Soulmates

Everybody in the world had a soul mate. There was not one person who did not have a soul mate. Some waited to meet their soul mate and were excited to spend the rest of their lives with them. Whereas some couldn’t give a fuck about it. They believed that when the time would be right, the universe will pull them to their soul mate on its own. They believed that it was no point being excited all day thinking that you will finally meet your soul mate and then being disappointed when you couldn’t.

The first words that your soul mate ever said to you was tattooed on your body and all you had to do was to wait for the person to say those magical words.

Zayn Malik was not excited to meet his soul mate. Not at all. In fact, Zayn wanted to cause the same pain to his soul mate that he experienced all his life.

Now, people usually loved their tattoos. But, Zayn did not. Not even a little bit. The first words that his soul mate was ever going to say to him were, ‘Fuck you!’ Since those were the first words his soul mate would ever say to him, he was often bullied.

All throughout middle school and high school, Zayn was constantly bullied, despite his bad boy/cool guy persona. All the bullies just reminded him that he wasn’t worth it and that even his own soul mate did not want him.

It did get into Zayn’s head and now he only wished to cause pain to his soul mate. His soul mate, who gave him the worst soul mark ever.

His family – who tried their best to not say anything or show any kind of emotion towards Zayn’s soul mark – had also, unintentionally, bullied Zayn about his soul mark. It caused a lot of late night crying sessions and a lot of reassurance from his best friend, Liam that he was, in fact, worth everything in the world.

Now, he was twenty-five years of age and had completely given up on love or finding his soul mate. He simply just stopped giving a fuck about it. He couldn’t care less if his soul mate lived or died.

Zayn sat in his cubicle, trying to finish the report and mail it to his boss before he came screaming at Zayn. But he was too tired.

Zayn stretched his back and muttered to himself, “Uh, I need a coffee,”

He got up from his chair and put on his blazer. He turned to his work buddy, Harry Styles. They joined the firm together and had hit it off instantly.

“Harold, you coming?” Zayn asked Harry.

Harry gave him a confused look and said, “Where?”

“For a damn coffee. I really shouldn’t have stayed up last night trying to finish that damn good book.”

“Did you finish the damn good book?”

“No.”

Harry laughed and said, “Well, I have way too much work to do, so, you go ahead, mate.”

“You sure?”

“Uh huh. Now, scoot, skedaddle!” Harry shooed a laughing Zayn away.

Zayn walked out of his office and walked where the elevators were. He pressed the button and waited patiently. A few more people had come and waited with him, some talking on the phone or to each other or gave a little smile to Zayn to be polite.

When the elevator arrived, all of them went in quietly and clicked the floor they wanted to go. Zayn stood in the corner, listening to the woman standing beside him.

“No, I don’t care, Charlotte! I want the damn report today!” the woman almost yelled to the person she was talking to.

A few people exchanged looks and the woman yelled in the phone again, “I don’t care if your mother is in the damn hospital! That is your personal problem! I want that report today before six!”

Again, people exchanged looks. That was not a nice boss. But again, what kind of bosses were ever nice?

Zayn kept his eyes on the ground, not wanting to make any eye contact and come off as a judgmental asshole. He tried to tune out the woman yelling and focused on how his shoes were starting to wear off. He really needed to buy new ones if he wanted to look professional.

When the elevator dinged, indicating that they had reached the ground floor, everyone moved out as fast as possible. Zayn took his time and got out last, not wanting the woman to think that he was judging her by the way she gets work done.

Zayn walked to the nearby Starbucks and entered the shop, feeling the air conditioner’s cool air on his head. He stood in line to get his drink.

When it was finally his turn, he greeted the waitress who smiled back at him and asked, “What would you like to have today?”

“Um, can I get a Medium Cappuccino?” Zayn ordered.

“Of course, that would be £ 4.75,” the waitress said.

Zayn took out his wallet and removed a bill of five pounds. He gave it to her and said, “Keep the change,”

“Your name, sir?”

“Zayn,”

The waitress quickly wrote it down and gave Zayn his bill.

Zayn waited near the ‘Collect your order' area and went to take his coffee when he heard the man working there yell, “Zain!”

Zayn took his coffee and thanked the man. He looked at his cup and saw, ‘Zain' written.

“Is it too hard to understand? Z – A – Y – N! Not Z – A – I - N!” Zayn mumbled to himself.

Since he wasn’t looking where he was going, he bumped into someone, spilling the coffee all over him and the man. Well, most of the coffee got on the man's white t-shirt, leaving his t-shirt to turn brown.

“Fuck you!” the man said.

Zayn looked at the man, his eyes wide. The man was a little shorter than him. He had beautiful blue eyes that could hypnotize anyone. He had light brown hair that came on his forehead. His skin was slightly tanned but it made his eyes stand out. And oh, his biceps. He was sexy and beautiful and too pretty for the world.

Again, the man was beautiful, no doubt. But that didn’t stop Zayn’s anger.

“OH! SO YOU’RE THE MOTHERFUCKER WHO GAVE ME THE WORST SOUL MARK EVER! WELL GUESS WHAT? I WILL NEVER LET THIS GO! THERE IS NOTHING WORSE THAN HAVING THE WORDS ‘Fuck you!’ MARKED ON YOUR SKIN PERMANENTLY! FOR LIFE!” Zayn shouted at the man, the beautiful, beautiful man.

The entire coffee shop was silent and staring at Zayn and his soul mate, one seething in anger and the other who looked relatively calm.

The man licked his dry lips and looked at Zayn in the eyes. He said, “Well, imagine having that fucking essay marked on you in caps – lock...”

Zayn's eyes widened as he realized. Everything that Zayn had said out of anger, all of that was permanently marked on his soul mate’s skin. And that was much, much worse. Zayn couldn’t imagine what his soul mate must’ve gone through. His soul mate could have gotten bullied that was ten times worse than what Zayn had experienced. All the things his family must have said to his soul mate, worse than what Zayn's family said. What if his family did acknowledge the horrible, horrible soul mark and told him bad things on his face, not holding back.

The man turned on his heels and was about to walk out when he heard someone call his name, “Louis Tomlinson!”

Both, Zayn and his soul mate turned towards the man who was apparently deaf since he did not hear the screaming and shouting, and oblivious to what had just happened. Louis sighed and took his drink before he walked out of the shop, not looking back at all.

The second he left the shop, Zayn came back to his senses and ran after him, “Hey! Louis! Wait! Hey!”

Once they were out of the shop and were near Louis’ car, Louis turned and looked at Zayn incredulously, “Why? Why the fuck should I do any damn thing for you? You think you have the worst soul mark? Guess what, dickhead! I have the worst soul mark ever! Do you even know how much pain I had been through because of that stupid, dumb thing? Do you?”

Louis took a breath before he continued, “No. You don’t. You have no fuckin idea what it feels like. Imagine quitting swimming team because all of them, everyone can see that fucked up soul mark and bully you to the point where you end up in the damn hospital for too much water in your fuckin lungs!”

Louis looked at Zayn, a dispirited, defeated, broken look in his eyes. He whispered, “Do you know what it feels like? What it feels like to almost get kicked out of your own damn family because your soul mark wasn’t positive or happy or some shit like that.”

Louis turned to leave but Zayn caught his arm, “Please, Louis. I’m sorry. I really am! Please,”

But Louis interrupted Zayn and said, “I don’t ever want to see you again, Zayn Malik. Never.”

He shook his arm free and walked to his car, unlocking and stepping inside. He put the key into ignition and drove away, tears streaming down his face.

Zayn watched as his soul mate drove away from him. He wiped the tears that had fallen from his eyes and walked back to his office, pretending like nothing had happened.

When Harry saw him, he asked, “Hey, what happened to your shirt?”

“I – uh, spilled coffee on myself,” Zayn avoided looking at Harry as much as he could but Harry was a human lie detector, which made it easier for him at work since he was a lawyer.

“Uh huh. What’s wrong? Why are your eyes all puffy and red?” Harry looked at Zayn, expecting an honest answer.

“What?” Zayn scoffed, “There’s nothing wrong. What could possibly go wrong?”

“Zayn.” Harry said, warningly. Yeah, Harry could be scary if he wanted to. Not always, only when he really, really needed to.

Zayn sighed and sat on his chair. He propped his elbows on the desk and buried his face in his hands. Harry walked beside him and put his hand on his shoulder.

“I met him.” Zayn whispered.

“Met who?”

“My soul mate. I met my soul mate today.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. It did not go well and now he never wants to see me again.” Zayn said, dejectedly.

“Maybe he just said that because he was angry. He probably didn’t mean it, mate.” Harry tried to reassure him, but it wasn’t working.

“I thought that I had the world’s worst soul mark. I was such an idiot! My own fucking soul mate has a fucking essay written, marked on his body about how I’m going to cause him pain. In caps – lock, let’s not forget that!” Zayn said, looking at Harry who was clearly thinking what could be done.

“I’m sorry, mate. That is really fucked up,”

“Tell me about it,”

Suddenly, their boss yelled at them, “Styles! Malik! Get back to work!”

Harry sat back at his desk and asked, “You know anything about him?”

Zayn nodded and said, “His name is Louis Tomlinson. He probably lives alone because his family kicked him out. He drives a silver Skoda. The number plate was A – W – E – 5 – 5 – O – M – E which basically says ‘awesome’.”

“You got all of that in one meeting?”

“Also, he has a ‘28’tattoo on his left hand and his arms are filled with tattoos,” Zayn finished.

“Wow, stalker much?” Harry teased, causing Zayn to smile just a little bit.

Harry typed away in his computer while Zayn couldn’t stop thinking about Louis.

“Harry, he is so beautiful. His blue eyes that were so bright and dark. His light brown hair that fell on his forehead so fucking perfectly. And his fucking biceps! God. He had tanned skin and defined cheekbones. He was a little shorter than me, though.” Zayn rambled on.

“And, because of me, he got kicked out of his house and end up in the damn hospital,” Zayn said, covering his face.

“Okay, stop talking. I found out where he lives,” Harry said.

Zayn sat up straight and said, “Wait, what? You did?”

“Yup,”

“How the fuck?”

“I have my ways Zaynie. Now listen, he lives with someone named Niall Horan. And you might wanna write this down,” Harry said.

Zayn quickly pulled out a post – it note and grabbed his pen, “Alright, okay,”

“Louis Tomlinson, 10 Downing Street, London, Greater London, SW1A 2AA, United Kingdom.” Harry said.

Zayn quickly packed his bag and asked, “You coming?”

Harry looked around and said, “Sure, what the hell!”

The two men quickly packed their bags and left their office, running towards Zayn’s car. Actually, Zayn ran and Harry had to keep up with him.

“Okay, first stop, the mall!” Zayn said as they sat in the car.

“Why?”

“I ruined his white t – shirt, that’s why.” Zayn said and started driving.

Harry connected his phone and played a random song, which soon Zayn recognized to be ‘About Love’ by MARINA.

To fill the silence, Zayn asked, “Hey, so did you meet your soul mate?”

“Uh, no, not yet.”

“Well, what are the first words?”

“Well, it says, ‘Who the hell are you?’ so, I’m not sure what to expect.” Harry said.

Zayn nodded and parked his car in the parking lot before he said, “Come on,” He got out of the car and started walking towards the entrance of the mall with Harry on his heels.

Zayn walked into the first shop he found and directly went into the men’s section, looking for a nice white t – shirt. He kept searching, with Harry following him like a lost puppy.

“Found it!” Zayn suddenly said, grabbing Harry’s attention.

Harry looked at the t – shirt. It was white and had ‘The Stone Roses’ band name and logo. The t – shirt was sleeveless and had a round – neck.

“Are you sure this is the one?” Harry asked.

“Uh huh. A hundred percent!” Zayn said with a big smile on his face.

Harry smiled at his friend and said, “Alright, then, let’s go!”

Zayn quickly paid for the t – shirt and they ran out of the mall. They got into the car and quickly drove to the address Harry had given him.

Zayn smiled the entire way, hoping that he could win his soul mate back. He really wanted to. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with him.

When they reached the apartment, Zayn hesitated. Was he doing the right thing? What if his soul mate gets a restraining order against him? What if everything goes wrong and they will never see each other again?

“Hey,” Harry said, grabbing Zayn’s attention. Zayn looked at him, wide eyed. “What’s wrong?” Harry asked.

“What if this doesn’t work?” Zayn whispered.

“It will,” Harry said and smiled an encouraging smile and Zayn nodded.

He rang the doorbell and waited, bouncing on his feet. A few seconds later, a man opened the door.

The man was not Louis, obviously. He had blond hair and light skin but had blue eyes just like Louis. He seemed to be Zayn’s height, maybe an inch or two shorter.

“Who the hell are you?” The man asked, his eyes fixing at Harry.

Harry’s eyes widened and he said, “Oh, wow. You. You are the one, you’re my soul mate. Um, I’m going to be right back,” Harry left from there and stood a few feet away, screaming in happiness. Of course, he had covered his mouth and muffled his screams.

“Is he okay?” the man asked.

Zayn nodded and said, “Yeah, he just needs to cool down a little,”

The man nodded. Harry came back and introduced himself. The man introduced himself as well, stating that his name was Niall Horan.

Finally the attention was back at Zayn as Niall asked, “Who you?”

“Um, I – um, I’m Zayn. I’m here for Louis. Is he – uh – here? Is he here?” Zayn asked, stuttering because of his nervousness.

“Uh yeah, he’s inside,” Niall says and let’s Zayn come in.

Harry, being Harry, crushes Niall in a hug, whispering to him about how grateful he was to finally find his soul mate and how long he had waited for Niall to come into his life.

Zayn walked to the first room he found, and to his luck, Louis was sitting there, watching television. Zayn stood there, staring at his soul mate for a few seconds.

To Zayn, Louis looked so beautiful sitting on the couch in his dinosaur pajamas with a bag of crisps on his lap as he watched ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’.

“Yes, Kim! Hit her! Yes, Kourtney!” Louis yelled at the television.

Zayn smiled slightly before he regained his posture and cleared his throat, grabbing Louis’ attention. Louis turned his head and saw him standing near the doorway of the living room.

Louis sat up and said, “What the hell are you doing?”

Zayn entered, hesitantly, and kept the gift wrapped t – shirt in front of Louis and walked two steps back.

“What is this?” Louis asked accusingly.

“I – uh – ruined your t – shirt when I spilled coffee over it, so, uh, this is a ‘I’m sorry’ gift.” Zayn said.

Louis tore open the gift wrapping paper and unfolded the white t – shirt and stared at it for a few seconds.

“It’s the exact same one,” Louis whispered to himself.

“Uh, also, I – um – didn’t know what size you wore, so I got my size and that if – if we ever work out or whatever, I thought that you would look cute and adorable in an oversized t – shirt,” Zayn said.

He, then, realized what he had just said and started rambling, “I mean, its not that you’re not already cute. You are very cute, you’re extremely handsome and just perfect. Oh god, what am I saying? I’m ruining all of this, aren’t I? Yeah, I probably am. Um, I think I should just leave, um, right.”

“Zayn! I can’t accept this,” Louis said.

“Uh, why – why not?”

“Look, it was a nice gesture and all but it doesn’t erase those horrible twenty years I had, does it?”

Zayn walked over to where Louis sat and kneeled in front of him. He looked at Louis and said, “Then, let me make the next forty years of your life, the best ones. Hell, forget forty, let me make the next hundred years of your life to be the best ones. Please, Louis. Give me a chance,”

Louis knew how sincere he was. Louis wanted to give his soul mate a chance, he wanted to do it so bad. But all the things that people ever told him, it all came rushing back to him.

Louis stood up and walked to the opposite direction of where Zayn was. He said, “But, what if you leave me? Or I leave you? Or it doesn’tq work? What if we fight all the time and we get problems? I can’t risk anything like that, okay?”

Louis rubbed his forehead and said, “I’ve had twenty horrible years of my life and right now, like this, where I have food and TV and a best friend and five sisters and a brother, I am happy.”

“But I want to be a part of your happiness, Louis, that’s all I’m asking!” Zayn shouted at his soul mate.

“Yeah, well, I cannot risk it! I cannot risk getting close to you and letting my friends or my family get close to you and then you leave! Okay? I already have had a lot of people leaving me! I cannot handle more of it!” Louis screamed at Zayn.

Frustrated, Zayn took long strides and crossed the room. He cupped Louis’ face and pressed his lips against his soft ones. Louis responded almost immediately. His fingers latched onto Zayn’s wrist as he kissed back.

A few seconds later, Zayn pulled back, keeping his forehead against Louis’ with his eyes closed. He couldn’t open them, too busy lost in the state of bliss.

“Please, give me a chance, Louis,” Zayn whispered.

“Promise you won’t leave?”

“Never.”

And that’s how their story started. The soul mates who had the strongest bond.

That was a bittersweet day for them, but it was one of the best days of their lives.

Now, twenty years later, as the married couple sat on their couch, surrounded by their friends – Niall and Harry, and Liam and Danielle – and watching movies, while their teenage kids stayed upstairs.

“I’m going to go check on the lasagna,” Louis said as he got from the couch, leaving his husband who whined.

Louis walked in the kitchen, pulling out the lasagna and setting it on the counter. He hadn’t noticed his husband coming and jumped a little when he felt Zayn’s arms wrap around Louis’ waist.

“Boo!” Zayn whispered in Louis ear.

“I didn’t get scared, Zaynie,”

“Sure you didn’t,”

“I did not,”

“Whatever, fuck you,”

“Later,”

“Yes! I’m getting laid tonight!”

“What the hell!” Louis exclaimed and hit Zayn on the arm. Zayn laughed and pressed a light kiss on Louis’ neck.

“Come on, dinner’s ready, love,” Louis said as he pecked his husband.

Zayn let go of him and smiled. He couldn’t believe that he made it this far with the love of his life, his soul mate. He was so happy and proud of himself for fighting for Louis.

‘Fuck you!’ didn’t seem like a bad soul mark anymore.

- AvaLuluTM