Your boyfriend was such a hypocrite. This time last week he’d been croaking ‘I’m fine’ at you and refusing to stay home because he had schedules he couldn’t afford to cancel. And now here he was telling you that you couldn’t go to work because you had a cold. 

“Will you move?” you asked. He was standing in front of your bedroom door blocking your escape route and while you could probably shove past him if you tried you didn’t really want to. Just because you could probably manage it didn’t mean it wouldn’t be a struggle, he was taller and heavier than you after all.

He shook his head. “I’m happy here.” He told you.

“Jaebum, seriously…” if he didn’t move soon you were going to be late. If you were late there was no way your boss wouldn’t jump on it and use it as a chance to make your day horrible. You felt bad enough as it was, you didn’t need that. 

“You’re sick. If you go to work you’ll just end up feeling worse.” He reasoned.

You rolled your eyes. “I’m not that sick.” You argued. And then your lungs immediately betrayed you as they launched into a coughing fit. Okay, so maybe you were a little bit sick. But since you weren’t dying and all your limbs were still attached your boss would be expecting you at work regardless. 

“Y/N, you look like death.” He told you once you’d caught your breath.

“Wow, thanks.” Being complimented by your boyfriend never failed to brighten up your day. “Now can you get out of the way? I have a bus to catch.”

“I’m not moving until you go back to bed.” 

His refusal to give in didn’t surprise you. He could be awfully stubborn. But then so could you. “Then you’ll be standing there for a really long time.” You countered. “I told you, I’m not that sick and I’m not going back to bed.”

“Missing one day of work isn’t going to kill you.” Your boyfriend reasoned, not backing down.

“You don’t know my boss.” If he did he wouldn’t be saying that. The man was a nightmare to be around at the best of times, he was ten times worse when he was in a bad mood and nothing put him in a bad mood like having to pay agency staff extra to cover . So yes, missing one day of work might very well be the death of you. And now Jaebum was smiling you noticed. He looked terribly pleased with himself and that worried you. What on earth was he so happy about? “What?” you asked, not sure you wanted to know the answer.

“Well the thing is, I do know your boss.” 

“Excuse me?” He’d never been to your work place, and you certainly hadn’t introduced them, you’d remember if you had. What was he talking about?

“I know your boss.” He repeated. “Or at least I’ve spoken to him. I rang him when you were in the shower and I told him you wouldn’t be in.”

“No you didn’t.” He was joking. He had to be joking.

“Yes. I did.” 

He wasn’t joking. “Where’s my phone?” you asked, horrified. “I’ll call him back.”

“You can call him back if you want but it’d be a waste of time. He’s already arranged for someone to cover your shift.” Your boyfriend told you still looking incredibly pleased with himself.

“Jaebum!” You whined. “I’m not a child. I don’t need you to call in sick for me. And even if I did want you to call in sick for me I wouldn’t ask you to. We’re supposed to do it ourselves. It’s in our sickness policy.” 

Jaebum nodded. “Yeah, your boss said the same thing. So I told him you’d lost your voice.” 

Your head hurt, your nose was stuffy and you couldn’t stop coughing but you definitely hadn’t lost your voice. “Why would you say that? Now when I go back I’m going to have to fake sounding hoarse.”

Jaebum, not having an answer for you, simply shrugged.

You sighed, exasperated. Then immediately started coughing again.

“Go on, go back to bed.” Jaebum said when you were done.

“Fine. I’m going.” You muttered. Arguing with him would be pointless, especially now that you couldn’t play the ‘I need to go to work’ card. “But honestly, I’m not that sick. Give it a couple of hours and I’ll be back to normal.”

~~~ ~~~

It was half past twelve, four and a half hours had passed since your argument with Jaebum and you felt ten times worse. You felt cold and shivery and everything hurt. You groaned and rolled over, burying your face in your pillow. You just wanted to sleep but every time you started to drift off you’d start coughing and jolt yourself awake again. Being sick . It almost as much as having to admit to your boyfriend he’d been right. Luckily he was in the other room watching tv so you didn’t have to, not yet.

“Are you awake?”

You mumbled a ‘yes’ into your pillow wondering how the he’d managed to get to the foot of your bed without you hearing him. What was he, a ninja? 

“I’m about to make lunch, what do you want?” he asked, voice closer now.

This time the reply was a muffled ‘nothing’. Eating took energy and energy was something you didn’t have a lot of.

You felt the mattress dip and your hair being brushed away from your neck. “I know you don’t feel like it but you need to eat. You’ll feel worse if you don’t.” he said, his voice gentle. 

You’d been expecting a self-