It had been almost another entire year since had woken up in an empty bed on December 26th, commonly known as “Boxing Day” in the UK. Last year she had managed to escape the painful and utterly confusing memories by high-tailing it out of the country to spend the festive period in Paris. This year, however, she was right back where she had started; her parents’ house. She had chosen to give celebrating the holidays at home a miss the previous year, refusing to be haunted by the fact that Zayn would be across the street enjoying himself with his own family. It had been nearly two years since she had last seen him, in person at least, and he had never once tried to contact her to explain his disappearing act. Instead she had had to see him gracing the cover of various magazines every so many days with various women, rumours rife that he had become a bit of a playboy since he had broken it off with his fiancée not long before he had turned up at her house that one Christmas day. Seemingly he had had at least a full week’s worth of a rotation of women to satisfy him. She had rolled her eyes. Of course she had been just a rebound. He had probably been feeling sorry for himself and decided to come knocking at her door knowing full well that she wouldn’t have turned him away. This year, she had decided, she was going to face her demons. Well, demon, and not face as much as avoid. She had had no choice in the matter, her parents already having invited him and his family to join them and forgetting to mention it to her before she arrived. If they had she most certainly would’ve left that afternoon, not wanting to miss another Christmas with them but not wanting to chance seeing him either. Not that she could blame them. They still thought they were on speaking terms, the reality having been too harsh and humiliating to admit. She had felt used and abandoned and hadn’t wanted to relive it over and over again as she explained to them just exactly what had happened.

It was edging closer to midnight when she was made aware of a slight commotion by the entrance to the house. His parents appeared first bearing a bottle –length gift bag, followed by his sisters who by now were all old enough to be allowed out this late. She half hoped that he would stay far away, praying that he wouldn’t be cruel enough to turn up when he knew he probably wouldn’t be wanted but, no. There he was. She cursed at him under her breath. He had the audacity to bring one of the girls from his rotation with him. As she caught sight of the pair of them standing at the same door she had once lovingly greeted him at, her heart sank and the need to hide from him took over her body. He still hadn’t seen her yet. Neither had his family who were too invested in being welcomed by her parents. She had to make a run for it before they were pushed in her direction. He stood firmly in front of the living room door, blocking her way to the stairs so she turned and hurried away before he could see her, scrambling through the packed room towards the kitchen. He would more than likely never find her in here, his aversion to anything domestic now in the forefront of her mind. Heck, he probably only had the girl with him to get him drinks because, God forbid, he should take two minutes to make his own. There in the kitchen she kept her head down, nursing her favourite drink as she tried to keep a low profile. She had seen her parents try to point the Maliks her way and had almost felt guilty when she saw her mother’s face fall, indicating that she could no longer find her own daughter in amongst the party guests. Just as well, she thought. She didn’t want to have to plaster on a fake smile and sing their son’s praises when, truth be told, there wasn’t much to praise him on. She didn’t want to have to lie to his sisters about where she had been and why they hadn’t seen her in so long. And she certainly didn’t want to have to go through the awkwardness of him introducing his latest fling to her as he pretended that Christmas from two years before had never existed. She turned her back to the crowd as she poured herself another drink, wondering which would be the better escape route; making a mad dash for the stairs on the opposite side of the house or braving the elements out back and scaling the face that cordoned off the side path from the garden. If she timed it right she could be gone before anyone found her. It wasn’t long until she felt someone trying to navigate their way through the packed crowd behind her, the person in question’s hip dusting hers as they passed, a little too close for comfort. A familiar scent filled her nostrils, triggering a pit of nausea. It was him. Her nerves stood up on their ends as she carved out a path for herself back through the way she had just come, cursing herself for not keeping a close eye on him. She briefly turned to make sure she hadn’t been caught but she had. He followed after her, his brain apparently telling him that going after her was the best thing he could do. When she reached the stairs, he was nowhere near her, though. She stuck her head around the door frame. A girl, different to the one from before, had grabbed him by the hand and he was now busy flirting with her, his face dangerously close to hers. That was when it hit her. He was a chaser. He only wanted the thrill of the chase and the execution of the snaring them, not the emotions or the feelings associated with it. In a flash their eyes had connected. He looked at her expressionless; as though he had no recollection of how he had tainted her favourite holiday before leaning down to kiss this new girl’s lips, well aware that was watching. In the moment that it took for their lips to connect she realised that whilst she was disgusted at his behaviour, she didn’t feel a thing for him anymore. She had no need to hide or to be embarrassed; he didn’t care so why should she? Instead of going back to the party she chose to grab her coat from the rack and put it on. She slipped out of the door, no one having noticed a thing or the animosity between them. Pulling up her hood, she strutted down the road heading for the closest pub. If he could move on so quickly from one fling to another then so could she.