Unbreak Me

★CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR★

ZAYN
I went over to her and pushed the other chair off to the other corner of the room. It keeled over and fell. I bent at the waist and lightly shook Leia's arm. Her eyelashes were soaked with tears and she winced again.

"Hey, do you think you can get up?" I didn't bother asking whether she was all right. It was clear as day that she was anything but. "I'll get you to the hospital nearby."

She shook her head. "I'm fine. It's just a stomach ache."

Just a stomach ache. I tried not to think about what that could mean. I wouldn't believe it unless I heard it from the doctor. Until then, I'd pray to God that what I was thinking was wrong.

I wrapped a hand around her forearm. "Come on, let's go."

Despite the situation, despite her pain, she pried my hand off of her. If I wasn't so concerned, I would've laughed. "I said I'm fine."

A blind person wouldn't even believe her. "If you don't get up right this second, then I'm carrying you to my car."

She peeled her bloodshot eyes open and sighed, agony pirouetting in those light irises. Without another word, she slowly got up. She lost her footing midway and my hand shot out to her waist to steady her.

She stepped back quickly and said, "Walk first." I frowned but did as she said and her hand clutched my shirt from the back. I almost groaned.

"Just hold my arm if you can't walk, Leia. Stop being so stubborn."

"I don't need to . . . go to the hospital."

I glared at her. "You can barely speak. Hurry up." I offered her my arm.

"I'm not touching you," she said, as if I had the plague. I tried not to take it personally.

"Fine," I said, my back to her. She got the message and held onto my shirt again.

"Can we go now?"

"Yeah."

• • •

I could tell Leia was nervous with me in the room. She kept fidgeting with her hands and barely glanced at me. The doctor was convinced I was her husband and I did nothing to deny it.

As soon as the nurses entered along with the doctor, Leia leaned close to me. "Can you please go?" she whispered. "I don't want to take off my niqab in front of you."

I regarded her with narrowed eyes. "I think you're forgetting that I've seen your face." Though this check-up might require more than just the doctor seeing her face. Not that I would admit that out loud to her.

I could tell that I was making her mad. I almost groaned. "Lee, please try to understand. I can't just leave you alone."

She was about to answer when her whole body shuddered. She lurched forward and pressed a hand to her mouth.

I didn't know what to do when I wasn't even allowed to touch her. Heck, she might slap me again.

"Leia? Please tell me what I can do for you." I bent down to her level and barely stopped myself from touching her. "Baby, please."

Her eyes flashed with an emotion I couldn't comprehend. "Don't call me that."

Dammit, Zayn. You make everything worse.

I internally slapped myself for the self-deprecatory words.

My hand hovered over her elbow but the daggers she shot me with her eyes stopped me from touching her.