Heal // z.m

sixteen | sleeping & drowning

Rose

It had been the third day since I had been watching Zayn, to make sure everything was going well and no things would happen to him while having his high fever. He was sleeping almost all the time and Caroline helped him with eating, drinking, washing, urinating and defecation the moments he was awake, if you could call it awake. He was still really weak and slow and barely reacting to what was happening around him.

The moment Caroline would be doing those things, I would leave his room in order to give him some privacy as they were doing that in his bed. I didn't think he realised I was with him the whole time when Caroline wasn't there, though. He was still too sick to notice.

The antibiotics seemed to do their job, though. He wasn't sweating and shivering at the same time anymore and his red cheeks turned into the lightest shade of pink. Still warm, but not too warm. His temperature had dropped to a neat thirty- eight and a half, which was still too high, but much better than it was before.

He was sleeping quietly now too, no groans or the humming in pain, just soft and deep breaths leaving through his mouth and his natural full lips. He was able to control the sounds.

However, despite the fact that he wasn't sweating as much as before, Caroline asked me to change his pajamas as he had worn them the days he was sick and she thought a fresh one would do him good. I was slightly nervous to do so as I thought it was kind of intimate, but it was my job, in that case- I had to stop my insecure thoughts and stay professional.

Grabbing the the pajama Caroline had given me, I unfolded it, revealing a blue and white striped blouse and loose, matching, pants. The sight of it made me smile, perhaps because I hadn't thought that there were guys that slept in pajamas like these, as my brothers always said they were uncomfortable- boxers were just fine.

Walking over to his bed, I wondered if I had to wake him or not, as I didn't want to disturb the much needed sleep. Deciding not to- I gently grabbed his arms and held my other hand to the back of his neck. He was either too deep in his sleep or too weak, but his head hung back, pressing it to my waist to hold him up.

I took off his worn pajama shirt and quietly but gently put on the fresh blouse as I didn't want him to feel cold. I tried my best to ignore the tumor, which was harder than I thought as it looked extremely awful. I tried to slowly lay him back down again, but he was kinda heavy for me to hold up like that so I accidentally laid him down faster than I wanted to, making me flinch slightly as it startled him. He didn't wake up, I figured it didn't matter.

Staring at his pajama pants for a while, I couldn't help but sigh. This was the part I hated the most but I had to try and act professional in my job. It wasn't like it gave me any feelings, it was simply the fact that he was my age, and I didn't know if he quite appreciated the fact that I did this.

I removed the sheets off his lap and legs and laid the pants beside his body. I untied the small strings of the pajama pants he was wearing and gently pushed Zayn over on his side so I could slide the pants off his left hip. After that I softly pushed him on the other side and slid the pants off his right hip, laying him back down and taking them off completely.

"Rose." He woke up. His eyes fluttered open and my heart started beating extremely fast as he startled me. "What are you doing?" His voice sounded hoarse, like he hadn't talked for days, which I knew, basically, was true.

Blood made its way to my cheeks, causing me to blush because it felt like I was caught doing something bad. I shook my head. I had to leave those thoughts behind. Stay professional, Rose. He's just a patient. This is just your job.