Accidentally In Love: The Sequel

Chapter 9

*Niall's POV*

 "Can we play just one more game?" Naya pleaded with Zayn as he tossed her over his shoulder and carried her to the bathroom. 

"One more story, Niall?" Malisa shot puppy dog eyes up at me as I guided her behind Zayn. 

"Well--" I was about to give in.

"Sorry, girls, no. It's almost an hour past your bedtime and you're both way beyond tired," Zayn said as he propped Naya up on the counter and got her toothbrush ready. 

It was true, the two of them were blinking sheepishly and rubbing their weary eyes. "C'mon Malisa, up you go," I said as I placed her next to her sister. 

"I'm not tired," Naya insisted as she fought through a yawn. 

"Yeah, okay. And I'm the Queen," I poked at her, causing her to giggle. 

I handed Malisa her toothbrush and watched her lazily brush her teeth while Zayn tried to comb through her unruly curls. Patiently he worked and untangled the various knots, gently as to not hurt her. After he finished Naya's hair next I helped them down from the counter and watched them slowly make their way to their room. 

"Thanks for helping me get them all ready and settled for bed," Zayn said as he switched off the bathroom light. "You really didn't need to." 

"It's not a problem," I assured him. "I love helping out with them."

He smiled at that. "Well, I'm gonna go make sure they get to sleep."

"Cool. Oh, and Zayn, I was wondering if I could borrow your charger? My phone's totally dead," I held up my phone which had been drained of its battery by the girls playing every game on it for hours straight. 

"Yeah, of course. It's, uh, in my room. Next to the night table," he pointed to a door slightly opened across from the bathroom before going into the girls' room.

I stopped right outside his door, as it occurred to me that I'd never been inside his room before. I pushed it open, revealing a dark room. I fumbled around looking for a light, tripped over some cord laying on the floor, and bashed my hip into a sharp corner.

"Fuck," I swore, feeling around the table I had hit into. My fingers found a cold, smooth stand and I slid them up, flicking on the lamp.

I don't know what I had expected his room to look like, but it surprised me how much it reflected him. Withdrawn, hard to read, not wanting any attention. The walls were painted a dark charcoal gray and a neatly made, full sized bed was pushed up against one wall. A black desk and chair were placed on the wall perpendicular to the one with the bed. A tall, empty bookshelf stood beside the desk, looking almost like a skeleton because of the lack of anything on it. Dark shades masked the windows, preventing the outside world from looking in, and vice versa. The one thing that stood out most to me was the absence of stuff. There was basic furniture, but that was it. Hardly anything to singify that this was actually a lived in space, that a real human being belonged here. Nothing on the walls, or the shelves. On the desk was a single notebook and a completed Rubik's cube, looking extremely out of place against the dull background. The only personal touches in the whole room was two picture frames on the table beside the bed. 

I remembered why I had came in the room in the first place and placed my phone on Zayn's charger. I could hear the girls' sleepy laughter from down the hallway and smiled slightly to myself thinking of what story Zayn was probably acting out for them. I yawned and stretched my arms over my head. I had been at Zayn's since the early afternoon and the girls had us running around nonstop. I sat down on the bed and leaned back, thinking about Zayn and his sisters. He takes care of them so well, and it just comes so naturally to him. He never complains about having to do anything for them. And it just brings me back to wondering how did it get like that? Why does he have complete responsibility for his sisters?