Chapter Thirteen

Kyuhyun opened his eyes and lay still in his bed while he collected his thoughts. His body was still very sore, but his mind felt much clearer. He began to try and sit up, but paused when he noticed that his hand was still holding tightly onto something. His eyes went wide when he realized that the ‘something’ was the hand of another person. A stranger whom he had never seen before, who also turned out to be a very captivating young girl. He looked at all the objects around him. His medication, towels, bowls of water, the shirt he had been wearing, and then he remembered. She had been the one taking care of him.

He brushed his hand over her head, and smiled down at her. Should he wake her up? Not yet, he needed to take a bath first. He slowly got off his bed, and then crouched down next to her. Her upper body was already half-way onto his bed, so he cautiously lifted her with his remaining strength and managed to place her comfortably on the bed. She stirred and made a noise when he did, but she didn’t wake up. He let out a sigh of relief, and then sat down next to her, exhausted all over again.

He was really mad at himself for being this sick when all the other members had to work. It wasn’t his fault of course, but he hated feeling helpless, it reminded him of the time he had spent in hospital day after day just waiting for his body to heal. He clenched his fists and made himself get up. After making sure that Sarang was comfortable, she had said her name was Sarang, hadn’t she? He made his way to the bathtub and let himself relax in the warm water. After he was done, he wrapped a towel around his waist and walked back to his room. He poked his head around the doorway to see if she was still asleep. Once he was sure, he entered the room and quickly began looking for something to wear. While he was searching for some underwear, he heard a huge intake of breath, and spun around.

Ryeowook was standing in the doorway. Mouth wide open and eyes darting from the girl on the bed, to Kyuhyun’s half body, to the clothes thrown across the floor. He was so shocked he could hardly find his voice. Then he pointed an accusatory finger at Kyuhyun. “Y,,y,,,you’re supposed to be sick! I came all the way back here just to check up on you and this is what you’ve been doing? And in our DORM?” He says in a hoarse whisper. Kyuhyun looked at Ryeowook’s expression and didn’t know where to start.

 From his wardrobe he whispered “It’s not like that, I don’t even know her!”

Obviously this was the wrong thing to say, because, if it was humanly possible, Ryeowook’s eyes seemed to grow even wider with shock. Kyuhyun could see that he was about to burst out; it wasn’t possible for Ryeowook so keep his voice low for more than a few minutes. Like his alter-ego, he was getting ready to release an ahjumma-like scolding. He placed his hands on his hips, and took in a breath, but Kyuhyun ran over to him and placed a hand over his mouth before he could say anything.

The two of them scuffled near the doorway, but immediately froze when the girl on the bed let out a sleepy moan and got up, stretching her arms. Ryeowook realized that if he stayed in the room, it would be embarrassing for her, but before he could walk out the door, he heard her say “Ryeowook-shi?”

He turned around and saw Sara giving him the biggest smile. Ryeowook awkwardly returned the smile and then gave Kyuhyun a deadly glare, but before he could make any sense of the situation, Sara was hugging him and telling him all about how she had been lost, and that because of him, Yesung had found her and brought her safely back home. Ryeowook was happy to see her, but he was still reeling from the fact he had found her sleeping in Kyuhyun’s bed. He wanted to kill Kyu, but he also knew that it was none of his business who Sara decided to be with, so for the moment, he let it go.

“How do you know Kyuhyun?” he asked her. “Kyuhyun?” Sara repeated. Then she glanced at Kyu and blushed. “Oh, Jongwoon oppa asked me to come over and take care of him while he was sick. It’s nice to meet you Kyuhyun-shi”. Sara gave a short bow, but said all this without looking at him.

Kyuhyun wondered why, until he realized that he was still in his towel and nothing else. He let out a yelp of surprise and then hid behind the door. Ryeowook saw all this and burst out into laughter. It was obvious from how shy they both were around each other that nothing much could have happened between them. If Sara said that she had only been here to take care of Kyu, then he believed her. He let out a sigh of relief, and then put an arm around Sara’s shoulder. “Let’s leave him alone to change”, he said while giggling. Sara smiled and walked out of the room with Ryeowook.

When they were gone, Kyuhyun closed the door and then let himself sink to the floor in embarrassment. He didn’t know whether it was his fever that was causing it, but his face burned when he replayed recent events in his mind. He got up and dressed himself, then went back to bed, determined not to show his face until she left. But after a few more minutes, he heard a knock at his door. Thinking it must be Ryeowook again, he said ‘Come in”. But it wasn’t Ryeowook, it was the girl.

Sara smiled and entered the room. She felt much more comfortable now that Kyuhyun was dressed, but she could see that he was still somewhat unnerved by her. So she decided that the best thing to do to break the tension was to act as informally as she could. She went towards him and asked “Are you feeling any better?” While she spoke, she sat down next to him put her hand to his forehead to feel his temperature. Kyuhyun was about to tell her that he wanted to sleep, but before he could say anything she said “You still have a slight fever. Come to the kitchen and eat something before you take any more medication. Ryeowook and I are waiting for you.”

And with that, she walked off and made her way to the kitchen. Kyuhyun was shocked at how coolly she had spoken to him, as if they had been using banmal (*informal speech*) all their lives, but then he realized that he must be the only one feeling awkward. She had already taken care of him; she had even helped him change his clothes. He needed to get his act together, and fast.

When he entered the kitchen, he found them sitting at the table waiting for him. There was an awkward silence when they all didn’t know what to say, so all three of them just began eating. Sara had made various types of dishes all aimed at healing Kyuhyun’s cold. There was ginseng and chicken soup, Honey and lemon tea, and various side dishes cooked in ginger and strong spices. A few minutes into the meal, they were all staring at each other in wonder. Everything was so delicious, even Sara couldn’t believe it. All three of them were sweating from the heat of the soup, but they were laughing all the same, enjoying the experience of having their senses awakened by all the spices.

 When they were done eating, Sara got up and went to Kyuhyun’s room. She then came back with his medication and a glass of water. Ryeowook watched as she opened each packet and took out the number of pills and antibiotics for Kyuhyun. He couldn’t help not feeling jealous when he saw her feeding the maknae cough mixture with a spoon.

“Sara-shi, you’re really caring, aren’t you?” Ryeowook said to her.

Sara shook her head in denial. “Kyuhyun is just really sick, I feel responsible for him”, Sara said while smiling warmly at Kyu.

“Thank you Sarang-ah” Kyuhyun returned the smile.

Ryeowook jumped when he heard Kyu calling Sara ‘Sarang’. Just how close were they?

“Yah! Why are you calling Sara-shi “Sarang?”, he scolded Kyuhyun.

Kyu looked at him in confusion. “Isn’t that her name?” he asked.

Sara laughed and said to Kyuhyun, “My name is actually ‘Sara”, but I don’t mind you calling me Sarang, it sounds nice”, she said.

“Then can I call you “Sarang” as well?” Ryeowook asked hopefully. Sara laughed again and said that he could.

Both the boys smiled at her, but when they looked at each other, unbeknownst to Sara, they both started frowning.

The doorbell rang and Sara got up to answer it before either one of them could. In the few moments that she was gone, the tension built up between Ryeowook and Kyuhyun.

“I met her first Kyu”, Ryeowook said heatedly.

“She already slept in my bed Wook”, Kyuhyun replied sarcastically.

Just when they were about to attack each other, Sara walked in, hand in hand with Yesung.

“Oppa, look at what I cooked! You have to eat with us”, Sara said excitedly.

Yesung smiled down at her, but paused when he saw the murderous looks on Kyuhyun and Ryeowook’s faces. He looked down at his and Sara’s hands, and realized what they were upset about.

“Omo, what’s this?” he said with a smirk at the boys.