Day 20

“Are you okay?”

As the blur started to fade, Daehyun’s pristine visage gradually came into view. His skin glowed a light amber and his eyes twinkled a soft brown as he stared down at me, emotionless.

My back rested against a slimy stone surface and a strong wave of warmth radiated one side of me, where a fire lay sparking up the surroundings effulgently.

I made a slight movement to turn my head and caused a quick shoot of pain to strike through my temple. I wince at the unexpected attack and freeze, feeling a bit dizzy. Daehyun lets a soft sigh to escape his lips before he moves back a bit, still watching my every move.

“Are you hurting?” he quietly asks, reaching out for something behind him.

I raise a hand to the side of my head and nod, indicating to the firing headache pivoting my skull. Daehyun dabs a warm liquid onto my ankle and I flinch from the sting, causing another strike of pain to shoot through the side of my head.

“My shelter collapsed, so we’re going to have to stay in here for a while.” He informs, keeping his focus on my ankle. The loud crashing of the waterfall sounds beside me as I lay there, exhaustedly.

My skin was burning but my blood had been running cold, eliciting endless shudders through my limbs. Things were still a blur; I couldn’t remember what had happened.

“How are you feeling?” he subtly questions, leaving a gentle palm against my calve. I run the tip of my tongue over the cracks on my lips and swallow thickly, trying to remember at least something.

All I knew in this very spur of the moment was that my world was spinning and that my body ached.

“Youngjae?” pressed the elder male, hovering over me.

“I’m fine…” I say, still stagnant. “I’m just...feeling a bit nauseous.”

“Can you sit up?”

I blink and give a little nod before slowly bringing myself up. The headache intensified and my head felt as though it weighed a hundred pounds as I gradually propped myself up on both elbows. Despite being half , I couldn’t be bothered to make a fuss since I had been hurting from literally all over.

“You’ve been stung Youngjae, do you remember?”

I sighed and felt as though a small amount of weight had been taken off my shoulders.

That’s it. I’ve been stung by a scorpion. 

“Yeah…”

Daehyun breaks into a small smile and folds his arms around his legs.

“You’ve got a bit of a fever, but other than that you’re almost perfectly fine. I have to maintain the wound though, since there are still some chances of infections.” Daehyun adjusted the fire using a large stick and suddenly perked up from an idea.

“Wait here, I need to go get something!”

I nod and lean forward, sliding my eyes shut. Was this really only a fever?

It feels a lot worse.

As I raised my head and eye the catch of shrimps lying beside the fire. Almost instantaneously I reached out and gobbled them up without realizing that Daehyun still hadn’t eaten anything yet.

I really hungry for some reason, and indeed I had been thrown off guard by my own greed. I wasn’t always like this. Daehyun returned with something prickly in his hand and his frown of disappointment didn’t go unnoticed when he saw that all the shrimps had gone missing.

 “Did the sting give you the munchies?” he chuckled, settling beside me with the piece of plant.

Clocking my gaze, he smirked. “Aloe Vera” he said, waving it towards me.

Ah, of course.

The plant known for it’s clear gel that could easily be extracted by a simple squeeze. Daehyun broke some of the Aloe Vera apart and applied the leaking substance onto my ankle with gentle circular rubs. It was cold and but very refreshing as it dwelled against the red and blue skin.

“Does it hurt?” he cautiously asks, looking up at me with a soft stare.

“No…” I whisper, relishing in the relief. “That feels better.”

Daehyun smiles sheepishly and puts the plant to a side before bringing himself beside me. “I was bitten once,” he started, our bare shoulders brushing. “It was on my arm. Frankly, I used the same method to remove the venom back then as I did today.”

My eyes fluttered in surprise; he removed the venom himself?

“It’s not the most pleasant of ways…but I guess it worked.” He said, playfully nudging me for my existence.

“What did you use to…”

I trailed off when Daehyun continued to pelt an affable smile in my direction. He raised a finger and tapped it beneath his bottom lip, resulting me to almost gag the shrimps I just ate.

Despite the gruesome fact, I was pleased to say that Daehyun had lavishly become my saviour, along with his pet partner.

How much more selfless could this boy be? 

~*~