CHAPTER 10: ROSE

Ryan is the coldest and most stubborn man I've met in my life.

Taking care of him is like taking care of a child. He says 'no' to everything. I made him soup, he said he doesn't eat it, It took so many tries for him to finally eat, I almost cried. I whined and he didn't care. Making him take medicines was the hardest part. He didn't want to sleep and all the medicines contained sleep and he needed sleep.

Whenever I left the room, he would try to get out of bed just to answer few emails, I told him to forget about work for a bit and take care of himself and he said "I'd rather chew off my own foot." He should've married his company. I swear that's the only love in his life.

After many tries, I was able to get him to eat his soup, take his medicines and make sure he was asleep.

I sighed and sat on the ground. I was too exhausted to find a seat and sit. Ryan is hard to take care of and I mean it.

I kept my gaze on Ryan making sure he was asleep. He sounded asleep, his chest was heaving with every breath and he looked peaceful…

I didn't look away from him. I never saw Ryan asleep, he went to bed after me and when I would wake up, he was already awake. I never thought seeing someone sleeping peacefully could give you such warmth.

He looked so peaceful, I never wanted to wake him up. The world might see him as a cold bastard but at that moment, he looked like the sweetest soul. It was when I realized I was smiling.

𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘺.

My phone rang on my lap. I quickly grabbed it and silenced the ringtone. My heart pounding, I looked towards Ryan hoping he didn't wake up.

One.

Two.

Three—

He shifted, I froze. He stopped moving and his breathing became normal, I silently sighed in relief, I looked at the caller ID.

𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘦.

I picked up the call and whispered "Hello?"

"hi—why are you whispering?" Bree asked from the other side of the phone as I stood up.

"Ryan's sleeping." I whispered and quietly turned the doorknob.

"𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵?" Bree asked, shocked.

I walked out of the room and quietly closed the bedroom door "yeah," I said in my normal voice

"my brother is taking a nap?"

"forced nap, he would say,"

"you made him take a 𝘯𝘢𝘱?"

"he's sick"

"he never naps, he barely sleeps."

"I know but his condition might get worst if he doesn't rest," I said walking downstairs

"wow… he's resting," I hummed as I entered the kitchen "how did you do that?"

"well," I said and took out a water bottle from the fridge "it included a lot of pinching, blackmailing, whining and threats"

"woah wait," a pause "you 𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 him?"

"yes," I said and took a big gulp of water

"how the hell are you alive?"

That statement made me smile. Ryan couldn't get mad at me even when he tried to, even his hard gaze did nothing to me. Everyone knew that Ryan did what he want to but I felt special being able to make him do things he hate but which were good for him.

"Are you sure Ryan is sleeping?" Bree asked, still not believing

"like a toddler," I found myself smiling at that

"oh my God—I need a picture!"

"okay, don't get ahead of yourself, I don't want him to despise me."

"ugh, fine." We both were silent for a bit then she spoke again "hey Rose,"

"hm?"

"um, thank you,"

"for what?" I asked, concerned

"for taking care of Ryan," a pause "he can be mean sometime and he never really had anyone to take care of him after he went on his own. You know how his relationships were." She let out a heavy breath "just know that I'm glad you're with him."

I fell silent. I didn't know what to say, I knew what Ryan went through was horrible and he always put his siblings before him in everything. People called him cruel and rude because they are so quick to judge someone without knowing what the person is going through. Ryan has a soft spot, I know and I've seen it.

I cleared my throat before saying "you sound weird when you say 'thank you' to me," Bree chuckled which made me smile "and no need for thank you, I like taking care of you all."

_____________

Ryan has been asleep for almost 3 hours. Good thing. I kept checking up on him every 20 minutes and he was asleep whenever I went upstairs.

I talked to Bree for an hour then cleaned around the house as quietly as I could. It didn't work so I ended up reading a book instead.

I got lost into reading a love story of fictional characters that I forgot to check up on Ryan. I placed the book on the couch and made my way upstairs.

I stopped on the entrance when I heard someone throwing up. Ryan.

I rushed inside the room, Ryan wasn't in bed and the bathroom door was open, I rushed in to see Ryan throwing up in the sink. But something was off.

He throwing up blood.

Dark, red blood.

I froze at the entrance when I saw him like that. He turned on the faucet to wash away the blood filled vomit. He was exhausted, he rested his elbow on the counter and his head fell into his hands. His breathing wasn't even, he was in pain.

After few moments, he stood straight and turned off the faucet. He turned and froze when he saw me.

"Rose," he said, breathlessly

"you…" I couldn't speak. "we need to go to the hospital—"

"no, we don't" he said, coldly.

I looked at him in disbelief. He just threw up blood, this was serious, he need medical care.

Before I could protest, he walked passed by me into the bedroom.

I went after him as he sat on the bed and took out his phone. "Ryan," I said, he didn't look at me "𝘙𝘺𝘢𝘯, we need to go to the hospital. This is serious, you threw up blood!" I was probably yelling but I didn't care. I was scared for him but he wasn't even bothered.

"it's not, I'll be fine" he said and placed his phone away

"you're barely breathing!" I said as he let his head fall back trying to catch his breath

"Rose," he whispered "I'm fine."

I shook my head and sat beside him, he looked at me as I grabbed his hand. "Ryan, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦. Please, let's go to the hospital, this is not okay"

"Rose, i—"

I gently tightened my grip on his hand "please."

He looked at me with stubborn eyes but then his eyes softened and he sighed looking down at our joined hands. His thumb creased the side of my hand gently "fine," he looked towards me locking our gaze, my shoulders relaxed "we'll go to the hospital."