03; Haunted.
The Joys and Sorrows of Our Love
Kai's eyes shot open when he heard a cough echo throughout the whole house. His house was a small apartment and he's a light sleeper, he wakes up at the slightest noise made.
He pushed the layers of blankets off him and sat up, rubbing his eyes. Glancing at the clock on the wall, it was only 7pm at night. He was excused from school earlier on today to take care of Jaemin. His eyes darted to his phone which was on the table, vibrating.
He reached out for it and answered the call.
"Hey, is this Kai?" Kai recognised SooJung's voice from the other side of the line.
"Yeah, it's me."
"Did I wake you up?"
"Not really. Why did you call, SooJung?"
"Is Jaemin at your place?"
"She is. She fell asleep earlier on at the hospital so I had no other choice but to bring her back to mine. I can send her back to her place or yours if you want, just tell me the address."
"Ah, it's okay. It's better to have someone keeping an eye on her. Erm, Kai, can you make sure that she takes every single meal?"
Kai's brows knitted together. *First, the doctor told me that she was skipping meals and I didn't really believe him. But even SooJung is telling me the same thing? Just what is she doing to her own body?!* "I will make sure of that, SooJung, don't worry."
He heard a sigh. "Thanks a lot, Kai. I will see you in school on Monday. Take care too, alright?"
Kai hummed in response and SooJung hung up. He tossed his phone onto the couch and stood up, heading towards his room. He knocked on the door softly before turning the door knob. He poked his head inside and caught sight of the petite girl still sleeping soundly on his bed.
Just as he was about to leave the room, she coughed again. Worried that she might be sick, Kai walked over to her side. He placed his hand on her forehead and immediately recoiled his hand from her burning forehead. *, she's having a fever!*
He went out of the room and rushed towards the kitchen, looking for pills meant for fever. *Argh, damn it. There aren't anymore pills left. Guess I have to make my way to the pharmacy down the street.*
Walking back to his room, he grabbed a post it pad on his table and scribbled down a note for Jaemin, sticking it on the bed side table. He was wearing a black hoodie, along with a black track pants but he didn't bother changing into something that's thicker. He grabbed a coat from his wardrobe and sped towards the pharmacy down the street, the only thing on his mind was Jaemin's fever.
Jaemin woke up at the sound of door slamming, startled. She looked around her surroundings. *This... Isn't my house. Neither am I in the hospital.* Her eyes caught sight of a pink post it paper stuck on the bed side table. Reaching out for the piece of paper, she scanned through the neat handwriting.
"In case you woke up before I return, you are at my place. Don't think of moving because you are running a fever. I'm just out to buy pills for you. Stay still and rest till I get back." -Kai
Jaemin stuck the post it on the bed, just beside her. Apart from SooJung, there wasn't anyone else that cared from her that much. She felt like a burden, to everyone. *I feel so weak... Am I really down with a fever?* Sighing softly, she fell asleep again.
Kai came back a few minutes later and noticed that the post it note was stuck next too Jaemin's head, meaning that she woke up when he was gone. *Did I slam the door that hard?* He kicked himself mentally. He took a thermometer from his study table and measured Jaemin's temperature. *Crap... 39 degrees? This isn't good.*
He grabbed a towel and went into the bathroom to wet it, squeezing some water out of the towel to make sure it isn't too damp. He swept away Jaemin's hair before placing the towel on her forehead gently. Jaemin stirred a little at the contact with the cold towel. Her brows scrunched together once again.
*She looks as if she has a lot on her mind.* Kai thought as he stared at her. *Why does everyone pick on you, Jaemin? Maybe they are just jealous of how perfect you look.* Kai chuckled mentally.
Seeing that she isn't going to wake up any time soon, Kai decided to prepare some plain porridge for her when she wakes up. He is bent on forcing her to eat even if she doesn't want to. He's not going to let her skip meals whenever he's around her.
Kai stopped stirring the porridge when he heard some noise coming from his room. *She's up already?* He turned off the stove since the porridge was already done. He grabbed a bowl and filled it with spoonfuls of porridge. He took a spoon, grabbed the packet of pills on the dining table and walked into his room.
"What are you doing?" Kai asked, bewildered. "Looking for my phone?" She coughed again, clutching on her abdomen. "Your bag is in the living room, get back onto the bed, will you?" Kai sounded pissed - that was why Jaemin scrambled back to the bed.
Kai snorted. "So I'm scaring you, huh?" Jaemin cleared awkwardly. "Well... You ARE scary." Kai smiled a little and passed the bowl of porridge to Jaemin, constantly nagging that it's hot. "You have to finish up that bowl of porridge before you take your pills." Kai said while fiddling through the packaging of the pills.
He was sitting on the edge of the bed, just inches away from Jaemin. He looked up when he heard no response and Jaemin was staring at him. "Why are you staring at me like that? Are you waiting for me to feed you?" Kai teased and Jaemin blinked at him several times before tearing her eyes away from him.
Kai heard the faint clinking of the ceramic spoon against the bowl and he knew that she was already digging in. He smiled a little. *There's no way I'm letting you skip meals under my watch.* "Oh, why were you looking for your phone? Do you have to ring your parents up?" Kai glanced at Jaemin who was looking at him blankly.
"My parents... Are gone." She said softly before looking away. "I wanted to give SooJung a call." She added on.
"I'm sorry about that... I was on the phone with SooJung earlier on, she knows you are here." Jaemin nodded in response.
Kai went out of the room to grab a cup of water for Jaemin since he noticed that she was almost done with eating. "There." He took the bowl from her and passed her the cup of water. "Thank you." She said after popping down a pill and washing it down with the water.
"No worries, have a good rest and you will be up and running tomorrow. I will be out in the living room if you need anything." Kai took the cup from her before heading back into the kitchen. He washed the dishes and placed them back onto the rack.
Due to the pill she took, Jaemin fell asleep again shortly. Kai hurried towards the couch when he heard his phone ringing again.
"Hey Lay, what's up?"
"Hey, nothing much. Just wanna check up on you. How are you doing?"
"Me? I'm fine, Lay. What could possibly be wrong about me?"
"Well... You know...." Lay trailed off.
"Ahh.. You are referring to the break up, aren't you? I'm fine, really. I guess I'm finally moving on, Lay. So just give me a couple days more and I will be back to my old self." Kai snickered.
Lay groaned jokingly. "I'm looking forward to your return, Kim Jongin. Alright, take care of yourself and Jaemin too. She's a girl that really needs a lot of care and love."
Kai frowned a little. "Why do you say that?"
"The only thing I can tell you that her past that isn't very pleasant. She's been through a lot, Kai. I don't know, maybe you are able to loosen her up a little."
"I can tell that there's a lot on her mind."
"Yeah. Alright, I'm leaving you to rest now. I will see you in school on Monday, Kai! Oh wait, we might be dropping over at your place tomorrow, is that fine?"
"I guess so."
"Okay, see you tomorrow then!" Lay hung up without waiting for a response from Kai. *Gosh, why can't they wait till they get a response from me before hanging up?*
He placed his phone on the table in front of the couch and decided to work on his overdue assignments. Taking out several sheets of paper and books, Kai laid them out on the dining table.
Sighing, he got started on a piece of Mathematics assignment first.
**
Jaemin glanced at the clock hung on the wall. *It's 3am in the morning...* Noticing that the lights in the living room were still switched on, she got off Kai's bed and padded towards the living room.
Her eyes landed on the figure bent over the dining table. Jaemin walked closer and saw that Kai was sound asleep. Peeking at the assignment under his cheek, he realised that those were long overdue.
Her eyes fleeted to the pile of worksheets at the corner of the table. Smiling, she pulled out a chair tucked under the dining table and took a seat. She took an random assignment from the large pile of worksheets and grabbed any pen in sight.
*Let's get started, it's the only way I'm able to repay him for all that he have done for me.*
Three hours later, Jaemin was finally done with every single assignment. She glanced at the worksheet Kai's cheek was pressed against. *Well, you can do that on your own, right?*
She went into Kai's room to grab his post it pad and began scribbling down a note for him. Placing the pad near his fingers, Jaemin spotted her bag lying on the couch. She slung it over her shoulders and put on her shoes.
She unlocked the lock of the front door softly, hoping not to wake Kai up. She stepped out of the house and closed the door behind her. Wrapping her arms around herself, Jaemin began walking back to her house.
*I suppose that the winter this year will be pretty much colder than the previous years.* Jaemin shivered as a cold gust of wind blew against her. She quickened up her footsteps, wanting to arrive back home as fast as possible.
Jaemin tucked herself under her blankets the moment she was home. *Ah... Finally some warmth.* She fell into a deep slumber in no time, secretly hoping that she won't be having the same nightmare again.
--
"Appa! Don't hit me! I promise that I will behave from now on! Appa! APPA!"
Despite Jaemin's continuous begging for him to stop, he never did. She let out a ear piercing scream when he pinched her arm.
"This is what you get for not listening to me, you brat." She shoved her onto the cold and hard ground. She sat on the ground, bawling her eyes out.
"Why are you making such a ruckus?! Get up!" Jaemin's dad tugged on her ear and pulled her up onto her feet. He slapped her hard across her cheek.
Her legs gave way and she fell onto the floor again. "I'm warning you, shut up!" Her Dad kicked her before walking away from her.
--
"Jaemin! Yah Yoon Jaemin!" Kai shook her shoulder in an attempt to wake her up. Kai woke up several hours after she left and he saw her note. He decided to drop by her house after getting her address from SooJung since he was still worried about Jaemin.
He was utterly shocked to hear screams the moment he entered her house.
"Jaemin! J- Oh god you are finally awake." Kai reached out for her forehead, wanting to wipe the sweat away.
"G-Get away from me. Don't touch me, please..." Jaemin sobbed as she scooted away from Kai. "It's me, Jaemin. I'm Kai, I won't hurt you." Kai said softly to calm her down.
"K-Kai?" She muttered. "Yeah. Kai, the idiot who always make a fool out of himself?" Kai shifted closer to her, dabbing the sweat away from her forehead.
Tears were rolling down Jaemin's cheek uncontrollably and she started coughing. "Shh, come here. No one is going to hurt you now, hmm?" He pulled her into his arms gently and patted her back.
Kai frowned when she coughed, making a mental note to get her some cough syrup later. "Kai is here, Jaemin. He won't let anyone hurt you, okay?"
After a good minute or so, Kai heard the even breaths of Jaemin, a sign that she was fast asleep. Heaving a sigh of relief, Kai slipped an arm under her back and placed her down onto the bed carefully. He wiped away the tears on her cheek and pulled the blankets over her.
Kai sat by her bed and watched her sleep. Her face was peaceful, free of the pain and fear he saw earlier on. *No matter what happened to you in the past, I hope that you will not be haunted by it anymore, Jaemin.*
Curious about her past? It will be revealed soon, hehe! :p
ENJOY~
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