“102,” Leeteuk sighed and set the thermometer down on the bedside table.

“Really?!” My voice rose, and was sent into a coughing and sneezing fight at the large intake of air. I frowned and pulled the bed covers higher up my neck. Was it cold in here, or was it just me?

“Really. You shouldn’t leave bed,” Kangin set down next to me and patted my head affectionately.

“But it’s the last day!” It hurt to talk, and the way I spoke resembled Golem from the Lord of the Rings.

“We know, but you could get more sick.” Sungmin reasoned.

“And get others sick,” Yesung added.

“True,” I puffed out my cheeks and slid down to fully recline in the bed, “How did you not get sick?” I asked Hae, who hasn’t even sneezed after falling in the river last night.

“I never get sick,” Hae shrugged.

“Lucky,” I pouted. The cold didn’t bring any symptoms till this morning. I was perfectly fine, with just occasional sneezing, but I woke up the next morning with dizziness, a stuffy nose, phlegm, a sore throat and chest. What was in that water…..?

“I’ll stay back with you,” Donghae volunteered.

“No~!” I moaned, “Don’t skip out on your final hours in Japan just because I’m sick.”

“That’s exactly why I will,” Hae wasn’t giving in. He walked over to the closet to remove his jacket and shoes.

“I’m staying too,” Henry stated.

“No! Go live your life-gah!” I couldn’t finish my sentence because of an unexpected coughing fit. Kangin tutted and handed me a tissue to cover my mouth.

“If it makes you feel any better, I’m leaving! See ya!” Yesung said too eagerly and left the hotel room.

“I better go with him. If I don’t, he’ll get lost like last time,” Sungmin sighed and jogged after his brother.

Teukie bit his lip and scuffed the floor. Kangin could sense he was torn between staying and going. He rose from the bed and clapped him on the back.

“Come on Teuk. Let’s go.” Kangin urged. Leeteuk shot me a glance and I waved him off.

“I’ll be fine. Henry and Donghae are here.”

“Ok,” Leeteuk said warily, “I’ll check back in later and bring lunch, alright?”

“Sounds good,” I nodded and sniffed up a trail of snot. And then there were three. I was about to close my eyes and doze off, when a thought hit me. My eyes opened up wide.

Henry and Donghae were in the same room. Alone with me. Crap, what messed up stuff is going to go down with those two together? Maybe I should have pleaded for Leeteuk to stay behind as a mediator. To prevent future disputes that is….

Henry began picking up used tissues that littered the floor and dropped them in the waste basket. While he was doing that, Hae came back with my hat and scarf in hand. He kneeled on the bed and put them on me.

“There. The warmer the better, right?” Donghae tucked in the comforter around me and fluffed the pillow behind my head. If I wasn’t sore in the muscles, I might have pulled him into a hug. I wondered if he knew how much of a tease he was, being that close to me.

“Yep,” I agreed. It was a lot colder for some reason. Donghae smiled gently, rubbed my forehead with his thumb affectionately, and then rose from the bed to aid Henry in picking up tissues.

Donghae met Henry at the foot of the bed to toss them in the bin, and held his hand out expectantly.

“I’ll take it for you,” Hae offered. Henry paused and took a quick glance at me before responding.

“Thanks.” Henry raised both his eyebrows, and I could tell he wasn’t happy. Since it was full, Donghae took it to exchange the trash bin with the one in the bathroom. Henry leaned back on his heels, looking at Donghae. He suddenly leapt into bed with me, face down.

“What’re you doing?” I asked, amused at his frantic rolling to get face up. Henry sighed in contentment and stretched out his legs in front of him.

“Watchin some TV,” Henry replied innocently and switched it on with the remote that he had been sitting on.

“Uh huh, sure,” I chuckled. Only Henry would be lying right up against me to watch TV with Donghae here. Donghae came back from the bathroom, and froze slightly when he saw Henry and me. I thought he would get annoyed, but he merely plopped into bed on my other side.

Ok, sandwich of awkwardness much? Usually, if I was alone with either of them, we’d be chatting comfortably. Now, none of us were speaking and watching a TV show we couldn’t understand since it was all in Japanese. I checked the clock on the wall and sighed. It was only noon, and Leeteuk probably wouldn’t be back for three to four hours.

After two shows I felt really drowsy. My lids were very heavy, and I was perfectly fine with going to sleep. I could escape the two awkward turtles this way. My head lolled back, and I was somewhere near the depths of a deep sleep when they finally began to talk.

“Don’t touch her!” Henry whispered. Why was he so annoyed?

“I’m just trying to support her head!” Donghae defended.

“But you’ll wake her up.”

“She’s a deep sleeper. She’ll feel much better without a stiff neck.” Donghae insisted.

“Oh? How do you know she’s a deep sleeper?”

“And you do?” Donghae retorted, ignoring his restrained tone.

“Of course I do. She’s slept in the same bed as me.”

“…….She has?” I wanted to speak, but my heavy tongue and sleep induced brain disallowed me.

“Yeah.” I could almost see Henry’s triumphant face.

“That’s pretty sad. You’ve had all those chances to confess before I did, and failed to do so.”

Ooh. Well, Donghae did have a point. How long has Henry loved me? Why did he choose to confess when Donghae appeared in my life? He’s had the advantage for a long time, if that’s true. 

“Like I’ve said before,”  Henry replied after some time, “She hasn’t fallen in love yet.” 

“I can tell she is though. Falling for me, that is.” Donghae’s words made my heart skip a beat. I knew that I was…but something was…..missing. A click or impact of some sort was lacking. I was falling hard, I admit that, but I wasn’t at rest. Zhou Mi’s described being in love makes you tranquil. Why wasn’t I tranquil?

“Don’t get your hopes up.”

“And what makes you so sure that she’ll fall for you?!”

Now my brain gave me access to do what I wanted. Because my arms were bound underneath the sheets, I couldn’t use them without spazzing out like a weirdo. I cracked open my eyes and swung my head to the left, where Henry was. I hit him lightly:

“Stop it.” I then rolled right and did the same to Donghae:

“You too.” With that, I laid on my back up the middle again.

“Stop arguing you idiots.” I yawned.

“Y-you heard all of that?” Donghae questioned and scoped my face for answers. Henry did the same. I looked between both of them and sighed.

“Maybe I did. Maybe I didn’t. Can you two just get over whatever grudges you have and talk like normal people? It’s possible you could have something in common!” And with that I closed my eyes again. Sleep came much faster this time, but I didn’t shut off before hearing:

“Should we try?”

“Nope.”

“I agree.”

Aish, those pabos.

“I’m back!” Leeteuk called when he walked through the hotel door with food in his hands.

“Thank the lord!” I exclaimed.

“Did you miss me that much?” Leeteuk set the white paper bags down on the coffee table. Henry and Donghae rose and opened up the stapled bags, their backs to Leeteuk and me.

Leeteuk raised his right eye brow questioningly and pointed at the spots where Henry and Donghae had been on the bed. I proceeded to mime choking myself to death. Leeteuk laughed, flashing his dimple, and brought my food over to me.

“Thanks,” I took it from him. It was a warm curry dish with rice and fish on the side. Yum. 

“So what’cha guys been doing?” Leeteuk asked, but didn’t get a response back from Henry and Donghae, who were digging in.

“Absolutely nothing,” I tasted the curry. Hmm, spicy.

“These two,” I whispered to Leeteuk, “Are so tense around each other that I can’t even speak!”

“Idiots,” Leeteuk rolled his eyes.

“Tell me about it. What have the rest of you been doing?”

“We finally went to a maid café,” Leeteuk chuckled. It was obvious he was trying not to show his excitement.

“And…?” I allowed him to give the details. It won’t be long till he spills it anyways.

“It was great. We got a really cute maid, her name was Amu-chan. She took our orders and sang a song for us when she delivered it,” Leeteuk placed a hand over his heart.

I interrupted him before he could continue, “Do I sense a budding romance here?”

“She’s beautiful!” Leeteuk proclaimed, “But, no. We asked if she had a boyfriend, and she said she wasn’t allowed to tell us that.”

“How did you guys ask her?”

“Google translate of course!”

“Wow…..”

Leeteuk proceeded to tell me about their adventure at the café, and how they were eventually kicked out because Yesung was being too friendly. As he was telling me more about their expeditions through the streets of downtown Shinjuku, I began to feel drowsy again. I couldn’t help feeling this way, but it must have been the cold.

Leeteuk noticed my head that was drooping forwards every so often, and stopped talking. He took my finished lunch and set it on the coffee table. I could see him speaking in a low voice to Henry and Donghae, but couldn’t decipher what was being said. He left after he was done talking, and waved goodbye to us.

“I’ll be back with the others by seven!” Leeteuk announced.

“Ok! Bye!” I waved and heard the door shut closed.

I turned my view back over to Henry and Donghae, and almost wanted to curse. The two of them were standing close to one another, shooting death glares with jaws and fists clenched. Now I had it by then. I picked up one of the many pillows on my bed and threw it.

“Hey!” Henry had been hit. He stared at me in shock. Donghae laughed at him.

“Hey!” Donghae got the other pillow I threw at him.

“Don’t ‘hey’ me! Both of you are being ridiculous!” I would be yelling at them right now if my throat wasn’t so scratchy, “Now stop acting so immature, or else!”

“Or else what?” Henry asked.

“I’ll call Jaejoong.”

“Not him,” Donghae sighed.

“Why shouldn’t I? You afraid?” I crossed my arms on my chest.

“Why should we be afraid?” Henry scoffed, “Have you seen how pretty he is? He’s probably a girl.”  This time, Henry and Donghae actually agreed.

“Well, Hae, you know the temple we went to last night?”

“Yeah, what of it?”

“Jaejoong said he wanted to go with me.” I smirked at the silence, “Alone.” Either of them didn’t utter a word, so I took that as a win on my part, “Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll take my nap now.”

“We’re just going to make things more difficult for her if we argue like this,” Donghae pointed out.

“Yeah,” Henry agreed, “Maybe we could just….get along when Ae-Young’s around.”

“And then go back to despising each other when she isn’t near?”

“Exactly.”

“…..Do you think she’d actually call Jaejoong?”

“No. She’s not that devious. Also a horrible liar.”

Donghae chuckled, “Yeah. She should learn from Heechul.”

“If she learned anything from Heechul we’d be done for.”

“True.”

“Hmm….well, we are talking.” Henry scuffed his foot on the carpet.

“It seems like we are…..” Donghae nodded.

It was silent from then on. The two of them didn’t want to get to know each other, but it was sort of inevitable. They stood there for a moment, not looking at one another. Then, from the bed, Ae-Young murmured in her sleep.

“Hmm,” Ae-Young rolled onto her right side, “-love you…..”

“Did she say love you?!” Henry scuttled over to the bed. Donghae did the same. It would be a weird picture for the others to walk in on. Donghae and Henry, looming over Ae-Young’s bed like creepers.

“D-“ Ae-Young stuttered. Donghae’s heart froze for a moment. Was Ae-Young confessing her love for him in her sleep? Was she afraid of saying it aloud, and her subconscious was doing it for her? Henry couldn’t help but think of the worst. It would all be over if she confessed.

“Da-” Ae-Young grumbled.

“Da- what!?” Donghae whispered impatiently.

“Ddang…koma. Don’t………eat my cereal,” Ae-Young’s right hand flew up and hit a patch of air before coming down heavily on a pillow.

Donghae gritted his teeth in disappointment, and Henry let out a breath of relief.

“Ddangkoma? Seriously? Aish,” Donghae ruffled his hair and went to use the bathroom.

Henry smiled and sat on the bed. He stared affectionately at Ae-Young, “You haven’t fallen for him yet. Take your time, sweetheart. You’re the only one keeping me here.”