. And if he gets infections, he’ll need to go to the hospital. Stefan will not let him. He’d rather kill him than send him away.’ Another pause of Zayn follows, making the apartment fall in silence, all three of us waiting for him to respond. ‘I’m going to kill you.’ He snaps, making Louis give me a satisfying ‘I told you so’ smile. ‘But Zayn, I-‘‘Did you ever think about people following you, Niall?’ ‘Zayn, no one was following us. I-‘‘You fucking don’t know that!’‘But I made sure to check it and-‘‘And Evelyn? I bet she’s listening as well, isn’t she?’ Zayn spits through the phone, sounding so angry that I suddenly feel awful being in this position. ‘I thought you knew by now that letting in strangers is not something you can do after you met me. I really thought I could trust you on that one.’ And I can feel his disappointment hit me hard. ‘I wasn’t going to open the door!’ I try to defend myself ‘But then Niall told me their names and I recognized Louis. That’s why I opened it. I saw he was hurt and I wanted to help because he’s your friend.’ ‘No one was following us, Zayn.’ Louis suddenly jumps in and from the moment he does, I see Niall relax in his spot. I can’t help but wonder why that is. ‘I made sure nobody was. We did not go straight to her home. We drove around for a sometime. We placed our car a couple of streets from hers and we waited until she came home. Nobody saw us. Nobody knows.’‘You sure, Lou?’ ‘Positive.’ And that’s where I realize why Niall relaxed from the moment Louis decided to speak. The way Zayn’s voice changed. The way he suddenly believed that nobody followed them. They trust each other. There is no doubt on my mind that they trust each other with their lives. They have each other’s back. Even in situations like this, Louis somehow knew Zayn would hate the idea of them coming to my place. And Zayn didn’t believe anything Niall said, until Louis confirmed it and told him he made sure everything was alright. Zayn did not interrupt him like he did with Niall. He let Louis speak. He just trusts him. And Louis knows that too. ‘Are you in the house?’ Louis takes me out of my thoughts with his voice. He’s still talking to Zayn. ‘Yes.’‘Does Stefan know about Brody being arrested?’ ‘No. He thinks it’s you.’ Zayn explains. ‘I think he doesn’t have a clue at all. He’s been laughing about it all day. We kind of had a disagreement yesterday when I arrived late.’ I instantly feel guilty because I know he’s talking about his visit at my place. ‘He just wants to part us, Louis. He’s not going to stop until he succeeds.’ ‘Well… That sucks.’ Louis mutters, visibly frustrated by the whole situation. ‘Did he hurt you?’ That question makes me swallow. This Stefan person has to be the one I was afraid of when they robbed the café I was in. He fits the picture perfectly. I still can clearly see his evil blue eyes in front of me, with the ugly scar just above his right eye. ‘He’s going to be so furious when he knows it’s not you who’s arrested.’ Zayn ignores Louis’ question, making him roll his eyes. But for some reason Louis doesn’t repeat his question. And he doesn’t have to either, because we all know the answer is probably ‘yes’.

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‘So what do we do now?’ Niall asks, not specifically to anyone. I took care of Louis’ scratches and was now busy with handling the blood on his forehead. It isn’t as bad as it seemed at first. It just needs some time to heel.‘Niall, put the speaker off for a minute.’ I hear Zayn answer. And I raise my brows without looking up. Well, obviously I’m not allowed to hear whatever they are saying.I’m planning on listening to Niall’s answers and try to make out what they are talking about, until Louis interrupts my intentions. ‘He likes you too, you know.’ And when I look at his face, I see him grinning. ‘Every action he does is just because he likes you, don’t forget that.’‘I’m not so sure about that though.’He rolls his eyes at my statement. ‘It’s obvious though. I’m with him most of the time. I’m not going to tell you that he’s talking about you, 24/7. But I see him change.’ Louis’ blue eyes are so bright and friendly looking, I didn’t notice it when they entered. It was only now, while I was cleaning his head wound, that I realized this was a way too friendly looking man to be a thief.He could be a teacher though. Somehow I saw a teacher in him. ‘He’s going to kill me for this, but… Zayn didn’t have the best past. He didn’t have the nicest family. And that is the big reason why he ended up where he is now. For him to have found someone who he actually likes, considering his past of not trusting anyone, is a big thing.’‘He pushes me away lot of the time though.’ I mutter, trying not to show how excited I am about Louis telling me something about Zayn.‘Only because he doesn’t want to lose you.’‘But he loses me if he cuts me out!’‘Yes. But only for the better.’ Louis eyes look serious now. ‘You know, Evelyn. In places like ours, being alive and being dead lie practically next to each other. If he’s reckless with you, people die. And whether he wants to admit it or not, he’s only afraid of three people dying: me, you and Niall, although he won’t admit the last one.’ We quickly glance at Niall, who’s still talking to Zayn. ‘When he pushes you away, it only means that he’s afraid. And even though it means he has to cut you out of his life, he still knows you are here somewhere. And that’s much better then dead.’I stare at Louis for a while, trying to take in his words. And just before I want to say something, I hear Niall’s voice interrupt.‘Yeah, sure.’ He answers while handing my phone to me. ‘He wants to speak to you, Evelyn.’ Niall says and I stare at the phone for a couple of seconds before I take it from him. I place the phone to my ear, ready to be the only one hearing Zayn’s voice. ‘I’m here.’‘Okay, go to your room and close the door, Evelyn.’ He orders instantly.‘What?! Now?’‘Yes, now, please.’I frown, while standing up from the sofa, walking to my bedroom, leaving the two lads on their own.‘You’re alone now?’ He immediately asks, leaving no second in between.‘I am.’‘Okay look…’ He starts, again, speaking faster than he normally would. It makes me nervous. ‘I’m not coming anymore. It’s not safe for you, nor me, nor Louis or Niall. This has gotten way out of hand and I’m not letting it get even more crazy then it should be.’ I want to tell him to stop but I can’t because I know he won’t listen. He made this decision even before the phone call. I can feel it. And maybe it is because of Louis’ words that I actually feel prepared for this conversation.‘And there will be no following, no calling. I know you have my number now, but I don’t want you to use it, ever.’‘But-…’‘No buts. That’s it. This is it. Just act like it never happened. And-…’‘What if I need you?’ I interrupt him speaking.It silences him for a moment. But after he gathers himself, he answers with no compassion in his voice. ‘You don’t need me. You are brave… You don’t need anyone.’‘Being brave has nothing to do with needing someone.’ I fill him in.He sighs before he speaks and I can just see him shake his head while saying his words. ‘Being brave is about doing what you are afraid of. And you do that. You do it every time. You look your killer right in the eye. You don’t call the police on him. You stitch his bullet wound. You follow him around. You let in his so called friends you don’t even know about. And now I need you to be brave and not contact him again, although you are afraid of needing him. But you don’t need him, not in the slightest even.’I swallow, feeling stupid tears sting in my eyes. ‘You are not my killer!’‘You know what I mean, Evelyn.’ He groans and I hear he finds this almost as difficult as I. ‘I could be… And this even has nothing to do with it anymore. It’s getting out of hand. I don’t have the control anymore. Niall and Louis know. Harry knows about me. God knows who else. I’m not taking any risks anymore.’I try my best to not cry, because I’m sure he’ll hear it and I just don’t want to sounds so weak.‘Just promise me one thing.’ He says when I don’t reply. One single tear rolls down my cheek and I frantically wipe it away, because I don’t want to feel them. I don’t want to feel the tears that tell me this twisted thing is over. Because I like this thing so incredibly much.And then I hear his voice continue. ‘Just promise me that you’ll call Harry. And you ask him to stay over for a week. According to Louis no one followed them, but you never know. And I don’t like you to be alone when that can happen.’I swallow. ‘Why do you even care.’ He’s quiet for a while before he replies. ‘I’m not even answering that.’‘Why not?’‘Because it’s better for the both of us.’‘This is not better!’ I protest. But before he can react, I hear voices through the phone. I can’t make out what they are saying and suddenly the phone call stops. He hung up. And I just stand there for a while, with the phone locked to my ear, waiting on something I cannot pin point what exactly. Maybe I’m waiting to hear his voice again. Maybe I’m waiting for another phone call telling me all this was a joke and he’ll step by later. I don’t know what I’m waiting for. But after two minutes it’s clear to me that nothing is coming and that I need to get going again. So I look in the mirror next to my bedroom door to check if I somehow look presentable. And though I look far from okay, I still have no choice then enter the living room again.But when I do. No one is there. No Niall. No Louis.It startles me because why would they leave in such a rush and don’t even say goodby-…And then it hits me. Zayn planned this whole thing out. When Zayn told Niall to put the speaker down, it all changed. He told him to leave from the moment I would be in another room. He specifically asked me to go to my bedroom, and it didn’t even ring a bell with me. Louis probably knew all along. He distracted me from listening. It won’t surprise me if these two lads can read the other’s mind without even looking at each other.And I couldn’t help myself but feel so freaking frustrated because of it.NOTE: I’m sorry this one is a bit shorter. It was kind of a filling chapter. Hope you are still liking this :-)