First Touch.
Artificial Love.
Yifan can’t get up. He wants to throw his phone away after hearing the alarm going off in it but he just can’t. He can’t even move. The headache is terrible. He feels his breaths are getting blocked by the heavy flu. He feels cold yet hot at the same time. He hates it. He really, really hates it. His eyes are teary by his extremely warm body temperature even though he hasn’t even opened his eyes yet. Yifan doesn’t know how much time has passed as he stays like that on his bed, frozen.
He feels like screaming when he hears the door being open. “Yifan, honey, why aren’t you up yet?” His mother’s voice sounds a little angry. “Yifan?” He weakly shifts his head towards the voice and reaches out his right hand to her with much force, eyes still closed. “My God. You’re burning!” Yifan flinches at her loud voice after he manages to grab her wrist. He hums in content when he feels his mother’s palm on his warm forehead, loving the cool touch.
“I’ll tell Kyurin to cancel the appointment, okay?”
Yifan whines, taking her wrist again blindly. “Yifan, listen to me. If you go out today, you’ll become worse. We might even have to postpone the wedding.” With that, Yifan frees her and he feels his mother cupping his left cheek gently. “Just rest, okay?” He nods dumbly. Heesul calls Yifan’s secretary and explains the situation before telling him to inform his father. After that, she calls Junhee’s mother. “Hello?” She doesn’t expect to be hearing Junhee’s voice instead of Kyurin’s.
“Hi, honey. Is your mom there?”
“She’s still in her room, Mother.”
“Oh… Well…”
“What’s wrong, Mother?”
“I think Yifan can’t come to the photoshoot today, honey.”
“Why?”
“He’s having a high fever from the cold―”
“Really? Is it bad?”
“Well… He can’t even open his eyes just now when I checked on him.”
“Oh my God― I’m so sorry, Mother. If only he didn’t give me his coat, he―”
“Hush, honey. It’s alright. I’m not angry at you.”
“Mother, um, can I see him?”
“Sure. Don’t forget to tell your parents first, okay?”
“Un. Will see you in a while, Mother.”
“Un~”
Madam Wu squeals inwardly. She don’t want to tell Yifan that Junhee is coming over. She quickly heads to the huge kitchen to make soup for her sick son with the maids. The doorbell rings just after she has patiently fed her whiny son, “Wait for a while, okay?” A whine is all she gets before she quietly pads out of Yifan’s room. Yifan tends to be whiny when he’s sick. He also doesn’t like hearing noises, even little ones.
When Hangeng married her after a few months of his first wife’s death after giving birth to Yifan, Heesul immediately noted down little Yifan’s attitude in her mind. As Yifan began to grow and grow, she was so happy that the boy has accepted her as his own mother. In fact, he was so clingy. That doesn’t change though. A few hours later, the Kim’s have arrived. Junhee feels so bad after seeing the strained smile of Madam Wu’s.
“Don’t you say sorry, okay? Come in.”
The mothers exchange knowing looks between one another without Junhee’s realization before they move in to the living room. The thing is, Junhee can’t sit still. “Can I go ask her, Mom?” She asks her mother’s permission to follow Yifan’s mother to the kitchen. Her mother gives a little push behind her back to go on. Kyurin knows that Junhee isn’t faking her worry towards Yifan. After she informed her that the reason of the appointment has been cancelled, she noticed how sad Junhee’s face looked like.
Through the whole ride towards the Wu’s house, Junhee couldn’t stop blaming herself for Yifan’s high fever which made her to hold back a smile for many times. “Oh, hi, honey. Do you want anything?” Madam Wu greets her cheerfully once she’s in the pantry section. Junhee forces out a smile, “I’m good, Mother. It’s just…” She isn’t sure whether she should ask this or not. “What is it?” Yifan’s mother pulls one of her hands to bring her to the kitchen aisle to make iced-lemonade.
“I’m, um, I’m not sure if this is right or wrong to ask but can I see Yifan? It’s just― I feel so bad, Mother. It’s my fault―”
“Oh hush, honey. It’s not your fault. Like I said before, Yifan isn’t a little sensitive but too much sensitive with cold temperature.”
Junhee pouts in guilt, staring blankly at the glass jug where Madam Wu is pouring in the ice water before mixing it with concentrated lemon juice. She stays silent as she lets the elder woman to do her work. “Junhee, honey. Don’t be sorry about little things. People will get an advantage of you. Besides, you’re going to be my daughter soon. Why would I be angry at you when you didn’t do anything wrong?” Because I made your son to fall sick, Junhee says it in her head instead.
“Now go upstairs to the second floor and Yifan’s room will be right in front of the stairs. Give him this. Your mother and I will talk about the wedding plans. Get him to talk, okay? He’s always quiet whenever he gets sick.”
Junhee stares at the glass filled with warm lemonade before up to Madam Wu. The elder woman pats on her left cheek gently before she walks away to the lounge with a tray in her hands, lemonade ready to be served. Junhee has her mind in a total mess. Am I doing the right thing? Me? Yifan? Alone? In his room? Junhee ponders as she heads upstairs. The house is quite big for three people. She doesn’t mind though. Her father’s house isn’t any different either.
Junhee feels her heart weirdly beating fast when she’s in front of Yifan’s room. I’m just going to see him. That’s all, She convinces himself before knocking on the door but pauses on her actions. Yifan’s mother didn’t tell her to knock on the door. She just told her to give this lemonade to him. Should I knock? Junhee frowns, frustrated. In the end, she knocks on the door, which is barely hearable. Junhee hears nothing inside. She tries again, knocking on the door for three times.
“Yifan?”
Junhee calls out. She feels so awkward, standing in front of the door with getting no response. Junhee circles her fingers around the doorknob, thinking whether to go in or not to go in. What if I invaded his privacy? She begins to think too much again. Yifan’s room is quite same as hers, Junhee notices it instantly. The room’s color and the bed isn’t though. Her bed is in the opposite way of the room. She closes the door quietly and spots Yifan under the comforters, who’s probably sleeping.
The lemonade is still thankfully warm, and she places the glass on the nightstand. Junhee’s face is plastered with worry as she apprehensively stares at Yifan’s flushed face. Even though the male is sleeping, his face looks so suffocated. Junhee feels all bad again. “Ma…” She suddenly hears Yifan’s weak mumble which is almost barely
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