ii. Four
Lifeline.“Wooshin I’m home...” Byunghun calls out tiredly as he closes the door softly behind him after letting Chanhun down onto the floor from his arms asking him to run along to freshen up before dinner.
“Sorry I’m late, that Kim Hyo Jin was being the most unreasonable person and kept me for an extra hour without pay just because I was late for two and a half minutes.” Byunghun pouts as he blew his fringe up. “But it was kind of my fault that I’m late for work as well... You must be starving right? I’ll go make dinner now.”
“I can’t believe you refer to your boss as that Kim Hyo Jin.” Wooshin scoffs as he wheels himself next to the sofa before using his strong arms to transfer himself from his wheelchair to the sofa. Taking the remote, he turns on the television as the screen flickers on to show a sappy drama series.
The redhead shook his head subtly, even though Byunghun already has a kid he’s still as childish and whiny as ever, seeing the boy’s lips curling into the perfect pout.
“Don’t worry about dinner, Chanhee hyung offered to bring back takeaways for us. You should rest, you look tired.”
Byunghun nods thankfully as he drags his feet into his room at a sluggish pace as Wooshin looks on concernedly. The latter knew that Byunghun’s current hectic lifestyle had taken a toll on his health and he can’t help but feel worried for the boy. In the mornings he worked at a nearby cafe after taking Chanhun to school and does housekeeping for Myungsoo’s house after picking Chanhun from school. Wooshin was worried that if he continues living this way, the boy might just collapse.
“I bought kimbap and spicy toufu soup!” Chanhee announces as he struts through the front door, the aroma of the hot piping food making its way to Wooshin’s nostrils as the younger’s stomach growled, snapping him out of his worried thoughts.
“Is Byunghun back? Go get him for dinner, I’ll prepare the food.” Chanhee smiles as Wooshin nods at his elder brother’s command, heaving himself back onto his wheelchair before wheeling himself to Byunghun’s room.
Seeing that Byunghun hasn’t responded to the knockings, Wooshin frowned and gingerly opened the door wondering if Byunghun had actually fallen asleep. He saw the said boy sprawled out on his bed, his hair covering half of his face as Chanhun sat in the corner playing with his toys. Wooshin sighed, Byunghun must have been exhausted.
The redhead was about to cover the sleeping boy with a blanket when he realized that Byunghun’s breathing was rather ragged and the boy seemed paler than usual.
“Byunghun...” Wooshin called out as he placed a hand on Byunghun’s arms, shocked to find the arm warm to touch.
“Yah Byunghun...” He hastily put the back of his hand to Byunghun’s forehead, retracting it hurriedly when the touch burned.
“Chanhee hyung! Help!”
Chanhee rushes into the room to find Wooshin’s upper body hovering over Byunghun.
“He’s burning up.”
Chanhee quickly walks over the the other side of the bed and hauls Byunghun onto his lap, feeling his body heat with his palm.
“Byunghun, Lee Byunghun.” Chanhee roughly pats Byunghun awake as the younger groans tiredly in Chanhee’s arms.
“Byunghun ah, you’re running a fever. I’ll bring you to the hospital alright?” Chanhee tries to coax the boy gently as Byunghun shook his head indicating he didn’t want to head to the hospital.
“I’ll just take some aspirin and the fever will go down.” Byunghun mutteredly weakly, his voice hoarse.
Chanhee sighs a little but accedes to Byunghun’s request anyway, motioning for Wooshin to watch over Byunghun while he goes to the kitchen to look for aspirins.
“It’s in the medical box in the drawer on the left in the kitchen Chanhee hyung.”
“Here I’ll prop him up, hold the pills and the water for me first.” The elder instructs Wooshin as he passes the medication and glass to his younger brother before holding Byunghun up and let the boy lay against his chest.
He stabilized Byunghun in his hold and took the aspirin from Wooshin, popping them into Byunghun’s small mouth before tilting his head slightly to pour the water in.
Seeing Byunghun swallow the pills Chanhee then laid the boy back onto his bed before pulling his covers over him.
“Chanhunnie, sleep with me tonight. Your appa’s sick.” Wooshin reaches out for Chanhun before placing the toddler on his lap and wheeling the both of them out of the room.
“Rest well Byunghun ah.”
Chanhee closes the door softly behind him, taking Chanhun from W
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