Zayn's pov:
The first thing I registered was the sound.
It was not the beeping of the machines or the soft shuffle of the nurses' shoes on the shiny floor. It was her voice.
Low, warm, almost playful at points.
For days, I'd been accustomed to the silence that was a weight resting on my chest or not better still, the times when her words came out muted and brittle, like they would break apart in the air between us. But this morning… it was different.
I lingered in the doorway for a minute, not wanting to break it. She was in conversation with a nurse, hands moving slightly with her words, hair drifting down as she leaned a little further in. Her tone had this… lift to it. A softness I didn't even know I had been starving for until I heard it again.
I stepped closer, and she turned.
Her eyes found mine like it was the most normal thing in the world.
"Good morning," she said.
Not guarded. Not empty. Just… there.
I swallowed hard and gave her the smallest smile possible without letting it turn into something too obvious. "Morning. You're up early."
She tilted her head as if she were deciding how much to give away. "Couldn't sleep much. I had too many things on my mind."
I tried to say it without weight. "Good things?"
Her lips curled, not into a full smile, but at least enough to make my chest feel too tight. "Maybe."
There was something in her eyes I hadn't seen in a long time, and it struck me like a ton of bricks how much I had missed it. She gently bit her lip, almost as if she were keeping a secret from me, and I had to look away before I gave myself away.
When I turned back, she was watching me.
"Think you can pick me up some roses?" she said, casual, but not careless.
"Roses?" I repeated, surprised.
"Yes." She shifted her position against the pillows, her gaze lingering on the window. "I just... I want to see them. Do you remember how they looked in the winter? The petals seem brighter when it's cold outside. Like they're challenging the frost to land on them."
I didn't even think twice. "I'll get them."
Her eyes flickered back to mine, and for just a second, I could have sworn I saw warmth. "Thank you."
I tried not to think about how that made me feel.
From there, the conversation flowed so easily, more easily than it had in weeks. She told me about the things she used to love, little pieces of herself that she hadn't talked about in months. She didn't talk about sylus now days i am relieved that she is trying to move on from him.
A small bookstore she used to frequent.
The way antiquated paper smelled like dust and warmth all at the same time.
How she had once spent a whole night drawing a sketch because she could not figure out the lines.
She even made fun of me when I said I could not draw.
"You? You probably draw stick figure people with the heads all uneven," she said, a slight smile on her lips.
"I'm sorry," I said leaning back, "my stick figure are a perfect representation of artistic balance."
Her laugh quick, quiet filled the room. I wanted to hold onto it like something delicate. I did not want to push, I did not want her to inevitably go back into herself. So I stayed as close as I could, without being intrusive.
It was like watching someone emerge from the darkness of the shadows back into the daylight.
And then just like that, she asked me, "When do you think they're going to let me leave?"
I blinked. "Leave?"
"Yes." She said, tucking her hair behind her ear and leaving her fingers lingering for a moment, "I want to get out of here and run. I haven't ran in a long time." She turned to the window again, her voice lowering, "Winter is going to be here soon, and just want to play in the snow."
Her words painted a picture in my mind I could not erase her in the cold with pink cheeks, snow in her hair laughing in a way that made the cold seem less frosty.
"We'll get you out," I said before I even knew what I was saying. "I'll make sure you see the first snow."
For a moment, she held my gaze and I let myself pretend she was seeing me in that instant me, rather than the walls around her. It didn't matter that there was still something in her eyes that still drifted somewhere I couldn't follow. What mattered was that she was here, talking to me, wanting things, giving me back all of her tiny pieces.
She smiled softly. "I would like that."
And my heart, traitorous and stupid, took those words and spun an entire future from them.
I remained with her the rest of the day. I got her tea when she asked for something warm, and sat there and watched her cradle the cup between her hands, closing her eyes for a moment like she could feel the steam on her skin.
She talked more about places she wanted to go, books she wanted to read, recipes she always meant to make. Once she blushed, unexpectedly, when I caught her looking at me and she darted her eyes away quickly. I told myself that meant something.
Every time she smiled, I tucked it away like evidence.
Evidence that she was getting better.
Evidence that she could still look at me like that.
Evidence that maybe, just maybe, I could be the one that she wanted beside her.
By the time the light outside began to fade, she was quieter, her eyes heavy with the kind of tired that comes from talking too much after days of silence.
I didn't want to leave.
So I didn't.
I sat there, close enough that if she reached out, she'd find my hand waiting. And when her breathing slowed, I let myself believe that this was the start of something. That the winter she wanted to run into could be ours.
Only ours...now.
Notes:
Sorry my stars I am so sorry for late updates but I am working on my different project and tbh! i will see you in next chapter make sure to vote drop you thoughts on this chapter!!!!!!