I want to stay with you

Azeem looked taken aback by my response. He exchanged glances with the nurse before focusing on me, his face scrunched up in confusion. “You don't have any other relatives? None you can stay with until you can stand on your feet?”

I shook my head.

If I didn't find him handsome, the rephrased question would have offended me.

“We can put her in the system until —”

“I don't want that!” I interrupted the nurse. My eyes narrowed at her, teeth gritted in annoyance.

Who was she to chirp in? Doesn't she have anything to do aside from poking her nose in matters that have nothing to do with her?

Azeem let out a deep breath. He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck, and looked towards the window, as if he was seeking help from a deity.

“Okay, what do you want?” He asked at last, returning his gaze to my face. His eyes softened.

“I want to stay with you,” I blurted out before I could stop my mouth from running. My eyes grew wide the second those words left my lips.

“Hell no!” the nurse yelled. “You can't. You need to stay with family or get put in the system until you get your footing. You can't —”

“Who asked for your opinion?” I interrupted, narrowing my eyes at her.

She blinked. “Eh… What did you just say?”

I opened my mouth to respond to her, but Azeem beat me to it. “Why do you want to stay with me?” He asked in that gentle voice of his. There was no harshness in his gaze. He was so unlike the nurse, who was looking at me like she was thinking of the perfect location to hide my body.

His question hung in the air, and for a second, I couldn't form a sentence as I tried to think of why I wanted to stay with him.

I couldn't say it was because he saved me from my abusive mum. That sounded pathetic. Saying I didn't trust the system not to chew me up would only prove the nurse's point. And saying it was because he's handsome and my brain short-circuits when he talks, would get me shipped off.

I needed to think of something else. I swallowed. “Because,” I said, voice lower than I meant it to be, “you're the only one who asked what I want.”

The nurse made a sound between half scoff, and half choke. “You don't know what you're talking about. See, you're still a child —”

“I'm not a child. I'm eighteen,” I snapped, cutting her off again as my nails dug into the hospital blanket. “Don't talk to me like I'm a damned child!”

Azeem flinched at my tone. He studied me, like he was weighing something heavier than I could see. His jaw worked once, then stopped.

“You don't even know me,” he said finally.

“I know enough.” I lifted my chin and dared him to argue. “You saved me from my mum. That's more than enough to make me trust you.”

He exhaled slowly and dragged a hand down his face. “Kid,” he said, and my stomach dropped because I didn't want him to think I'm still a child. I needed him to look at me like an adult.

Was it because I'm skinny? Is that why he thinks I'm still a kid?

He continued, “I don't think I can —”

“I'm not asking you to adopt me,” I cut in, fast, and my cheeks burned. “I'm asking for a couch or the floor until I find my footing. That's all. I'll be out of your hair before you even know what's going on.”

Liar, my brain hissed. You'd be in trouble just breathing near him.

He stared at me a second longer, then at the nurse, and back at the window, as if the deity he was praying to, was still out there.

“You understand why this looks bad, right?” he mumbled, returning his focus to me.

“I don't care how it looks,” I said. And I didn't. Not when the alternative was group homes, and strangers who didn't know the hell I survived, and who would probably treat me like an outcast.

“You should,” the nurse muttered.

I ignored her because I knew if I looked her way, I might say something that would keep her thinking for years. I kept my eyes on Azeem. “Say yes.”

I couldn't even tell where my boldness was coming from. It seemed like my inner brave girl had crawled out of the space she ran to when Dad died.

His mouth twitched. “You're a headache,” he said, letting out a breath.

"But I don't hear you complaining,” I shot back before I could think.

That did it. The corner of his mouth lifted. “One month,” he said finally. “You can stay for a month until you get things sorted out. Deal?”

My heart slammed against my ribs. That was more than I could have hoped for. “Deal.”

The nurse sucked in a breath like she was about to object, but Azeem cut in before she could change his mind.

“Nurse…” He looked at her name tag. “Nurse Rose,” he said, and somehow his voice was gentler and harder at once. “Can you give us a minute?”

She looked as if she'd swallowed a lemon, but she didn't protest. She just nodded, shot me a dark look before she left, and the door clicked shut.

Azeem's eyes returned to my face. “Are you serious about staying with me? You didn't just say that to spite her, did you?”

“Why should I?”

"Okay." He nodded. “I see.” He checked the time on his wristwatch. “I have something to take care of at the office. I'll be back in the evening to take you with me. Is that okay with you?”

I nodded. “Okay.”