Heal // z.m

42 | birthday songs & presents

Rose

"Caroline, bye." Zayn whispered, motioning for her to leave the room with his hands. "I told you yesterday, right?" I frowned at that, wondering what he meant to say.

"What are you doing, Zayn?" Chuckling, it came out rather nervously, as I had no idea why he was acting the way he was.

Zayn shrugged, a cheeky smile was glued to his face, he wanted to do something. "Rosie, come on. You didn't think that I'd have forgotten, did you?"

"What do you mean?" I questioned, watching as Caroline left his room, her hands up in defense. She smiled at me, I gave her an unsure smile back.

The reports and Caroline had told me that he hadn't been feeling well for quite a few days in a row, but he was doing much better now. It was visible- he was back to his old, happy self and he didn't have as much pain now that he took all of his medication and extra pain killers.

Zayn didn't answer me, but a smile played upon his lips. He roamed around his room for a while, clearly searching for something, until he noticed a bag he was apparently looking for. I watched him as he picked it up and walked over to the door, closing it behind him before he placed the bag onto his bed.

I kept standing where I was, Zayn walked over to me. "Happy birthday, dear Rose." Shyness spread out onto his face, he looked hesitant for a while and I wondered why. However, I understood when he stepped even closer to me and wrapped his arms around me, hugging me loosely. It startled me- I hadn't expected it, but it was no question that I hugged him back, a little firmer.

Warm, glowing feelings bubbled inside of me, his touch clearly doing something to me. Heat had risen to my cheeks, I was sure they were bright red by now as I felt the closeness of his body against mine. I closed my eyes, enjoyed his hug silently while I sniffed up the scent that lingered in his clothes.

His soap smelled fruity but manly, his clothes like vanilla. It was pleasing, intoxicating. We both pulled away, a smile was visible on his face. His shyness had left completely. "Thanks, Zayn. It means a lot to me." I was feeling rather shy, which was something I hated, but somehow he had the ability to do something like that to me.

"Of course. I have some presents for you." He took a seat on his bed and opened the bag, taking two presents out that were wrapped in some white sheets with doodles on it. "I didn't have wrapping paper so.. I made it myself."

All that time and dedication just for me, it made me feel even warmer. "You really didn't have to do this, Zayn. I'm serious." Sitting down onto his bed, he stretched his hand out to me.

"But I did, so you should probably open them." Zayn grinned lightly, making me roll my eyes playfully. I took the present from him, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

Carefully ripping off the wrapping paper, I collected all of the loose drawings, piling them up as I wanted to keep them. I took out an ochre yellow sweatshirt, and when I turned it around I noticed that Simba and Nemo, with a Rose in between them was sewn onto it. My eyes widened, I looked at him. "My goodness, did you make this yourself?"

Zayn nervously nibbled onto his bottom lip, nodding slowly. "I know you actually don't like roses but.. I couldn't help myself. I drew the Rose first then sewed it onto the shirt, along with Simba and Nemo I drew myself as well. I don't know if the size fits you, it's my own.. well, it used to be my sweater." He chuckled sheepishly, looking away. "Shouldn't have said that, should've I?"

Laughing softly, I brought the sweater to my face, feeling the soft fabric brushing against my lips and secretly sniffing the scent, that smelled like laundry detergent but also the well known vanilla smell of the guy that was right in front of me. "I love it. I love it so much, Zayn. Don't you worry about it."