Honest Illusions [niall horan]

Chapter 38

Aubrey's P.O.V.

"Ugh," I groaned to myself while my insides continued to severely burn. Three in the morning didn't sound like the most ideal time to be suffering from such pain either. Ever since I fell asleep, only a few hours ago, I felt myself tossing and turning more than ever. Sleep never fully came to me, and each time I found myself drifting off into a comfortable slumber, my head would either begin pounding or a fire like pain erupted throughout my stomach. All I wanted was to sleep and just stay cuddled up under my blankets next to Niall before I had to go back to work tomorrow, well in a few hours actually. At this rate, I doubt I'll be able to properly function when I go to work.

For the past week, Niall literally hasn't let me lift a finger. He did everything whether it be dropping and picking up Adam from soccer practice to making me breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Since I couldn't completely blow off my responsibilities at work, no matter how sick I was feeling, I tried my best to do as much I possibly could from my laptop at home. Luckily, this next article wasn't set to be published for another two months, which meant I still had time to carefully go over everything before the deadline. Plus, with Elliot's help back at the office, I doubt that I'll get behind. Speaking of him, I haven't seen or talked to him in person since before the day I fainted. Although, Niall volunteered to take some files of mine to the office the other day, and I couldn't really tell if his most recent encounter with Elliot went smoothly or not.

One thing I never thought I would see Niall doing was clean. Last night he volunteered to wash the dishes, even though I was fully capable of doing them (before a horrible feeling nausea took over me). He managed to give me the best of care and his undivided attention, all the while organizing everything for his and Liam's official opening of the studio. Tonight, the two go them were hosting a "studio warming" party before the doors open to the public tomorrow morning. Listening to Niall talk about everything in the studio made me realize just how passionate he is about spreading both his musical knowledge and skills to their future students. He definitely looked forward to spending the next few months teaching these kids everything he knew about music.

Aside from his studio preparation, that seemed like it took ages to end, Niall showed me how much more of an amazing boyfriend he is. After my release from the hospital, I was prescribed a few different types of medications. They were mostly meant to keep me from getting any further headaches and to halt any symptoms that may possibly lead to fatigue. For the first couple days, they seemed to be working considering the fact I felt myself getting better. Apparently I spoke too soon, because now, almost a week after being released from the hospital, I was feeling a whole lot worse than I originally had been.

All of a sudden another pound triggered another low moan from me. Just when I thought my pain temporarily ceased, a wave of nausea overtook my body, and I found myself pushing my head closer to the toilet seat. Slowly heaving, my mouth stood right above the toilet as I waited for something to come out, but nothing escaped my mouth. My throat burned and ached so much that it actually hurt to swallow my salvia. To top things off, I felt a bit cold despite the fact I was in thermal leggings and one of Niall's long sleeve crew-necks.

"Aubrey?" Niall's voice carefully let out from the doorway. I snapped my head over to the doorway of the bathroom; my eyes landing on a sleepy Niall. His ruffled hair stood up in all sorts of directions while one of his hands balled up into a small fist to run away a bit of the sleep evident in his eyes. "Hey what's wrong?" His tone completely switching to one of pure alarm once his vision clearly adjusted.

"Nothing," I shook my head. "Go back to sleep, Niall," I brushed him off. He had really overworked himself this week, and the last thing he needed was to stay up with me and take care of me. He shot me a puzzled look as he ran a hand through his hair. "I thought I needed to throw up, but it was a false alarm. I'm fine, really," I said in an attempt to convince him. Niall shook his head at me before he entered the bathroom and approached me. Crouching down by me, he furrowed his eyebrows at something, probably my pale expression.