The Christmas holidays were nearing, and what better way was to start it?

A god damn fever.

When she was still in school, Saehyun was thrilled at the thought of being sick. It doesn't only mean that she'd miss school, it also included sleeping in her warm bed all day and spoiled with her mother's love and affection. She especially enjoyed the various foods her mom would make her in the hopes of her recovering.

But alas, she was no longer in school, and her family wasn't there to take care of her. Oh well- no mommy's there to cook for her.

Right after the finals, Saehyun fell sick with a high fever. They all suspected that it was because of fatigue- heavens knew how the girl had strained herself.

Luhan went back to China for the holidays while Heechul was spending his days in his friend's villa, probably partying every night. Minho on the other hand, was doubting whether he should stay with his family meanwhile but that would mean leaving Saehyun alone in the dorm.

Aunt Cam and her family left for a family bonding trip a week prior, and was freaked out when she heard that Saehyun would be all alone during Christmas. She had expected the girl to go back to Korea- heck, they even already booked the plane tickets. But as if her life was controlled by the Murphy's Law, Saehyun fell sick two days before the scheduled flight and was too weak to proceed with the plan.

The last time Minho had checked her temperature, it was 39 degrees celcius.

Saehyun had rejected his company, saying that he shouldn't risk his family holiday for her, but it didn't feel right to him. Now, he was sitting with his mother and father at the dining table, not being able to enjoy the Christmas spirit at all.

"Minho-yah, are you okay?" his mother asked from her seat. He sighed as he played around with his food, but stoped immediately when his mother threw him a warning glance. She never liked it when people play with their food.

"I guess.. I feel unsettled." Minho owned up, "I have a friend at the apartment. She was supposed to go back home for the holidays but she fell sick. And now she's all alone in there during Christmas eve."

Hearing this, she frowned, "How could you just leave her then?"

"Because- I thought you'd be upset if I missed our dinner!" he defended himself. Mrs. Choi tsked at her son dissapointedly and said, "You should've told me then. I wouldn't be so cruel as to leave a poor sick girl alone during Christmas."

She nudged his father and spoke, "Honey, help me pack up all the food." He looked at her, confused, "Why?"

"Minho's spending his Christmas elsewhere."

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Saehyun was fast asleep when she heard the apartment door being opened. She stood up weakly and fell back down on the bed, her head feeling a bit woozy. Her bedroom door was knocked on and she could hear Minho calling her from the other side. She mumbled a reply and told him to come in.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

Minho shrugged at her question, "My mom let me stay in the apartment for Christmas."

Saehyun's eyes rounded, "For what? Aren't you supposed to be with your family now?"

"Silly," he chuckled, "I'm here for you."

For a moment, she kept silent, not knowing what to answer. "Just go back Minho. I don't want to spoil your Christmas for you."

He sighed and pulled out a stack of tupperware that was leaned against the door. "Let me be. Besides, my mom would kill me if I come back. She doesn't think that leaving you alone was the right thing to do, so she sent me here. Look- she even forced me to bring you all these food."

"Food?" Saehyun her lips subsconsciously. Minho saw this and grinned, "Yeah. We're having Christmas dinner together."

"Oh," was all she could mutter.

Minho walked to her bed and made her lie down, tucking her in. She eyed him with confusion but was soon feeling drowsy herself. He reached over to her nightstand and grabbed the thermometer before slipping it in .

"38." he sighed, "Geez, Kim Saehyun you really out did yourself huh?"

The sick girl was too tired to answer and hummed a reply instead. He looked at her with concern and stood up to go to the bathroom, returning with a bowl of warm water and a small towel. Saehyun scrunched up her nose in confusion, "Wasn't it supposed to be cold water?"

He laughed, "No. Warm or hot water actually works better. Trust me- I'm a doctor."

"Well, so am I." she huffed.

Minho only smiled and placed the damp towel over her forehead. "Didn't I tell you once? Doctors aren't supposed to be sick. But did you ever listened to me? I guess not."

"It's not like I volunteered to catch a fever." Saehyun bitterly said, making him chuckle. She suddenly felt cold and dug deeper into the blanket. Minho acknowledged this and touched the skin on her neck with his palm, "My God, you're burning up real bad."

"But it feels cold." she stated, sounding tired.

Minho looked around the room, searching for her medicine, "Did you take the pills yet?"

Saehyun cracked her eyes open, realizing that she had forgot to consume her medicine- or anything, in that matter. "I.. I hadn't had my dinner yet." she admitted.

"Pabo." The guy scolded, "No wonder it didn't get any better. Just wait here, I'll get you some food."

20 minutes later, Minho walked into the room with a tray full of the food his mother had packed for them and some water and pills. He wasn't surprised to find her already sleeping soundly when he came back. Brushing some hair out of her face, he smiled. She looked so peaceful like that- and he couldn't help but to wonder what she was dreaming of. Knowing that he had to wake her up, he frowned.

"Saehyun-ah." he patted her shoulders lightly, "You need to eat first before sleeping."

The girl sat up slowly and yawned, looking very beaten up. "Eat?"

"Eat." he repeated, smiling. Since Saehyun only stared at the food infront of her, Minho took the initiative to take the spoon and scooped up some of it, bringing it up to . She didn't protest and let him feed her since her head felt really light.

He snorted when she so obediently swallowed the food, "Hungry much?"

"Very." she answered in short, feeling a headache kicking in. Minho passed her the pills and urged for her to take it. She gulped in the two white pills and washed it down with a glass of water.

"Alright, go sleep now." Minho whispered. He stood up but she held onto his arm, "Please stay." she said, "Stay."

Saehyun didn't know why she had said that, but she didn't bother herself to find out. The guy broke into a soft smile and sat next to her bed, brushing her hair. It lulled her to sleep.

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The next morning, she woke up to the smell of pancakes.

"Minho?" she said in a whisper. The said guy was sleeping on the chair next to her with his head lying on the bed comfortably. "Wait.. If you're here, then who-" Saehyun trailed off.

A short moment after, Minho opened his eyes as he smiled, "Merry Christmas Saehyun." he spoke in his morning voice. She couldn't help but to smile at him and return the saying. "Who's outside?" she inquired.

The lad shrugged, "Oh, that's just Heechul hyung. He came back today at 3 in the morning."

"You were awake at 3 in the morning?" Saehyun questioned. "Didn't you sleep?"

He scratched the back of his neck, "I slept enough. Besides, I had to keep track of your temperature, right?"

"I guess so," Saehyun nodded. Just then, Minho pulled out a thermometer and measured her fever. It was getting better, though not much. He sighed and ruffled her bed-hair, "Just get better soon."

From outside of the room, they could hear Heechul scream aloud, "Saehyun-ah! Are you up yet?" the man barged in the room and tackled her with a bear hug at once, "Oh- my poor baby! If I knew you were sick I'd stay here with you!"

Saehyun smiled brightly, "It's okay. Minho took care of me well."

"He did, huh?" Heechul glanced at the younger male. Being the genius he was, he couldn't have missed a hint when he spots one, and this made him curious of their vague-looking history. "You two should just date, you know." There, he fired the bullet.

Suddenly, the room was filled with an unbelievably awkward atmosphere. Saehyun spoke up, "That would be very unlikely."

At her words, Minho felt his heart sink into the deep black hole of nothingness. Of course they would never work out- he was stupid if he thought that they were ever going to get back together. The girl was smart, he knew that. She wouldn't be dumb enough to give him a second chance.

He forced out a smile and said, "Why don't we just open the presents? Luhan sent his through the mail."

They all agreed and dropped the uncomfortable topic. Heechul skipped over to the small christmas tree at the end of the living room and searched for his presents while Minho supported Saehyun so she could walk.

A few weeks before christmas, the roomates made a deal to buy each other gifts for the occassion. Saehyun stood behind Heechul and smiled happily at the sight before her. It had been a while since she got any presents- usually, her parents would give her money or vouchers since they thought she was too old.

Heechul held up two boxes wrapped in royal blue paper and gave them one each. All of them started handling and receiving eachother's gifts.

"Yah- hyung." Minho protested, "Why did you give me these- uhh- things?" he held out a bunch of new neon coloured socks and waved them in the air. Heechul only snorted his reply, "Have you seen your wardrobe? All you got there is emo looking stuff. You need some colour in your life, man."

Saehyun smiled at her unwrapped present from Heechul, "Ah- oppa, you really do spoil me too much." He gave her mint-green headphones, knowing that it was SHINee's fandom colour. She hugged him as a way of thank you.

Luhan gave them all the same thing; rubix cubes.

"Aish that kid-" Heechul cursed, "He shouldn't even bother sending it too us. It seems like he bought presents for his own group of doppelgangers or something- cause he knows too well that I can never solve this damned square!"

"Cube." Saehyun corrected.

Minho shook his head in amusement and started opening his next gift from Saehyun, "Oh my God, is this..." he stared at the item inside the blue wrapper. "Holy ! IT'S THE NEW FIFA FOR PS4!" he screamed in joy, "THANK YOU SO MUCH."

She smiled in relief, "Thank heavens I still remember your love towards soccer or I would've-" her sentence was cut-off when Minho practically crushed her in a hug, spinning her a couple of times. "It's.. dizzy.." she murmured.

Minho remembered that she was sick and let go of her quickly, studying her condition. "I'm really sorry. I forgot- Are you okay?" he said hurriedly. She nodded and gave a thumbs up.

"Uh- okay. Go open mine then." he suggested. Saehyun did as he told and found a pretty little pink wallet lying inside the package. It was really cute, with pixelated cartoon animations of Adventure Time decorating the case. "It's so cute. Thanks." she smiled at him.

"Open it," he instructed.

And so she did. The girl was genuinely surprised to find a heap of printed papers inside. No, it wasn't money, it was vouchers for restaurants. "Yah- why did you give me this?" she nagged, a hint of joy in her voice.

"Since you have a hectic schedule at campus and often couldn't make it home for meals, I guess this will atleast make sure that you won't starve during those busy days." He explained, "I mean- you can just pop into the store, pull a voucher out and bam- your tummy would be filled."

Touched by his small concern, she pinched his cheeks, "Good thinking, as always."

Heechul suddenly went behind Minho and pulled his ear, making the boy wince, "What is the meaning of this?" he raised his hand that was holding a pair of horrid-looking couple pyjamas. Saehyun cringed at the blinding sight as the enraged man continued, "And where's Luhan's present? Did you even buy one for him?"

Minho winced as he struggled out of his hyung's grip, "Uh- actually, that gift is for both of you guys."

"WHAT?" Heechul screeched like a drunk fire-truck. Saehyun covered her ears so she wouldn't turn deaf any sooner. "This is seriously wacked out man," her angry oppa protested. Minho cowered behind the girl as he tried his best to explain, "Hyung! It was on sale! And I already lost too much money to get Saehyun's present so I thought it was a good deal- Just don't think of it as couple pj's, think of it as two similar looking ones with different colours then."

Heechul reached forward to whack his head, "Then you should've atleast wrapped it as two gifts instead, moron," making Minho shoot out  a string of apologies.

"Atleast Saehyun here had the decency to actually buy me something nice." he turned to the girl mentioned, "Thanks for the jacket Saehyun-ie. It's red! Just my style~"

Feeling a little bit worn out, she could only nod and smile in response.

They fell into another weird silence as the rage tempest had died down. Saehyun was the first one to speak, "So- guys. I'll be going back to bed now. Don't worry about me and have fun for the day."

Minho opened his mouth to reply, "But you're still not well."

"You've done enough, and thankyou for that," she paused, "But I insist that you go out for fun now. Don't worry about me."

Heechul nodded his head, "Yeah. She's got a point there- I mean, she's a med student for sweet Christ's sake! Of course she can take care of herself well enough."

The oldest had to convince Minho for about 15 minutes before he reluctantly obliged. Heechul offered to go to an arcade for the whole day and end it with a few drinks later when it gets late. Being absolutely clueless, Minho agreed, not knowing the actual intention of him for taking him there.

"Finally," Heechul smirked, "Some answers."

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Author's note:     I KNOW IT'S WAYYY BEYOND LATE BUT WHO CARES. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHOI MINHO *inserts heart emojis*
                          OMG HAHA YOU'RE SO OLD NOW. JK ILYSM. ALWAYS WILL.
                          YOU JERK (although a very cute one) MY CAPSLOCK BROKE BECAUSE OF YOU.
                          nvm it's fixed now.
                          I hope you'll get many happiness this year *cough* get a girlfriend *cough*
                          srlsy though, anything for your happiness. (You're not getting any younger ya know.)
                          Alright imma end this before I get too cheesy. Cheese aint my style.
                          So Happy 24th birthday my little (not anymore. lol.) froggy prince.