Rose

Feeling how Zayn's hand came near mine, his finger slowly brushed my thumb- taking him a few seconds to get a full grip onto my entire hand. Once his fingers were wrapped around mine, the heat rose to my cheeks in an instant.

The touch of his hand made me feel so warm, so strange but so good. My skin was tingling on the place his fingertips softly pressed into my skin and for some reasons, I barely dared to look at him.

I didn't know his intention in the gesture, but it was more than enough to bring me confused about all of my feelings. Holding hands with him felt better than it should have been. It wasn't good, I wasn't even allowed to do this. I was his nurse- he was my patient.

But, God, was it hard to let go of his hand. I didn't want to. The feeling he was giving me was so surreal, so amazing. I wanted to enjoy it as much as possible. I had missed feelings like those. Just the feeling of someone, or more specific- a guy who was holding your hand like you were his fragile thing he wanted to take care of. He was holding it loosely, but his grip was becoming tighter.

He didn't say anything, nor looked at me. He was looking away from me but I could see his cheek coloring the lightest shade of pink. It made me smile a little and I stared down at our feet as we were strolling down the zoo, my thoughts racing. Did he like me? Did I like him? I was confused, but happy.

We walking like that for a little while more, until Zayn's bag slipped off his shoulder, falling onto our connected hands. The slight thud made our hands lose contact, a slight feeling of disappointment creeping up, but I shrugged it off and acted as if nothing had happened.

Zayn glanced at me while he pulled his bag back upon his shoulder, "Eh, I think I need the ointment."

"Oh, right! Caroline told me. Do you need help with that? We can go to the toilets over there." I pointed at the small zebra striped building and Zayn nodded while smiling at me. Thank goodness nothing had become awkward between us.

Walking over to the girls' toilet, I noticed how Zayn's expression became skeptical. I smiled at him, "Don't worry about it. We need to get this done. It's a medical thing, they can't stop us." I took Zayn's bag off his shoulders and opened it, searching for the ointment we used for his wound.

Taking the small tube out, I slipped on the medical gloves in order to not bring any infections into his wound. I glared at a girl, who was looking at us with her eyebrows raised. Thankfully, she looked away quickly once we had made eye contact.

"Can you lift up your shirt?" Trying to stay professional now, I tried my hardest best to erase the situation from minutes ago. It was nothing, Rose. It did not mean anything and you were just being your naive self.

Zayn carefully lifted up his shirt, looking down at his wound as I slowly started to clean the rather large, but small wound. I could tell that once it was healed- a scar would be visible, which was slightly saddening. Grabbing the ointment, I carefully applied it onto the wound, secretly sighing in relief myself when it went just fine.

"Alright, that's that!" I said, taking off the gloves and throwing them away in the nearest trashcan. I glanced at two girls, who were quietly washing their hands while staring at Zayn. It made me sigh, I wondered what Zayn must feel now many people would stare at him and think of him as the sick guy.

Zayn lifted his shirt up and down rapidly, so the rather emulsive ointment would dry up a little. After that, he stuffed the tube with ointment back into his bag, turning his face to me. "Thanks, Rosie."

I chuckled at his nickname, "Rosie?"

Zayn grinned a little, "I just thought it sounded cute." He glanced back at the girls and opened the door to leave the toilets, holding the door open for me with a soft smile. I returned it, cheekily.

"Alright.." Zayn reached for the map and scanned it for a brief moment. "I think we've almost seen everything now, didn't we?" He asked me, talking as if nothing had happened before as well, which relieved me a little.

"Let me see." I shrugged, narrowing my eyes as I took the map from him and shook my head, a dramatic sigh leaving my lips. "Seriously, Zayn? How could you forget the best thing?!"

He frowned, "What? We didn't? What animals didn't we see then?"

I laughed a little, not being able to keep it in. "Not the animals. The playground!" I sighed, laughing a little too hard at a joke that wasn't even that funny. "Wow, this sounded way funnier in my head."

Zayn started laughing and softly nudged my shoulder, "It was funny and see? I knew the little inner Rosie would come out."

"Ah, I see. Rosie was just a diminutive for Rose. I could've known." Laughter left my mouth and I slowly shook my head, the two of us walking a direction I was pretty sure we hadn't been before.

Much to my dismay, it started to get more crowded. We had been pretty early, and apparently the zoo was the most popular attraction for a school trip. The little students were all very loud and we had to stop quite a few times so we wouldn't go right through the line they were walking in, hand in hand with their classmates.

When the children were gone, we picked up our pace and started to walk again. Out of a sudden, though, my arm got pulled to the ground as Zayn tripped over no one knows what and fell to the ground with a loud thud.

My heart dropped ten inches as I was startled by the sudden action, swallowing nervously. "What just happened? Are you okay?"

His cheeks flushed pink, his eyes averting to the ground as he tried to stand up, wiping the sand off his pants once he was back on his feet."Oh sorry.. I didn't.. I think I just tripped over my own feet." A soft chuckle left his mouth, but I could tell it wasn't entirely true, or maybe he truly didn't know why either.

I observed him, my eyes raking over his body and appearance. "Are you sure? If you're tired and you need some rest you need to tell me that, okay?" It was in my nature to worry about small things, especially when it came to a patient that was in fact sick.

"Rose, I'm fine." He assured me with that smile of his. "I don't know what happened, don't worry about it." He chuckled lightly, I felt the need to observe him a bit more, even when he wouldn't notice it. Would they ever trust me with him ever again if he came back to the hospital in an ill state?

Giving him a smile out of defeat, the smell of food that lingered around the restaurants filled my nose, growing me hungry. I knew I couldn't give in, though. I had brought my own lunch on purpose, knowing Zayn wasn't allowed to get fat foods, and since all of the restaurants only consisted out of fat food- there were not many options left.

But, that was exactly when it suddenly hit me.

"Oh goodness, I'm so sorry, Zayn. No!" I panicked, frantically. Pulling him onto the nearest wooden bench, I sat him down and reached for his bag, quickly zipping it open.

Zayn frowned as he looked up at me, clearly not understanding my sudden behaviour. "What's wrong, Rose?"

"Your food! Of course you just tripped. You're weak, you're hungry. It's been hours and I was supposed to give it to you after four hours." My cheeks flushed as I panicked and felt horrible, quickly retrieving the pureed food and the syringe.

"Rose.. I didn't feel hungry. I'm sure it was just me. Don't worry about it." He gave me a soft smile, but I could tell he was just trying to make me feel better about the situation. Maybe he truly hadn't felt it because of his state- but he needed the food nonetheless.

"Please don't hate me. I'm so sorry, I'm going to feed you now." Sitting down, I reached for my water bottle and filled the syringe with it, always needing to spray water first before giving the food.

Nervously ignoring everyone that were looking at us out of pure curiosity, I filled Zayn's tube with water, trying to ignore his intense staring that only made me feel even more nervous. Grabbing the food, I warmed it by holding it in my hands for a while. Not warming it up could be a little fatal- from giving him stomach cramps to constipation- I didn't want to give him that.

Filling the syringe with the food, I intensely watched how it went all the way up, filling his stomach until Zayn sighed out of satisfaction. "Alright, I'm full, Rose."

"Okay, thank you." Smiling at him, I rinsed the tube with one syringe full of water, attaching the tube back to his shirt after that. Cleaning up the mess I had made while feeding him, I stuffed the leftover food back in his back and threw away the syringe.

"No, thank you. You're taking good care of me." Zayn said quietly, his eyes searching for mine as he gave me one of his warm smiles that reached his eyes to the fullest.

Shaking my head, the guilt was still eating me up from the inside, the worry appearing in my guts. What would Caroline say? "No way. I literally just forgot to feed you. I feel so bad.."

"Don't think like that, Rose. You're amazing." Zayn answered, sounding so genuine that it made me feel shy, making me look away quickly.

Smelling the food again, it made me think of dinner time. We wouldn't be able to eat here together as Zayn, again, couldn't eat any fat foods. What I did know was that at home my dinner would consist out of soup and bread rolls, something I was sure he could eat.

Smelling the food again, it reminded me of dinner time. I knew we wouldn't be able to eat here together as Zayn, again, couldn't eat any fat foods. Returning back to the hospital for dinner time would be too late.

"Zayn?"

Zayn looked up at me, his eyes questionable. "Yeah?"

"Would you like to eat dinner at my house? It'll be with my family, if you don't mind. It's expensive here and it's all fat foods and besides, you can meet my brothers." I suggested, "I mean you don't have to! It's just an option. I thought it'd be cool. But if you're too tired, please just tell me."

Zayn smiled widely, his face practically beaming, "I can eat at your place? That'd be so nice!" He gulped. "I mean yeah, sure. That's cool."

Laughing, I looked at him with squinted eyes as I knew how he just miserably failed to try and sound not too excited. "Let's get going then. We've seen everything already."

We had only visited the small shop after that. Zayn had bought me a Nemo stuffed animal, I had bought him the Simba one. We then left the zoo, but not before Zayn plucked another flower and had placed it in his bag. The car ride was quiet. Zayn was apparently very tired from walking around all day and that's why he fell asleep in the car and didn't wake up until we arrived at my house. I had woken him up, he apologised about it a thousand times and when I finally convinced him that it really wasn't a problem- we got out of the car and got inside.

The house was quiet- my family weren't home yet as they were still working- it was rather early. I observed Zayn. The dark circles underneath his eyes told me that he was still tired, despite the small nap he took in the car. I decided to just ask him.

"It's okay, Rose. I'm okay, really." Zayn smiled as he tried to convince me, failing miserably as he sat down onto the couch and rubbed his eyes- something he definitely did when he was tired.

Shaking my head, I tried to fight off his stubbornness. "Come on, Zayn. It's okay, I can tell you need it. What if you end up falling asleep during dinner time? Now that would be a way to impress my family." I teased, making him laugh.

His laughter died soon after, but his smile didn't leave, "Fine.. if you don't mind." He admitted, his cheeks coloring lightly.

"Of course I don't. You can always ask or tell me. It's more than okay. You're tired, aren't you?" I questioned as I stood up and made my way over to the stairs. Luckily, Zayn stood up and followed me, swallowing his stubbornness.

"A little.. maybe." He bit his lower lip and chuckled softly while following me upstairs, into my room.

Opening my bedroom door, I noticed how he observed the area right away, his eyes roaming all through my room. "You don't have to hide it. It really is okay. Your medication sucks, I know that. It makes you sleepy. And walking around all day long doesn't help you either." I said softly, watching him as he sat down on my bed instantly, rubbing his eyes again.

He truly was exhausted.

"Yeah.." He pressed his palm to his other eye for a brief moment. "I like your room. It's very.. you."

Staring at my light grey walls with a few plants hanging here and there, my eyes fell onto posters that had plants and flowers printed, illustrated or drawn onto them. "Is it?" I questioned, feeling happy.

He nodded, then pointed at my bedding, his fingers slowly brushing over it. "Especially this."

chuckling, I slowly rolled my eyes while glancing at my rose themed bedding. "That's a bad dad joke. He thought it was so funny to give me one of these. I only use it because it's soft."

Zayn smiled tiredly. "Your dad seems funny."

"Yeah, whatever." Laughing softly, I opened one of my drawers and took out the fluffiest and warmest blanket I had as I noticed him shivering, even when my room was rather on temperature.

"You can sleep in my bed. I'll see you in a bit, yeah? I'll make sure to wake you for dinner." Walking over to him, I tried not to watch him as he slowly took off his pants, not even caring one bit that I was still in the room. Eventually, he lied down in my bed and covered himself with the covers.

He could barely keep his eyes open once his head had hit my pillow. "Thanks.. Rose. For everything." He mumbled out tiredly, already being in the process of falling asleep.

Tucking the warm blanket in the sides of my bed once I had draped it over his body, I smiled softly. "Don't worry." I whispered, my heart swelling as I watched him fall asleep. Closing my curtains to darken the room, his soft and slow breathing as he slept filled my ears, making me feel warm.