“What took you so long?!” Junho exclaimed when Jiwon and Nichkhun entered the room.

 

“It was just 15 minutes you know..” Jiwon replied, followed by a chuckle.

 

“Aren’t you supposed to still be attending classes hyung?” Wooyoung asked Khun.

 

Nichkhun put down his bag and the box of bread before answering him.

 

“The lectures were boring so I ditched after 2 or 3 of them.”

 

Jiwon sat on her bed and took her phone from the nightstand. There were 11 miscalls from Chanwoo, 15 from Byul, and 30 or so messages from both of them:

 

Jiwon-ah, where are you? Are you sick? – Chanwoo 7:10am

 

Jiwon!!! Why aren’t you here?? >< - Byul 7:13am

 

Pick up my calls you little brat… Please~ - Byul 8:00am

 

Why aren’t you picking up? Did something happen? – Chanwoo 8:32am

 

Jiwon felt bad for making both of them so worried. She should’ve informed them about not coming earlier.

 

Sorry for replying late. I felt sick in the morning so I slept in and forgot to inform you guys…  - Jiwon 1:15pm.

 

The door suddenly opened and came in one of the nurses from the station. She looked like an intern since she has such a young face and was timid with her steps.

 

“Jiwon-shi, here’s your lunch. Dr. Kim told me that you shouldn’t eat anything else other than what we give you. And please take your iron supplements after you eat,” the nurse said as she put down the food in front of Jiwon.

 

There was red rice, chicken soup, kimchi, and mixed fruit.

 

“By any chance, did my anemia comeback again?” Jiwon asked.

 

The nurse nodded.

 

“Dr. Kim said it came back because you stopped taking your antibody pills. You need to start wearing warmer clothes from now on since it’ll take some time for the anemia to fade again Jiwon-shi.”

 

Jiwon nodded before the nurse turned around and opened the door.

 

The guys who were listening didn’t understand half of the things that were said, even Khun. Jiwon started eating and didn’t realize the confused faces standing around her.

 

“All I understood from that conversation is that you have anemia,” Taecyeon said.

 

“That was basically what we talked about,” Jiwon replied.

 

“Hyung meant we didn’t get how wearing warmer clothes and taking antibody pills have anything to do with anemia,” Chansung said.

 

“Isn’t anemia when you have a deficiency of blood or something to do with blood?” Minjun asked.

 

“Woah hyung, I didn’t know you would know such a complicated medical term,” Junho teased, making the other guys laughed.

 

Minjun scoffed and slapped Junho’s shoulder.

 

“I need to take my antibody pills so that the cold antibodies in my immune system won’t appear and destroy my red blood cells since it thinks that my red blood cells are viruses or bad bacteria when I’m exposed to something cold,” Jiwon explained.

 

 Again, everyone had no idea what Jiwon was talking about. Fortunately, Nichkhun did.

 

“So you have hemolytic anemia?” Nichkhun asked.

 

Jiwon nodded.

 

“Can one of you explain with day-to-day language since we have no idea what those terms you used are?” Wooyoung asked.

 

“Basically, hemolytic anemia is one of the 3 types of anemia. It’s basically when your antibodies in the immune systems mistakes normal red blood cells as a virus so it destroys them. And people with anemia can’t produce red blood cells as fast as normal people so the destroyed blood cells can’t be replaced with new blood cells for a while, thus causing blood pressure to decrease and weaken the body,” Nichkhun explained.

 

“To add to that, my cold antibodies are the ones who take part in this process. So whenever I touch something cold or am exposed to extreme cold, my antibodies start destroying my red blood cells,” Jiwon added.

 

“Is it fatal?” Junho asked.

 

Jiwon stayed silent for a bit before nodding.

 

Khun’s heart fell when she nodded since he thought it wasn’t as harmful as the third type.

 

“Wait… so you can die if you have this? Why don’t I know this? I got my bachelors and I don’t know this?!” Nichkhun exclaimed.

 

“Well it’s only fatal if it isn’t treated. Or if something like the other day happened and I wasn’t rushed here… or if they don’t have enough blood to be transfused,” Jiwon said.

 

“Woah… this is a lot to take in,” Taecyeon said.

 

“Thank god I’m not a medical student,” Minjun said.

 

“I’m sure they wouldn’t let such a forgetful brother in the program anyways,” Junho teased again.

 

“Yah! Stop teasing me you little shi-

 

“Calm down hyung. We’re going to get kicked out if you make more noise,” Chansung said.

 

“What did you do for your anemia to comeback? Bathed with ice cubes?” Wooyoung asked.

 

Jiwon thought about it for a moment before remembering fixing the AC while it was still on. She rubbed her neck and let out a nervous laugh.

 

“I sort of fixedtheACwhileitwasstillrunning,” she mumbled since it was so stupid.

 

“What?” Junho asked.

 

“I was fixing the AC the other day and it was still running. I forgot to turn it off or at least turn it down and so my hands were frozen for at least an hour…”

 

Everyone faced-palmed themselves, especially Khun.

 

“Are you incredibly stupid or what? You could’ve killed yourself idiot!?” Khun exclaimed.

 

 Taecyeon started rubbing Nichkhun’s shoulders to calm him down. Khun’s ears were already bright red due to his anger.

 

“I forgot about my anemia…it’s been 2 years since I last had it,” Jiwon said as she stuffed with rice.

 

“You should’ve at least asked Khunnie to do it Jiwon-ah. You know how worried he can be,” Minjun said.

 

“I didn’t want to disturb him,” Jiwon replied.

 

“When did you fix it anyways?” Chansung asked.

 

“Uh, at like 2 in the morning I think… I woke up since it was really warm and used the toolbox under my bed to fix it. Nichkhun was sleeping so soundly since he was tired after the lab so I didn’t want to wake him,” Jiwon answered.

 

Khun got even more frustrated and sighed. It was very thoughtful of her, but she should’ve woken him up knowing her condition.

 

“I really want a wife like you…” Junho mumbled, not realizing that he said his thoughts out loud.

 

“W-What?!” everyone yelled.

 

“Did I really say that out loud?”

 

Everyone nodded and shook their heads. This was quite typical of him to say such things.

 

“In my defense, I really mean it. Having someone who takes care of you well and worries about your well being is something I wish to have. If I proposed to you right now, would you say yes Jiwonie?” Junho asked, batting his eyelashes at Jiwon.

 

Jiwon let out a small chuckle.  

 

“Sorry, but you’re kind of not my type…” Jiwon replied.

 

“HAHA BURN YOU LITTLE PUNK!” Minjun exclaimed.

 

Chansung slapped his hyung’s back to remind him that they were in a hospital full of sick patients that doesn’t need to hear an old man yelling nonsense.

 

“So when are you going to be discharged?” Nichkhun asked.

 

“Uh, after I eat. They already packed my medication and stuff,” Jiwon answered.