Second Chance - Chapter 13

HEAR ME OUT

HOLLY... 

“What?” He was incredulous. He was completely stunned. He could not believe what he had just heard. “You’re what?” 

“I said I was pregnant.” I repeated what I said even though I was certain that he heard me the first time. I closed my eyes briefly because I could not look at Louis. When I opened my eyes, I stared at my feet, still avoiding his gaze. 

Louis was completely silent. I looked up at his face because the silence was unbearable. He looked completely stunned. 

“I was 15 weeks pregnant when I left.” I said in almost a whisper. Louis stood there staring at me as if he could not comprehend what I was telling him. 

He bit his lower lip and began shaking his head. He ran his fingers through his hair repeatedly. 

“I’m sorry, Louis. I truly am sorry.” I apologized. My voice was wobbly and my eyes were glassy. I was trying so hard not to shed any tears. 

He closed his eyes tightly and the expression on his face I could only describe as in pain. I took a step forward to take his hand in mine. I wanted to comfort him and sooth the pain away. He immediately opened his eyes when he heard me moved and took a step back. He did not look at me. He held his hands up to stop me from advancing towards him. 

“Don’t. Touch. Me.” He stressed every word. Hurt, disappointment, anger and resentment were written clearly on his face. He fixed his gaze somewhere on the ceiling as if he could not bear looking at me. 

“I cannot believe this shit. This is so fucking hilarious!” He started pacing back and forth and lashed out angrily. “You must have a damn good laugh at me, haven’t you? The bloody dimwit who was so much in love with you that he was willing to fucking sacrifice anything to be with you.” 

“Louis...” I began. 

“Oh, no babe, don’t fucking interrupt. Let me finish. You must have so much fun playing me for a fool. Congratulation, babe. You did a damn good job of that.” Louis stopped in front of me and waggled his finger at me when I tried to interrupt him again. “No no, babe. None of that shit.” 

“What you did was a damn fine acting. I was totally, completely fooled. I thought you were for real. Stupid of me. You should get a fucking award for that, babe. It was fucking impressive.” 

“It wasn’t...” I tried again to explain. With almost every sentence punctuated with swear words, I had no doubt that Louis Tomlinson was absolutely furious. This was like a flashback to the fight I used to witness at home between my parents, with them shouting every known profanity at each other and sometimes at me. 

“Babe, how many times must I tell you? DO. NOT. FUCKING. INTERRUPT!” He tore into me viciously. “Did you enjoy screwing him? Hell! I must have been a damn good teacher. You liked it so much that when I was too fucking busy for you, you find some other guys to screw.” 

I gasped aloud when it registered in my head what he was saying. Did he just call me a ‘slut’? I stared at him, my eyes widened with disbelieve and I was absolutely speechless. 

“Do you like screwing him better than me?” Louis sneered. 

“Is it as good as what we had? Does he know how you liked it, love?” 

“Louis, please stop!” Tears were falling down my cheeks. I closed my eyes tightly and covered my ears because I could not stand to hear him talking like that. It was nasty. It was crude. It was vulgar. I know he was saying all those things to hurt me and... he succeed in doing that. “Just stop, please.” 

“You, my love, are fucking unbelievable! How many others are there? Did you come to my bed straight from theirs? So, one got you pregnant and that’s why you had to get married. Was he the real father? Shit! Do you even know who the father is?” He jeered cruelly. 

I looked up swiftly with a glint of anger in my eyes upon hearing his words. Before I even knew it, I took a step forward and slapped Louis soundly across the face. I gasp and immediately took a step back when I realised what I had done. 

Louis’ head had turned sideways with the impact of the blow. I could see the imprint of my palm on his cheek. He stiffened and his eyes flashed with rage. The look he gave me was black as thunder and of pure hatred. Suddenly, the tension in him fell away and the blaze of fury in his eyes went out. 

Louis smacked his lips and raised his eyebrow as he said softly at me. “Congratulation, babe. You succeeded in making a fucking fool out of me!” He shrugged and promptly walked away, looking tired and defeated. 

“Louis, please listen to me.” I begged pitifully but I was talking to his retreating back. 

“Louis, please.” I shouted but he ignored my plea. I could not let him go without straitening him out, without telling him the truth, so I rushed after him, not realising that I had stepped on my tote bag which Allie left there earlier. My foot was caught in the straps which caused me to tumble. I tried to stand up and go after Louis but terrible pain shoot up from my ankle. I must have sprained it. 

I tried to walk, not even caring about the pain. I was only thinking of Louis leaving. I took a few steps and fell back on the floor. 

With my tears blinding me, I called out his name but Louis was already gone. I sat there on the floor, a pitiful figure sobbing helplessly. 

“Princess, what happened?” Zayn sat down on the floor beside me and pulled me towards him so that I sat between his legs. I was so wrapped up in my own misery that I did not hear him approached. 

“He wouldn’t listen. He wouldn’t listen. I tried to tell him. I could not make him listen.” I sobbed hysterically. “He wouldn’t listen.” 

He put my head on his chest tenderly and cradled me. He rocked me back and forth slowly while making comforting noises while his hand was rubbing circle on my back. 

“It’s okay, princess. Let it out. Everything will be alright. I promise.” He kissed the top of my head repeatedly. Don’t you worry. Everything will be okay.”

When my parents fought at home, I would run to Zayn’s house and he would cradle me in his arms until all my tears are spent and his mum would let me stay for the night. For all the wrongs that I did, I must have done something right to deserved a friend like Zayn. He was always there for me. I always felt safe with him. 

When I had calmed down and had no more tears left to shed, Zayn said in a low voice, “Feeling better, princess?” 

My head was still on his chest and I sniffled and nodded in reply to his question. Then, I realised that my tears had soaked his shirt. I touched the wet material and looked up to see his face. He looked so concerned about me that I smiled wistfully. 

Zayn Malik, my best friend in the whole world. I brushed his bearded cheek gently and leaned in to give an affectionate and grateful kiss on his cheek. His beard tickled my nose. 

“Thank you, sunshine.” I said softly. “For always being there for me, for being you. I am very lucky to have you, brother.” 

“None of that, princess. I love you. Of course, I would be there for you and I know you would do the same for me. You can always count on me.” He said sweetly and wiped away the lingering tears on my cheeks. 

“I know.” I replied, hugging him tight. “I love you too, sunshine.” 

“What happened, princess?” Zayn enquired. 

“I told Louis I was pregnant when I left.” The memory of what had just happened was too painful that I choked on my words. “And he accused me of sleeping around when I was with him. I tried explaining it to him but he was too angry to listen.” 

Zayn’s sharp intake of breath told me he was astounded by my revelation. 

“You were pregnant?” 

“Yes.” 

He heaved a great sigh. 

“Princess, we have to work on your partiality on keeping things secrets and also your communication skills.” Zayn tweaked my nose. “You should have told me.” 

“I know, I’m sorry.” I said apologetically. “I did not mean to keep it a secret. I am not good at explaining things especially to someone who is very angry. I usually cannot find the words to say it. I am better at writing than I am at saying things out loud.” 

“Was it Louis’s?” He asked this cautiously. 

“What do you mean ‘was it Louis’s’? Of course the child was his. God! Not you too.” I got all worked up by his question. 

“Hey, don’t get angry.” Zayn smiled trying to placate me. “I was just making sure.” 

“You’re annoying. Whose child do you think it could be? I told you he was my first. I had never been with anyone else. He was the only one.” I declared. 

“What did Louis say?” Zayn said. 

“He did not even ask if the baby was his. He just jumped into conclusion that it must be Ryan’s because I married him.” I replied in a huff. “He would not listen and I was not good at explaining things. What would you call that? The ‘right combination’?” 

Zayn chuckled. “Yeah, that’s Louis. Don’t bother talking to him when he is pissed off because he wouldn’t listen. Let him cool off first.” 

“Thanks, sunshine.” 

“Excuse me, Mrs. Phillips?” Suddenly, Noah called me from downstairs. “Do you need a hand?” 

“Oh, my God! I forgot about Noah.” I exclaimed and then to Noah, “I’m fine, Noah. I’ll be there in a minute.” 

“I have to go, Zayn. Please tell Jenna and Harry that I am sorry about this.” I said apologetically. 

“Don’t worry about it, princess. They understand.” He said assuring me. 

I smiled gratefully at him and tried to stand but stumbled when I tried to put weight on my left foot. Zayn quickly caught me. 

“Careful, princess.” He reminded me. 

“I think I sprained my ankle.” I explained. 

Zayn picked me up bridal style and carried me downstairs to the waiting car. He told Noah about my sprained ankle and asked him to take care of me. He put me in the back seat and crouched down near the car so that he was at my eye level. 

Zayn put his hands under my chin and tipped my face up to look at him. He gazed into my eyes. “Take a good care of yourself, princess. Okay?” 

I nodded. 

“I’ll call you. And I’ll come and see you when the tour ends, yeah. Don’t go and disappear on me again. Promise me.” 

“Don’t worry. I’ll still be here. I am not going anywhere this time.” I promised him. 

“I’ll see you in six weeks or sooner, in case you decided to join us on the tour.” 

I laugh out loud. “I’ll think about it. I might just do that.” 

“Good! Don’t worry about Louis. I’ll talk some sense into him.” 

“Thanks, sunshine, but you don’t have to do that.” 

“I’ll give you a call when we arrived, yeah.” Zayn gave me a heart-melting smile which would cause a lot of girls to swoon. “I love you, princess.” 

“I love you too, sunshine.” 

“Don’t forget to call me.” 

I nodded. Now that he was leaving, I felt like crying again. I blinked away the tears. “I’ll miss you.” 

“I’ll miss you too.” Then, before saying our goodbyes, Zayn kissed my forehead tenderly.