Rose

"Hey there, dipshit!" My brother grinned, roughly nudging my shoulder as he walked past me on purpose.

Rolling my eyes, a sigh escaped from my lips. "Well okay, hello Lucas. Good evening to you too." Rubbing my sore shoulder, I glared at my brother and the way he, for some reasons, always felt the need to greet me in.

"What's for dinner tonight?" Lucas questioned, snatching the lid off the pan to peek inside. He frowned lightly, looking back up at me. "Seriously? Soup? That's not even a proper dinner meal."

I gave him a look, "Watch out or you're not getting any at all, ungrateful pig. Mum told me to cook this and besides, I have to because we have a guest over who can only eat something like this."

"A guest?" Thomas, my other brother, said as he just stepped inside with dirty shoes, littering the clean floor.

"Yeah exactly, a guest?" Lucas lied down on the couch while stuffing some cookies into his mouth, his eyebrow raised as he stared at me.

Sighing, I didn't really feel like telling them about the fact that there was a guy sleeping in my bed at this very moment, knowing they would probably take it the wrong way. "I spent today with one of my patients, it's this thing where once in a while a patient gets a day out."

"So you brought a baby or something? Where is it?" Thomas grinned, making me frown deeply and look at him in disbelief.

"Seriously Thomas? Do you live under a rock? I did not get into the delivery department, idiot. I work at the Oncology floor. For a few weeks now actually, but why would you care what your younger sister is up to, right." Mumbling the last part to myself, I stirred the wooden spoon through the soup, the smell satisfying me.

Lucas laughed in amusement, but got surprisingly serious after that, "Wait but.. oncology is with cancer, right?"

"Right. He's sleeping upstairs." I said shortly, keeping the details to myself as I didn't feel like talking about it- especially since I knew they would probably go crazy about it, when it wasn't even wrong.

Thomas held up his hands, a deep frown appearing on his forehead as he turned his face to me. "Wow, wow, wait. He is, as in, there is a strange guy in our house, sleeping upstairs in.. who's bed?!"

"It's not a stranger! It's my patient, as I said. And don't worry, he's sleeping in my bed if that's the thing you're so frantic about." Stuffing the bread rolls into the oven, I pulled my face at the heat that hit my face, quickly waving the steam off.

Lucas sat up slowly, his expression uncertain, as if he thought I was just joking about everything. "Rose, seriously? You let a guy you barely know, a patient, sleep in your bed? Dad's going to be mad at you, so you know. How old is he?" He huffed, giving me a look out of disbelief.

I had to try to contain my emotions, feeling like raging everything out on them right at this moment. Why couldn't they be a little more thoughtful towards the situation? "He's twenty one, Lucas." I answered shortly, feeling relieved when my mother entered the kitchen

Mum kissed my forehead and walked over to my brothers, who were both glaring at me, mostly in disbelief. "Hi, sweethearts. How was your day?"

A deep, frustrated sigh left Lucas' lips as he shook his head. "Mum, do you even know that Rose's bed is occupied by a strange guy?"

"Lucas!" I hissed, feeling helpless. "You make it sound so wrong! Hadn't you heard what I just told you? He's my patient, who's sick due to the cancer. We walked all day long, he's exhausted because of that and because of his medication. It was only thoughtful to let him sleep and recharge for as much as possible." Washing my hands, I dried them on the kitchen towel, throwing it at him- but before it could reach and hit him, mum caught it.

"Lucas, please. I know that- there's no need to tell me. Rose called me before. Sweetheart, how is he doing? Is he still sleeping?" Mum made her way over to me to stir the soup, that I had left untouched due to my brothers words. I secretly flipped off my brothers.

Turning my attention to mum, I sighed softly, staring at the soup. "Yeah, he most likely is. I said I'd wake him once dinner was ready." Smiling at mum, I let myself fall onto the couch beside my brother, who started to poke his feet against my stomach right away. I slapped them away in an instant.

"Trust me, Lucas. The moment you see him, you'll think differently of the situation." I told him quietly, making him huff as I continued to slap him away once he wouldn't listen and kept on kicking me. He'd never answered that.

My mum gave the both of us a look, shaking her head in disapproval. "Rose, dinner is almost ready. Why don't you wake him, already? The bread rolls are done in five minutes."

Standing up, I left my brothers alone as I walked upstairs, tiptoeing over to my room in silence. Opening the door slowly, I stood still and listened if I heard him- the darkness blocked my view, I couldn't see a thing.

Soft breaths came from the sleeping guy, so I slowly closed the door behind me and switched on the lamp that stood on my desk, so I'd prevent his eyes from blinding the moment he would wake up.

Walking over to him, I admired the sight for a while, feeling warm. His beanie was still adjusted onto his head- a bit misplaced as he slept, but it didn't matter. Hands rested under his cheek, something I had noticed before he did while sleeping- it was precious. The stuffed Nemo was laying between his arms, his chin resting onto Nemo's head. For a moment, I wondered why he hadn't grabbed Simba, but if I minded was another question.

I could tell he was still in a deep sleep, according to his deep but soft breathing. Knowing how much sleep he needed and how much we had talked today- I knew if I didn't wake him up now, he would sleep all the way through the night. I silently blamed myself for letting him walk for so long, knowing Zayn wouldn't admit if he was tired or feeling ill- he would go on until his body couldn't take it anymore.

"Zayn?" I whispered, placing my hand on his warm shoulder as I tried to shake him carefully.

He surely was in a deep sleep. No reaction, although a frown had appeared on his face. "Zayn, wake up." I whispered louder, shaking him still.

Slowly but surely, he began to stretch his legs. A deep, long and loud sleepy sigh left his slightly parted lips as he woke up, breathing in loudly. His eyes fluttered open, he seemed to be confused. "I'm sorry to wake you, but dinner is ready.."

"Yeah." He answered, his voice thick with sleep, while he pressed his palms to his eyes for a brief moment in order to wake up properly.

"Take your time." I gave him a soft smile. Removing the fluffy blanket I had covered him with as his cheeks were on fire- I figured it had made him warm, along with his sleep.

Zayn closed his eyes for a brief moment, before he sat up, his sleepy gaze falling on my face."Is your family home?"

Smiling a little, I retrieved his trousers from my desk, laying them onto my bed for him. "Yeah, they're home. I hope you like soup and bread rolls, we're eating that."

Zayn smiled back, nodding his head in response. "I do like that." Adjusting the beanie on his head, he slipped on his trousers, covering his mouth as he yawned, his eyes still thick from sleep.

"Glad you do, otherwise- too bad." I teased, feeling warm when his cheeky smile had appeared. It relieved me, made me feel as he felt better. Opening the curtains, I opened the bedroom door after that, motioning for him to follow me. Once I turned around to close the door, I realised the band aid had come loose on his cheek.

Taking his wrist in my hand, I pulled him into the bathroom. "I need to adjust this, first." I mumbled more to myself, switching on the lights as I put him in front of the mirror. Zayn took the moment for granted and adjusted his beanie a bit more, then softly touched his tube.

"Tell me if it hurts, okay?" Taking the band aid in my fingers, I carefully but completely pulled it off his skin, observing his face. His expression didn't change- he seemed sleepy still so he was quiet. I figured it hadn't hurt.

Retrieving the First Aid box we had at home in one of the cabinets, I took out a new plaster. I removed the small plastics from behind and gently pressed it onto his skin, against the tube so it would stay in place.

"Yup, that looks better!" I smiled at him, then walked over to my room and reached out to the ointment, that was still in his bag. Once I had taken care of his wound and collected his stuff, we were ready to go downstairs.

Zayn stopped me, though, his eyes squinting as he laughed a little. "Insane that I slept in your bed before introducing myself to your family."

"Zayn!" Heat rose to my cheeks for different reasons. "You made that sound so wrong." Groaning, I loosened my grip onto his backpack as he took it from me, swinging it over his shoulder.

"Sorry, didn't mean it like that." Zayn laughed softly, his tongue pressed to his teeth as he did so.

Chuckling lightly, I shook my head, giving him a look. "Don't worry. Did you sleep well, though?"

He nodded, almost eagerly. "Your bed is really comfortable. It's been a while since I slept in such a good bed. The hospital beds aren't that.. nice, if I can be honest." His expression was uncertain, as if he was afraid I wouldn't take it the right way.

"Oh, I can imagine." I gave him a sad smile, slowly walking over to the stairs. "Are you ready to meet my family?"

Zayn smiled. "Sure." He said, sounding secure, but I did see him playing with his fingers, giving away that he was nervous in some ways. Giving him an encouraging smile, we both walked down the stairs, then into the kitchen where we always ate dinner.

Soon after, my family's eyes were on Zayn in an instant as Zayn followed me into the kitchen, reaching out to my parents right away as he introduced himself. "Hello, I'm Zayn. I'm uh.. a patient from Rose. It's lovely to meet you." He smiled softly, his eyes flickering between my mother and father. He seemed shy, but modest and polite, it made me feel happy.

"It's so nice to meet you, love! Rose has told us about you." My parents introduced themselves to him too, Zayn shaking my brothers' hands after that, who were both, surprisingly, quiet after they had said their names.

Walking over to my mum, I couldn't help but whisper into her ear. "Feed him well, mum. I want him to be full and satisfied."

Mum smiled widely in response, nodding her head. "That's my job." She whispered back, making me laugh softly. My mum spoke, "Take a seat, darling. Would you like some soup? Are you allowed to have some soup because of.."

Zayn nodded, a sweet smile appearing on his face, although he had quickly glanced my way to make sure it really was okay. "Yeah, yeah, totally."

"That's great! Alright, I don't know if you're used to it, but we always pray for our meals." Once Zayn had nodded, my dad opened our meal with a prayer, mentioning Zayn in it too. That he may feel better, despite all the heavy treatments and fevers he had yet to fight, if there was a chance to heal. That, was beautiful.