Eunhyuk woke up the next morning feeling a tinge better than he had the day before. It takes more than one night to recover from a high fever he had realized that, but if it weren't for Hyunae, he'd probably be unconscious right now. He had faint memories of her checking up on him throughout the night, but he was too out of it to be irritated by her frequent visits. He actually kind of appreciated it. It was comforting knowing that there was always someone there to care for him whether it be his mom, friends, and more than he'd like to admit, Hyunae.

Even after all these years living under this roof, she's never really had that. The older we get the less she relies on Umma to care for her. Come to think of it, even the days she seemed sick and exhausted in school, she would hide it in front of umma at home. She would cook, clean, and go to work as usual.

It struck him more than he cared to admit how obvious it was that Hyunae had always put Eunhyuk and is Mom as top priority before even her own health. He made his way downstairs to find Hyunae sleeping tiredly on the couch. The medicine box was scattered on the coffee table along with the porridge pots, cups and bowls that were left untouched.

She must have really been frantic last night.

He was about to head into the kitchen when the cloth messily wrapped around her left hand caught his eye.

Did she get injured?

He carefully made his way to her side, kneeling down quietly by her face. He carefully unwound the cloth to take a better look expecting a small cut of some sort. His eyes widened when he saw her redened hand, clearly burn marks were visible. In little parts where the burn blistered and the skin peeled off were traces of dried blood. He clicked his tongue in frustration.

Pabo...doesn't even know how to tend to her own wound.

He sighed and inwardly cursed himself for beginning to turn soft.

I swear I better recover from this fever soon so I can go back to normal...

He looked around and found some medicine dabbing it on a q-tip gently applying it over her wound. Her hand twitched as she winced from the stinging sensation. Immediately Eunhyuk blew softly on her hand trying to ease the pain. Her tightly shut eyes relaxed and she continued sleeping. When Eunhyuk finished applying medicine on her hand, he properly wrapped it with a bandage wrap making sure it wasn't too tight so her wound could air out. He got a small ice pack and placed it on her hand to ease a little bit of the pain before making his way into the kitchen to make some ramyun.

Hyunae got up about an hour later. Sitting up groggily she instantly felt the backlash of sleeping on the couch when she felt her neck stiffen. Her eyes widened as she glanced at the clock.

10:30!?!?! Oh no oh no oh no, Hyunae how could you be so careless?

She scampered off the couch and sprinted upstairs to find Eunhyuk wasn't in his room. Panic hit her instantly as she ran back downstairs coming to a halt when she saw him drinking coffee at the table on his laptop.

"Eunhyuk-shi, are you feeling better? Did you have breakfast?" She asked a little out of breath

He nodded his head, eyes fixed on the computer screen.

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

"I can take care of myself."

She looked down disappointedly. She should know not to show too much concern around him. It was a waste of efforts.

"Sorry, I didn't mean-...umm...have you taken your medicine then? Everything's kinda scattered so were you able to find it?"

She ran her hands through her long hair out of habit, observing that his face had a little more color in it today. She mentally sighed in relief. He shook his head, still not looking at her.

"I'm better now, don't need it."

She didn't buy his stubborness, he was obviously still sick. His forehead had little traces of sweat, face still a little pale, still coughing.

"Eunhyuk-shi you don't just recover from a high fever in one night..."

With that she went to the kitchen instantly finding his medicine. She grabbed a cup and poured juice in it. Placing it next to him on the kitchen table she finally noticed that her hand was neatly wrapped in a bandage. She had been so scatter-brained only thinking about Eunhyuk that she had forgotten all about paying attention to the pain in her hand, or lack there of in this case. Eunhyuk seemed to sense her sudden realization.

"How's your hand? Being clumsy as always i see.."

He said in a flat voice. She stared at her hand rotating it back and forth as if it were glowing. 
 

"D-did, you take care of this for me?"

She asked not believing that he'd even ackowledge that she was injured. He popped the pills in his mouth and downed his orange juice. Still not looking at her, he stood up to make his way to the sink pretending not to hear her question. She smiled slightly. This was the first sign of kindness that he's shown toward her. Despite not really understanding the reasoning behind his intentions, she was happy to think that even for a split second, he had showed some concern.

"Kamsahamnida..."

She said quietly. He took a quick glance at her before grabbing his laptop to head back upstairs.  She was still wearing her navy blue work polo from the day before. It fitted closely to her body revealing how thin she was. She had on the pair of jeans she always wore, lightwashed, fitted to her slender legs and a little flared toward the bottom. Random tears here and there in 2 or 3 places but it gave it an edgier look. Her hair which was usually pulled back in a high pony tail was now down and fell beneath her shoulders. For that second Eunhyuk could feel himself observing her. She was still examining her hand as if she's never seen a tended wound before. He turned around quickly snapping out of his trance and walked back upstairs.

Today was saturday meaning Hyunae got to intern for Lilly's mom, who was a co-editor of a fashion magazine. Hyunae loved photography. Capturing the essence of a moment in still shot to last forever was her own indulgence. It came from the mixed emotions she got looking back at pictures from the past when her parents were still alive. Pictures were miraculous things to her, and held a lot of significance in her life. She got recruited when Lilly's mom saw some of the photographs Hyunae took of Lilly during their little mock photoshoot they did for fun. She now interns every saturday usually in the visuals and photography department. Before leaving she prepared soup and left medicine on the table for Eunhyuk.

She showered and changed wearing the same jeans with a loose white tank top and black fitted blazer on top that was unbottoned. It was essential to look semi decent interning at a place like a fashion magazine company. Hyunae didn't own that many clothes, but she made do with what she had. Sometimes she was able to bring home a few items that were left over from past seasons from the company as a present.

Peeking in Eunhyuks room, she brought him water and some fruit.

"Hey, have some, it'll help you get better faster. Theres soup and medicine downstairs. Have it when your ready, but not too late. I have to go but if you need anything just call me."

He nodded with his eyes still fixed on his laptop. She took one last look at him before heading out. Grabbing her messanger bag along with her camera bag, Hyunae left for work stopping by Lilly's on the way. She subconsciously reached down caressing her injured hand and smiled slightly at the faint memory of Eunhyuk carefully taking care of her burns.

He's finally shown some acknowledgement...

Thanks so far to my subscribers! It means a lot to me that my writing can interest people, i hope to get a lot more readers soon! I dont want to rush anything in this story, nor make it drag on too long. I know it hasn't progressed as much yet with the love line, but I want to create a more vivid feel for the readers by explaining the developments of the relationship step by step. Let me know what you think though! I'd love to hear thoughts/criticisms :)