Heal // z.m

thirty four | secret dinners & quiet brothers

Rose

Reaching for a cheese bread roll- I handed it to him as he wished for, my eyes lingering on his face as he took a bite. His eyes roamed around the dining room in silence, I enjoyed his presence. I watched him as he swallowed- he seemed so careful, would he feel the tube as he did so? He glanced at me, we gave each other a smile and I turned my attention back to my soup.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Mum started, making me look at her with an expression that she would understand that I didn't want her to- but she ignored me completely. I just hoped they wouldn't make him feel uncomfortable.

Zayn quickly swallowed his mouthful and shook his head, a smile appearing on his lips. "Sure, I don't mind."

Sighing innerly, I realised my brothers and father were observing him silently. They didn't say much and that surprised me as my brothers usually cracked jokes or made comments to see how people would react to that. That way, they would find out if the person would fit in the family.

But now.. they were both extremely quiet, after they had introduced themselves to Zayn. I could tell their eyes lingered on his feeding tube and beanie- probably guessing he was bald. I kicked their legs from under the table, wanting them to stop staring.

Mum handed Zayn a bowl of soup, which he placed on his plate. "Have you been in the hospital for a long time?"

Zayn thanked her with a soft smile, his eyes roaming over the ceiling as he thought about her question. "Yeah, quite some time. I don't really know for how long, though. Couple of months." He hesitated, his eyes falling on me with a questionable look, but I shrugged softly, letting him know I didn't quite know either.

"Oh, that's a long time darling. Is it okay over there? I don't think anyone likes staying there for a long time, but is there enough to do for guys like you?" Mum questioned, sipping on the still warm soup in between.

Taking a bite of my bread roll, I looked Zayn's way, watching him as he shrugged slowly. "It's alright. There's some patients that are my age.." He gulped lightly, I knew he was thinking of Nathan, which broke my heart. "I'd rather be with my mum, though." He chuckled after that, forgetting about it.

"I get that.." Mum gave him a soft smile, reaching for a bread roll herself. "Does she come by often?"

Zayn silently ate his mouthful, politely answering after that. "Mum and dad come by every weekend with my little sister. My two other sisters come by sometimes, they're rather busy with school and walk. Obviously, they would want to visit throughout the week, but we live in Bradford, so that's kinda far away, sadly.."

Secretly stuffing another bread roll onto his plate without him noticing it, I smiled by myself when he reached for it subconsciously and took a bite. Somehow, I felt the need to feed him well, to be full and satisfied at the end.

"See, I thought I could hear that by your accent! The northern one, I used to work around there." Dad mentioned, mixing himself into the conversation. So far, it went fine. I silently enjoyed myself while listening to them talk.

Zayn laughed softly, looking down at his plate. "Yeah, I hear that more often. And that's really nice, what company have you worked for?"

My dad smiled at him, "Oh, no company. I have done courses for psychological stuff, such as training teams- I had some clients over there and I helped them out with entrepreneurship."

"Oh, that sounds interesting. Could've helped out the school I used to work at, what a mess that was, the team." Zayn mumbled, Dad laughed at that- my brothers chuckled. Zayn ate some soup after that, softly touching his tube so now and then.