♥ Day Twelve ♥

There was no early morning wakeup call caused by coughing or sneezing, nor was it caused by the inability to breathe through her nose. Soeun had woken up to the sound of her mother making breakfast, and she was feeling a thousand times better than she had been the day before. Sure, Soeun still had a slightly blocked nose, which was sore from using tissues to blow it out, and sound felt like it had been muted due to the pressure around her ears, but when she felt her forehead, it wasn’t that hot, and she didn’t feel as if her limbs were being weighed down by an oil truck. It seems to be a pretty good sign, she thought, and chased it up with another thought of how her doctor-slash-boyfriend was the one that made her feel all better.

Looking towards her desk by the window, Soeun sees the empty white bowl that had been filled with the steaming chicken soup that Jaerim had made for her, well, bought the ingredients and asked her mother to cook the soup, and she couldn’t help but feel immensely touched that he had taken the effort and initiative to take care of her. Jaerim was so careful and so loving and so gentle with her and that made her feel warm, the good kind of warm, the kind that surpassed her having a fever, and the one that made her feel tingly and giddy and happy.

Soeun fell asleep holding Jaerim’s hands, and it was a very good sleep, that made her feel safe and protected. When she woke up two hours later, Jaerim was still holding her hand, sitting on the floor, head resting on her bed and tucked in the space between her head and shoulder, mouth slighting agape in his slumber. She tried to carefully extricate herself, as slowly as possible from his grasp, but her one little movement caused Jaerim to stir awake as well. Jaerim blinked away the sleepiness and greeted Soeun with a smile, and immediately jumped back into protective and concerned mode, when Soeun tried to move further. As she tried to get out of bed, he grabbed her hand to stop her.

“What are you doing? Just tell me what you need and I’ll get it for you. I’ll be your arms and legs for the day”

Soeun managed to grin up at him, when he began fixing, rearranging and fluffing up her pillows with a furrowed look. He made a gesture as if presenting the newly made bed to her, even explaining its softness and its ability to give sick patients a good rest. Soeun looked to the floor.

“I don’t think you could do this thing for me…”

“What is it? I’ll do everything, anything that you need…”

Soeun pointed towards her bathroom door and Jaerim became flustered and blushed a shade of pink. He rubbed the back of his head towards his nape and looked away.

“Yeah…I suppose you have to do that one on your own…”

Jaerim helped Soeun up from where she was seated at the foot of the bed and then patiently waited for her outside the door while she was in the bathroom. When she re-emerged he had a sheepish grin on his face as he led her back to the bed.

“You hungry?”

“A little bit, but I don’t think I can have anything substantial.”

“Chicken soup?”

“Chicken soup.”

He pressed a sweet kiss on her forehead before he ducked out of the room, his phone and wallet in his hand. Jaerim threw one last glance at Soeun.

“Be good and rest up. I’ll be back with your food.”

“Yes, Doc!”

Soeun nodded and made a show of herself getting back under the covers and making herself comfortable, using her hand to wave off Jaerim to go and get her food.

When he returned over half an hour later, she was eager to get a taste of the soup. Her stomach had started grumbling and mouth salivating and food would make that all better. While she was being spoon-fed by Jaerim, who was perched in the spot beside her, she managed to be her responsible and assertive self and ask him what he was doing outside of school. Jaerim pretended to ponder over his answer.

“Hmmm…besides the fact that you’re sick and I need to take care of you, Ssaem (teacher) gave me permission to be here as long as we get started on that performance project of ours. We kinda wasted our time when we were playing up on the rooftop and then in the snow in the afternoon, and then yesterday in class, so like, this is your fault that I’m gonna fail at this…”

“You…insisted that we play in the snow, might I add. This is your fault too…and it’s not my fault that I’m sick.”

“Yeah…so, he made me promise that I would be at school tomorrow, to do the performance.”

“Have you thought of something you want to do?”

Jaerim shrugged. “I don’t have many talents in the, you know, performing arts. I’m more of a guy that likes motorcycles and fixes them up, the handyman type…”

“You don’t have to do anything complicated. Read a chapter of a book out loud, find a poem you like, draw something? Just make sure that whatever it is, you’re being yourself, that when people see it, they know it’s heartfelt, that it’s true. Like you, now, being sincere just by being here.”

Soeun pointed to his heart. “This is you.”

He tilted her chin up so that she was looking him in the eyes. “No. This is you.”

She closed her eyes.

“Don’t worry, Eun-ah. While I take care of you today, I’ll come up with something.”

Soeun reached for her phone to text Jaerim.

Good morning! I feel a lot better, but don’t think I’ll make it to school today. But, good luck for the performance. I love it! Text me!

She really did mean it, except for the part about not making it to school. Of course, she wouldn't miss out on her boyfriend’s performance. When he told her of his idea the day before she was really touched and she knew it was perfect for him – and perfect for them. As she was lost in her musings about Jaerim, her phone rang and she picked it up on the first ring.

“Hello?”

“Mmmm…Eun-ah…morning, beautiful.”

Soeun smiled at the thought that she could actually feel him winking at her through the phone.

“Are you ready?”

“I guess so…I want you to be there though. It's a special performance for you anyway…”

“I'm there in spirit.”

“Okay. I'll come by to see you later.”

“I guess I will see you later.”

Soeun Hun up the phone and lay down in bed a little bit longer, feeling really happy.

A couple of hours later and Jaerim was anxiously waiting for his turn. The teacher had put him last because Jaerim said he was performing alone because Soeun was still sick but that she helped him with the performance. Two more people and it would be his turn. His insides were churning and his palms were sweating, even feeling a few beads of sweat trickle down his sideburns. He grasped at the guitar in his hands, his fingers coming into contact with the strings, and he swallowed hard and took deep breaths. He remembered Soeun’s reaction and he felt a little better. She was with him in spirit, he was doing this for her, and she was in the video accompaniment that he had hastily out together when he got home the night before, and he could just stare at her face on the screen. He could do this. He breathed out, and looked up again, catching his teacher’s eye, who gave him an encouraging look. He was up next.

“Okay, and for our final performance, we have Song Jaerim, playing the guitar.”

His classmates looked up at him in anticipation. Their classroom felt smaller than usual, and even if the heater was still broken and they were still near the soccer field, he felt hot. He made his way to the front of the room and pulled out a chair and dragged it to the centre. He plugged in his usb in the computer and pulled down the projector screen, as the teacher closed the front blinds to darken the area. Jaerim’s figure casted a shadow on the screen. He cleared his throat.

“This isn't cheating, my partner, Soeun is actually sick. That's why I’m gonna play a video for you guys as well. I recorded it a couple of days ago when we were out in the snow. So I'm…uhhh…dedicating this to her.”

Jaerim coughed but feeling a surge of confidence as Soeun’s picture came up on the screen, he decided to crack a joke.

“I know I'm not the best singer, but all you boys watch out ‘cause I’m gonna melt these girls hearts…your love notes ain’t got nothing on me”

He smirked and nodded to his teacher to begin the video. Echoes of laughter reverberated through the speakers, Soeun’s angelic and adorable laugh pushed Jaerim enough to place his fingers into the position of the first chord. He glances at the screen momentarily and is captivated by her child-like charm as she throws a fistful of snow in his direction.

Sojung’s eyes are smiling brightly. She couldn’t feel any happier for her best friend than at this moment. She clenches her fist excitedly and decides to text Soeun, but a figure outside the classroom catches her attention. Her best friend, wearing a printed mask over her nose and mouth makes a gesture for her to be quiet and to pay attention to Jaerim. Sojung nods and tucks her phone away into her pocket again, as Soeun quietly stares through the window from the back corner.

Jaerim clears his throat and ends up in a minute-long coughing fit that has some of his classmates break out into laughter, causing the teacher to restart the video again.

“Jaerim…”

“Yes, Sir. I’m good. For real this time.”

The teacher nodded and quieted down his students.

Running through the heat heart beat

You shine like silver in the sunlight

You light up my whole heart

It feels like the sun, the sun

We’re running around and around

Like nothing else could matter in our life

“How was that?”

Jaerim couldn’t look up and meet her eyes, embarrassed at his impromptu performance. But, he really did want her opinion and it was better than finding out the next day that it was bad when other people watched him. He slowly lifted his gaze to meet Soeun’s and found the exact opposite of what he imagined. She wasn’t laughing at him, although the cure of had a hint of mirth in them, it didn’t make Jaerim feel like he wanted the earth to swallow him whole.

“So? How was it? Cause if you don’t say anything I’m just gonna assume that it was terrible…”

Soeun reached up and fixed his bangs, pushing the hair to one side.

“It’s was good.”

“Just good?”

“Better. I didn’t know you played the guitar, or sang, for that matter. It was really good. I loved it.”

“You mean it?”

Jaerim moved closer to her on the floor so that their knees were touching. He laid the guitar on the floor and took her hands in his, rubbing over her knuckles. His hands had become cold while he was playing and her hands were warm. She shrugged and smiled at him. His heart skipped a beat.

“Yes. You’re singing isn’t the best, but it was perfect for me…”

A love like this won’t last forever

But I, I don’t mind

I don’t mind at all

Jaerim ended the song to a very enthusiastic round of applause. He may not have performed it perfectly, but it was still from the heart, and he was proud of himself for actually going through with it. He gave a little bow and retrieved his usb from the teacher who gave him a teasing smile. His face had turned red, and Jaerim would feel better by sitting down at the back of the classroom. Some of the guys patted him on the back as he walked past them. Sojung even gave him a ‘thumbs up’ when he sat back down.

“That was awesome. I’m sure Soeun would have loved it.”

“Thanks.”

Sojung looked out the window again, but her best friend was no longer there. Her attention was snapped back again when their teacher banged a ruler against his table.

“Alright, class. That was very well done and I want to congratulate all of you for your efforts. I hope you all learned something from the past two weeks and in doing so, hope you’ve made new friends, even became close to some people, even seen people in a different light. I want to wish all of you a very merry Christmas and a wonderful break. I will see you next year. You’re all dismissed. Go on, get out of here!”

With one final bang on the table, the class started to greet the teacher goodbye and trailed out of the classroom in a hurry. Jaerim was the last to leave after Sojung who walked straight past him without a second look and disappeared as soon as she stepped out of the room. Jaerim made a beeline for the door in order to avoid his teacher’s gaze, but bowed to him quietly nonetheless. As he walked through the door, he found the halls to be empty and so he shrugged and headed in the direction of the exit, only to be pulled back by a pair of slightly cold hands.

Without warning the person launched themselves into his arms, and it didn't take long for him to recognise her. He returned the hug with equal fervor, squeezing her tight in his arms.

“When did you get here?”

She removed her mask and tucked it into her pocket.

“When you cleared your throat like an idiot and started coughing…”

He pushed her back slightly to meet her eyes and poked her cheeks.

“Hmmmm…so sly…you’re feeling better?”

She nodded into his chest as a reply.

“Let's go? Let's go and get something hot to drink and then I'll take you home.”

Jaerim took her hands in his and as they walked out together, they saw Sojung smiling at them. They both waved to her and were shocked to find her with the guy she was partnered up with for the performance. The guy had his arm slung around her shoulders and was holding Sojung’s backpack. Soeun motioned to her phone, asking her best friend to text her the details later. Sojung replied with a nod and then shooed her off.

Jaerim tugged at her hand, hearing the faint chime of the charm bracelet that he bought for her. When she finally turned to face him, he was all smiles and lifted her hand to show her that he acknowledges that she's wearing his bracelet.

“It’s pretty, right? It's from my boyfriend who has impeccable taste.”

Jaerim grinned at her like a Cheshire cat. Without warning and with the snow falling he kissed her on the lips. It was a slight peck that sent both jitters to Soeun’s stomach and also made her feel extremely contented and calm. Jaerim pulled away and blinked furiously when she gave him a peck too. Blushing furiously, Soeun pulled him along with her when the rest of the students began emerging from the school.

Jaerim tapped her nose.

“Do we have plans tomorrow? It's the weekend!”

“Yep. We’re going to the place we first met.”

She said it in such a matter-of-fact tone. Jaerim looked at her quizzically. He didn't know if she remembered that they met at the soup kitchen, or if she was implying about school.

“School?”

Soeun shook her head, a glint in her eyes.

“The soup kitchen.”

He was stunned and his eyes became saucers.

“You knew about that?”

“Of course. The ahjumma there kept telling me about the boy that always helped out at the soup kitchen. She also told me the same boy was staring at me from the window…”

She winked at him and let go of his hand and ran forward. Soeun looked over her shoulder, teasing him as he stood frozen in his spot.

“Coming?”

Jaerim snapped out of his thoughts and ran up to her, capturing her in his arms as she erupted into a fit of laughter. And that's when he thought, that in that moment, he had never been happier.