For the first time in her life, Sara felt that she was finally carrying out her duty as a wife. For a moment, she forgot that she was just 18 and Rome was 19. She refused to sleep even a wink to make sure Rome was okay, nursing his fever every hour. And for the first time, she felt her heart aching so much for someone she thought was the worse person she had ever met in her life. All she wanted was for Rome to get well again. Rome’s fever lasted for two days and by the second night, Sara’s droopy eyelids finally gave in. She slept beside Rome in sitting position, only resting her head on the bed while her hand was in Rome’s loose grip. For unknown reasons the two felt that they could not bear to leave each other for long, worrying if both would get hurt any further. That was the reason Rome placed her hand in between his while he slept and Sara did not seem to mind and went along with him.

 

Barom woke up feeling much better though his body was still aching here and there and his waist was in much pain. As he slowly pushed himself up to sitting position his gaze stayed fixed on Sara who was sound asleep in the most uncomfortable position. He was still holding on to her hand, refusing to let go. His grip slowly tightened as he admired her every feature on her worn out face. He looked longingly for five straight minutes at her face and slowly caressing her hair. She definitely looked like an angel when she was asleep. He knew himself that he was looking at Sara in a different way than before. And whenever he looked at her, his heart tightened as it raced quickly. He had to admit Sara had a cute personality and was a caring lady. No doubt his parents had chosen the right person that could break him and now, able to unleash the ‘Rome’ that was buried inside for so long - the real Rome who was actually not an egoistic kingka but just a normal human being who needed attention from his forever busy parents.  

 

Sara was totally knocked out she did not even realized that Rome carried her to the bed and tucked her comfortably as he took Sara’s previous spot and sat down beside his lady. Somehow, there was a strong urge in heart that was ready to fight for her and protect her. I wont let you get hurt anymore. I don’t mind getting hurt for you but don’t you ever get hurt because of me. I wont let you go out alone like that anymore. He her hair as gentle as he could and bend over to kiss her forehead. Carefully he inspected her bruised elbows from her fall and applied a new set of plasters since the old ones were already not sticking properly.

 

They had never dated; they used to really despise each other. Barom thought that would never change and he even drafted a secret contract with Sarah agreeing to a divorce once they graduated from school together. Secretly he hoped that Sara would forget about it forever but he did not know that Sara was the kind to hold on to her promise whether it was good or bad. Barom shrugged as he thought about his sudden feelings towards Sara, passing it off as a feeling of sympathy instead of love. Boy was hard to crack although he felt the need to protect Sara at any point of time. In the end, he slipped himself under the blanket right beside her and slowly fell into a deep sleep.

 

Barom woke up earlier than Sara the next morning and made a call to his friend who was residing near the hotel. He made his mind to bring Sara out for sightseeing as a form of gratitude for nursing him for two days straight. And he did not wish to show Sara the side of him that she had seen for the last two days, he had to get back to his old self – the bad man in Sara’s eyes. That day was an exception though. He decided to tone down on his ego just for her. He went through the wardrobe and even chose an outfit for her after which he threw it onto her face, making her jolt up from her beauty sleep.

 

“You slept too much already. What time are you going to wake up? I’m tired of waiting”, Rome sat on the chair and crossed his legs.

 

“What? When did I…got here?” Sara was still groggy because she was still exhausted from running here and there previously. “Weren’t you the one in bed?” She looked at him with her eyes still half closed. She rubbed her eyes and took the outfit Rome threw in her hands. Confused, she looked at Rome and frowned.

 

“Look at that hideous face”, Barom smirked. “Unless you want to go out with that kind of unkempt face, you better wash up now. I haven’t got all day to bring you around.” He got up and went out of the room.

 

Sara’s eyes widened with glee. Bring me around? Slowly she started to smile and then rolled around in bed. Then it struck her, Barom had not recovered fully. She finally got down the bed and walked towards the door. Maybe Rome was still lingering along the corridor. She needed to talk to him. Just before she got to open the door, Rome came in and their eyes met.

 

“Uh, I have something to say.”

 

“Shoot.” Rome said as he walked past her with his eyes were glued to the newspaper.

 

“You have yet to recover from… that day. Are you sure you want to go sightseeing today?”

 

Rome stopped reading whatever that was in his hands and shot Sara a glaring look. He sighed loudly and walked over to her. “Do I look like I am not in a good condition today?”

 

Sara shrugged and began to walk away. “Fine. I was just asking if you are sure about this. You don’t need to be all sarcastic.” The bathroom door slammed behind Sara as she screaming furiously over Rome. Indeed Rome was in a good condition. Even his y attitude is back. She brushed her teeth angrily.

 

By the time they got to the lobby, Rome’s friend was already waiting. Apparently he heard about the incident two days ago and was concerned about Rome’s condition. Rome assured him that everything was okay and he felt better. Of course the same question made Sara feel guilty again but she just kept quiet and smiled half-heartedly. Rome’s friend was actually the son of Mr Yu’s close business partner. He was an Indonesian who had been living in Thailand ever since he was five. He was really fluent in Thai but admitted that he forgot a lot of words from his own country. They went around in his luxurious car. Rome was using his contacts well to get free comfortable rides around. As expected, he was really good at this. His friend brought us over to his humble abode for lunch with his family. Apparently, the father heard about the secret marriage from Mr Yu the other time and was not surprised by Sara’s presence. He was advising Rome over lunch about managing the married life as a young couple. He himself got married at the age of 17 and his wife was just 15. Yet they managed to stay together for 42 years. It was an awkward topic over lunch talking about Rome’s married life. At times both he and Sara turned pink of embarrassment.

 

“So when do you plan to have your first child?”

Sara nearly choked on her tom yum soup upon hearing the question asked by the elder’s wife.

 

“Ah you are still young and still schooling right? Maybe you and Barom can wait till after graduation.” Sara nodded and smiled awkwardly at the wife. Barom was secretly smiling looking at Sara’s actions hoping not to get caught by her.. “I got pregnant with Alban’s brother when I was 17 years old. During my time, it was still a normal practice to get married and pregnant at such age. They say the earlier the better. The more offsprings you will get!” The whole table erupted with laughter while Sara tried to gain her cool composure and shot Barom a grave stare. In return, Barom cheekily winked at her, which made her angrier.

 

The day ended in a good note and it was also the last day before their flight back to Korea. Rome apologized to the family for not bringing anything from Seoul for them and thanked them for the sumptuous dinner they had not had ever since they stepped into Thailand. Once they reached the hotel, the pair was greeted by the hotel staff and almost everyone asked Rome if he was feeling okay. Rome was surprisingly very nice to everyone he saw that day. As Sara sat in front of the TV while packing the luggage, Rome joined her and volunteered to fold the clothes together while watching the TV - without communicating with one another. It was already pretty normal for them since they did not really engage in conversation back home in their room too.

 

That night, before sleeping, both got under the blanket and stared blankly at the ceiling.

 

“Anyway, thank you for today.” Sara decided to break the silence. “It was fun.”

 

“Nah, I felt indebted so I thought I’d bring you around.” Rome said dryly. “Furthermore, you wanted to go sightseeing badly. And I got you into that state because I let you go alone. It’s partially my fault too knowing that you at navigations yet I let you sneak out.”

 

“Wasn’t your fault that I decided to go out alone. I was too confident about getting around all by myself.”

 

“You are always too overconfident, aren’t you?” Barom laughed sarcastically as he pressed hard on Sara’s nose.

 

“Ugh. There you go, annoying freak. I’m not going to talk to your evil fat face anymore!” she turned away and pulled the blanket more to her side.

 

“Hello? I am not a fat face! And don’t you dare off the night lamp!” Blanket tug-of-war.

 

“Egoistic kingka who is afraid of the dark. What a joke.”

 

“Now that I have recovered partially you should think twice about talking bad about me, Sara. Since we are sharing every inch of this small single bed, anything can happen at night.” Barom’s hand sneakily wrapped around her waist.

 

Sara shrieked and tried to set herself free by squirming, accidentally hitting his waist which made him crouch in pain. “Oh my god, oh my god. I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hit that spot!” Sara got up and quickly pulled up Rome’s shirt up to his chest, exposing his toned abs, to see if the wound was bleeding. The concerned look on her face made Rome have the urge to just pull her towards him, caress her cheeks and whisper to her that he was fine. But Rome quickly snapped out of those thoughts and began to by pretending to take out his clothes.

 

“Is the pain still stinging? Do you need me to get some ice for you? Rome... R- oh my god why are you stripping?! Barom Yu!” Sara’s eyes widened as her jaw hung ajar. She will definitely not sleep with Rome if he was not going to wear any top, she was sure of that! Barom laughed hard without emitting any sound looking at her bewildered face as he pulled down his shirt. Sara smacked him hard on the arms.

 

“Don’t.” Smack. “Do.” Smack. “That again.” Smack. “Ugh you are really getting on my nerves tonight, Barom!”

 

“Ouch, ouch! Stop, it hurts”, he said half laughing and crouching. “My wound really is hurting right now.” He inspected the stitched up area carefully before reassuring Sara that everything was okay. It was just that it got painful when accidentally being brushed against something hard. That night Sara occupied lesser space for herself so that she would not hit Rome’s wound again. She did not move an inch till the sun came up the day after, the day when they finally would fly back to Seoul.