The following day, Wonwoo went to the bakeshop just enough time for them to get ready. He was about to enter but the door was still locked, he found it weird since Mingyu would most of the time be awake and making pastries during this hour. Remembering the key Mingyu gave him last night, he searched his pants’ pockets for the key, and luckily he brought it with him. He inserted the key to the keyhole and pushed opened the door. The shop was surprisingly quiet and the lights were still off. He silently snuck in and was about to go upstairs when he saw Mingyu carefully climbing down, looking not-so-fresh, he looked really wobbly if not droopy.

“Hey… Mingyu? You okay? You seem… not fresh?” Wonwoo worriedly asked.

“I think I got a slight fever but don’t mind me, let’s just go bake and fast, it’s almost time we open.” Mingyu said in a raspy voice.

“It doesn’t sound like a ‘slight fever’ to me… Come here.” Wonwoo gently assisted Mingyu to stand properly as he pressed his palm on the other’s forehead and pressed his own forehead on the back of his hand on Mingyu.

Mingyu felt his face heating up from the sudden closeness. He furiously blushed and his face felt hotter than it already was. Wonwoo thought he was burning with fever so he assisted him upstairs to rest, telling him to take the day off.

“S-seriously! I’m fine!” Mingyu tried to wriggle his way out of Wonwoo’s grip but his body was too weak.

“You’re fine by now but you won’t be later. Now stop whining and be an obedient kid you are.”

“Fine. But do me a favor and put a sign on the door that we’re closed for the day.”

“I will. Right after I get you settled in bed.”

“Don’t expect a double pay for taking care of me, though” Mingyu weakly laughed.

“I’m not expecting of a pay on an off-day anyway, but now that you mention it. Maybe you should?” Wonwoo looked at the weak Mingyu on his shoulders and smirked.

“Stop that…”

“Stop what?”

“Smirking, you looked like you’re going to take advantage of me now that I’m weak and everything. Please don’t.”

“Shut up and tell me where’d you put your cold meds?”

Wonwoo gently plopped Mingyu to the bed when they finally reached his bedroom. Mingyu suddenly felt a throbbing sting of headache as he rested his head on his pillow, he began breathing heavily, feeling a lot worse than earlier.

“It’s… in the… medicine cabinet… in the bathroom…” He said in between pants.

Wonwoo rushed his way to the bathroom and grabbed a pill for colds and headaches before going to Mingyu’s personal kitchen situated beside the bathroom and grabbed a bottle of cold water in the fridge. He rushed his way back to Mingyu’s room with the pills and water.

“Here drink this and rest.” Wonwoo handed Mingyu the bottle and pill. Mingyu just obediently conformed. He sat up and drank the pill before laying down to the bed again, closing his eyes.

                Wonwoo felt extremely worried at Mingyu’s current condition. He was thankful that he got there just in time before Mingyu did something stupid like baking when he can’t even manage to stand up properly. When he saw Mingyu slowly drifting to sleep, he made his way downstairs and wrote a note on a piece of paper that the shop’s closed for the day and taped the paper on the front door.

                After settling things on the shop, he ran back upstairs and took the thermometer and ice bag from the same medicine cabinet. He distilled the thermometer and filled the ice bag with ice before rushing back to the sleeping Mingyu. He woke Mingyu up and asked him to put the thermometer in his mouth after that he placed the ice bag on Mingyu’s forehead before covering him up with the duvet. When he was about to leave, Mingyu grabbed his arms and weakly tugged him.

“Stay… Please…”

“I will, I was just gonna get you a towel.”

“Don’t… leave… please…” Mingyu tighten his grip on Wonwoo’s arms. Wonwoo felt a slight sting in his chest, it pains him seeing Mingyu not his usual self. He gently grabbed Mingyu’s hands with his other free hand before affectionately squeezing it.

“I won’t… don’t worry.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

Mingyu lets go of Wonwoo’s arm. Wonwoo took the chance to quickly grab a clean face towel from Mingyu’s dresser before going straight to the kitchen and find something that can carry water, it took him a minute to find at least a container but he only found a small bowl so he used just that, after getting the bowl filled with cold water, he made a beeline to Mingyu’s room. He dipped the towel to the cold water and wringed it thoroughly and wiped Mingyu’s face.

“Hey! you’re sweating a lot! You should change your clothes, or your shirt at least.” Wonwoo quickly grabbed a random shirt from Mingyu’s wardrobe. “Can you sit up?”

Mingyu submissively followed his order and sat up slowly. Wonwoo proceeded to remove Mingyu’s shirt but stopped halfway.

“H-hey… You think you c-could change on your own?” Wonwoo looked away from the half-topless Mingyu. The latter just weakly shook his head, left with no choice, Wonwoo continued undressing the sick Mingyu. When the latter was completely topless, Wonwoo grabbed the towel and dipped it again on the water before wiping Mingyu’s sweaty body. The older male was relatively nervous, seeing Mingyu topless was rather too much for him and considering the fact that he would be touching his bare skin made Wonwoo even more uneasy. The beads of sweat forming on Mingyu’s torso that’s slowly dripping down his abdomen looked somehow stimulating to Wonwoo. He was irresolute whether he should or should not wipe that part of Mingyu’s body but he has to. After almost forever, he was finally done wiping the sweat off Mingyu, he then changed his shirt before gently laying him down again and pulling out the thermometer.

“Well… it’s good that it actually is only a light fever, you should get some rest for now. I’ll be back later to check on you.” Wonwoo patted the younger’s hand and was about to leave the room when Mingyu limply grabbed his wrist. Wonwoo just looked at other confusedly.

“I… I can’t sleep…” Mingyu weakly said.

“Then what do you want me to do?”

“I… I dunno... maybe… lull me to sleep?”

“What?” Wonwoo revolted, he looked at Mingyu with wide eyes.

“Sing… for me… please…”  Mingyu tightened his limp grip at Wonwoo’s arm. Wonwoo felt a stinging guild shot through his chest, he felt bad if he refused a sick person’s wish. So with a heavy heart, Wonwoo sighed in defeat.

“Fine! But just this once, okay? But let me warn you, I’m not really a great singer so don’t go shoving this to my face when you get better, alright?” Mingyu just smiled and weakly nodded. Wonwoo heaved before he began.

Oh every time I see you

When I see your eyes

My heart keeps fluttering

You’re my destiny

The only person

I want to protect

Until the end of the world

When you look at me

When you look at me and smile

It feels like my heart will stop

How about you?

It’s really hard for me to handle

All day I think of you

We went in circles for a long time

But even if it is now, it’s alright

[Song: Chen x Punch – Everytime]

As soon as he finished singing, he found the younger drifted to sleep. He covered Mingyu with the duvet before lightly ruffling his hair. Wonwoo carefully stood up and left the room. He went down the stairs and stopped to stretch his body.

“Now… What should I do…”

He wandered around aimlessly, admiring the interior of the shop. It was his first time seeing the shop in broad daylight without any lingering smell or sight of a pastry, for him it was foreign and kind of weird but his thoughts were abruptly stopped when he stepped in the bakery’s kitchen.

“Maybe I’ll just try cooking something? A light meal for a sick person maybe? Hmm…” Wonwoo contemplated while checking all the cupboard but only found baking ingredients not really an ingredient for a ‘light’ meal he thought. So he decided to just go for a short walk to the nearby mini market to buy ingredients for something he still don’t know.

The walk was peaceful, the sight of people busy going here and there looking for things they’re buying made the district looked alive. However one stall got Wonwoo’s attention, it was a stall selling different kinds of herbs. He remembered his mother made him a rice porridge when he was young, it was a medicinal porridge with herbs. Wonwoo decided to cook that same porridge so he quickly grabbed his phone and dialed his mother’s number. After a couple of rings, his mother answered on the other line.

“Oh hi dear, what’s the matter?”

“Hey mum. Do you remember that porridge you made me when I was sick? The one with the herbs?”

“Oh that, yeah, why? What about it?”

“Can you tell me how to make it? But first I need the ingredients.”

Wonwoo listened closely to his mother and bought everything she said, luckily the stall had every herbs he needed, after buying the herbs he went straight to the mini market to buy whatever was needed and some snacks for himself. After buying the ingredients he hastily returned to the bakeshop and placed the paperbag on the counter his other hand still gripping the phone to his ear, listening to all what his mother telling him.

“Is that all? Wow that was simpler than I thought, thanks mum!”

“Do you need any help? I can come and help you”

“No need mum, just rest there, I think I can handle this.”

“Okay, but why all of a sudden?”

“Well… Mingyu apparently got sick for some reason and I’m taking care of him now since he live alone.”

“Oh…” Wonwoo’s mother giggled. “Be sure to give him a lot of LOVE~” His mother emphasized.

“MUUUMM!!” Wonwoo whined, bursting into a brighter shade of red.

“Bye~ Good luck with that then~”

His mom hanged up. Wonwoo’s still blushing but a smile crept to his face. “Love huh? Maybe I will?” Wonwoo shrugged just continued to prepare the dish.

After an hour and a half, he was done. He felt a mix of proud and joy for a job well done. He took a spoon and tasted his work and to his surprise it came out better than expected, considering the fact that it was his first time cooking such dish. He grabbed a bowl full of porridge and a glass of water then went upstairs to Mingyu’s room.

“Mingyu… wake up~” He placed the bowl and glass on the end table then shook Mingyu gently to wake him up. The latter droopily opened his eyes and looked at Wonwoo with a questioning look.

“Eat this first while it’s still hot then drink this pill and then go rest” Wonwoo handed Mingyu the bowl of porridge, watching him eat slowly.

“How does it taste?”

“I can’t really tell fully… my palate’s pretty numb… but I can taste something… different? But I can still sense that this taste good…” Mingyu smiled weakly at Wonwoo who just smiled at him back.

Mingyu continued eating while Wonwoo just watching him, the silence made Mingyu uncomfortable and knowing that someone’s watching him eat made it even worse.

“Wonwoo-hyung… It’s really awkward if you’re just going to watch me eat this whole time…”

“Oh… Should I? Leave?” Wonwoo was about to stand up when he saw Mingyu quickly looked at his direction.

“No! Stay… it’s fine… you can just maybe… talk, so I’ll feel a bit more comfortable…”

“Okay… But what should I talk about then?”

“I dunno?... Maybe your story… since I’ve already told you mine…” Mingyu looked at Wonwoo weakly and with jutted lips.

“Okay then, it’ll be quite long.”

“It’s okay… I’m eating slowly anyway…”

Wonwoo shifted to a lot more comfortable position on the edge of Mingyu’s bed.

“I’ll start back when I was around 14. Back then we were still kinda well-off. My dad owns a small company in Seoul and my mom was working here in Gyeonggi as a cook. I was tasked to take care of my 4 younger siblings when I don’t have school. Money was never a problem to us back then until one day, my dad got into gambling. He got really addicted to it to the point it became a daily habit and you know what’s worse? He … he’s downright the worst gambler in the world. Then the day came he went bankrupt and his company was forced to close but his addiction for gambling never ended. Then it came to the point where my dad doesn’t have any cash to bet so he instead used a cheque not knowing his bank account’s already empty. He betted a really large amount on that last cheque but it was late when he found out he got nothing left in his account. He tried to run away from the person he gambled with but let’s just say my dad is the epitome of bad luck. He didn’t know that the guy he gambled with was a member of a mafia, they found out that my father was broke and the cheque couldn’t be redeemed so they hunted for my father. Sadly they found out where we lived but during that time where was only me, my siblings, and my mom in the house. My dad wasn’t coming home for 3 days straight. They broke in to our house, checked every room and belongings we have, it seems like the furniture wasn’t enough to accumulate the debt. They told us they’re going to take the whole house. They were nice enough to let us stay for a month until we found a new home with whatever’s left with my mother’s account. Those 4 weeks my mom endlessly scavenge for a place for us to settle with the money she got from working as a cook, while I looked for a job to help my mom. I ended up taking 3 jobs, but juggling 3 jobs and school was hell for me, but I endured it. And so the day came when we were kicked out, we moved in to our current house on an alleyway with only clothes and some housewares and never heard of our dad ever again. The following years my mom scavenged for a job and likewise to me. I managed to finish high school but I never went to college. We’re literally working ourselves just to live these past years but I’m glad we’re surviving. Now only me and Bohyuk are working and our mom needs to stay at home since her body’s slowly weakening from aging. I know my life story sounds like a darn sitcom and I think about it being completely cliché but it’s a reality I’ve been through and would want to forget.”

There was a long silence in the room, Mingyu doesn’t know what to say, his fingers awkwardly rubbing the bowl of the long-finished porridge.

“Well… that’s that… here take this medicine and rest” Wonwoo handed Mingyu a pill and the glass of water before leaving the room. Mingyu on the other hand felt really guilty for making the other talk about it. When he was about to place the glass of water on the end table, Wonwoo peeked through the door.

“Oh and hey… If you feel bad about me, don’t be. I’m over it already long time ago. So don’t feel bad and just rest, okay?” Wonwoo reassured as if he read Mingyu’s thought. The latter just nodded and drifted back to sleep.

Mingyu woke up from his sleep, feeling a lot more better than earlier, he checked the digital clock on the table beside his bed, it reads 21:42. He checked around his room and didn’t find Wonwoo, he felt his heart palpitating, his mind was in panic, did Wonwoo left him? Didn’t he promised he won’t leave him? For today at least. He quickly sat up and draped the duvet around his shoulder and rushed outside to his living quarters, still no Wonwoo on sight. Mingyu felt a mix of betrayal and gloom, he soullessly climbed down to check the front door if it was closed properly but he stopped midway. Wonwoo was there, sleeping peacefully on the couch. Mingyu inched closer to the sleeping Wonwoo, the dim light coming from the staircase light gave a wonderful shade to Wonwoo’s features. It was a really wonderful sight to Mingyu’s eyes, his hands automatically found its way to Wonwoo’s hair and caressed the luscious locks of black intertwining with his hands. Wonwoo shifted on his position and slowly opened his eyes, surprised to see Mingyu, he quickly shot up and panicked.

“Mingyu?! What are you doing down here?! Are you okay? Do you need something? Water? Medicine?” Wonwoo questioned nonstop. Mingyu just laughed softly.

“Stop worrying yourself, Wonwoo-hyung. I’m fine, thanks for taking care of me”

“Oh… Really?” Wonwoo pressed the back of his hand on Mingyu’s forehead. “Oh you’re right, your fevers gone”

“But anyway… Why are you still here? Isn’t your shift already done two hours ago?”

“Well. I did promised I won’t leave you anyway. At least until you’re all better.”

“Thank you for keeping your promise, it really meant a lot to me more than what you think.” Mingyu hugged Wonwoo tightly, the latter just stood there processing what just happened before hugging back.

“By the way. The porridge you made earlier. Did you do it yourself?”

“Yeah, my mom made that for me once when I was sick. I asked her how to make it anyway.”

“I didn’t really got to enjoy the taste because of my taste bud’s being numb, but I bet it tasted really delicious. I think I could get used to being sick if I could eat that everyday.” Mingyu laughed.

“Please don’t.” Wonwoo lightly flicked Mingyu on the foreheard. “If you really liked it then I’ll make it again someday.”

“I’ll look forward to that!”

“But now that you’re fine, I guess I’ll be going home now. Think you can handle yourself?”

“Yep, don’t worry about me. Thank you… Wonwoo-hyung… I’m really glad you were there for me…” Mingyu stared at Wonwoo straight on the eyes. Wonwoo felt his blood rushed north and looked away.

“S-sure, no p-problem! A-anyway I’ll be going now. S-see ya.” Wonwoo stepped out of the shop and waved goodbye. Mingyu waved back and stared at the leaving figure of the older from the distance.

“I’m really fortunate that I met you… You don’t know but ever since I met you, my life has been having a series of really great fortunes. If you weren’t looking suspiciously in my shop that particular day, then I guess I’ll be here taking care of myself alone.” He paused and laughed lightly before continuing “Butterfly effect, am I right? Wonwoo-hyung?” Mingyu said to himself, smiling from ear to ear as he went back in and closed the door.

A/N:

Butterfly Effect - The phenomenon of which a change/choice/event made in a certain time can alter a possible outcome in the future. 

And soooo here comes the 4th chapter <3

Hope you like this one, I know the story kind of got into a really quick flow especially in the development of Wonwoo. I'm sorry! I'm rushing this fanfic for you guys and I felt really guilty for making you guys wait for months for this ;~;

Not including the fact that I have to remake the proceeding chapters after the 2nd one because gaht damn my PC went all cray... and I have to reformat her. T____T

Oh by the way I've recently downloaded Sims 4 in my PC and I had a lot of time and probably boredom while torturing my sims so I made a house representationg of MINGYU'S HOUSE and WONWOO'S HOUSE.

So anyway, PLEASE DO LEAVE COMMENTS I LOVE READING YOUR COMMENTS BUT I'LL APOLOGIZE BC I'M NOT REALLY A REPLY TYPE OF PERSON BUT I WILL TRY TO REPLY TO SOME OF YOUR COMMENTS!