THE WATERS :: ZAYN

words

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For a week now, Solána was beginning to walk better, or at least stand on her feet for a long time.

It took a lot of work, tears, blood, and pep talk to get to this point, and Zayn was super proud of her.

And with her permission, he started to record her, as in, writing down improvements and changes in the environment when she was affected by something and developments pertaining to her as a person. Most of the week it had been raining and storming and Zayn swore he saw a whirlpool in the ocean one day. Her emotions changed the climate of the island and the creatures in it.

Like, one day, she was mad because she kept falling and all of a sudden spiders and snakes and some weird as creatures came about, chilling in the backyard and on the roof, looking scary as hell. Zayn had never tried to make someone so happy in a short amount of time.

Anyway, amidst the recording, he also taped her some days, and just like any woman creature, she hated being recorded off guard and on guard. She'd just be talking about random stuff and not know Zayn was recording her until she saw the red light of the camera and Zayn's snorts during their conversation.

Zayn only kept this to himself, in fear of exposing a new species like Solana to the public. God knows what mermaids did to keep the ocean running and he didn't want to find out if all else failed. Just like the giant squid -- which he forgot about until now -- those records would be just for him and him only.

Solána was sitting on a stool in the kitcen, eating cereal with her hands and drinking milk at the same time. She could barely use eating utensils still.

"What's that?" she muttered with a mouth full of food. She was pointing to his phone on the counter, lighting up and vibrating on the marble.

"That's my phone," he picked it up to see who it was, "oh, it's mummy."

"Mummy. You're very British."

He made a face at her and called back.

"Zayn!"

"Yes?" he dragged, leaning on the counter and watching Solána eat.

"I was going to tell you something but I forgot, ugh," she groaned, "I'll call you back."

"Okay--" he heard the dial tone and , locking his phone again, "she's so strange."

"What kind of cereal is this?" she asked, looking at the food in her hand.

"Frosted Flakes, babe."

"So tasty," she grinned and popped some in her mouth, he feet swung in the air and she hummed a little tune, "breakfast foods."

"Mhm. Solána?"

"Yes?" she drank from her glass of milk and looked up at him.

"Can you read?"

She thought about it and that honestly confirmed it all. "Like, a little. Back then we weren't allowed to, but there was this house slave that taught us how to read and write late at night. Our master's daughter taught her and so on. So I'd say sort of. She was only twelve so how far could that go back then?"

"Mhm," he pursed his lips and she poured more cereal in her bowl, "would you like to refresh your memory?"

"On what?"

"Reading."

"I don't know..." she trailed off and looked away. Zayn could tell she wasn't so keen on the idea of reading in front of him.

"I won't judge you, if that's what you were thinking."

"Really?" she definitely needed that reassurance.

"Yeah, come on," he walked around the counter towards the mermaid and helped her off the stool. She was a slow walker, but it was getting better by the day.

"So, what am I reading?"

"Uh," he walked up the stairs slowly, making sure she wasn't going to fall or anything, "what did the woman make you read?"

"Mostly wanted signs and lynching documents," she replied, "that was all they kept around the house besides Shakespeare. And that wasn't something you could just read and understand."

"Right, so," he walked into his study, filled with books on sea creatures and just normal everyday leisure books, "you can read about...mermaids!"

"You want me to read about myself?"

"Yeah, isn't that fun?"

"No--"

"Too late," he grabbed the book he used when they first met in the examination room, "ah, here we go. Pop a squat, Solána."

"What?" she tilted her head in confusion and Zayn tried not to cry in laughter.

"Come sit."

"Oh," she smiled at that, sitting beside him, "what a cliché title. Mermaids: Mysterious Women of the Deep."

"Totally," he chuckled, letting her hold the book and staring down at her, "you can go to the table of contents and find out what you wanna know."

"I know everything about me, Zayn."

"Yeah, but--"

"Chapter five," she said loudly, looking at the numbers carefully, "page six-one-eight."

"six hundred and eighteen," he elaborated.

"Ohhh," and she was so cute, reading the many characteristics of mermaids and dispelling some myths Zayn thought were actually true. She was lying when she said she only knew a little, because he didn't need to help her at all with any words, even the complicated ones. Solána was learning and growing in such a short amount of time and it amazed him. She was still animalistic in some ways, like eating and crawling and moving things around -- she tended to just throw things out of her way -- and try not to break anything with her super strength.

And throughout the night, she continued to read, all the way to chapter eighteen. Her eyes were drooping and Zayn just smiled, trying to take the book away but frowning when she kept a tight grip on it.

"Sol--"

"No, I'm not done," she muttered sleepily, pouting and holding the book closer.

"You're tired, come on, babe," Zayn finally took the book away and set it down.

"'M not tired, Zayn."

He snorted. "Okay. Come on," he helped her up and she almost fell from how drowsy she was.

"I'm not sleepy," she whined when he decided to pick her up and carry her to the guest room.

"Just sleep, okay?" he tried not to smiled when she wrapped her arms and legs around him and cuddled into his neck. He moved her hair out the way so he could see where he was going.

"But--"

"Shut up," he hushed, laying her on the bed and trying to pry her arms from around him, "babe--"

"No," she pulled him down on the bed and lied on top of him, "don't leave."

"Okay--"

"I get lonely," she mumbled, moving her head so he got a mouthful of her hair yet again, "just sleep."

And Zayn didn't realize how tired he was until she said that, so he wrapped his arms around her waist and closed his eyes. His breath settled down and his mind was gone of any worries or thoughts for the next day or so.

Zayn smiled and slowly, but surely -- and happily -- fell asleep.

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love you long time

and I'm trying to do this more frequent okayyy?

BET😁❤️