Yixing tosses and turns around on his mattress, desperate for sleep. He sighs, and sits up. It had been the same cycle for the past few days, too, and the fatigue was catching up to him and his temper fluctuates more and more.

Like just the day before, he almost flared up at an innocent customer when all he wanted was ketchup. Jooyeon had sent him to the kitchen to wash dishes for the rest of the night, unable to take it any longer.

He sits up in his makeshift bed on the floor and stares at his phone, which shows that it is 5:45am already. Less than an hour to daybreak; might as well get up now.

As he decides to go out for a walk, his mind keeps floating back to Suyeong once in a while.

Is she doing okay? Is she sleeping soundly now, as opposed to him who can’t sleep?

His mind floats to another part of his memory, and he tries to shake it away, but the more he thinks of Suyeong, the more the memory shows.

He knocks over a basket while absentmindedly wearing his shoes, and a photo of him and his mom tumbles out.

He pauses, and everything becomes as clear as day, as much as he avoids it, just like the sun which is illuminating the skies now.

It’s Tuesday today, and since I’m still on study break and the café is closed, I sleep in till noon.

The moment I went down, I was expecting my mom to be fixing my breakfast (or lunch, to be exact), but all I got is an empty house.

I wonder if she had breakfast already, since the hospital usually gives out breakfasts at 7am in the morning, which is still an unholy hour if you ask me.

I fix myself some coffee and bread and call her, something that I rarely do nowadays, I realize.

“Hello?”

I blink at her voice. It takes me a while to reply her while I try to process what is different about her voice. “Uhm, how are you feeling today?”

Good job at starting the conversation, Suyeong.

“Fine, I guess. I skipped breakfast; the things they serve here really .”

Finally, I figure out what was wrong. “Are you coming down with a cold?”

“Yeah,” She coughs. “I think it’s the germs flying about here.”

“Do you want me to buy any food for you? I can pass by the bakery. You liked their donuts last time, right?”

She laughs at my attempt. “Yes, but I don’t think I can eat that right now. Whatever I eat, I’d vomit it out.”

“What?” Panic rises within me. “Since when?”

“Since yesterday night.” She coughs again and I take that as my signal to hang up.

“Well, I’ll be coming down soon.” I glance up at the clock that’s hanging above our television set. “Probably would be around 2 by the time I reach there.” I hesitate, and say the words anyway. “Take care. Love you.”

And I hang up before I could even hear any reply.