once nicola stepped outside, zayn was well aware that she was crying if her puffy colored cheeks were anything to go by. a pout formed on his lips as he cupped her face to look her in the eye, “i love you.” he reminded her before pulling her into his arms. he allowed her to speak, shaking his head because despite her words being true, he did want to stick it out for her.  “it’s fine, babe, you know, i realized that for you i’d put up with whatever if it meant that we were together figuring it out together. that’s the whole point of marriage, innit? to experience the good, the bad and ugly all together?” he wondered out loud. taking her hand, he pulled nicola to the car that he had called figuring a date would be perfect at this time to forget about the tension with him and her father. “i was thinking, we can go grab a bite and a bit to drink, you can show me around this place since you love it so much. sort of selfish, but i could really use sometime just us.”

it seemed like everything zayn was saying was being misconstrued. he knew it wasn’t purposeful, however, whenever nicola repeated something back to him it sounded way more damaging than he meant for it to be. it all appeared purposeful, however, zayn knew his intentions and that wasn’t it at all. deeply sighing, he stood up from the bed once he saw the sun setting, deciding that it’d benefit them to have time away from the house, away from the family to remind the both of them of why they’re holding onto each other. grabbing his jacket, he walked out of their room, instantly bumping into brittany, “have you seen your sister?” he simply asked, the elder woman shaking her head with a pout on her face. after a few minutes of having no luck in the mansion her family was living in, he pulled out his phone to call her. “baby! i’m looking for you. if you didn’t pull a zayn and you’re still in the house, i’ll be in front on the steps waiting for you.”

sighing, zayn figured she’d give that explanation and for him, it just wasn’t enough justification. however, it seemed like it was enough for her, which meant he just had to deal with it. “i get it, and i’m sorry, what do you reckon, i go downstairs and apologize to him and let him know he has the right to be upset and protective?” at this point zayn just couldn’t give the situation anymore of his energy. “i get it, he’ll eventually get it in the future.” zayn hoped because he wouldn’t be able to put up with this every time he came and visited. sucking his teeth, zayn couldn’t help rolling his eyes at her. he continued to watch outside, even as he heard nicola’s final words and listened as the door slammed shut. letting out a deep breath, he picked his phone up hesitating to figure out his next steps. the last thing he wanted was to draw any problems between their two families if this wedding was going to happen. pursing his lips, he sat on the bed for what seemed like hours, unable to even fall asleep as he attempted to figure out what his next steps were going to be because he didn’t want to stay.  after a quick talk with his best friend, zayn decided staying and quietly interacting out when it called for. he only had 3 more days here before he was flying back to bradford to be with his family.

“i wasn’t, i’m sorry for having my words come off that way.” he apologized, because he could understand nicola’s point of view and the last thing he would want is for her to feel less loved by anyone, especially her dad. “he’s hurt about fucking what?” zayn queried in confusion, “about me not being apart of our wedding planning which led to you leaving me? that’s fucking bullshit.” it didn’t make sense why her family would feel some type of way towards him for that reason, “it’s not like i fucking cheated on you.” he pointed out. his family asked about nicola all the time, wanted to make sure she was okay, that they were okay, however it didn’t seem mutual. “so, what do you expect from me, nic?” he truly asked, wondering what is the way she expects him to handle this situation because he had no clue. ignoring it wasn’t good, and speaking up was just as bad. he could see her point of view, not wanting to separate while they were in an argument, which is what was grounding him to stay, “at this point it doesn’t even matter to me.” he breathed, either way he was going to be miserable dealing with everything. “i just need a second alone to think…by myself.” he plopped on the bed looking out the balcony door from where he sat.

“i get you can’t control it but his love for you should’ve done that.” zayn exclaimed as if it was obvious. “me being stubborn has nothing to do with anything.” he defended himself, “either way, i wouldn’t go out of my way to make someone feel uncomfortable in my home.” more than anything, that was the truth. zayn hated tension, and wouldn’t make an environment give off the feeling of stepping on egg shells. sitting on the edge of the bed as he threw his things back in his suitcase, zayn shook his head, “this is your family, nicola, you don’t have to agree or come with me.” he didn’t like hearing her call him out about how he deals with shit, it all became a harsh reality about himself and infuriated him more than he’d admit.  he wanted to feel like they were team, however it didn’t feel that way and watching nicola wipe what he assumes is tears from her face made him know as much.

rolling his eyes, he huffed, dragging his own bag into the hall, “c’mere, babe.” he requested taking her hand pulling her back into the room and locking the door behind them. with a deep sigh, zayn groaned, “i don’t like seeing you upset…” he trailed cupping her chin, “i don’t like a lot, but i think i just need a moment to calm down and to process my thoughts and how to deal with your families newfound feelings about me because as you said i like to just separate myself from the problem. i don’t deal with it.” he confessed, “so, i’m going to go out for a bit, calm myself down and i’ll come back later.”

“what’d you just say?” scoffing, the blonde whirled around to face him, a scowl taking over her features, “what’s that supposed to mean? what are you implying? that my father doesn’t love me enough to just look passed things that upset him?” maybe she was taking it the wrong way, or maybe that’s what she herself was thinking and using his statement as a chance to voice it. “so you’re being the bigger person, that’s a good thing. you should be proud of it.” crossing her arms, she shook her head, “you just said either im coming with you or im approving my fathers words so i said im coming with you, you’re my family, too.”

“you’re explaining his actions as if they’re okay.” zayn scoffed, “i wouldn’t i’d trust my sister’s judgement unless she gave me reason not to.” he admitted crossing his arms, “so, unless you’re not telling me something that you should then i can’t relate.” he huffed. the longer he stayed in the house, the more irritated he was becoming at the fact that he actually thought this would be a good idea. “i’m not. i just don’t want to deal with it, nic.” he sighed, “the last thing i wanted was to come here and argue with your family. i wanted to spend more time with you and quite frankly i don’t give a shit about making anything better with your father.” his irritation was increasing by the second, and zayn was regretting the fact that his irritation was towards nicola. “are you going to come? i’ll have you back here before the holidays.”

In all honesty Nicola really wasn’t expecting it to this degree at all. She knew that her family would start off a little standoffish but only because they were being defensive in her honor. The blonde assumed that once it was evident that it was far behind her and they were ready to move ahead that everyone would move on. “Dad!” Nicola hissed “enough already, you’re being petty.” Both of her hands moved through her hair as she breathed out a slow breath and shot her mom a look hoping that she would step in. Fighting with her parents wasn’t really something she did very often because as was becoming quite evident, her father had a way of trying to make people feel small and on her it typically worked. “Zayn, you can’t…” she was trailing off. How was she supposed to choose a side? Either way she would be letting down someone important to her “dad please don’t say things like that you’re not being fair, it’s not all his fault. We’re going to have our ups and downs just like everyone else.” Then she directed her attention to Zayn “can you take a breath? He’s just being protective he doesn’t mean it.”

to say that zayn expected this would be an understatement. he didn’t think it would be a big deal. he had ended relationships for much crazier things, however, when he typically made up with the person afterwards it wasn’t as tough or tense as the house felt tonight. he knew he fucked up, he knew that he should’ve begged nicola for forgiveness earlier, but he came around eventually and that’s all that should matter…right? if zayn knew anything, he knew nicola didn’t deserve to be in the middle of this, she deserved more, however, nelson was her father and zayn was her fiance.

shaking his head, zayn refused to sit without a reply to the femme. he wanted to challenge nelson only to prove to him how much of a little shit he’s being. “lets face it, in another few months you both will be wedding planning, or shall i say my daughter will be the one doing all the planning as you struggle to speak up for her.” he finished making zayn eyebrows meet in anger. “one little issue and now i’m not the type to stand up for her. i don’t need to prove anything to you and whether you like it or not your daughter is going to be with me and if you keep this up you’ll be dealing with us a lot less. you’re being disrespectful not only to me, but to her and our relationship. grow the fuck up.”

it wasn’t often that zayn was brought to discomfort. it wasn’t often he was biting his tongue in order to avoid confrontation, however, here he was sat on the peltz couch in upstate new york as he stared down nelson peltz, his soon to be step father. letting out a sigh of annoyance, he turned to look at nicola, as beautiful as ever yet as clueless as zayn felt. he remembered their conversation the night prior, zayn had been in this position, constant shots being thrown at him by nelson more than likely due to their brief split some months ago. he asked nicola to talk to her dad, ask him to take it easy on zayn because zayn knew how hot headed he can become if it continued and the last thing he wanted was some sort of drift between him and her family.