"Here, put some ice on her forehead to prevent it from swelling," the nurse instructs as she hands me an ice pack.

"Thanks" I reply. The girl in my arms is still busy trying to lessen the pain in her forehead so she doesn't say anything.

"Hey, I'm gonna press some ice on you're forehead okay?"I inform the girl as I walk her over to a bench in the back of the waiting room. She nods in approval.

"Can you move your hands?"

"Yeah," she slowly removes her hands away from her forehead which she lifts higher up.

"I'll do it" she tells me as she grabs the ice pack. She starts pressing it to her forehead,but not enough on the right place.

"It's not covering you're affected area enough."

"But it's so cold..."

"It's going to swell though."

"Fine..." she shifts the ice closer into the bump on her forehead. But just a little.

"That's not enough... Here, let me do it," I take the ice from her hands and then press it directly in the center of where she got hurt.

"Ah!" she jumps up, causing the hand holding the ice to fall from her forehead.

"What happened?"

"It's so cold! I don't want to do this anymore..."

"But this is good for you."

"I don't want to..."

"Come on, if you don't, that bump on you're forehead is just going to swell up and it'll be worse."

She looks at me a little with pouty eyes before giving in," Okay..."

"Good," I come closer to her and resume with the ice. She cringes a little.

"Hold on a little longer. This is just going to make things better," I tell her so she can calm down. Why is she fidgeting so much?

After a while, the girl can't take it anymore s opens and screams, "Please stop!"

 I put a hand to . "Stay quiet. There are patients trying to rest next door." 

She looks up into my eyes, reads my seriousness and then nods.

Rewarding her with a slight smile, I say, "Good."

Then, I remove my hand from and resume pressing the chunk of ice to her forehead.

She cringes when she feels the ice on her forehead again. At least five minutes go by with both of us sitting in a bench in the nurse's office. I'm focused on her forehead while she's looking down. Nothing else - just looking down without a word. Why isn't she saying anything? Suddenly, I feel uneasy about this. How come she's so quiet now? Just a couple of minutes ago, she was screaming her head off. I know I told her to shush but this is just too quiet for comfort... I try to get her attention but it seems that her mind is in a different place now.

"Ahem"

...Nothing. She doesn't seem to hear.

"Hey?"

...

What is up with this girl?

"Hey, girl. Are you sleeping in there?" But that doesn't make sense. How would she be sleeping if her eyes are open. Suddenly, I become alert realizing that this girl might be in some serious condition. Did I just freeze her to death?

Then, doing something I have never done before, I use her name. "Jieun?..." No answer... Suddenly, I'm gripping her shoulders, shaking her and going, "Jieun! Wake up please! Jieun?!"

Without warning, her eyes fling open. I blink at her in both relief and disbelief.

"Hey, where you playing a trick on me?!" I demanded to know. My hands aren't gripping her shoulders anymore.

She raises her head and looks up at me. I immediately take notice of her eyes. They're watery.

"Hey - Were you crying just now?" Oh no, please don't tell me I just made a little girl cry.

She shakes her head.

"Then why are you tearing up? Was I being too harsh just now?" I did accuse her of playing a trick one me after all...

She shakes her head again

"Why aren't you saying anything?" I don't understand this girl. But all I know is that I can't stand to see her like this anymore.

She opens to say something, but instead, starts to cough.

"Jieun?... Are you okay." I don't know what to do about this fragile looking girl who's eyes are shinning with water.

She attempts to speak again and although her voice is shaky, she manages to get out, "I'm okay..." However, she still looks like she's about to pass out any time soon.

"You are?"

"Yeahhh" she says through gritted teeth. Her body is shaking. I can't take this anymore. Seeing this fragile looking girl so weak, shaking like this anymore. I extend both my hands out and grab ahold of both of her small ones, hoping to steady her. Instead, I find myself jumping back once I feel her hands.

"What the?!" Her hands are freezing!

I stare at her small little hands, like as if I'm seeing an alien. I grasp for one of her hands again, this time knowing what to expect and feel it again. It's rock hard ice against mines.

"You're so cold" I turn my eyes away from her hand to her eyes now. She's not looking at me but... I follow her gaze down to our hands still linked together. I let go and her attention is on me again. 

"Hey, are you naturally this cold or is it the ice?"

"Both..."

"Why didn't you tell me that the ice was too much for you?"

She shrugs. All these wordless answers finally make me realize that trying to speak is too hard for her.

"Sorry, I'll stop asking you questions." Then I take both of hands again and start leading her out the room.

"Where" I can hear her struggling to form words. "Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you home"

"But what about the meeting" she asked, through half open eyes.

"Forget that. You're in no condition to even talk, how are you supposed to sing?"

The lady at the desk looked at us with confusion as we past by the desk. "Goodbye?" but we're out the door before I can respond.

Waiting for a taxi felt like years. 

The girl was shaking even more now because of the cool, crisp air. I could hear her teeth chattering.  Trying to soothe her a little, I hesitantly, brought my arms around her from behind.

"Are you okay with this?" I asked her, not wanting to come across as some ert or something. Her head went up and down in response,which means I've got her consent so I continued to hold her in my arms. To my satisfaction, the shaking slowed down a bit. At the same time, I see a taxi pulling up in front of us.

"Can you increase the heat to it's highest please?" I asked of the driver when we got inside the taxi.

"Sure."

"Is that better?" I ask Jieun, who's dozing off.

"Yeah."

My heart still wants to do more for this suffering girl for some reason. "Come, face me" I tell her. She does and then I help her zip up her coat all the way and wrap her scarf around better. Out of curiosity, I bring the back of my hand up to her forehead. Instead of finding it ice cold, my nerves signal my brain that this is a hot, burning surface.

"What the - Now you have a fever?!"

.... She doesn't respond at all...

"Hey, are you asleep?"

Her eyes are closed so I assume she is. I bring one of my hands over her shoulders and bring her closer to me. Her head falls to  my shoulder, bringing a flower smell into my nostrils once again. I want to bury my face into this girl's hair but that'd creep her out so I watch her the whole time as the ride goes by.

Her bangs are covering her eyes so I try to part them with my free hand. However, what catches my sight when I part them is that bump in the middle of her forehead.

"Thank You" the girl mumbles through her half awake state. Hearing her, I remove my hand from her bangs.

"Thank you? For what?" I wonder.

"For taking me home..." she mumbles.

"But this is my fault that you're like this"

"No it isn't..."

"Yes it is, I shouldn't have kept the ice to you're forehead for so long in this weather, especially without breaks in between."

She raises her head from my shoulder and then faces me. She shakes her head no. "It's my fault in the first place. I should have paid attention to where I was going." Then she looks down. "And last time, you took me home too... I'm sorry for all the trouble."

What the... I really don't understand this girl. But when she looks up and I look into her eyes. She seems so sincere.

"No I - forget it, you need you're rest. No more talking, okay?"

She nods and I help her position her head on my shoulder again.

After a while, I break the no more talking rule to ask Jieun how she's feeling.

"Alright."

"Do you still feel cold?"

"I don't know... I'm shivering but I feel so warm and dizzy at the same time."

"We're almost to you're home soon so just hold in a little longer."

"Kay" and she buries  her head into my chest and I bring both my hands around the fail girl.

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Hey everyone, just wanted to say, Happy holidays! Merry Christmas to those of you celebrating it today. Sorry for the weird chapter... But I guess it came out like this because I was shivering myself while typing it lol.