Stuffy. It's so stuffy, it's almost suffocating. But oddly enough, quite comforting. Unable to handle it anymore, you let out a loud groan as you try to free yourself from whatever was trying to engulf you. When you finally free yourself from what you now realise was the blanket, you huff and spread your limbs out to try and cool yourself down.

Now you're getting cold. You try and reach for the blanket again to cover yourself. You can't wriggle your way under it though because it seems caught in something so you open your eyes to see what it is. When you do, you finally notice that you're not in your room. Actually, you're meant to be at work. You shouldn't even be sleeping at all.

You then remember how you were about to enter the break room to grab yourself something to eat when your body decided to start tilting towards the ground.

You bring your hand up to feel your forehand and notice that you're really burning up. Through the closed curtains draping over the window, you can see that it's already dark outside. But despite the darkness in the room, you can still barely make out the layout and the furnishings. Just enough to know that you're definitely not in your own bedroom. You're in Sehun's.

Wait, then where's the owner? You look around you to find the room void of another person. You manage to drape the blanket over you again in the meantime. As you contemplate whether you should go outside and find the owner of the home, the door to the bedroom opens and you see the man step in himself. When he sees you shift to look at him, Sehun quickly walks over to you and squats down beside the bed.

“How are you feeling?” he asks softly, his tone full of worry. Sehun places his hand on your forehead to check your temperature. The coolness of his hand is so nice that you close your eyes and snuggle deeper into the blankets. Sehun brings his hand down to cup your cheek. “You had me so worried,” you hear him murmur. You open your eyes and try to apologise but it just sounds like a frog had just lodged itself in your throat. You frown. The corner of Sehun's lips tilt upward slightly.

“It's alright. Just take it easy on yourself. Do you feel like eating anything in particular?” he asks you. You shake your head and start to close your eyes again. Sehun sweeps your hair out of your face. “Come on, love. You need to eat something,” he urges. You really don't feel like eating. You just want to sleep. And since you can't really voice it, you just let out a whine and try to hide your entire body under the blankets.

Sehun chuckles as he tries the pry the blanket from covering your head. “Don't do that, sweetheart, it'll make it hard for you to breathe,” he tells you. You decide to listen to him and instead bring the blanket up till to covers your neck. You keep your eyes closed, already starting to drift off to sleep.

“Alright, rest a little more whilst I get the food prepared. I'll bring it up for you later,” you hear Sehun say before you drift off to sleep.

¤

The next time you wake up, Sehun had the lamp by the bed. Your automatic reaction is to screw your eyes shut because of the sudden brightness but you manage to squint through it to see Sehun setting down a bowl on the bedside table.

Glancing at you to see you sit up, Sehun quickly assists you and fixes the pillow behind your back so you can lean against it. He sits on the bed beside you, with his body facing yours. You watch him as he holds the bowl in his hand and scoop up some soup into the spoon. Sehun glances up at you as he cools down the contents for you. When he's done, he carefully brings it to your mouth.

“How is it?” he asks you hesitantly after you've had the first spoonful. You show him two thumbs up and smile at him. Sehun lightens up considerably. You tilt your head slightly and stare at him. As if knowing what you wanted to say, Sehun fidgets with the spoon, and smiles sheepishly at you.

“I haven't properly cooked in a while so I was worried the taste might have been off,” he admits. Your eyebrows shoot up when you realise Sehun had cooked this for you.

“I –” you try to talk but your voice ends up cracking. So you clear your throat and this time you're able to get words out, though still raspy. “Thank you. It's delicious,” you tell him truthfully.

“Really?” Sehun perks up even more. You tilt your head and look up at Sehun to see him grinning proudly to himself. Bringing a hand up to cover your own smile that’s forming. You’re about to have some more food when you realise something.

“Ah, wait. Are you sure you have time to be with me right now? What about work?”

Sehun feeds you before answering. He brushes your hair away from your face and tucks it behind your ear. “I can afford a bit of a break. The weekend starts tomorrow anyway,” he says. You narrow your eyes at him in doubt. You’re well aware of the amount of work that needs to be done. If he were to take care of you instead of completing his work pile, it will just continue to accumulate.

“No, no, I’m fine,” you start as you take the bowl from his hands, “I can feed myself. You can continue –” before you can continue the rest of your sentence, you hear Sehun heave a deep sigh. There is clear displeasure on his usual stoic features and you can't help but feel a little taken back by it.

“Listen, love. Let me take care of you. Let me do the things a boyfriend would want to do for someone that they have been going out with for half a year. Let me just enjoy the moment of being with you – just you. I know you're just worrying about me, but clearly there's more worry over the workload that I'll have to deal with rather than worry for me,” Sehun says in a low voice. He takes the bowl back from you and feeds you again.

“Let me just be with you as your boyfriend. Not a boyfriend who is also your boss. Just boyfriend. Someone who loves you, and cares for you,” he adds, this time in a much softer voice. You remain still and let his words soak in.

When he sees that you don't have anything to say, Sehun sets down the bowl on the bedside table. With one hand, he reaches to hold onto yours, and the other he uses to place against the side of your face. You naturally lean into his touch, the cool temperature in contrast with your own is so satisfying.

“I don't know how you feel about it, but we're on completely different pages. At times I fear we're not even on the same book,” he murmurs. “I know you wanted to keep our work and private lives separate, and I completely agree with that. However, don't you feel as if our work lives are pushing over the boundaries of our private lives?”

You stare and blink at him for a while before your gaze drops down to your lap, his words really hitting you. It's only then that you realise how tolerant Sehun has been of you, heck it's only now that you also realise that Chanyeol had been hinting it to you on multiple occasions as well. Have you been too selfish? You didn't mean to. Not that it would change anything, even if you had. So what do you do now?

“I'm sorry.”

Your eyes snap up to look at Sehun again in surprise. “I shouldn't be dumping this on you when you're sick,” he explains. “Do you think you can eat anymore?” he asks you, glancing at the almost empty bowl of soup. You nod your head and Sehun feeds you the rest of it. When you're done, you peek down at your body to see that you had been stripped out of your office attire and into some of Sehun's clothes. Only now, they were gross and sticky from all the perspiration.

“Do you mind if I take a bath?” you ask Sehun as he stands up from the bed. Sehun takes a look at you and thinks for a moment.

“Will you be alright? I don't want you getting anymore sick than you already are... Actually, I'll help you. Wait for me to get back.” Sehun then disappears out of the room and you're left alone, pondering about what he meant by 'help you'.

Sehun returns quickly into the room as he rolls up the sleeves of his shirt. You feel bad knowing that he hasn't even been able to change out of his work clothes because he's probably been busy taking care of you. He pulls the covers off you before slipping his arms under you to lift you off the bed, bridal style.

With you in his arms, his steps are gently paced and he carefully maneuverers his body around so that your body won't hit the side of the doorframe as he enters the bathroom. He pulls down the lid of the toilet seat and sits you down on top of it.

Sehun kneels down by the bathtub to turn on the faucet, running his hands through the water constantly to check the temperature. Once he's satisfied with the temperature and the depth of the water, he turns it off and faces you again. He wordlessly holds his hands out to you, to which you immediately grab, and helps you stand up.

Your body feels stiff and sticky all over with every move that you make. You can't wait to get in the water. You're about to undress yourself when you notice that Sehun has made no indication of moving from his spot.

“Uh...” you start. Sehun chuckles and grabs the hem of his long sleeved shirt that is currently dressed on your body. “Come on,” he urges you, “I won't do anything.”

You give him a mocking glare, playing along with his joke before you lift your arms above your head. Sehun pulls the shirt over your head and turns to throw it in the hamper. When he does, you finish the job yourself and take off the sweatpants, which you now find to be quite a befitting name considering the state that you're currently in. Sehun holds out his hand and you pass it over to him to throw into the hamper as well.

You carefully step into the tub with the help of Sehun, who has a hand on your back and the other in front of you to hold. Once you've emerged yourself into the water, Sehun sits down on the edge of the tub as he watches you carefully.

“How long have you been feeling unwell?” Sehun asks as you play with the water. You bring your knees up and wrap your arms around them.

“About a week? I'm not too sure,” you answer him. You peek up at Sehun to see him just nodding slightly. You rest your chin on your knees and sigh. Maybe you have been a little too self-absorbed, a little too worried about yourself that you forgot that there was another person in this relationship as well.

“Ever since I was young, I was always very independent. Also very annoying, but that's beside the point,” you start off. Sehun chuckles at your added comment. “I actually get jealous and insecure very easily so I find it a lot easier to just not be attached to anything or anyone to begin with. Makes the process a lot easier, you know?” you glance up at Sehun, to which he nods. Sehun gets off the bath tub and decides to sit down on the ground beside the tub. “So maybe that's got something to do with why I prefer to be so absorbed with my work? It seems to be the most stable and permanent thing so far, since it won't cause any emotional floods.”

“Emotional floods?” Sehun asks.

“Bursts of affections, sudden acceleration of heart rate whenever I see...” you turn your head away so that Sehun can't see your face. Sehun doesn't say anything but you swear that you can almost hear his smile from behind. When you hear him move, you turn to look at him again. Sehun stands up to grab something from the shower. When you see what it is, you realise that it's your shampoo and conditioner you keep at his place.

Sehun pumps some shampoo into the palm of his hand and starts to wash your hair for you. “Tilt your head up, sweetheart. I don't want the soap to get into your eyes,” he says quietly. You do as he says. You tilt your head up and watch Sehun as he concentrates on massaging the products through your hair.

Enjoying how nice it feels, you close your eyes and a smile forms on your lips. You then feel plump ones press against yours briefly before they're gone again. You open one eye and look up at Sehun to see him trying to hold back a grin.

“You're going to get sick,” you warn him.

“I didn't do anything,” he feigns innocence. “Ok, close your eyes. I'm going to wash it with water now,” he tells you. You do as he says. Before the water hits you, though, you feel his lips on yours again. This time, a little longer than the previous. As soon as the feeling disappears, Sehun douses your head with water as he washes the shampoo away.

Once he's done, he starts with the conditioner. You remember the first time he saw the conditioner bottle and wondering why you needed it. He never got around to understanding why you would need to shampoo your hair twice, despite you telling him it's not the same thing. Nevertheless, the memory of the confused expression he made whilst you explained to him was so cute, a giggle escapes your lips.

“What's so funny, sweetheart?” Sehun asks you, a smile on his face. He's glad to see you so relaxed. Sometimes you're much too rigid and stiff.

“I was just remembering the first time I told you about hair conditioner. Now you're even helping me wash my hair with it,” you tell him. Sehun lets out a soft 'ah' and even shares a laugh with you at the memory. He then tells you to close your eyes before he rinses your hair.

Once Sehun helps you wash up completely, you're out of the bath in no time and drying yourself off. Sehun goes to grab you a fresh pair of clothes and when he returns, you quickly throw them on whilst he sets up the hairdryer. You seat yourself on top of the toilet once again as Sehun dries your hair for you. The feeling of his fingers through your hair is probably one of your favourite things ever. Or maybe it's because of Sehun that you like it. You don't remember being such a welcoming touchy person before you knew Sehun.

You peer up at Sehun with your eyes slightly squinted because of the air blowing out of the hairdryer. But nonetheless, you're still able to admire his handsome face. The one you're able to wake up to and see every day at work, the one that's concentrating solely on his current job so that your hair is completely dry without so much as a strand still we, if the way his eyebrows are slightly furrowed is anything to go by.

You feel your stomach getting heavy, but not because you are ill. It's because of something else and you're not too sure what else it might be. Then without thinking, the words slip out of your mouth, as you gaze up at the man in front of you.

“I love you.”

“I think we stayed in the water a little longer than we should have, but it should be ok,” Sehun says once he turns off the hairdryer.

Your words remain drowned out from the sound of the hairdryer.

¤

After you had taken the medicine that Sehun had gotten for you, you go back into bed and snuggle under the covers. You manage to convince Sehun to go take a shower of his own, since you're now in bed and safe. He eventually listens to you, although reluctantly, and promises that he'll return quickly.

You lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling as you hear the water running in the shower. You think about how Sehun had been fretting over you the entire evening and how strange it was. Has he been holding back all these months? You remember Chanyeol telling you about how Sehun was probably restraining himself from doing a lot of things.

“Sing a song and dance, huh...” you mutter to yourself. You bring the blanket up to your neck and turn to your side. There's a lot of things that you still need to open yourself up to. But you're not so sure if you're willing to sacrifice anything to do so.

Just as you're about to fall back asleep, Sehun steps into the bedroom again. You turn your body around so that you're facing the middle of the bed, as well as Sehun as he joins you.

“Did I wake you?” he asks gently as he pulls the covers over him. You shake your head. You instinctively lean towards his body and Sehun wraps his arm around your body to pull you closer to him.

“You gave quite a few people a scare today, you know that?” Sehun chuckles as he the back of your head. “The poor intern that found you in the break room almost fainted herself when she called out for help. You're admired by a lot of people. They all look up to you, so make sure to keep yourself healthy as well. Not just me, alright?” Sehun leans away slightly to look at you. You glance up at him and nod.

“I promise,” you tell him. Satisfied, Sehun tucks your head under his chin after pressing a kiss on your forehead. You return the kiss on his neck as you bury your face into the crook of it. The rhythmic pattern of Sehun your back serves as a lullaby as if helps you drift off to sleep. But before you do, Sehun tightens his arms around you and brings his lips to your ear.

“I love you, too.”

As tired as you are, the words and the shock helps to keep you awake a little while longer. You separate your body from Sehun and stare at him, dumbfounded.

“You heard me?!”

Sehun laughs. “I'd hear you over a thousand in the crowd, love. You're all I'll ever pay attention to,” he says with a smile. His eyes are full of affection as he taps the tip of your nose with his index finger.

“Then why didn't you say anything earlier,” you whine. Sehun shrugs.

“I'm still a little annoyed that you didn't think of telling me you were unwell. Heck, I wasn't even the one to find you passed out,” he responds. You scowl at him, but Sehun takes none to heart as he laughs and pulls you closer to him again. “Go to sleep, my love. Get some rest.”

Sighing, you snuggle against Sehun once more and begin to drift off to sleep to the sound of Sehun's heartbeat, warms of his body. The last words you speak and the last words you hear for the night leave a smile on your face as you finally fall into a deep sleep.

A/N: Once again, it has been a while, hasn't it? To tell the truth, I'm really losing all forms of motivation for this story. Anyone want to take over lol. Idk why you guys are even reading it, but thank you. I appreciate it. I do have other plots that are bubbling in my mind rn, but let me nurture them a little more or else they'll end up like this mess.

P.S. all y'all who guessed that she was pregnant, you almost had me change the plot to make it happen haha. I'm not going to make her pregnant. Yet. Maybe. Why? Because she loves her job too much and she's stubborn af. Well until next time!

Much love,

aekcso.