Zephaniah

Carefully bringing the tray upstairs, my eyes were trained onto the two glasses of orange juice, my tongue rolling over my lips in concentration. I sighed in relief when I had reached their room without anything spilling, but, then came the next thing.

How on earth would I knock when both of my hands were occupied by the tray full of food? Holding my knee up, I tried to rest the tray onto it and quickly knocked, sighing, once again in relief when nothing had fallen off.

"You can come, bud." Dad's soft voice spoke, the sleepiness definitely audible still.

Repeating the same action as before, I reached for the handle and quickly opened the door, placing the tray on their bed before closing the door and slightly opening the curtains.

Fiddling with my fingers, I pressed my bare legs, as I was still in my pajamas- basically my boxers and oversized sweater- against dad's side of the bed.

"Uhm," I said, smiling a little. "Anniversary breakfast in bed," I whispered, not even sure why myself. How can I express my thoughts into the right words?

"That's amazing, Zeph! Thank you," dad smiled as he eyed the tray of food in front of him. I had done that ever since I turned sixteen. Mum had taught me how to make scrambled eggs without setting the house on fire, and dad had taught me how to use the oven without me burning my fingers.

I had figured out myself how to make fresh orange juice and had my own way of rolling the fresh dough into croissants.

It was no surprise for them, though they always acted as if it was. It made me feel warm, even a tad bit proud, although I knew that was probably weird.

"Come here," Baba patted on the empty space beside him on the bed and I sat down on it, fiddling with my fingers still. He pressed a kiss to my cheek and held me into his embrace for a while, a habit he had never lost, a habit I didn't mind, whilst most older children probably did. "I love you,"

I chuckled and looked away, "I love you too, dad."

"Hannah," Baba nudged mumma's shoulders, whispering into her ear until she woke up, sitting up after a moment of silence.

Mum and dad kissed. They always did after they first woke up. It was their 'good morning', I thought it was sweet, though my nose scrunched up almost automatically.

"Zeph," mum smiled, ruffling my hair wildly, making me pout, trying to tame it again. "You're amazing, do you know that? Come here,"

Mum patted at the empty space in between them and as I carefully crawled over dad's lap, I snuggled in between them, covering my bare legs with their duvets.

Ten years of marriage. It had been ten years since dad married mum. Ten years since Ms. Hannah, that was once my caregiver, had turned into mummy. Ten years since dad had finally found his happy, safe, and resting place in a person. Ten years that had changed me as well.

Mum and dad started eating, touched my cheeks tenderly to let me know they were thankful. They knew I didn't like too many words in the mornings, perhaps, not even during the day, so they chatted softly with each other, including me so now and then.

"I cannot believe it's been ten years," mum said, softly pushing the tray aside. She cupped my cheeks, we made eye contact. "You and your dad are the best things that have ever happened to me, Zephaniah. Do you know that?"

I nodded, giving her a warm smile. She had always told me this, and I believed it. Her deeds were louder than words. She had always given me the motherly love I had lost in the first seven years of my life, she gave even more than that.

"I love you," she pressed kisses to my face, then kissed my father's lips.

"Sometimes I wish you'd let us cuddle you for once again, like you would when you couldn't sleep and slipped in between us in the middle of the night," dad whispered, warmly smiling at me.

I didn't answer him, I simply smiled, secretly feeling sad and nostalgic to these moments. I missed being little at times.

After they had finished their breakfast, I had left them alone for a while and started my morning routine, walking Cooper after that. He seemed to be a little better today, which made me feel cheerful.

Mum and dad got ready not much later, and soon enough we were sitting in the car, going out for our yearly tradition.

Once we had arrived at the outdoor and garden store, baba parked the car and the three of us stepped out, looking up at the immense store in front of us.

I blinked, noticing that the second letter of the store's name was a slight shade lighter than the others. Frowning, I stared at some corners. The paint was starting to wear off and I thought they had renewed it recently.

"Do you like the new flower painting?" Dad asked, a smile visible on his face as he looked at me.

Flower painting? Moving my attention, I suddenly noticed it. Three huge sunflower paintings were scattered over the front, the sun reflecting the bright colours, hurting my eyes.

"I like it, baba." I smiled, though my cheeks flushed red. How couldn't I have noticed the painting? It was immense. But then again, my eyes always fell on details first.

Baba smiled at me, his eyes lingering on my face for a while. "We won't walk around for too long, okay?"

"I don't mind, dad, okay?" I quickly answered. It wouldn't be fair to ruin their day because of me. Dad ruffled my hair, so did mum.

I simply smiled at them, clutching the bag with their, rather heavy, present from me to my stomach. It was the one nana had helped me pick out, as I found that rather hard to do so myself.

Mum grabbed a shopping cart and that's how we entered the store. It was a store for, mostly, outdoor stuff, such as plants, outdoor furniture, stuff for gardening and whatsoever, though, they also sold pet related stuff, plants for in houses, decorations and flowers.

Dad took mum to here every year for their anniversary. Mum would pick out some flowers, and we'd eat cake and drink coffee at this store's own, small, restaurant. I'd stutter out an awkward speech, because, I felt so much, but how'd I express that into words?

It was difficult for me, one of the things I struggled with, but mum and dad had always understood.

We started walking through the shelves full of house plants. Luckily, it wasn't too busy today so it wasn't as crowded.

I glanced around me, seeing parts of cut off flowers on the floor, some leaves of the house plants had fallen onto the floor as well.

Someone walked by with a shelving cart full of plants. They were placed messily, and the small wheels made a strange noise. It bothered me.

As we moved onto another section, new lights flashed on, as they had been switched off for the plants to get their daily amount of light. I blinked, and stared up at the ceiling.

It was open, full of tubes and pipes. The one was bigger than the other, some silver, some colored bronze.

"Zeph, what do you think of these?" Mumma asked, snapping me out of my trance of thoughts and staring.

I observed the flowers she was holding, taking in their colours and processing mum's words. Light orange, warm yellow and white. I liked those colours. They were soothing, mostly for my eyes. "Is pretty, mama."

"I thought so," mum smiled, placing them in her cart. "Are you enjoying yourself?" She questioned, her expression soft and serious.

"It's good," I replied, smiling at her.

She sighed softly, reaching for my hand. "I know it's not your favourite.."

I blinked a little faster as two kids rushed past me, distracting me. "Will be getting cake," I passed her a cheeky smile, which she returned.

"Zeph, oh, Zeph."

"Where's dad?" I wondered, looking around me.

Mum turned her attention to me again, adjusting the strings of my hoodie. "He went to retrieve some plants for our rooms. When he returns, we're going to eat cake, yeah?" She spoke calmly.

Once her words were processed, I nodded, smiling.

Baba came back not much later, laying his hand on my neck as he started smiling. "You up for some cake?"

"Always," I said quietly, waiting for his expression.

He simply laughed, pinching my cheek. "Zephy," he whispered. I gulped, widening my eyes as I looked at him.

"Zephaniah, baba. It's Zephaniah."

"You'll always be my little boy, Zeph. Nothing is ever going to change that."

I felt warm for some reasons, but laughed it off. "It's your and mama's day. You're sup-supposed to be sappy towards her." My cheeks heated up, and I stared at the restaurant as we reached it.

I frowned, it looked completely different. The once very light restaurant was now dark grey with plants scattered everywhere, bright lights hanging above the tables, that were new as well as the chairs- even the menu cards were new.

I could feel my eyes blinking a little faster, but I hadn't noticed my flapping hands until baba softly grabbed one. "I didn't know it had changed, Zeph,"

It's different. No, it's the same restaurant, but it has changed. No big deal, Zephaniah. It's your father and mother's day. "It's cool, dad." I whispered, smiling at the both of them to reassure them.

Baba smiled sympathetically as he led us over to one of the tables. I stared at the flowers that were placed in a silver colored vase. Some petals had fallen onto the table and I shoved them onto the floor, the slight mess bothering me.

Baba noticed and I blushed, knowing it probably seemed rude, but that really wasn't my intention to.

"It's fine, Zeph." Baba simply smiled, slightly raising his eyebrows. "Hannah, red velvet and Zephaniah chocolate?" He questioned, as me and mum had the same order every year.

I didn't like red velvet, the different structures were awful.

We nodded, and not much later, the cheesecake for dad, red velvet for mum and chocolate cake for me had arrived. I sipped on chocolate milk without whipped cream, mum and dad had mint tea with honey.

Staring at the heavy bag that was now standing on the floor beside me, I decided to grab it and place it onto the empty chair beside me. "Mum and dad I- I bought- I'm, uhm," I stammered, my cheeks heating up. "I'm thankful for you both and I- uhm, I.."

"We know, Zephaniah." Mum said softly, giving me an assuring smile as she knew how difficult it was for me.

"I love you so much," I said quietly, my voice barely above a whisper.

Dad was emotional. He always was when I tried to express my feelings towards them. I knew it meant a lot to him, it always had. "To the sun and back?" He asked, a laugh through his teary eyes.

"To the sun and back," I confirmed, sheepishly smiling at them.

"My son," mum whispered, tapping my cheek.

Feeling rather shy, I took the big present out of its bag and carefully handed it over. "Uhm, congratulations mum and dad, to more years," I whispered, looking down.

"A pizzarette!" Dad exclaimed, the paper already being ripped off within seconds. "This is awesome! Thank you, Zeph." Dad grinned, checking it out.

"You're a big child, Zayn." Mum chuckled. "I love it, though. Who doesn't love pizza? Very creative, Zeph. Thank you, sweetheart." She blew me a kiss and placed it onto the floor, reaching for something in her bag, dad becoming awfully quiet suddenly.

"We have something for you too, Zephaniah." Mum said, her voice soft as she handed me a big, white envelope.

"Why?" I questioned right away, not really knowing how to react. "What is it?"

Dad didn't say anything, he simply bit his lip and stared at mum, who gave him a reassuring smile and looked right back at me with her soft and calm eyes. "Open it. You'll find out,"

Carefully and neatly opening the envelope, my hands took out something that felt like photo material, and once I turned the paper around, I did see some sort of a photo, though not exactly.

It was an ultrasound, of a baby. I stared at it for minutes long, thoughts racing through my mind, though, I wasn't exactly sure of what was going on through my mind.

"Your mum is pregnant," dad suddenly spoke, and when I looked up at him, I could see the smile on his face, yet, nerves in his eyes.

"You're getting a brother or sister, Zeph." Mum elaborated. I had understood from the photo, obviously. "That.. that was the morning sickness and all. I'm sorry we couldn't tell you earlier, but it was too early."

I stayed quiet, processing their words. Morning sickness, that explained why mum threw up so much, that probably explained why she gulped when I had rested my hand on her stomach. I was getting a brother or sister.

For a moment I didn't know what to say, as I simply didn't know what I was thinking or feeling either. I had always been the only child, and the thought of not being that anymore scared me for several reasons.

Mostly because this would be their first child.

~~~

Just like the old times, just Zayn, Zeph and Hannah :)

Zeph's little speech? His distractions?

HANNAH?????? (Okay you all expected it but still it's official now!)