Hana was preparing breakfast as usual for Donghae when she winced at the throbbing pain in her head. She stopped whatever she was doing and rubbed her aching temple while grimacing in pain. Not only that, her limbs felt sore, was dry and she felt like bundling herself in the blanket at that moment. She had been feeling sick ever since last night and that was why she had asked Donghae’s permission to sleep early last night. She thought the headache that she had been feeling would be recovered once the morning came. However, it turned out to be worse than yesterday.

She strengthened herself and continued making breakfast, trying to bear the pain that was throbbing in her head. She managed to bear it until the sandwiches she made were ready and right on time Donghae appeared handsomely in suits.

“Donghae sshi, can you eat alone today? I currently have no appetite to eat,” she said weakly and Donghae who noticed her unusual condition, furrowed his eyebrows.

“Are you okay?” he asked in concern.

She nodded in a weak manner. “I...I just...” she trailed off as she felt the world was spinning around her and the throbbing pain in her head became harder to bear till the point she couldn’t feel her legs anymore as her sight became blurry. Then, everything went black.

“Hana-yah!” Donghae caught her in his arms as she collapsed. Panicked, he patted one of her unusually red cheeks to wake her up and that was when he felt her cheek burning up. With that, he rushed out of the house lifting her up, heading to a hospital.

Hana’s eyes slowly opened and the next thing she knew, her surroundings were all white and the smell of medicine filled her nostrils. Her head was still aching but it was better than before.

“You’re awake,”

The familiar voice made her turn towards its direction and the next thing she saw, Donghae was by her side, sitting on the chair beside the bed and looking at her.

“Where am I? What happened?” she asked.

“Hospital. You fainted,” he replied. “Are you okay now?” he asked with a hint of anxiety.

She nodded. “It just...my head is a little bit aching,” she answered. She flinched a little when he suddenly placed his hand on her forehead.

“You’re still burning,” he mumbled and put his hand to his side back. “The doctor said you can go home once you wake up. Can you get up?”

She nodded and slowly got up straight on the bed. He helped her get off the bed.

“You can walk, right?” he asked.

“Neh,” she answered and started walking slowly despite her head which kept spinning. Donghae who found her a little unbalanced placed a hand around her shoulder in case she would fall. In his other hand, there was a plastic bag filled with medicines in it. They remained silent throughout the journey out of the hospital and towards where Donghae’s car was parked. Only when they got into the car and the car started to move did Hana break the silence.

“Gomawo,” she started off. “You only made me owe you a lot more by sending me to a hospital. I only have fever though. I can just rest at home. And because of me, you’re late for work,” she said.

“It’s okay. This is my responsibility as your ‘boyfriend’ anyway,” he smiled cheekily at her upon saying a ‘certain’ word.

She softly scoffed and smiled later on, feeling her whole body was too weak to even say anything in reply.

Once they arrived at home, Donghae sent her up till the bedroom and helped her lying on the bed―he insisted on doing that even though Hana had told him that she was alright. But anyway, she thanked him for that.

“You haven’t had your breakfast yet. I’ll make you some porridge,” he said.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to do that. I’m not even hungry,” she quickly said.

“You have to eat before you can eat medicine,” he retorted.

“Then, I’ll get up and eat a bit of sandwich that I made earlier,” she was about to get up but Donghae immediately held her shoulders, stopping her from getting up any further.

“What are you doing? You’re sick.”

“But I―”

“No buts. You get up, I’ll fire you,” he threatened.

“But...”

“I said no buts,” he looked at her threateningly.

Hana pouted as she hesitantly laid her head back on the pillow. She eyed him leaving the room as a small smile crept on the corner of her lips. What a good man, she thought. Then her mind wandered to the soft and comfy mattress that was under her body and couldn’t help but sighed in content as she drew the covers closer to her. Staring absentmindedly at the ceiling while waiting for Donghae, her eyes felt heavy and heavier and as time went by, she fell asleep.

After 20 minutes or so, Donghae entered the bedroom with a tray filled with a bowl of rice porridge and a glass of water on it. He placed the tray onto the bedside table and his eyes softened when they landed on Hana who was sleeping peacefully. He sat on the edge of the bed and eyed her sleeping. He wanted to wake her up but he didn’t have the heart to, regarding how peaceful she looked when she was sleeping. But still, if he didn’t wake her up, the rice porridge that he’d made himself would be cooled. So, he decided to wake her up.

“Hana-yah,” he gently shook her body and only after he did the same thing for a few times did she stir in her sleep and finally woke up.

“Huh?” she asked sleepily, her eyes half-opened.

“It’s time for you to eat,” he stated and carefully helped her sit up. Against the headboard laid the pillow she slept on, with her back gently leaning on it. He took the glass of water from the tray and put the mouth of the glass to hers, allowing her to take a sip of the warm water.

“How are you feeling?” he asked after putting the glass back onto the tray and took a bowl of porridge from it afterwards.

“Better than before,” she simply replied.

He nodded lightly then stirred a bit of the porridge before he blew on a spoonful of hot porridge from afar to cool off the hotness. When he lifted it towards , she got flustered.

“Uhh... it’s okay. I can feed myself,” she said and tried to take the bowl from Donghae but Donghae pulled it away from her.

“You’re sick. I’ll feed you,” he insisted.

“It’s okay. I can still feed myself,” she said stubbornly and gulped when Donghae looked at her as if he was annoyed.

“If I said I’ll feed you, then I’ll feed you,” he said, sounding stern this time.

“Fine,” she mumbled, pouting.

“Open your mouth,” he instructed, still in a stern tone.

Hana slowly opened and couldn’t help but blushed when he fed her. She blushed even more when he wiped the mess on the corner of with his thumb. Never ever did any man treat her this way before. He was the first one. And that made her heart somewhat flutter.

“Is it delicious?” he asked, in a soft tone this time.

She merely nodded in reply. She looked at him questioningly when he stared at her.

“Why are your cheeks so red?” he inquired as he lightly brushed his hand on her cheek, making her cheeks flushed even more. “I think your fever is getting worse. Hurry up and eat. After this, you can take your medicine,” he stated and continued feeding her again. He didn’t know that her cheeks were that red because of his heart-fluttering action.

“Uhm...I think I really can feed myself. You have to go to work, right?” she said, couldn’t help but felt awkward being fed by him. The fact that he was her employer only made it feel so...wrong. She felt undeserved to be treated this way by the one who paid her salary every month. He didn’t have to do this. He shouldn’t do this to a maid like her. But why did he do this? Did he always take good care of his employees like this?

“I’m not working today,” he replied.

“Why?”

“I can do whatever I want. I’m the CEO after all,” he said emotionlessly as he held another spoonful of porridge in front of . Hana opened receiving the meal. She didn’t know why but every time he fed her, she felt a strange feeling in her stomach. She wondered what the feeling was.

Once the porridge finished, it was the time for Hana to take her medicines. He took a pill for her and she took it from him and directly put it into . After that, he handed her a glass of water which she immediately took it and gulped the water from it.

Donghae was about to walk out of the room with a tray in his hands when Hana called him out. He turned towards her.

“Gomawo,” she said with a smile. She was laying back on the bed.

“No problem,” he repli