35

Still stunned by his presence, I stood staring at the pills in my hand.

The smell of his breath still lingered on my face and I quickly went to the sink next to me to turn on cold water and hastily splashed it on my face. My hands were still shaking slightly and it took all of my concentration to get one of those little pills out of the pack.

I held her, trembling, and took the bottle with my other hand, then washed it down, hoping this throbbing headache would finally go away.

I leaned my hands on the counter, stared absently down the drain and asked myself what Thomas was trying to achieve with his action. Who got so close to another person without having an ulterior motive? I didn't know anyone and that strengthened my opinion of him. He was totally disturbed.

The thought that he was staying here day and night gave me uncomfortable goosebumps on my arms and it was only when I heard the front door open behind me that I turned off the water and turned around curiously.

"Oh, Mia. Can you help me?" my mother said and had several bags in her hands. Because of her panting, I rushed to help her and together we put everything on the kitchen island.

"I need to talk to you," I whispered to her while she cleared the things out of the bags and seemed kind of frantic about it.

"Your aunt Magret died," she blurted out suddenly and I just frowned in question. She stopped cleaning up and then looked at me with what appeared to be a happy expression. "You don't know her, neither do I. She's some great aunt or something. But she was rich and we get everything. I have to go away with Thomas for a few days."

My jaw dropped inevitably. How greedy could you actually be? I didn't know this Magret, but she should have donated her money better. The only good thing was that I was home alone for a few days and Thomas wouldn't be there either, but Kiyan would be, which put a smile on my face.

"I'm happy too, Mia. But someone died. You should save that smile for other times," she reprimanded me and then pressed two packs of milk into my hand. I didn't care what she said, I'd rather she think that way than find out that my smile came from thinking about Kiyan.

"We're leaving tomorrow and we'll be back on Sunday. And Mia, I'll tell your father to check on you every day."

I nodded, put the milk in the fridge and briefly thought about trying to ask them about Thomas again, but if they were going away anyway I kept it to myself for now.

"Hello beauty", this asshole came to us in the kitchen and I didn't miss that he gave my mother a kiss and immediately looked at me with a dirty grin.

"Honey, I have so much to tell you," my mother took his hand and then pulled him over to the couch after her.

This was my chance to escape. I quickly grabbed the jelly beans from one of the bags and then walked down the hall to close the door behind me in my room.

The silence here calmed me and I finally had time to think about everything in peace without Thomas or my mother coming near me.

I pulled up my shades, let the sun shine into my room, and then sat down on my desk chair to check my phone first.

No messages, no calls. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but I was hoping for an apology from Juline, or at least a quick message from Micah.

The shock then overtook me on Instagram.

A photo of Juline and Chloe grinning in amusement at the camera.

Hashtag #nobitches

Who believes...

I took a closer look at the photo and pretty quickly got an even bigger shock. In the background I could clearly see the ugly couch from Zayn's apartment and not only that, Kiyan was sitting there apparently having a conversation with Adam.

Was the whole world actually trying to make fun of me?

I turned off my cell phone, angrily threw it on the desk in front of me and ripped open the bag of gummy bears to give myself some food for the nerves. I wanted to drink alcohol again, but I shook the thought away in disgust and then got my drawing pad out of my drawer to draw Cody's house.

The memory of that villa still amazes me and I'm beginning to wish I didn't have all the worries around me and could have enjoyed the party without arguments...that damn spin the bottle!

I tried with difficulty to suppress my thoughts and then started drawing. But it didn't take three dashes before I turned my phone back on and wrote to Kiyan.

Hey, what are you doing?

Was a very simple question. I didn't want to seem intrusive.

Hey babe, I'm with Zayn. But wanted to come right away. Do you want me to bring you anything? Maybe something sweet and salty?

Excellent! I couldn't even be mad after that news. I didn't actually need it. He was honest and I really appreciated that about him. He couldn't help it if the two were also with Zayn.

Take it easy, Mia, I said to myself, then wrote my reply to him.

I only need you.

I sent this message and immediately felt weird. It was the truth. I wanted him with me and I wanted him to know that I felt that way, but it did feel a little intrusive.

See you soon ;)

I beamed at the phone, feeling like one of those lovestruck teenagers in the high school movies who would get attracted to someone way too easily and feel stupid about it, but that's how it was, and I quickly grabbed some new underwear and leggings to go before he comes to take a shower.

The warm shower water that poured down on me incessantly gave me such a nice feeling that I could have stood cooped up here for hours.

In the small bathroom, my problems only seemed tiny and, fortunately for me, the headaches disappeared completely.

The anticipation of Kiyan even made me smile to myself over and over again, even though I was still a little frustrated with the photo, it was the only one I could still stand around me.

Juline... Chloe... Micah... Thomas... They faded out as soon as Kiyan was with me and that alone made him a person I kind of needed around me, even if I kind of felt like that slightly dependent on his presence.

"Mia?! Will you come out right now, please!" my mom knocked on the door, directing my attention to grab a towel and hurriedly dry myself.

"I'll be right there!" I called to her and quickly put on my leggings and his t-shirt and then wrapped my hair in a white towel.

Curious as to what she might want from me, I opened the door, hoping that she had finally figured out what an idiot Thomas was, but when I entered the living room and found them arm in arm, that beautiful image was shattered .

"What is it?" I asked curiously, completely ignoring Thomas.

"We're leaving now. I had completely forgotten that it's your birthday on Sunday. So we'll be back on Saturday," she explained to me and came up to me to take me in her arms briefly and painlessly.

Should I give a quick applause since she remembered when it was my birthday?

I bit back my nasty thoughts and then watched as she picked up a suitcase and told me all sorts of rules...

No parties ... that was the absolute ban and since I didn't have any friends anymore anyway, I wasn't interested in the topic of partying anyway.

There would be enough food in the fridge and if there was anything I should call my father.

That's okay!

She gave me a goodbye kiss on the cheek and then left the house with her idiot, who fortunately hadn't even noticed me the whole time.

Just the fact that he just left without saying goodbye to Kiyan showed me how much he didn't seem to care. What did my mother want from him? Although she was really cold to me and often behaved selfishly, she has always been well received by men, so why date such a random lumberjack?

The memory of his breathing on my face and his closeness made me shake in disgust immediately. The main thing is that he was gone for a few days. For me that meant finally being able to relax without the constant fear of confronting him again.

I settled on the couch, turned on the TV, and then casually watched some sitcom while still having to think about last night, but my musings were interrupted by the sound of the front door behind me.

I turned around smiling, but my smile quickly faded when not only Kiyan, but also Zayn and Adam entered the house.

Why did he bring her???

I saw the alcohol Zayn was holding and the pizzas stacked in Adam's arms. Wasn't that a minor violation of the rules?

"Thomas texted me that they're already gone," said Kiyan, who took off his leather jacket and hung it on one of the chairs in the kitchen. He then walked up to me and dropped onto the couch next to me and wrapped his arm around me. I didn't care about the rest just because of his proximity, but I was still overwhelmed by the presence of the other two, who then also sat down on the couch after a short greeting.

"Can we talk for a moment?" I asked Kiyan nervously, who then nodded and I got up immediately and walked ahead of him to my room. When he had closed the door behind him, I took a deep breath and finally wanted to address them one by one.

"Why did you bring these two with you?"

He frowned at me, leaning his back against my door. Once again my gaze fell on his tight dark shirt and once again I almost got distracted by it, but I immediately looked questioningly into his eyes again.

"I didn't know you wanted to be alone with me so badly," he smiled, walking towards me, but I elegantly avoided him and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Mia, I brought the two of them with me so they don't have to hang out in their small apartment," he said and wanted to take my hand, but I didn't allow it again. I didn't know what made me so angry, but somehow I didn't want to be near him at the moment. "What's the matter? I can send them away, no problem at all."

I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. "It's not just about the two of them. It also bothers me that Juline and Chloe were with Zayn when you were there. You were so weird in the car after you talked to her and then you text her too," I let my thoughts out and watched him closely as I spoke. He didn't flinch and then it was he who crossed his arms.

"So I'm not allowed to hang out with my boyfriend anymore and if I'm writing to women, do I need your permission? Did I understand that correctly?" He came out almost angrily and I immediately shook my head in the negative.

"No, you misunderstood. I don't want to forbid you anything-"

"But it feels that way, and we're not even together," he raised an eyebrow and all color fell from my face. How cold could he be. I knew we weren't even dating, but did he have to emphasize it like that?

"Yeah, that's right. We're not dating! Apparently you not only kiss girls at random, you also stick your fingers down their pants and then go we're not dating!"

I never thought I could be so angry with him, but even though he was right, it hurt me and shook my small, perfect world.

There was a sudden feeling that I had been taken advantage of, that I had lost my friends because of him and that I was just some naïve girl to play with until it got boring.

"You're exaggerating, Mia," he said, but I just gave him an angry look and left my room.

"It doesn't matter if I'm exaggerating. We're not together," I hissed and walked ahead of him down the hall.

He would see what he got out of it.

I took the towel off my head and gave my hair a shake before walking straight to the couch. Without giving much thought to my actions, I snatched the Fake Jägermeister from Zayn's hand, looked at Kiyan, who had just come into the living room from the hallway, and then settled comfortably on Zayn's lap, smiling triumphantly.

If everyone was such an asshole, why shouldn't I be too?! It wasn't my style to act like that, but the last few days had shown me that being reserved and being polite won't do anything except make you a joke.

He was into women like Chloe? Well! could he have!