Jiwon walked into the lab and towards Nichkhun’s table. She dropped her bag beside her chair and sat down. Nichkhun who was looking into the microscope looked up and frowned at her.

 

“What took you so long? I thought something bad happened,” he said.

 

“There was a lot of traffic so it took me longer to get here,” she lied.

 

“Traffic that took you more than half an hour to get here?” he questioned.

 

Jiwon nodded as she put on her lab coat. Nichkhun didn’t quite believe her, but she didn’t show any suspicious behavior so he let it go.

 

Today, they needed to start on their final project. Their final project is something they need to work on the whole year and submit a full report by the end of the year. They decided to do the project on hormonal growth in children. For 2 hours, they diligently worked on the project until it was time to go to their next schedule, which was clinical internship.

---

“Let’s grab something to eat. I’m starving!” Nichkhun exclaimed as they walked out of the university hospital.

 

Jiwon shook her head as she blinked a couple of times to get rid of the dizziness she felt from earlier. This to her was a sign that she was going to get a fever or a flue. It was pretty normal to her since she gets sick a lot due to her weak immune system. Running in the rain the other day wasn’t such a good idea after all.

 

“You’re not hungry?” he asked.

 

“Let’s just eat at home…” she replied.

 

“Too tired to go to a restaurant?”

 

She nodded as her steps got slower.

 

“We need to buy some groceries though, your fridge is empty,” Khun said as he opened the car door for Jiwon.

 

Jiwon got in and rested her eyes for a moment. She didn’t want to worry Khun and turn this into a big deal, so she needed to pretend like she’s fine until she gets home.

They arrived at a supermarket 10 minutes away from their apartment and got in. It had just opened a month ago and was really big, but wasn’t too crowded. Nichkhun took a trolley and pushed it as they explored each aisle. By the time they reached the fish section, their cart was already half full. Most of the items on the cart are snacks (courtesy of Nichkhun) and the rest are toiletries and tissues/pads. It was embarrassing when they walked through the pads section since Khun kept asking weird questions about sizes and periods.

 

“What do you feel like eating tonight?” Khun asked as they wondered around the meat area.

 

“Ramyeon,” Jiwon replied truthfully.

 

Khun rolled his eyes as he put a couple of beef and pork cuts in the cart. He also got some fresh vegetables and fruits as well.

 

“I want potato stew~” Nichkhun hummed as he put some bags of potatoes in the cart.

 

Jiwon nodded; she too wanted something warm and soup-y.

 

“But I don’t really know how to make it though…” Khun mumbled as he contemplated whether to put the potatoes back or not.

 

“I can make potato stew… my mom taught me once when I was like 10 or something,” Jiwon replied.

 

“Hmm, your mom’s not such a bad person after all,” he said as they walked to the cashier.

 

“That was before she started drinking a lot and stuff. I guess puberty made me see the ‘real’ her,” Jiwon responded, sadness and anger evident in her voice.

 

Nichkhun didn’t want to talk about it anymore since he knew how sensitive this topic was to her. They quietly put the items on the counter while waiting for the cashier to check them out. After 10 minutes or so, they both carried 4 bags in each hand and walked back to the apartment.

 

When they arrived back, Jiwon put the bags down as she tried to regain her balance. Her dizziness was getting worse and a fever was forming. She quickly walked towards the kitchen cupboard and swallowed a fever pill to make sure her sickness doesn’t get worse.

 

Khun on the other hand was too busy taking the groceries and putting them in their places. He also put all the ingredients for the potato stew on the kitchen counter for Jiwon.

 

“Just watch TV or something while I make this okay?” Jiwon said as she stood beside Khun and gave him a push.

“If you need any help, just call me. I’ll be here for you~” Nichkhun replied before giving her a wink and walking away.

 

Jiwon scoffed as she tied her hair back and out on an apron. She started boiling the pork and some other ingredients for half an hour before chopping the vegetables. While doing so, her vision blurred and suddenly,  she felt a sharp pain and liquid coming out of her finger. The knife dropped to the ground as blood dripped from her finger. Nichkhun who was in the middle of show stood up when he heard something fall.

 

“Is everything alright?” He asked as he walked towards the kitchen.

 

Jiwon quickly took a paper towel and covered her bloodied finger, but it was no use since the cut was pretty deep and wide. There was so much blood gushing out.

 

“Yah, did something happ- Holy …” Nichkhun said as he was shocked to see the amount of blood on the floor and on her apron.

 

He rushed to her side and examined the cut.

 

“This is really deep Jiwon. How did this even happen?!”

 

Jiwon pulled her hand out of his grasp and casually took out the first aid kit. It wasn’t the first time something like this happened, so she didn’t freak out like him.

 

“It’s not that deep… a few stitches would do,” she said while taking out the needle and thread.

 

Khun took the needle and thread from her hands and started preparing.

 

“I can do it by myself-

 

“And hurt yourself again? I don’t think so.”

 

Jiwon rolled her eyes.

 

“Don’t treat me like I’m some kind of fragile doll or something. I can do it myself,” Jiwon insisted.

 

“Why do you keep thinking that when someone offers you some help, it means you’re weak? Or you’re not capable of doing it yourself,” he said.

 

Jiwon wanted to answer him, but he beat her to it. 

“I’m not implying that you’re weak or fragile like you said. I’m just offering you some help.”

 

“Well I don’t want your help, so let me do this myself.”

 

Khun ignored her and continued on with his stitching skills. Jiwon knew that Khun wouldn’t give up, so she let it go since he already started anyways. Jiwon would flinch from time to time, but it didn’t really hurt as much as people thought it would. The thing that bothered her the most was her never-ending headache. If Khun knew about this, his over-dramatic side would come out. Good thing he’s oblivious…

 

“There you go, all stitched up and pretty.”

 

Jiwon examined the stitches and nodded.

 

“Your stitching’s so messy. I can definitely do better,” Jiwon said as she stood up and continued her cooking.

 

Nichkhun smiled and decided to stay with her in the kitchen. He wasn’t in the mood to see another accident happen and more blood spilling.

 

By the time Jiwon was done cooking, it was already 10 past 7. Khun kept a close eye throughout the rest of the cooking process and made sure Jiwon didn’t hurt herself again. When he was watching her, he realized how clumsier she was. Her steps also got slower as she kept tripping as she walked. He kept that in mind as Jiwon told him to sit on the couch while she brought 2 bowls of rice.

 

“This looks really good~” Khun hummed as he started eating.

 

Jiwon smiled and started eating as well.

 

Nichkhun devoured his bowl of rice along with half of the potato stew while Jiwon wasn’t even close to finishing half of her share. Her appetite disappeared, as the headaches became worse and worse. Nichkhun noticed how slow she was eating and frowned.

 

“Are you on a diet? Because you really don’t need to you know…” he said.

 

Jiwon shook her head and shoved a spoon of rice in . Chewing was even hard for her since she couldn’t focus well due to the dizziness and sudden weakness.

 

“You know, you’ve gotten really clumsy lately. Well not lately, but just today. You dropped a lot of things that weren’t really supposed to drop and you tripped a lot. You even almost dropped the pot of stew! Is this like a phase or something?” He questioned.

 

“I just feel really tired today,” she explained.

 

“You’re not sick are you? Your face looks really pale.”

 

“What? Of course not! Why would I be anyways?” She exclaimed, a little too quickly.

 

Nichkhun raised an eyebrow before continuing.

 

“I mean, we did run around in the rain the other day. I remember the doctor told me that your immune system was crap.”

 

Jiwon nodded while trying to find the right words to say.

 

“Well I’m perfectly fine. Rain’s not harmful to me,” she replied with an assuring yet painful smile as her head felt like exploding.

 

Jiwon then stood up and decided to get the other jug of water in the fridge. When she stepped forward she lost her balance and fell to the floor. The glass jug of water she was holding broke into pieces as her arms rested on them. Her vision was blurry and her ears filled with the screams coming from Khun who was panicking like there was no tomorrow. The last thing she heard before her vision completely out was Khun calling out her name.

---

Her eyes opened slowly and closed again as the light from the ceiling blinded her. She didn’t really remember what happened and didn’t how where she was. Her guess was that she was in the hospital because of the familiar smell and celling. Jiwon looked at her right hand and saw the IV needle already attached to her veins. One of the things she hates about the hospital was the damn IV drip since she didn’t like anything injected in her body for a long time.  She immediately took out the needle with force as blood started dripping from the back of her palm. An alarm-like sound started to ring when she took out the needle. what the hell?… she thought to herself.

 

Just as Jiwon was about to walk to the bathroom, 2 nurses came in along with a worried Nichkhun. The three froze when they saw the hanging IV needle and the massive amount of blood on the bed and on Jiwon’s hospital pajamas.

 

“Ms. Song, please lay back down on your bed so we can put the IV needle back in,” one of them said as she approached Jiwon.

 

“Didn't Dr. Kim tell you how much I despise IV needles? ” Jiwon questioned. 

 

“He did, but we need to insert it back in so that the medication would get in your body,” the other nurse said.

 

“I don’t want to… just give me some pills and antibiotics or something like usual. I’m just having a fever or something,” Jiwon said as she started to panic.  

 

“Jiwon-ah, just do what the nurses say. The medication you’re taking doesn’t come in pills. You’ve lost a lot of blood too so just sit back down on your bed,” Nichkhun said as he slowly walked forward.

 

Jiwon started to search for Dr. Kim since he’s the only one she trusts. Ever since she was a kid, she hated IV drips because of an accident that happened. Since her parents were rich business owners, there were a couple of people who tried to kidnap her or her brothers and also poison them. She almost died because a woman dressed up as a nurse and switched her IV bags with one that contained hydrogen peroxide. Good thing she noticed the different color of the liquid in the IV bag and also the fake nurse outfit. She could’ve died instantly any amount of that liquid went inside her. 

 

“Tell Dr. Kim to come here and I’ll put the IV needle back in,” Jiwon replied.

 

“He’s in a meeting right now and you’re losing a lot of blood! Your anemia will get worse Ms. Song!” the nurse started to yell.  

 

Jiwon looked around the space between her and the door, and ran for it. Her fever was still high and it made her hallucinate that wasn’t even happening. Khun quickly ran after her, as their gap got bigger because of how fast she was. Jiwon’s room was at the very top floor, which was usually hospital suites, so not many people were there. As she was running, she bumped into someone’s chest and looked up to see whom it was.

 

“Jiwon? What are yo-

 

“Hyung don’t let her go!?” Nichkhun yelled from 10 meters away.

 

Minjun didn’t quite catch what his friend said, so Jiwon took this opportunity to keep running. Fortunately, Taecyeon understood and hugged her tightly to keep her from running away. He thought that it would be easy to keep her from running, but she turned out to be really strong… like REALLY strong.

 

“A little help please…” Taecyeon said to Junho.

 

Junho hugged Jiwon from the other side and yelled at Khun to hurry up. At that exact moment, Jiwon’s brothers arrived and immediately freaked out when they saw what was happening.

 

“Holy … how can this happen again?” Jimin mumbled to himself as the twins jogged to where the rest were standing.

As blood kept running down her hand, Jiwon felt weak, dizzy, and out.