She was dying, Haneul was sure of it.

                Okay, maybe she was exaggerating a tiny bit, but she wouldn’t be lying if she said that her head felt like it was about to explode. It was almost as if there was something pushed up against all side of her head, squeezing and compressing her brain into mush. Not only was her head pounding, her entire body felt like it was on fire despite the fact that she was shivering from the low temperature in her room.

                She knew she had to get up, that she had a class to attend to, but her body refused to listen to her as it remained limp under her covers. Her limbs felt like lead and trying to move hurt every cell in her body. She couldn’t even lift a finger to turn off the alarm on her phone and continued to stare blankly into space, her ears dull to her surroundings.

                Haneul wasn’t the type to get sick easily, but when she did it would usually be really bad. Just like today. The last time she felt this sick was over a year ago when she had gotten the flu some time before their final exams. It was so bad that her sister had to take a leave of absence from her job just to take care of her and make sure that she was properly fed and hydrated. Thankfully, it had only lasted for three days before she began to feel much better. Naturally, Jackson was livid when he found out about it and insisted in giving her oranges every day for the next few weeks to make sure she had her daily dose of vitamin C.

                As she continued to lay in bed, her eyelids became heavier as sleep tried to reclaim her. She didn’t even notice that her sister had knocked on her door several times before Hani finally let herself into her room.

“Hey, you’ll be late if you don’t get your out of bed!” her sister scolded, before stopping short at the sight of the younger girl’s pale face. Her instincts kicked in and she briefly touched the back of her hand to her sister’s forehead. She was burning up! “Haneul, why didn’t you tell me you were sick! Geez, now I feel like a jerk.”

“S’okay.” Haneul sniffled, her tired eyes squinting at her sister’s scrubs. “Morning shift?”

“Yeah, yeah,” her unnie answered and waved her hand dismissively. “But I guess I’ll have to stay home now that you’re sick. I can’t possibly let my own sister fester in her room when I’m supposed to be a good nurse.”

                Haneul frowned and shook her head, immediately regretting it when pain shot through her temples. “No, you should go,” she insisted. “I’m fine. S’just a cold.”

“No way,” Hani protested, rolling her eyes. “You can’t even cook for yourself when you’re healthy, how are you supposed to cook anything when you’re sick?”

                Haneul didn’t even have the energy to feel offended and settled for shooting a half-hearted glare at her sister.

“Fine, fine, I’ll go.” Hani quickly backed out of the room with her hands up in defense. “But I’m sending someone to check on you. No excuses!”

“But –“ The door to her room shut before she could finish her sentence. She didn’t even bother to argue with her sister. Haneul huffed and snuggled deeper into her sheets, wincing slightly when the movement aggravated her headache.

                Outside her room, she could hear her sister complaining about being late and how Haneul ruined her chance of getting a day off work. The said girl rolled her eyes beneath her closed lids, knowing that Hani loved her job and was just being dramatic. A few moments later, she heard her sister open the front door and holler, “I left some medicine on the table if you ever manage to get out of bed later. Don’t be dead when I get back tonight!”

                It didn’t take long before she fell asleep again, not even noticing the vibrating of her phone beside her head.

                Later that afternoon, Jackson stood over Haneul who was still pretty much dead to the world. He had rushed over as soon as his last class had ended, just as he had promised Hani when she had called him earlier.

                 It was a little funny seeing her in the same position as over a month ago when he had come over to apologize to her. However, as fun as it was to take photos of her drooling in her sleep, he preferred seeing her when she was awake and well.

                Thinking back to the conversation he had with her older sister a few hours ago, Jackson felt blood rush to his cheeks for the second time that day.

“Hey, Seunnie!” Hani greeted loudly, like she always did, the second he picked up. “Are you doing anything today?”

“Hi, noona! I have class at around ten later but, other than that, I don’t really have any plans for the day.” Jackson leaned against the kitchen counter, watching Jinyoung prepare breakfast. Mark sat at the dining table, finishing up a paper he had to submit. “Why’d you ask?”

“Oh, good! I kind of have a favor to ask you, if that’s okay with you.” This immediately peaked his interest.

“Sure, what is it?”

“Well, our Haneul-ie is down with a fever and I was wondering if you could possibly pass by the apartment later,” Hani answered, seemingly unbothered by the fact that her sister was sick. Still, Jackson knew she must’ve been really worried, judging by the fact that she was seeking his help. “That brat wouldn’t let me take care of her and insisted I go to work, and I won’t be home until around six in the evening. Do you think you can stay with her until then?”

“Aish, that stubborn girl,” Jackson tsked, shaking his head. Jinyoung looked at him questioningly and he quickly waved him off, turning back to his phone. “No wonder she wasn’t answering any of my texts a while ago. I’ll be there right after my class because we know it’ll be a disaster if she’s left unattended for much longer.”

“Thanks!” she cheered a little too loudly that Jackson had to move his ear away from his phone. “You’re a godsent. Think of this as training for when you become my brother-in-law!”

                Jackson choked on his saliva. “I’m sorry, what?” he croaked. Mark raised an eyebrow at him from behind his laptop screen.

“Oh, please!” Hani cackled maniacally. “I’m not blind, Seunnie. Everyone but Haneul knows!”

“No, I –“

                Before he could sputter out a protest, Hani noona cut him off by giving him instructions regarding the medicine she has to drink in case her fever hadn’t gone down and whatnot. When he had tried to ask her again about she had said, he was cut off again but by the dial tone this time. She had hung up on him, how rude!

                Cheeks aflame, Jackson snatched a bowl of rice from Jinyoung’s hands and stomped over to the dining table. As he ate, he ignored the strange looks his roommates were giving him and let his mind wander to a certain girl who had him wrapped around her fingers. I’m not that obvious, right? he wondered. Right…?

                So, there he was with a phone full of new blackmail photos and a mouth full of reprimands now that he took the time to observe his best friend’s pallid appearance. He had been too focused on taking incriminating evidence of her sleeping habits that he didn’t even notice the feverish flush across her cheeks and nose and paleness of her usually rosy lips