Jessica felt her whole body aching as soon as she wakes up. With a grunt, she rolled herself down the bed and crawled to the bathroom. Watching her disarrayed figure in the mirror, the girl cringed in horror. Her hair was a mess, pointing to all directions like an exploding firework. There were dark circles under her red, swollen, tired eyes. was dry like Nairobi desert.  When did I get so scary?

After tidying up at least her hair, she walked back to her hotel room, to an open suitcase of overflowing expensive designer clothes and accessories. The tight schedule of photo shoot gave her so little time to rest and she had to move from country to country in a very short of time. Fotunately, she wasn’t alone. Krystal was with her throughout the long schedule in a campaign to build the nation’s sisters image. The younger girl was probably still sleeping in the next hotel room after the late photo session last night.

Jessica let out a dry cough and quickly gobbled down a whole bottle of water. She was not in her top condition, not in the mood for work. Then a soft knock heard from the door and then a hoarse voice of a young girl.

“Unnie....”

Jessica opened the door to find her baby sister outside, all weak and drowsy. Her eyes were wet behind her glasses, nose red, hair flocked on one side of her head with her hands hugging a penguin plushy.  “I’m dizzy....”

Krystal hugged her sister, making herself comfortable in Jessica’s embrace. “Oh, my, you have a fever,” said Jessica as she gently led the younger girl to the bed and lay her down.

“My throat hurts...,” the girl whined, hugging the plushy tighter. “I don’t think I can work today.”

Jessica sighed. “It’s alright. I’ll handle today’s work. You go get some rest.”

Krystal was too sick to say anything after that but she remember how Jessica tucked her in, placed a cold towel on her forehead and made her eat a bread before forcing her to eat some cold medicines. The older sister left after that and let Krystal sleep.

In the afternoon, she woke up and glanced at the clock. It was already three and Jessica was not back yet. Still feeling a little bit dizzy and hot, Krystal went back to sleep. She was not sure how long she was out but when she woke up, the sky out the window was dark but the room was not. The lights on the ceiling was in a certain amount of light that it was comfortable for her eyes. The cold towel on her forehead was still cold as well, like it was just being replaced them. There was a freshly poured water in a tall glass by the bedside, another bread and some medicines with a post-it note placed neatly next to it.

“Eat the bread and drink the medicines, Jess.”

Krystal obediently did what the post-it told her and soon she was kicked by the medicine’s effect, she went to sleep one more time. The next time she woke up, she felt really comfortable. Her fever had gone down and she was sweating no more. Feeling her body was as good as new, she pushed herself up and then she made a quick stop. She lay back down when she felt her hand was heavy. On the side of the bed, Jessica was sleeping. Half her body was sitting on the floor while the upper half was on the bed, next to Krystal’s shoulder. Their hands were intertwined.

Krystal smiled. She put her free hand on her sister’s head, about to wake her up, but when she felt a great amount of heat the older girl was emanating, she stopped. Jessica had a fever. She was burning up even more than Krystal was.

A click heard from the hotel door and a man entered. He was their manager and he had a bag of medicine on his hand. “Jessica?” he said.

“Sush!” Krystal quickly sushed the man. “Quiet down.”

The man made an apologetic gesture before handing Krystal the medicine bag. “You okay, Krystal?”

“I’m good,” said the girl. “My sister has a fever, Oppa. Did she get it from me?”

“No,” the man shook his head. “She has it since morning.”

“Since morning? Why didn’t she tell me?”

“She couldn’t. If both of you are down with cold, the photo session will stop and that we can’t do. So she did everything alone because she wanted to let you rest. She has been going back and forth from the beach to here to give you medicines.”

Krystal looked at the sleeping girl beside her and sighed.

“I’m going to go,” said the manager, walking to the door. “Give her the medicine if you don’t need them anymore.”

Krystal nodded and mouthed thanks to the man. Her eyes then went to her sister, her sleeping sister. She brushed her thick hair and suddenly tears went up her eyes. She sobbed alone, combing her sister’s hair with her fingers. It was touching, heartbreaking and sad at the same time how Jessica took care of her in spite of her own pain while maintaining the professionalism of her work.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered to herself softly.

A second later, the sleeping girl stirred, moved her head and looked at Krystal. Her eyes widened in an instant. She got up and cupped Krystal’s face. “Are you okay? Tell me where it hurts? Why are you crying?” she said in a panic manner.

Krystal shook her head.

“I’ll go call an ambulance,” Jessica jumped up. She was about to reach her phone when Krystal pulled her hand and hugged her tightly. “Krystal?”

The baby sister smiled. “Thank you, Unnie. I love you.”

Jessica didn’t know what was happening but she had no heart to break the hug. So she hugged the little sister back. “I love you too.”