CHAPTER 194: CHAPTER 194: UNSAID THINGS BETWEEN LOVERS

~Evric’s POV~

Chrisly stretched. "Wish me luck," he announced, moving toward the stairs. "I’ll go and console her."

"Good luck," I replied, suppressing another laugh.

Not long after Chrisly left, Zayn turned to me, signaling he was done eating. He stood up from the dining table and said, "I’m going back inside the room."

"Okay," I told him, "I will join you shortly."

As Zayn walked past the living room, Evans called out. "Zayn, are you going inside already?"

Zayn nodded politely. "Yes."

Evans put the controller down. "No, don’t go inside yet. Come play a game with me."

Zayn glanced at me, subtly reading the permission in my look, then turned back to Evans. "Maybe another time."

"Then let’s watch a movie," Evans pressed.

Zayn’s shoulders dropped slightly. "I only watch horror movies."

"Wow, I love horror movies too!" Evans exclaimed, sounding genuinely enthusiastic.

"So come on, let’s watch it together."

Zayn was left with no polite choice. He was about to walk toward Evans when I stepped in. "Bro, allow my baby to go and rest for tonight," I interjected firmly. "Maybe another time."

Evans finally backed down. "Okay," he conceded.

I gave Zayn a gentle push toward the stairs. "It’s okay, you can go and rest." He turned and left, grateful for the rescue.

I walked toward Evans and sat beside him. He immediately turned to me, the earlier laughter gone, replaced by a focused seriousness. "Have you talked to him about Nicki?"

"No," I answered. "But Zayn found out on his own."

"For real?" Evans asked, surprised.

"Yes. He found out, and we already settled it."

Evans laughed, a short, sharp burst of disbelief. "What do you mean, you ’settled it’? Do you mean he found out about Nicki on his own, and he just forgives you?"

"Yes," I insisted, slightly defensive. "What do you mean? I apologized to him, and he forgave me."

Evans looked me dead in the eye, his expression unnervingly insightful. "Evric, I’ll tell you something simple: Zayn did not forgive you. He only let go of it. Too much has happened to him lately."

I frowned, the confidence draining out of me. "What does that mean?"

"For the little time I spent talking with Zayn, I could tell you he only let the situation go, not like he forgives you," Evans explained. "And let’s say he really did forgive you. Wow. I’ll tell you, someone like him is rare to find."

I was about to press for more, to defend Zayn’s forgiveness or demand an explanation for his certainty, when Chrisly arrived back downstairs.

"How did it go?" I asked, turning to him.

"She already fell asleep," Chrisly reported. "But she said she will not forgive Evans."

Evans rolled his eyes, utterly unbothered. "Who cares?"

Not long after Chrisly returned, Evans’s phone rang. He checked the display but let it ring out.

The call came in again, and Chrisly frowned. "Why aren’t you picking up your call?" He then sighed dramatically. "Some men, Evric, can be more dramatic than a woman."

"What happened?" I asked.

Evans rubbed his temple. "A couple of months ago, I broke up with my girlfriend, she’s my ex now and do you guys know why I broke up with her?"

"Why?"

"Because she was too dramatic."

"How was she dramatic?" I prompted.

Evans gave a curt nod of thanks for the question. "The girl was so fucking jealous. She called too much, needed to know my mind’s every movement. I can’t live like that; my work as an actor simply doesn’t allow for that kind of possessiveness." He sighed. "I really did like her, so I sat her down and explained everything. But she wasn’t satisfied with my explanation. She didn’t want to understand, so she said she wanted to move into my house. I flat-out refused. Then she broke up with me."

Chrisly and I listened, captivated.

"So, a few weeks later, I met this guy," Evans continued. "I really do like him a lot, he’s completely my style. But God, this guy is damn jealous! He sneaks glances at my phone. Why? It’s not like I’m cheating. They should understand the type of job I do, so why are they still checking my phone?"

I laughed. "At least you’re lucky. Someone is jealous of you."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I haven’t experienced it before," I confessed.

Chrisly scoffed. "What do you mean, you haven’t?"

I turned to both of them. "Yes, I haven’t. Zayn doesn’t check my phone or ask who I’m talking to." I paused, letting the bomb drop. "And he has never gotten jealous before."

Evans and Chrisly exchanged a look of genuine surprise. "Wow," Evans said, shaking his head. "Are you sure Zayn is real? Like, you mean he has never once picked up your phone and gone through it?

"

"Yes," I answered, the truth making my own confession sound stark. "And he has never been jealous," I added firmly.

"We could argue over something, certainly," I elaborated. "But it’s never been because of jealousy. It’s usually about my reactions, or maybe I said something thoughtless to him." I paused, considering the strange imbalance of our dynamic. "Zayn has never done anything jealous or gone through my phone before. It’s always been me who does that."

"That’s actually great, you know," Evans pointed out.

"Maybe it’s great, but I don’t like it," I admitted.

"Why?" Chrisly asked.

"I want to experience it," I explained honestly. "I want to see what it’s like to have my boyfriend be jealous. That feeling of seeing him jealous, I just want to see and feel it."

Evans shook his head. "Seriously, Zayn is one of a kind. He’s almost too good to you to be true; sometimes it’s hard to believe it’s real."

"I don’t know if I’m only overthinking this, but Zayn also doesn’t like going out with me, I mean just the two of us alone." I confided, feeling the familiar prickle of insecurity. "You know, couples plan a date, go out for different things, but with Zayn, he always suggests we just stay home. It happens so many times. Maybe I’m overthinking, but I seriously want to go out with him and hold his hand in public, but I don’t..."

Evans cut in, his tone softening with understanding. "I understand what you’re saying, but give him more time. At least he loves you, and that’s what matters. With time, everything else will come."

Chrisly went to grab a drink, and we talked for a while longer. I poured out my concerns to Evans, but he didn’t coddle me. He corrected me when I was wrong and emphasized that I should give Zayn time and not pressure him. He offered genuinely insightful advice drawn from his own complicated past.

Just as I felt the conversation drawing to a close, my phone buzzed. It was a message from Zayn: "I’m lonely, baby. I’m missing you."

I stood up immediately, a rush of warmth filling me. "I’m going to meet my man."

Chrisly and Evans looked at each other, then back at me, identical teasing smiles spreading across their faces.

"Oh, listen to him!" Chrisly crowed, elbowing Evans. "’I’m going to meet my man!’ A few minutes with us, and he can’t survive one more minute without ’his man’!"

I fixed Chrisly with a deadpan stare. "You call that a few minutes? I’ve spent more than two hours sitting with you guys." I adjusted my shirt, already moving toward the stairs. "Anyway, goodnight."

I paused at the bottom step, looking back at them with a smirk. "And don’t stay single for too long, both of you. Take your love lives seriously." I focused my attention on the oldest. "Especially you, Evans. You’re getting old, so go get married!"

I didn’t wait for his reaction. I turned and ran upstairs before Evans could launch himself off the couch and come after me. I could already hear his protests mixing with Chrisly’s laughter as I disappeared around the corner.