Zephaniah // z.m

Forty three

Hannah

Zephaniah fiddled with the paper in his little hands, his eyes roaming all around the room as he tried to start his presentation. He was going to give it to me first, so I could help him with it.

I knew he was scared to do it, even if it was only in front of me, and Cooper in this case, but I stimulated him to do it, so he could practice.

"Uhm, I am doing m-mmy presetion about- I mean presentation about epi-epilepsy," He started, his bottom lip already trembling as he realised his mistake.

"It's okay, Zephaniah. Keep going," I gave him an encouraging smile.

Zephaniah fisted his eyes but nodded, reading his paper for a long time, "Uhm, epilepsy is a sickness that w-wwhen, uhm.. uhm," He stopped, his eyes glued to the ceiling, his pink lips parted, "Ms. Hannah, Boris is d-dead, right?"

"Yes, sweetheart." I answered sympathetically.

"Uhm, epilepsy is in y-your brain in your head and when uhm.." He frowned, the palm of his hand fisting his eyes again. I wondered if he was tired. "Ms. Hannah, w-wwhere is Boris now?"

I shrugged slowly, "I don't know, love. I think nana buried him."

He slowly nodded, "Eli-epilepsy.. uhm.." We both looked up when Zayn entered the living room, retrieving a cup to make himself some tea. "Baba, w-wwas Boris sick?"

Zayn looked up at us, "Buddy, you're doing a presentation. Focus on that first, yeah? We can talk about Boris later."

"Isn't it too hard for him?" I said quietly, also carefully as I didn't mean it in a bad way. "Can't he do it about dogs or something?"

Zayn gave me a smile, but shook his head. "He chose it himself. It had to be something that has impact on your life, so he chose epilepsy."

"Wow," I smiled, but frowned. "That's so hard for these little boys."

"Yeah," Zayn started, "But when you see his other classmates, you'd think they're much older, because of their behavior and all. Zeph's an exception, but he still has to do it." He sighed softly, watching Zephaniah as he was lost into his own world, staring outside the window.

"I'll try my best to help him with it," I said quietly. Zayn smiled.

"Thanks, Hannah. I really appreciate it." He gave me a smile, the corners of his mouth curling up.

His behavior had changed a lot after his last outburst. He was nothing but soft and sweet towards me and I really hoped it would stay that way. Because I couldn't lie- I loved it.

Although I felt like my feelings were drawing towards him even faster now, even if I didn't know if I wanted that.

Zayn excused himself and went back to work, so I focused on Zephaniah. "Okay, Zeph, should we start again?"

Zephaniah blinked his eyes and looked at me, fiddling with his paper. "Scared, Ms. Hannah." He whispered, looking down at the floor as his cheeks flushed red.

"Come here, sweetheart. We'll try it together, okay?" I suggested. Zephaniah nodded and walked over to me, pulling him on my lap as I sat on the floor beside Cooper. "So, what is your presentation about?"

"Epilepsy," Zephaniah whispered again.

"Cooper can't hear you, buddy!" I smiled, secretly stimulating him to talk louder.

Zephaniah blushed, "Sorry, Cooper." He said louder, looking at the dog as he spoke. "M-mmy presentation is about epilepsy."

He smiled brightly when he said 'presentation' right. My heart warmed. "Good job, Zeph! See, it will go easier if we practice."