Matthew sighed as he made his way into his apartment. He had received yet another rejection for the job he applied for, and he ran his fingers through his hair roughly. Zendaya wasn't responding to his texts and this made him on edge as she was the only one who could bring him out of the hell he was living in. If things didn’t change, he would have to move out of the luxurious apartment, as he wouldn’t have the money to finance it. “Hello, Matthew,” he heard someone say to him, and he quickly turned on the light so he could see who it was. His mouth dropped wide open when he saw that it was Kiandra seated on the sofa in the living room. There was something that always unnerved him about Zendaya’s mother, and he couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Maybe it was the fact that there was more that met the eyes when it came to the matron of the Valencia family. As opposed to her husband, she seemed calm and nice, but there was something that told him she wasn’t as she presented
What was she thinking when she decided to sleep with Jayden? She asked herself as she ran her fingers through her hair roughly.She had been overwhelmed by what had happened, agreed, but why did it have to be Jayden Gerano out of all people? She yelled into the pillow once more.A wave of emotions hit her, and she found herself unable to process everything. Regret, shame, anger, everything came flooding in at once, and she cursed in annoyance as she got out of bed to go to the bathroom.Unlike other times, she didn’t have an excuse for what had happened as sleeping with Jayden was what she had decided to do and so the emotions were as raw as they came.Getting to the mirror, she turned on the faucet and splashed water on her face as she needed to clear her thoughts in order to think of the next step.Her eyes then widened in horror when she looked at herself in the mirror to see that Jayden had left a glaring hickey on her neck.‘Come on!’ She hissed in annoyance as she examined it.
Wait, that was all it took for Jayden to get off her back? Zendaya thought to herself, and she frowned over the thought.Did that mean he had slept with her without intending to have any attachments? Even though she was the one who had suggested it, it felt as though she was the one at the losing end as she was unable to get him out of her mind.“What?!” Jayden asked her when he saw her glaring at him.“Nothing,” Zendaya answered, even though she was thinking of ways to kill him in her head. Not wanting to be around him any further, she got up and left the dining table.His words from when they had first slept together rang through her head, and she wondered if he still thought she was cheap, hence the reason he didn't think too much about the fact that they had just slept together.Turning, she headed back to the dining table where he was still seated, and she sat back in her chair.“Tell me something, Jayden, do you plan on ever falling in love and settling down with a woman?” She
“Zendaya!” Jayden called as he knocked on the door. It had been over an hour since he spoke to his father and he had spent it thinking of a plan to get Zendaya closer to him.“Zendaya,” he called again when she didn't answer him the first time. Was she sleeping? He wondered, and he shook his head at that thought.Knowing Zendaya, she was probably awake and avoiding him. “She isn't opening, Mr Valencia,” he then said and in less than ten seconds the door opened to reveal a wide-eyed Zendaya.“Where's my father?” She inquired when she didn't see Lucas anywhere around.“He's right where you left him, at the Valencia mansion,” Jayden told her and Zendaya realized what he had done. Without wasting time, she moved to close the door, but he was faster than her as he held the door down.“What do you want, Jayden?” Zendaya sighed in resignation when she saw that there was no keeping him out of her room.She however made sure she kept her distance from him as the last time he had been in her r
“I checked there as soon as I noticed it was gone. It wasn’t there,” Zendaya scratched her head as she wondered when she had dropped the card.“Keep searching, you'll find it,” Jayden assured her as he turned his attention to the road.“Yes, I’ve been meaning to ask you, why is my middle name your password?” It had been something she had been shocked to find out about but at that time, she couldn’t ask him due to the danger they were in and after that, she forgot about it.“It’s hard to guess,” Jayden responded.“There are a million other things that are hard to guess, it didn’t have to be my middle name,” Zendaya retorted.“It’s just a name, Eleanor, nothing more, nothing less,” Jayden shrugged casually, and she frowned over him calling her by her middle name.“Not to me, change it, I don’t want you using my name,” Zendaya deadpanned.“Ok, fine, I’ll change it,” Jayden told her just to get her off his back. If he was going to change it, it would be either to her first name or her d
“Are we not going back home?” Zendaya inquired when she saw that he didn’t take the turning to the mansion.“No, there’s somewhere I discovered, and I would like to show it to you,” Jayden told her, and she squinted her eyes suspiciously at him.“What? Why are you staring like you don’t trust me?” He chuckled.“Because I don’t. Every time you've taken me somewhere to ‘show’ me something, it always ends bad for me and good for you,” Zendaya pointed out.“True, but that was in the past, and I’m a changed person,” Jayden defended himself.“No, you still bully me,” Zendaya refuted his claim.“That is true, but even you can’t deny that I’m not as bad as before.”“I’m glad you knew you were bad.” She turned to look outside the window when they arrived at the edge of a forest. With what had happened days ago, she felt the memories flooding in and goosebumps crept up her spine.“Jayden, what are we doing here?” she turned to face him as the colour drained from her face.“Do you trust me?” Ja
“Why does it feel like you’ve changed so much?” Zendaya asked Jayden after a decent amount of time had gone by. They were currently sitting on a log of wood, watching the lake and everything around it. The atmosphere felt serene, and she tried her luck to know if he would give her an honest answer.“I have?” Jayden raised an eyebrow and Zendaya nodded in affirmation.“For starters, even though you’re still mean to me, it’s not like before,” she stated.She didn’t cry as much and her life was somewhat peaceful around him. Unlike before when she would constantly look over her shoulder in fear of what he would do next.“I still do not see it,” Jayden shrugged. He knew what she was talking about, however, he wanted to hear it from her perspective.“You didn’t take revenge on me like you promised before you left,” Zendaya pointed out, and a smile appeared on his face as he remembered what he had told her before she left.“You deserved it,” he told her, and she shook her head.“No I didn’t
“Alright, fine, I’ll help you,” Juliette agreed and Zendaya smiled in excitement. “But if you get caught, I’m throwing you under the bus,” she gave a heads-up and Zendaya had no problem with that.“So, what do you intend to do to him?” Juliette inquired.“Jayden likes his reputation a lot and so, I intend to humiliate him the same way he does to me,” Zendaya stated. “Don’t worry, it just won’t be in public,” she assured Juliette. Even though she was revenge-filled, she knew she would feel guilty if she humiliated Jayden in front of others who weren't family.“Okay, that seems fair, just let me know what I need to do,” Juliette told her.“Don’t forget me as well, you know your other best friend,” a third voice came from inside the room and the remaining two shrieked in horror as they turned their attention to the bed, where the voice had come from.“Hi, guys,” Anaya said as she sat up on the bed.“How long have you been there for?” Zendaya was the first to speak. She had been wonderi
“Is it true?”Jayden looked at his sisters and in order to annoy them for being so nosy, he reached out and grabbed the bottle of water on the table.He then took his time in opening it after which he slowly drank the contents. “Jayden!” Anaya cried out when she could no longer take it.“Yes, it is, I’m not taking revenge on her,” he affirmed, and he watched their eyes widen in shock.“I’m so confused,” Juliette said as she scratched her head. “You spent so much time talking about how she embarrassed you and how you’d make her regret it. And now… nothing? What happened to make you change your mind?”His feelings of hatred had changed to one of love, he said in his head. However, his sisters didn’t need to know that.Jayden set his drink down with deliberate slowness to annoy them once more. “I decided it wasn’t worth it,” he finally responded.“That’s it?” Anaya asked, her voice rising in disbelief. “That’s all you’re going to say? You’ve never let anything go in your life, Jayden. W
“What are you two doing here?” He questioned, and the smiles they both had on their faces dropped.“We came to see you. It’s been months,” Anaya was the first one to speak. Unknown to their parents, they had paid Jayden and Arthur numerous visits while they were out of the country.“Didn’t you miss us?” Juliette frowned at her big brother.“No, I didn’t,” Jayden responded, though there was a faint twitch at the corner of his mouth that betrayed the truth. However, he moved aside and the two younger Geranos didn’t waste any time entering his mansion. “You better have brought some good food because I’m starving,” he told them as he closed the door and followed them. They had bags in their hands, and he hoped it was from his grandfather or from one of his restaurants.It was already past noon, and he hadn’t had breakfast yet, he was starving.“We might have,” Anaya teased, glancing over her shoulder as they made their way to the living room. It was no secret that Jayden usually forgo
The present day, Jayden smiled to himself, as that was the first awakening he had about his true feelings for Zendaya.He had to admit it to himself; there was something about her that got under his skin and made her fascinated with him.It wasn’t just her intelligence or the way she always managed to keep her head held high, no matter how hard he tried to rattle her and no matter how many times she lost to him. It wasn’t even the challenge that she brought, the way she made him work for her attention despite everyone wanting his attention. No. It was the fact that, despite everything—despite all the sarcastic comments, the hard-headed defiance—he could see the cracks. He saw the softness behind her strong-willed exterior. And it was in those cracks that he found himself wanting more. The fact that he knew she hadn’t let anyone else see her vulnerability, not even his sisters, made him feel special.“Jayden, my father is a very strong person, and so is the rest of my family. What i
Jayden sat back on the couch, his feet up on the coffee table, staring down at the screen of his phone. The message from Zendaya still flashed on his display, and he reread it as he found it amusing.Even though she had told him she was busy and had ended the conversation, she was the one who texted first.‘What am I supposed to wear for tonight?’ was what the message read.He grinned to himself. The challenge was never something he minded, but there was something different in the way he was approaching her now. His fingers hovered over the screen as he thought about what to reply. Something flippant. Something sarcastic. That was usually his go-to. But today, it didn’t feel right. It wasn’t the first time Zendaya was going to that place, so she knew what she was supposed to wear. His mind wandered as he stared at the message, his thumb tapping absent-mindedly against the screen. She was trying to engage him in a conversation, as when he would answer, she would say another thing,
“Zendaya Valencia!” he roared, his voice echoing in the room, and she gulped. “Care to explain why you lied to me, continuously?” Zendaya froze. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her father’s intense gaze pinned her to the spot, and she could feel her pulse racing.“What are you talking about, Dad?” she rasped as she feigned ignorance.“You told me everything was fine. No incidents. No danger. And yet,” Lucas growled, stepping closer, “Jayden’s father tells me you were in the middle of a dangerous mess, one that almost killed you.”Lucas looked at his daughter as he wondered what punishment to give her. Since he had found out about her lie, he had been wondering, and he hadn't come up with anything.She was no longer a child, and so he couldn't ground her. She wasn't his enemy, and so he couldn't kill her and finally, she had almost gotten killed. He couldn't be too harsh on her, especially when the attack came as a result of him and Justin.“I didn’t want you to worry!” Z
The next morning.Zendaya’s eyes fluttered open when she felt the bright light hit her. Her eyes widened in shock when she realized that she wasn’t in her room on her bed, but on the sofa in the living room.Proceeding to get up, she groaned as her neck felt stiff from sleeping in an awkward position. ‘I’m never sleeping here again,’ she muttered to herself as she twisted her neck.She blinked a few times to let her eyes adjust to the light, and a yawn escaped from her lips. ‘What had led her to fall asleep on the sofa?’ she asked herself, and the events of the previous night rushed back to her head; Jayden's texts, their late-night banter, and his teasing as they watched a movie together. She frowned slightly, remembering how she had fallen asleep without ending the video call, or had she? She wondered as she picked up her phone to checked.The call went further than the minutes she remembered, and the colour drained from her face over the fact that Jayden had watched her sleep.S
Matthew sat alone in his dimly lit living room, and he massaged his temples. He stared at his phone, the screen still glowing with all the messages he had sent to Zendaya that had gone unread.Why was she doing this when she had told him she would give him another chance? He reread the last message she had sent to him ages ago, each time the sting of her rejection settled deeper. His fingers hovered over the screen as if he were waiting for something to change, waiting for her to change her mind. But nothing. No response. The fact that he didn't even know if Zendaya was reading his messages and choosing to ignore or didn't read them at all.He had been fooling himself, thinking that Zendaya would come back to him like she always did whenever they had a fight. He had played the scenario when everything would be over in his mind so many times, each version ending with her running into his arms, forgiveness in her eyes. But the reality was harsh. Zendaya wasn’t coming back. She wasn
‘Friends,’ she accepted without thinking too much about it. It was the first time Jayden was extending an olive branch to her, and she wasn't ready to go back to the way they were before he left.‘Good choice. If you had rejected my offer I would have started thinking of fulfilling my promise of destroying you,’ he told her, and she wasn't surprised as she knew Jayden.‘So predictable,’ she sent in response. Her heart dropped when she heard a sound from behind her, and she quickly hid her phone while turning to see what it was. There was nobody behind her, she waited for a few seconds, but she saw nothing. It must have been the air, she thought to herself as she turned to look back at her phone.A gasp escaped from her lips when she saw Jayden’s face staring at her. “What are you doing on my phone?” she asked him.“You video called me,” Jayden told her. “Oh,” she mumbled. She must have done so by accident when she jumped up in fear.“Well, bye,” she bid as she proceeded to disconne
Jayden had just come out of the shower when he heard his phone ring. Wrapping a towel around his waist, he walked up to it, and he picked it up. He saw that it was his father calling him. Wondering what the old man was calling him for, he answered it. “Dumong is dead,” Justin informed him bluntly. “And right now I suggest you stay far away from Zendaya as her father is not happy with you,” Justin told his son and this made Jayden realize that his father had told Lucas about all that happened“When is he ever not?” Jayden rolled his eyes. Lucas Valencia didn't like him, and he had never bothered to hide that fact, so him being angry with him wasn't a new thing.“Is it too late to choose a new girl? I mean, there is this nice girl I met and…”“Goodnight Dad,” Jayden wished his father before Justin could complete his words.He dressed quickly, slipping into a T-shirt and sweatpants before grabbing his phone again. Without wasting time, he immediately proceeded to text Zendaya as he wa