She opened the door gently, not wanting to surprise him. Jimin was sleeping, only his head was exposed and the rest of his body were covered with the thick comforter. Slowly, she slipped in. In her hands, there were a glass of water and the pills she bought from the pharmacy earlier. After putting those on the side table, she gently lifted up the towel on his forehead. She placed her palm against it, checking his temperature. It was better, but still hot. With an extreme reluctant, she lightly shook his arm to wake him. She truly didn’t want to bothered his sleep, but he had to take the medicine.

Jimin opened his eyes with hardship and eyed Sooyeon faintly.

“You have to take the medicine.”

Jimin tried to sit up. Sooyeon helped him when she realised he was having difficulties to do so.

She handed him the pills and afterward the glass of water when he alreadt put the pill into his mouth. After taking a sip of the water, he handed the glass to Sooyeon before lying down. He couldn’t stand his headache. It hurt more when he was not lying down.

Sooyeon stared his writhed face with guilt. He was trying to block her from the rain yesterday, but ended up sick. She shouldn’t have let him exposed to the rain from the beggining. She knew that he was extremely easy to catch fever. She knew that  very well, but she just let him be. She was to scared to let him go. She just stayed still in his arm, with the heavy rain pouring on the both of them. She was selfish.

“You don’t go to school?”

With a shaky voice, he asked. His eyes was slighly opened, studying the girl who was just standing still by his bed.

“How can I with you like this? You can’t stay alone.”

Jimin’s pale lips carved into a light smile, thankful.

“Thank you.”

She just peered into face, pleased to see his smile, even though it was not bright as it always was. Eventually, she ended up mirroring his smile.

“Your parent went outstation. They’ll only be back after three days.”

“Oh.. really?”

He replied weakly.

“Poor you. You have to take care of me by yourself..”

She cracked into a chuckle at his words.

“It’s not that hard. You’re not a little kid.”

Jimin grinned at her words, but not long after the grin faded away.

“I’m sorry. You have to skip school because of me.”

Sooyeon’s pink lips stretched into a smile, revealing her beautiful eyesmile.

“It’s okay. When do I get the chance to skip school anyway..”

She said playfully. Her eyes were bright, indicating that she really didn’t mind skipping school to take care of him. But still, he felt guilty.

“Well, next week is exam. You will be left out.”

“Even at the school I study on my own. It’s just the same with studying at home.”

Jimin just stared at her as a response. The guilt was still in him. She must had been really upset to skip school. She studied so hard for the exam. At the thought of the exam, Jimin’s stomach churned in anxiety. He had to do well in this exam, otherwise he couldn’t join the basketball tournament. He still had many things to study, and he was sick. He wouldn’t had enough time to study.

Sooyeon noticed his troubled expression and sat at the edge of his bed.

“What’s wrong?”

Jimin looked up at her concerned face before letting out a deep sigh.

“I still have a lot to study for the exam.”

Sooyeon smiled assuringly at his words. She was actually pleased that he was finally starting to care about exams. He never did before.

Unconsiously, she put her palm and his hand, patting it gently.

“It’s okay. I’ll help you.”

With that, she left, leaving him alone, still dazed with her touch.

She came back soon after with a thick chemistry reference book. She dragged the chair from the dressing table to the side of his bed and sat down.

“We’ll study together. If you’re sleepy or tired, tell me.”

He fixed his gaze on her as she focused on flipping the pages of the book, focused on searching the topic they were about to learn.

“I guess it’s the best to start with Biodiversity. Since the topic is pretty long, and it’s not related to the previous topic, so, it’s okay to study this first. I think this topic will take up half of the exam. What do you think?”

She pivotted her gaze from the book to his face, only to find him was staring at her. His soft gaze peered right into her clear eyes, right through her fastly beating heart. After a few moments, the both of them snapped and looked away from each other.

Jimin cleared his throat in awkwardness.

“Mmm.. I don’t mind. We’ll start with that if you think that’s the best.”

He finally answered the question she asked earlier.

She nodded slightly before flipping the book to the topic.

Just like she did before, she explained the topic to  Jimin.

After an hour, she noticed that Jimin started to look sleepy. He had been yawning repeatedly and keep squinting.

“You’re sleepy?”

He turned to her, trying to keep his eyes wided open.

“No!”

Of course he lied. He was actually had been sleepy for a long time. But he held it in. He felt guilty for Sooyeon. She was willing to help with studying. He really felt bad if he was just going to stop studying only because he was sleepy.

She smiled mockingly at him.

“Don’t lie. You ate the medicine earlier. Of course you’re sleepy.”

He looked down in embarassment as he scratched the back of his head.

“Go to sleep.”

He stared at her face, touched. The edge of his lips slowly lifted upwards, showing a soft smile. A smile that cause her heart to skip a beat.

“Thanks.”

He uttered slowly before sliding under his thick comforter.

She could see he was squirming under the comforter for a few seconds, before he became completely still. Not long after, a soft snore was heard.

She then continued studying silently beside him, sometimes taking a glance at the motionless figure under the blanket.

***

For the umpteenth time, Jungkook turned to Sooyeon’s empty seat. Then, he diverted his gaze to the empty seat beside him. He had been wondering why the both of them were absent from the school. He didn’t know what was going on in his mind. He didn’t know what he was feeling. He didn’t know whether he was worried, upset, sad or what. He just couldn’t stop thinking about the both of them.

The deafening bell rang all throughout the school and the students rushed to the cafeteria. But Jungkook remained motionless on his chair. He turned to his left, and saw Hyojin was sitting still at her place. She seemed to be spacing out, completely unaware of the surrounding.

He got up and approached her.

“Hyojin..”

She snapped from her daydream and looked up at Jungkook. She blinked repeatedly, dazed.

“Yes?”

“Do you know why Sooyeon didn’t come to school?”

She huffed in dissapointment before shaking her head.

“Jimin didn’t tell you anything?”

He shook his head with a pout as a response at her question.

“Do you want eat with me?”

She turned abrubtly at him, quite surprised at his question.

“Eh?”

She exclaimed.

“I usually eat with Jimin, so.. I don’t have anyone to eat with now.”

She nodded in comprehension. She was just surprised because She rarely talk with Jungkook, not to mention eating together.

“Why not.”