Zephaniah // z.m

Fifty seven

Zayn

"It's okay," I said, though, I was disappointed. "I have to go now, before it gets too busy. I'll call you later, mum." I clicked my pen, throwing it onto one the empty pantry shelf.

Once we both said our goodbyes and exchanged a quick 'love you', I jogged upstairs and retrieved a bag I used for my groceries.

Walking over to Zephaniah's room, I smiled when I opened the door. Zephaniah was quietly playing with Shephy, in his own way. Which wasn't really the usual playing as he had trouble doing that, it was more that he fiddled with Shephy's ears and stared into the distance.

"Zeph," I spoke up, crouching down in front of him. I stroked his cheeks for a while, causing him to suddenly look up, a smile appearing on his face.

"Hi, b-baba." He whispered, observing me as I stuffed the shopping bag in my backpack, along with my wallet and phone.

"Do you want to come with baba, we're going to the grocery store," I mumbled out as the zipper from my backpack became stuck.

Zephaniah frowned, standing up. "Silly d-daddy," He whispered, pulling the fabric away from the zipper. I frowned as well, wondering how he knew that, but then for the hundredth time, he wasn't dumb.

"I w-wwill go, okay," He said, clutching Shephy to his chest as he walked down the stairs. I followed him and as we silently put on our shoes and coats, I led him over to the car.

Once we were both settled, I glanced at him and sighed, noticing how tired he still looked and how tired I still felt.

Honestly, I hated to go grocery shopping, especially with him. And not because of him, never, but more because I knew he'd become really sensitive in there.

It was too big, too much stuff, and too much noises, usually very crowded as well as Wednesday seemed to be the grocery shopping day for more people.

And as I usually went with my mother, the situation with Zephaniah's seizure messed up the schedule, and things didn't work out this week and mum couldn't come. Nonetheless, I had to do some shopping, or I couldn't provide us of dinner for the rest of the week.

I put on some soft music, hopefully to get Zephaniah calm and drove off to the grocery store, which was about fifteen minutes away. When we arrived, I parked my car and helped Zephaniah out of his seatbelt, smiling when he reached for my hand.

Gladly accepting it, I clumsily grabbed a shopping cart and strolled through the store, down the aisles. I always had the same groceries, so luckily I knew where everything was and didn't have to search for hours.

Zephaniah, however, was already blinking his eyes rapidly, his free hand flapping lightly. I squeezed his hand and stood still to press a kiss to his head, looking at the candy, then deciding he had enough with his chewing ball machine already. Which means I had more money for other things.

Zephaniah never whined for candy. Though when I'd give it to him, he was nothing but really thankful. His eyes would sparkle and his teeth would show as he smiled, but thinking back about the email from my work and my paycheck, I couldn't and my mood went down again.

However, besides all of that, Zephaniah did always want to go to the dog section. Today wasn't any different. "Baba, can go to the d-dog, please?"

"That's fine, after we went to the pastas and rice section, okay?" I said, searching for his eyes.

Zephaniah nodded, although a small pout appeared on his face.

When we arrived, I searched for some pasta and pesto, the green one. Zephaniah wasn't fond of pastas, but I knew Hannah liked pasta pesto and since she ate at my place almost every day, I felt like buying it for her.