Kana swore she could hear the blood pounding in her head. She pulled her covers closer and after effectively mummifying herself, she grabbed a fistful of tissues and blew her nose. An alarm rang and she groaned when she remembered what it was for; she was supposed to meet up with Yongguk.

She swung her legs over the side of her bed and immediately felt disorientated and dizzy. At this rate, she’d make it to the bathroom in about an hour. She grabbed his phone again and guiltily texted, ‘Gukkie, I’m sick :(’

His response was swift: ‘Okay. Feel better.’

Crap, he was mad. There was no way she was going anywhere with this kind of congestion; she’d end up hacking phlegm balls and collapsing everywhere. Yeah, not exactly the image she was going for. In minutes, she was back in her mummy wrap and fast asleep.

Much later, there was an intense knocking at her door. Kana buried her head under her pillow and willed the person to go away. They didn’t. Groaning because all her muscles were screaming at her to sit her down, Kana got up to open the door. Hopefully whoever it was wouldn’t be terrified by the walking rolled up blanket that was Kana.

“What the…noona, are you in there?” Why hadn’t she checked who it was before embarrassing herself in front of Daehyun and oh, look! Her boyfriend. She looked like crap. Kana made to slam the door, but Yongguk was faster and stopped it with his hand.

Realizing resistance was futile, she growled, “You’re both going to get sick.” She had meant to say it quietly but didn’t allow her to. Kana trod back into her room and collapsed in a heap on her bed. She heard Daehyun making a mess in her kitchen and was about to crane her neck out to admonish him, but Yongguk’s figure appeared in the doorway.

He flipped on a light and sat down at the edge of her bed. Kana let him baby her for a bit; he felt for her temperature and put a cold towel on her forehead. Despite feeling a bit aggravated that they’d dropped by uninvited when she was less than presentable, Kana hid a tiny smile under the safety of her blanket. Yongguk looked mildly worried but it was sometimes hard to tell with him being all poker faced half the time. He began to comb his fingers through her hair and she batted his hand away.

“I’m gross,” she argued. He rolled his eyes and continued, even planting a kiss on her cheek for emphasis that he didn’t care what kind of hygienic state she was in.

Daehyun finally managed to reheat the congee they brought without burning down the kitchen. He padded into her room with the steaming bowl balanced on a tray.

“Noona, have you eaten?” he asked, setting it down.

“Don’t want to,” Kana semi-whined into her blanket.

“Geez, what a baby. Hyung, the meds are in the bag. I’m going to head out before I die from whatever it is she has.” Daehyun dismissed himself and left Yongguk alone with Kana.

She managed to force herself to finish half the bowl and even gulp down two ridiculously disgusting teaspoons of medicine. Yongguk was preparing to leave; he put the leftovers in the fridge and placed a mug of hot tea on her bedside table.

“Gukkie…”

“What?”

Kana hesitated before asking, “Can you stay?”

He turned to look at her and she put on the best I’m-absolutely-miserable-and-probably-would-die-if-you-left look. It wasn’t difficult with the state she was in. Yongguk was going to cave, she knew it.

“No. I’ll come by first thing tomorrow okay?” His back was turned now but his ears were tinged pink. CAVE CAVE CAVE.

“Gukkie…” CAVE CAVE CAVE.

“Absolutely,” he turned around, lips posed to say ‘not’ but lo and behold Kana was pouting. “Absolute…Abs…I’m sleeping outside okay?” CAVED.

He ended up sitting by her bedside for a while to change the towels on her forehead. Kana willed her fever to stay for a bit longer so Yongguk could stay with it. Later in the night, they both fell asleep. Yongguk was less fortunate; although his lower half was seated in the chair, his arms were wrapped around Kana as he rested beside her.

In the morning, Kana woke up pressed against something much more solid than her blanket. She cracked open her eyes and almost gasped when she saw that it was Yongguk. He was fast asleep with his arms wrapped around her in a tight embrace. Smiling mischievously, she slipped her arms around him and closed whatever distance had been between them.

Yongguk made a nice teddy bear. A little too muscular but at the same time, just right.