“—she up?”

“Aeri?”

You squint, your head faintly pounding as you regain consciousness.  “Yeah,” You answer Kai’s call.  “Yeah, I’m up, Kyungsoo,” You reach out and find Lay’s hand at the side of your bed.  You put yours on top of his, sitting up very slowly.  “Stop staring at me with that kind of look, Lay,” Your eyes find his and you let out a faint smile.  “I’m okay,”

“Are you sick? Is that why you weren’t at school?” He asks, touching your arm.  “Why are your eyes swollen? Have you been crying?”

It’s nice to have someone worry about you.  It’s nice to know that someone actually cares about you.  It’s nice to have these three around you.

But it all becomes a void when you remember that you’ve only got 4 weeks left to live. 

“Nah,” You pat his hand and take it away from your arm, getting off of the bed.  “I’m okay,” Keeping up a smile on your face, you walk towards Kai and Kyungsoo.  “I’m okay, guys.  And I got your numbers right so, no ice cream for the three of you,”

You find yourself chuckling alone and you frown at the three.  “Hey, if not having me treat you to ice cream is that sad, I’ll treat you,”

“No, Aeri,” Kai’s jaw is set, drawing a hard expression on his face.  “You just fainted in the middle of the street.  Imagine if we weren’t there, Aeri,”

“But you were,” You plea.  “Please, just, please, do anything but worry,”

Because that will get you nothing but heartbreak.  I’ll be dying, anyway.

A moment of silence follows and you look left as Kyungsoo touches your shoulder.  “Alright, but for you, drink multivitamins and eat the soup.  Take actual care of yourself,” He jerks his thumb at the stove, and you see steam coming out of a closed pot.

“You cooked for—“ Your voice cracks and you clear your throat, breathing out quietly.  “Okay, I will,”

“I’m not sure we should leave you home alone, Aeri,” Lay speaks up finally, making Kai and Kyungsoo hesitate as they take their bags.

It woud be nice to have their company.  But, no.  And maybe it’s better—

“It’s not going to be better if you’re alone, anyways,” Lay continues.  “Is it too impolite to insist that we stay?”

You hate rejecting him when he’s like this.  Why do you have to be so in love with this guy?

“You’ll be waking up with sore backs,” You mutter.

“Does that mean—“ Kyungsoo breathes in relief and rolls up his sleeves.  “Then we can actually make you eat,”

Kai grins and sits down cross-legged on the rug in front of the sofa and Lay smiles gently at you.  “Great,”

“Don’t do anything weird, I’m going to bathe,” You shake your head, eyeing the three altogether.  “I’m letting three guys stay in my house and I live alone,”

 “We’re good guys, so don’t worry,” Kai says, switching on the TV.

“And we’re also here for a good reason,” Lay adds, shooing you.  “Bathe.  Carefully,”

“It’s like having a mother, a father and a brother,” You roll your eyes, but chuckle afterwards.  “It’s not so bad,”

You don’t take too much time bathing because you don’t want to miss any more time with the three any more.  You wish Kyungwoo and Yumi could be here, but you’re Aeri.  You’re not their sister.  Their sister is in a coma.  She—or you—had looked so pale.  So frail and skinny.  If it wrenches your heart this much, what does it do to them?

The hint of a headache tugs at your head and you shake the thoughts away, slipping your arms through a pale yellow jacket.

You walk towards the door and pull it open, looking forward after zipping up your jacket.

“Ae—“

You come face to face with Lay, who has one hand in the air in a knocking gesture.  You were so close you actually had to back up a bit after blinking repeatedly, flustered at the distance and utterly surprised.

“S-sorry, I d-didn’t know you were a-at the d-door,” You clear your throat too loudly.  “Sorry,”

“N-no,” Lay blinks.  “I was about to ask whether you were okay in there or not but you turn out to be, well, okay,”  He scratches his head.  “Food’s ready,”

You nod, stupidly flustered again when he closes the bathroom door for you.  You sit down on the rug beside Kai and see the table unfolded, 4 bowls of soup served along with 4 glasses of water.

“Well? Marvel at my marvelousness, children,” Kyungsoo leans back, facing the TV.

“Such a mother,” Kai eats his soup.  “Bread would be a good complement,”

“Go buy it yourself,” Kyungsoo makes a face at him and raises his eyebrows at you.  “Eat, Aeri,”

“A-ah, okay,” You put a spoonful of the warm liquid into your mouth and let it run down your throat.  “What the—“ You smack your lips quietly and blink at Lay, then Kai, then finally Kyungsoo.  “D-did you—how the—whatever, I’m eating this thing,”

The three laughs at you as you sit up on the part of the long part of the sofa and stretch out your legs, repeatedly complimenting the food served before you. 

“Aigoo, you eat well,” Lay takes the seat beside you and reaches out to pat your chin with a tissue.  “But messy,”

You grin at him and let him clean up your chin, slowly moving up to dab your lips.  Your grin shrinks to a smile and you accidentally glance at his lips, averting your gaze away quickly to stop yourself from forgetting the fact that you’re Aeri.  You want to have his arms around you, you want him to kiss the top of your head like he always does, you want him to play with your hair and just lean against each other.

But no.

“I’ll do the dishes,” Kai stands up and takes your empty bowl after stacking Lay’s and Kyungsoo’s over his own.

“I still have more in the pot, don’t I?” You follow Kai to the kitchen and peer into the refrigerator. 

“Yep, still enough for another night’s dinner,” Kai answers, turning on the tap.  “We were wondering what you usually have for breakfast, Aeri,”

“Breakfast? Milk,” You shrug.

“Wha—“

“We’re stopping by the convenience store tomorrow and I’m getting you a week’s worth of breakfast,” Kyungsoo jumps into the conversation, shaking his head.  “How do you live like this,” He takes your shoulder and spins you around, gently pushing you towards the sofa.  “Sit.  We’ll handle it here,”

“Ah, it’s so nice to have someone clean up after you,” You smile at them and skip over to the sofa, sitting beside Lay who was paying intense attention to the TV.

It was a program you two liked.  Told you about nature in general.  You two always argued over the food chain, over the way predators eat, just about anything that’s broadcasted on the channel.

“Just goes like that,” You sigh when the crocodile manages to catch a gazelle.

“But why? Why don’t they just eat the fish?”

“Maybe, let’s see,” You think.  “It’s like I’m the crocodile and I see Kyungsoo cook for me and Kai cook for me.  Kai serves me ramyun and Kyungsoo serves me soup.  I’d definitely pick the soup because it’s better,”

“But ramyun is also good,”

You laugh at Lay.  Just like the old times.  “Yeah, it is, isn’t it?”

The question goes unanswered because your phone beeps, signalling your bedtime.  Yes, you set alarms for your bedtime, too.

“Ah, bedtime,” You wave your phone at Kai and Kyungsoo, who were done with the dishes and were coming over.  You take out your spare pillows and blankets onto the sofa and pulled out the mattress set under the sofa.  “Pick whichever spot you want,” You dim the lights and drink a glass of water before making your way into your room.  “All good?”

“Yeah,” Kai answers first.

“Mm,” Kyungsoo mumbles.

“Yeah,” Lay goes last, keeping his eyes on you while he stays seated.  “Good night, Aeri,”

“Yeah, good night, Lay,” You give him a smile you hope he does not see in the dim lighting.  “Good night,”

You close the door behind you and quickly tuck yourself under the covers.  Sadly, you mutter under your breath.  “Sleep tight and I’ll be here all night,”

27 days left.