༺ It Felt Good To Be Sick ༻
“Achoo!”
After ending the short stream, I wiped my runny nose and dived into my bed.
“Why do I have to catch a cold at times like this?”
It was my fault and mine alone, there was no one to blame.
Seriously, I should just dress warmly yesterday!
I just had to insist on wearing a skirt to look pretty. That was the cause of all my troubles!
Ugh… I still had exams to take, and the day after tomorrow was my birthday…
A lot of important things were coming up, but I had been slacking off too much…
I’ve sent the preview of my debut song, but who knew if it would get accepted or not…
Worse came to worst, the whole thing would be delayed because of my stupid ass self—!
Whatever, I should focus on recovering for now. I curled up into my blanket, covering my whole body except for my head and grabbed my phone.
I had a sore throat and a slight fever but that wouldn’t stop me from texting him.
[oppa.]
Wait, it was the exam period, maybe he was busy—?
But before I could even ponder about that, the yellow stick disappeared.
[Yeah?]
[are you studying?]
Taemin oppa must’ve been looking at his phone, too.
Yeah, I could ask him something like this now.
Like, we held hands and even watched a movie together, so why couldn’t I?
[Ah. I’m taking a break.]
While I was thinking about what to reply next, Oppa asked me a question.
[You sneezed a lot earlier today. Are you feeling better now?]
…Oh, happiness…
Up until yesterday, I was still feeling uneasy about the mixed signals he had been giving out, but this sweet message of his instantly brought a smile to my lips.
[i think i caught a cold, but i should be fine.]
[Have you taken your meds yet?]
[no. i looked for some but i couldn’t find any.]
I remembered buying some cold medicines once upon a time.
But, when I rummaged through the cupboard, I couldn’t find it.
[Really? I have some at home, do you want me to bring it to you?]
Why was he so sweet?!
I can’t…
So flirting could feel this sweet, huh?
I hadn’t put any sugar in my mouth, but I could feel that I’m dying of diabetes already.
Holding my phone tightly, I chewed my lips.
Anyway, what should I say to him?
Reject his offer and say that I’m fine?
Or accept it and call him here?
If I were to follow my greed, the answer was obvious, but there were some things that I needed to consider.
Like, if I were to call him, I had to put away the mic and all my other stream equipment.
While I doubt that we’d talk for long, there was still the possibility of me infecting him with my cold.
…I guess I should just reject him and thank him for his concern—
“…Huh?”
Because I was too caught up in my own thoughts, I failed to notice that Oppa had sent me another message.
[Leave the door open. I’ll be there soon.]
Emeeergencyyy!
Fuck my illness! I sprang up out of my bed and quickly ran to my computer desk.
His place was next to mine, it would take less than five minutes for him to arrive.
If this was a scene from a manhwa, the ‘bang! bang! clang!’ SFX would be echoing in my room.
After hiding my streaming equipment in a hurry, I tapped my handphone to check the time.
Oppa’s message was three minutes ago.
Alright, time to fix my appearance.
I wore pajamas, but…
It should be okay to leave it like this, right…?
Lilac pajamas wouldn’t be provocative, I’m sure…
There was also my headband…
I always tidied my bangs up before going out, but I didn’t have time for that now.
Also, I had no make-up.
I hastily applied some lip gloss to maintain some basic decency.
If I didn’t do this, I’d look like a corpse.
[Knock, knock.]
As I closed the tint lid, I could hear a knock on my door.
I wore my slippers and rushed to the front.
“Hello.”
“Hi.”
In Oppa’s hand was a black bag.
I thought he’d only bring me one or two pills, but it seemed he brought more things.
“What’s all that?”
As I gestured to the bag, Oppa walked into the entrance door.
Well, I kinda expected that he’d come into my room, but how bold he was when doing it surprised me a little.
“I bought some cold medicine and a warm drink from the convenience store. Also, I brought a thermometer just in case.”
It was not my birthday yet.
The more I looked at those items that he prepared with much sincerity, the more my heart began to race.
“Have you taken your temperature?”
“No?”
This house didn’t even have cold medicine, a thermometer would be too much now, wouldn’t it?
Now that I thought of it, it was even more shocking that he kept one at home.
Maybe it was a normal thing for a guy who lived alone…?
While I was pondering, Oppa opened the lid of the thermometer, pressed the power button and suddenly came closer to me.
My face was reflected in his dark pupils.
“Ears.”
A serious voice, with a clear and concise tone came out of his mouth.
What the hell?
Why did he look so cool?
Wait, wouldn’t it be bad if he were to take my temperature in this condition?
I knew that my face felt hot, but I knew that it wasn’t because of the fever.
The main culprit was definitely Oppa’s extreme kindness towards me! Anyway, I tilted my head a little and offered him my left ear.
Well, at least he wasn’t taking my heart rate…
-Beep, beep, beep.
After hearing the beeps, Oppa took the thermometer again.
“Hey, Doah.”
I could see his eyes widened.
“Yes?”
What happened? Huh?
“Your temperature is 38.7 degrees, did you know that?”
“Whaaat?”
It was that high?!
I really thought it was just a light cold! Seriously, I was as surprised as him!
No way…
Could it be that his visit made my temperature inflate?
“Oi, it’s not the time for this! Hurry up, lie down!”
Oppa grabbed me by the shoulder and sat me down on the bed almost coercively. He then quickly prepared a cup of water before offering me a pill.
“Here.”
“…Thank you.”
After gulping down the pill, I laid my head on the pillow.
I hadn’t told him where the cup was, but he easily found it, it seemed.
Then, he touched my forehead with his hand.
“See? It’s practically burning…”
“Oppa, you should go home, at this rate, you’ll catch my cold…”
“…Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“No, I’m already grateful that you’ve done this much for me…”
Yes, he lived in the next building and all, but he still ran all the way here the moment he heard that I was sick.
This fact alone made me feel like I could overcome my cold.
“Alright, I’ll put a wet towel on your forehead, then I’ll go home.”
“You don’t need to, really. It isn’t that bad.”
Who were you? My mom?
You didn’t need to go that far, Oppa!
“No.”
But, he looked down at me with a serious face.
“I want to do this for you, so let me do it!”
For some reason, he sounded so energetic this time, it didn’t fit the mood at all.
He looked just like Rengoku, the character I praised as cool a while ago during my stream.
“Wait here.”
Oppa went into the bathroom, soaked the small towel that I normally used to wash my face with water, and came back to put it on my forehead.
“…Is it cold enough?”
“A little bit too cold…”
I guess it was true that my temperature was high.
The towel felt colder than I expected.
“Oppa.”
“What?”
“Can you hold my hand?”
Since he came all the way here, it should be fine to make him stay a little longer, right?
Like, I was a patient, so couldn’t I be a little greedy…?
I poked my hand out of the blanket.
What I felt next was a cool tenderness.
The warm hand from yesterday felt very cold today.
“I-I don’t think this will help you get better.”
“Not at all.”
If anything, it would help me a lot.
When I saw his face as he tried to avoid eye contact with me and kept on staring at my blanket, bad thoughts kept on coming to my mind.
It felt good to be sick.
Could I stay like this for a little longer? Just an hour more?
Has it been 10 seconds since he held my hand?
I loosened the hand I gripped.
“I’m going to sleep now. You should get some rest too, Oppa.”
This was the end.
It was time to stop my greediness.
“Okay.”
I thought that I should at least see him out, so I got up, but Oppa told me not to and laid me back down.
“Why are you trying to get up when I gave you a towel?”
He smiled and ruffled up my hair.
You were the one who said we should get to know each other slowly, how could you keep on doing this?!
You knew that I liked you!
I wanted to confess.
I wanted to say that I like you.
I wanted to whine, why couldn’t we just make it official today?
But instead of letting out those desires of mine, what came out of my mouth was the sneeze that the Pink Army liked instead.
“Achoo!”
Oppa pulled out tissue out of the tissue box and gave it to me.
“Doah.”
“Yes?”
Taemin oppa paused for a moment, his eyes darting around the room before he smiled awkwardly.
From his gesture, it seemed like he had something to say.
Huh? What? Was he going to confess?
Yes! If you want to do it, then do it now, Han Taemin!
But, instead of that, something else flowed out of his mouth.
“Today, do I look like a real man?”
…A real man?
That question was quite out of the blue, but the answer was obvious.
Well, I wouldn’t be able to hug him if he were to confess to me today anyway.
Our first day of dating should be when we both were healthy!
“Yes! Very much.”
Hearing my sincere and enthusiastic answer, a smile bloomed on his face.
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