When they arrived in front of Jiwon’s house, Nichkhun told his driver to wait as he helped Jiwon out of the car. He went in the building and was greeted by an old lady.

 

“May I help y- Oh! Jiwon-ah! Are you okay?” She asked, looking at Jiwon with worry.

 

“Where’s her room ahjumma?” Nichkhun asked.

 

The old lady quickly showed him to her room upstairs and opened it for them with a spare key. Nichkhun quickly carried her to the bed as her legs gave up on her.

 

“Yah! Stay with me okay? You’re going to be just fine.” Nichkhun said as he slapped her cheeks lightly and ran out to get medicine from her kitchen cabinet.

 

Jiwon on the other hand felt so weak. She was seeing double of everything now as he head kept pounding. She was shivering violently, squinting her eyes to get rid of the pain in her head. Nichkhun found a temporary fever syrup and quickly ran back to her room to feed her. In 5 minutes, she was already dozing off due to the heavy fever syrup. Nichkhun was worried that her fever would get worse so he called his personal doctor to help out.

---

“According to her health records, she’s suffering from anemia and has a very weak immune system. Good thing you called me Khun. If you didn’t, her condition would’ve been worse. ” The doctor said as he packed up his things.

 

The doctor rushed to where they were when Nichkhun called. After reading Jiwon’s file on the way there, he rushed even more because of her condition. He injected her with a medicine that would help the fever to go away quicker and calm her stress. He couldn’t use a harsher medicine because of her weak immune system.

 

“Take care of her. Don’t leave until she feels better,” the doctor said as he opened the front door.

 

“I won’t. Have a safe trip back,” Nichkhun replied.

 

After the doctor left, Khun went to Jiwon’s room and stared at her sleeping state. Her face was visibly pale and he couldn’t help but worry even more. He decided to kill time by making some food for them to eat when she wakes up later. He opened the fridge and found a couple of eggs, milk, left-over pizza, kimchi, and other useless ingredients. There was nothing he could use to make decent food, not even rice.

 

He decided to go the market and pick up a few ingredients.

 

While Nichkhun was busy grocery shopping, Jiwon woke up. She carefully sat up as every part of her body ached. When she opened her eyes, she realized that she was in her room. She didn’t remember anything that happened and only remembered the immense pain she felt in her head earlier. Jiwon put a hand on her forehead to check if her fever was gone, but as usual, it got even worse. She decided shrug it off and walked out of her bedroom. As she walked towards the kitchen, she spotted a familiar red bag and laptop case. She also spotted a familiar pair of sneakers by the entrance.

 

Is somebody here? She wondered. Jiwon decided to check if anyone was here, but she found nothing.

 

Maybe someone helped me and forgot to take his/her stuff. Probably someone from school.

 

Suddenly, her stomach growled out of nowhere. She looked at the clock and saw that it was already 6pm. Wow, I haven’t ate since 12…6 hours of no eating left me SO hungry… urgh.

 

Jiwon knew she hasn’t gone grocery shopping, so she could only use the ingredients she has on hand right now. She decided to make a simple kimchi stew with the leftover kimchi and glass noodles from a couple days ago.

 

Meanwhile, Nichkhun was done grocery shopping and was walking up the stairs of the two-story apartment building. He bought some rice, meat, veggies, and 2 packets of instant porridge. He also stopped by a convenient store to buy some snacks that he forgot to buy in the supermarket. When he opened the door to Jiwon’s room, the smell of kimchi stew hit his nose. At first, stayed frozen as he took in the delicious smell, but a second later, he realized that Jiwon had woke up.

 

“Oh good, you're awake,” Nichkhun said, catching Jiwon off-guard just as she was carrying the hot bowl of stew.

 

Jiwon quickly let go of the pot on the table and hissed at the pain. Rather than helping her, Nichkhun bursted into a fit of laughter. 

 

“A-Are you o-okay?" he asked, walking towards her while still laughing. 

 

Jiwon was both shocked and infuraited. She made a fool of herself in front of the person she hoped to avoid.

 

“You're such a for tresspassing and laughing at my pain," she said as she grabbed some paper towels. 

 

“Sorry for laughing, but I didn't tresspass. You fainted in school so I carried you all the way here," Nichkhun said. 

 

Jiwon looked at him and sighed as she walked towards the bags of groceries. She knew her health was bad, but fainting in school was going overboard. 

 

“Well, I'm feeling a lot better now. You can go home,” she said, picking up the bags.

 

Nichkhun rushed to her and took the bags of groceries out of her grasp.

 

“You clearly look like so I might as well help you,” he said.

 

“I can take her of myself Khun, just go home. You must be tired anyways,” she said, pushing him towards the door. 

Nichkhun helped her clean the mess and brought her to the couch. 

"I know you can take care of yourself, but just let me help you," Nichkhun pleaded before he got up and continued to the kitchen.  

 

Jiwon sighed and sat comfortably. She knew well enough she  couldn't change his mind anyways. 

 

"I made stew you know... we could just eat that," Jiwon yelled. 

 

“You have a fever so it’s better to eat porridge than stew. I would’ve been fine with you eating it if you had a cold so your nose wouldn’t be clogged up.” He replied.

 

Jiwon made a disgusted face and shook her head. 

 

"How is eating porridge better than soup? Clearly it's more disgusting," she said. 

 

Nichkhun scoffed. 

 

"Stop complaining and just wait patiently... I'm almost done," he said. 

 

Jiwon sighed again and closed her eyes. The pain in her head was still throbbing and she hated how it was getting worse.

 

"Tada~ Instant chicken porridge by the one and only: me," Nichkhun said as he placed the tray of porridge in front of her.

 

Jiwon opened her eyes and couldn't help herself from making gagging noises. She hated porridge to the core and seeing one look so green and mushy disgusted her so much.

 

"What's wrong?" Nichkhun asked.

 

"Nothing... it's just that porridge disgusts me," Jiwon answered, pushing the tray away and bringing the bowl of kimchi stew near her. 

 

"Wha-? Porridge is good! I purposely bought the highest quality one for you," he said. 

 

"You can eat that if you want. I'll stick with my stew," she replied. 

 

Nichkhun scowled and started eating the porridge. He doesn't understand how someone could hate porridge since it's so good.