A few days later

I, the only one in the classroom, sat silently on the chair, eyes directed on the board and vision still blurry from the strong headaches. My body burned up, beads of sweat formed on my forehead. My stomach growled and ached too. I felt nauseated. My head felt heavy and wobbled, i almost hitted my forehead on the table. I held my head in my palms.

What’s wrong with me? Since three days I have had a slight fever and felt dull pain in my midsection but I thought it wasn’t something that grave that’s why i didn’t go to the hospital. But now the symptoms worsened. 

I heard somebody enter the classroom. The person came closer and closer. It was difficult to lift up my head so I waited until the stranger was next to me and finally looked up. Because of my fuzzy vision, I couldn’t recognize the person first. When I blinked many times, i finally realized that Earn was the one in front of me. He examined my face.

  „You look pale. Are you alright?“, his gently voice echoed in my ears. He sounded like he cared and was worried about me. His caring expression, it seemed like he was feeling my pain as he saw me in this state. 

  „I’m okay“, this lie again. I’m sick of lying everyday to him but at this moment i don’t want him to see me in this pathetic condition. „Leave me alone!“, I spoke with a cold voice to him.

He stared at me, he seemed to be hurt and disappointed by my harsch words. I felt like a jerk for talking like that to him but I remained cold to him and averted my look from him. He sighed then went away. I saw to him until he existed the room.

A silent moment went by. I took my black bag, placed my palm on the wall to keep my balance then staggered forward. As i come closer to the school gate, I encontered Fee who was waiting for me. When he saw me wobbled in pain, he ran to me. My eyes swayed to the side and met with Earn’s. He too was waiting in the corner with his arms crossed on his chest.

The unbearable pain tormented me, I couldn’t stay upright anymore. I bent down and laid an arm around my belly. Earn moved a foot toward me but suddenly stepped back. It seemed that he wanted to dash to me but when Fee put his arm aroud my back to support me, he retreated his movement. His hands clenched to fists. 

  „What’s wrong?“, Fee’s concerned voice eased the ache a little bit. He touched my burning up forehead then widened his eyes. „You have a fever. Did you eat something that upset your stomach?“

I remembered that I didn’t eat anything special the whole day. I only ate the chips i brought this morning from an instant store. Unfortunately I couldn’t speak, i was trembling from pain.

  „You only ate the chips you brought from the instant store, right?“, he remembered on his own. „Maybe it didn’t go well with your stomach. You should go to the hospital.“

  „No“, i declined head shaking.

He pulled me up, now I was standing straight on my own feet. „Wait here for me“, he faintly said then rushed to the street. He tried to call for a taxi.

A cab driver parked on the side street and waited for us. When Fee advanced toward me, Earn suddenly blocked his way. They were discussing about something. There was a long distance between us, I couldn’t hear clearly what they were talking about. The conversation seemed not to go well, there was a threatening tension between them. Damn it! Are they arguing again?

Apparantly Fee didn’t like the conversation, he looked angry. All the sudden he furiously packed on Earn’s collars. Earn slapped his hands from his collar and smirked at him.

What the hell are they doing? I was about to break down any second and they’re busy with some private matters. Fee is a decent guy and doesn’t like violence. Earn’s the opposite of him that’s why i’m sure that my former best friend said something to upset him.

I strained my brain to think of the reason for their fight, however the headache worsened. Fee was telling him something. I staggered forward while glancing at the corners of my eyes at them. My eyes grew wider when i saw Earn angrily punch Fee on the cheek. The student council president fell, he hitted his on the ground. Earn looked furious like a bull who wanted to torment his enemy. I froze on the spot, couldn’t believe what i just saw.

What just happened? What did Fee tell Earn? I never saw him that mad in my seventeen years old life. He even wasn’t that upset as Noh rejected him and officially dated Phun. His angry face somehow scared me. He wanted to hit him a second time.

  „Earn!“, i shouted, he immediately stopped his movement, his fist was direct before Fee’s nose. „What are you doing?“, I screamed again. Although the pain sharpened and I was just before to collapse, I ignored my own health and tried my best to stop him from hitting Fee any further. „Please, stop“, i begged him, my voice was soft as if I wanted only him to hear me.

My stomach twisted as if somebody tied my guts altogether. I m.o.a.n.e.d in pain, I clenched my belly to aleviate the pain but everything I tried didn’t help. I screamed in agony. My vision blurred again, I lost strenght in my body and collapsed at the ground with my heavy eyes still fixed at Earn. My breath slowed down.

Fee rushed to me. Earn however stood riveted to the spot, he couldn’t believe his eyes that showed him me laying on the ground. Fee anxiously shook on my shoulder, he was calling my name over and over. I couldn’t respond, my voice was gone. He laid his arm around my shoulders and wanted to lift me up but couldn’t because of my dead weight body. Earn finally dashed to us, pushed Fee away from me.

  „What the…“, Pete shouted. 

  „Open the taxi for us“, he cut him off.

Earn put one arm around my back and the other arm under my legs then carried me in his arms. Taken by surprise, I wanted to push him away. He held me tighter and closer to his body so that i won’t fall down.

  „I know you’re angry at me but bear it with me for awhile until i bring you to the hospital“, he attempted to calm me.

I gazed at him and slowly calmed down. It’s not like that, Earn. I didn’t want you to carry me because i was afraid you would break your spinal. I’m a guy and looked all skinny but i’m not that lightly like many people would think of me. You shouldn’t carelessly carry me like that and ignore your own health. It was funny how worried I was about him even in this kind of situation but I wasn’t in the mood to laugh. Honestly, I felt secure in your arms. It’s like nothing’ll ever happen to me if you stay by my side. I carefully placed a hand on my belly and put the other arm around his shoulders.

Fee walked fast to the taxi and opened the door for us. Earn moved forward. I know he’s strong but i didn’t expect him to be that extreme strong that he can even carry me. The many training he regularly does isn’t waste of time after all. Somehow the pain eased a little bit. I closed my eyes. Earn put me carefully in the taxi and sat down beside me. When Fee took place beside me, the driver drove forward.

My condition deteriorated. I curled to one side. My head fell on the shoulder of one the guys. I moved my hand to the person I leaned on and gripped his thigh. My eyes were too heavy, i couldn’t open them to see which guy sat on which side. All the sudden i painfully gripped the thigh firmlier. I forced my eyes halfway open and looked up to see who I grasped that firmly. The guy I leaned on was brown-tanned, his body was strong and warm. It happened to be Earn. He too glanced at me.

It surprised me that my body reacted on its own and brought me closer to the person I wanted and needed most. Although I wanted to get over him, my heart never gave up on him. It knew what was good for me. I noticed that my hand that grabbed him pierced my fingernails into his skin. It left marks.

  „Sorry“, I mumbled an agologize.

  „It’s okay.“

The clinic was a few meters ahead of us. The driver parked the cab near the gate. Fee dashed in the hospital then came back with a doctor and two nurses who brought a lifter for me. Earn supported me to lay down on the lifter. The nurses brought me into the hospital. When we entered the hall, Earn suddenly stopped moving. I was too weak to call for him. Earn, please don’t leave me. I need you right now. The gape between us grew further until i lost sight of him.