You entered the apartment as quietly as you could; thankful for music being played that muffled your arrival. All you needed to do was get to the bathroom before Jinyoung saw you, and from a text you had received stating he was currently working in your at-home office meant you would have a clear run from the front door to the bathroom. All the same, you were cautious, opting to leave your house slippers at the entrance as you were known to shuffle your feet in them.

After all, Jinyoung couldn’t see you just yet.

The tension from your quiet advance made your body ache more than it already did but you were determined to remove some of the sting before Jinyoung’s tongue delivered some more. Sometimes it was difficult having such an opinionated boyfriend.

You saw the door you needed and smiled in premature relief, moving a little faster so you could enter the room and get out of your clothes. You were just about to reach for the handle when the door swung open, surprising you so much that you leapt back in fright into the hallway wall, squealing as the pain coursed through your upper body upon connection.

And then all was silent.

Jinyoung’s eyes scrutinised you for a moment, widening when he saw why you were holding yourself differently. His hand reached out for your wrist and pulled you off the wall, spinning you around to assess the damage further. A gasp fell from his lips as you groaned internally at being caught. He was about to start scolding you, you could sense it and you yanked your arm free, shooting him a pleading look. “Just let me shower first.”

“Why are you like this?!” he breathed and you walked past him, groaning at the commencement of all his questions.

He’d be logical with them too, of course, since it was in his nature to be.

It wasn’t exactly like you planned to get sunburnt today. You had spent the day out with your loved ones, enjoying a picnic with your Mum and best friend, whilst your much younger sister played at the park, before taking a drive out of the city just on the spur of the moment. You hadn’t laughed so much in a long time and it was such a healing day. But the wind was also strong and coupled with the summer sun, well, you really should have known better.

There was no way you could go back to the past to change things though.

He continued. “Is this what you wore all day?”

“Jinyoung, please just let me shower,” you begged tiredly, stepping into the bathroom and shutting the door, wondering if you should lock it or not. You didn’t exactly want to shut him out and make the situation worse by flicking the switch, but you knew he wouldn’t be able to relax until he had spoken his mind either. Foolishly, you just turned to remove your clothing, wincing at how tight your skin already felt. It hadn’t looked that red just before in the car but now as you stared at yourself, you groaned loudly. Why did you have to burn so easily?

His urgency to continue asking his questions overruled the fact that you just shut the door and you sighed heavily at Jinyoung’s reappearance behind you in the mirror. “Did you not wear sunscreen?”

“The weather said it wasn’t going to be hot. And it wasn’t, the wind was cold,” you stated, trying to remember the speech you had been muttering to yourself on the entire car ride home. It was better to be prepared when it came to dealing with him. “I wore this long sleeved top all day, and I did put some moisturiser on my face this morning and look, still burnt. We all know sunscreen and me isn’t a sure-fire thing. Remember the one time you made me apply it constantly and I still burned? I’m sure I would have burned regardless.”

“Because you know you’re easily burnt though Y/N, you should have dressed more appropriately. This top has a wide neckline, look at how red your skin is now!”

“I’m aware,” you said with a glare, starting to feel cranky from his incessant attention. Your eyes softened when he came to reach for the bra clasps that you were struggling with, gently easing you out of the garment and then sighing to himself as he lightly ran a finger over your red skin. You shuddered; you were far too sensitive for anything to touch there right now.

“Get in the shower and remove the sting,” he instructed and although that was your initial thought process anyway, you nodded, smiling weakly at your boyfriend as he went over to turn on the shower for you, before leaving you to it.

As much as you knew this conversation wasn’t over, you were thankful he was still helpful when he was disappointed with you, hopping into the shower and then bracing yourself as the water cascaded down over your affected skin, making you squeal in protest.

You would never go out in the sun again.

 

 

Once showered and a towel was gently secured around your body, you headed into Jinyoung’s study with a bottle in hand. He eyed you upon arrival, clucking disapprovingly to himself at how red you still were. “You’re lucky you haven’t blistered with how burnt you are.”

“Can you help me by putting this on?” you asked, giving him the biggest doe-eyed look you could muster. He chuckled at your attempts to soften his mood and took the bottle from your hand whilst gesturing for you to turn around. He then sat you down on his lap and opened the lid to the aloe vera. You tensed when you felt the cool gel touch your still hot skin.

“Next time what will you do?” he asked as he gently placed a few dollops onto your skin. You whined when his hand started to move. He stopped, but only because you weren’t answering him. Having his hand remain still in one place was unbearable and you turned your head to give him a pleading look. He only looked back at you expectantly.

“I will wear sunscreen even if it doesn’t work,” you answered flatly and his hand started to move again.

“And?”

“Not go out in clothing that exposes my shoulders,” you added on, glowering at the wall in front of you both. You always felt so small when he got like this with you. It made you bitter; after all, you were the older one. Age had never played a role in your relationship though.

“Exactly. Why were you showing so much skin, anyway?”

You scoffed and glanced back at him again. “Really, so much skin? You make it seem like I went out in just a singlet and bared all my skin to the world!”

He pressed his hand into your shoulder again and you whined loudly. You could tell he was smirking despite the concern etched into his eyes without even looking behind you. Just like how he knew you so well, you were the same. It was why you had anticipated such a response to your sunburn in the first place. “If you hadn’t been showing so much skin, would you be this red?”

“You’re impossible!”

He chuckled. “How else am I meant to protect you if you go out there and do this to yourself? Your poor skin. Did you even wear a hat?”

You didn’t answer, knowing you had cursed leaving that behind when you had gotten to the park in the first place.

“What about a jumper, did you take one? You said the wind was cold. Half of this would be windburn; you could have put one on.”

You had left that at home too. You became sullen at wondering why your usually prepared self was so forgetful today at bringing what Jinyoung would have insisted on you taking before you left this morning. You half wanted to blame him for not being home to be your personal checklist like usual when you get frazzled and forgetful. Of course, you knew it was all on you though. You were an adult now and still hadn’t learned from stints of sunburn over the years. You wondered if you ever would.

Turning in his lap as he had now finished applying the gel and was wiping the excess onto the towel, you shot him a pout. “Enough.”

“You know I’m only like this because I love you, right?” he mentioned with a smile, brushing the hair away from your face. “I love you so much and you came home to me broken.”

“Jinyoung, it will heal, I’ll be fine in a few days and I promise to be more careful in the future. Stop treating me like I’m incapable of looking after myself.” He quirked an eyebrow at you and you groaned. “Okay, I’m sunburnt and that came from self-neglect, but still!”

“Just be careful next time. Your skin is the largest organ on your body and you need to take good care of it. Your body is mine too, you know.”

“Is it really?” you asked and he nodded firmly, leaning closer to you and puckering up his lips. You sighed before meeting his waiting mouth, kissing him briefly. “I love you too, even if you do drive me insane with your scolding.”

“You know, you make me just as annoyed because I have to tell you off.”

You ignored his statement and got up. “I need to go find some clothes to put on that won’t bother this.”

“You’re going to need help putting them on too, aren’t you?” You shook your head defiantly at him and he chuckled. “I bet I’m going to hear you whining shortly then.”

“Even if you do, don’t come to help me!”

“Serves you right,” he stated, patting your towel-clad bottom playfully before turning back to his computer. “But if you need me…”

“I won’t call!” you countered, heading out of the room. Five minutes later you were bracing against the horrible stretch of your skin as you placed a thin tee over your body and groaned when the fabric rubbed against your burns. You had already put on some PJ bottoms and whilst you were perfectly fine there, you wanted nothing more than to take off the top and walk around without anything on.

You were certain Jinyoung wouldn’t appreciate that kind of distraction though. And nor would your skin when his desires got the better of him and he tried to bring you to bed. You looked over at your bed and groaned; sleep tonight was going to be impossible.

“Just put up with it, you’ll ease into the feeling soon,” you heard then and turned to see Jinyoung watching you from the threshold. He smiled and walked over to your side, kissing your forehead gently. “And tonight you can sleep topless and I promise I won’t touch you – much.”

“How kind of you,” you muttered, though you smiled up at him, wrapping your arms around his waist and stretching up to kiss him gently. “I’m sorry I’m taking my crankiness out on you.”

“Comes with the sunburn, do you feel sick too?” You nodded a little and he fussed over you gently. “Sometimes I wonder if you do things to yourself to be looked after by me.”

“I would not self-inflict myself with sunburn for your attention, Park Jinyoung!” you exclaimed, pulling away from him and shooting him an incredulous look. “This really hurts!”

 

 

You managed to sleep through the night, and Jinyoung’s scolding had stopped after dinner, merely keeping you close to him and applying the gel to you a couple more times before helping you into bed. You had been so exhausted that you were glad you didn’t wake up too many times and this morning you still hurt, but the ache was becoming bearable.

Rolling over in your bedding, you noticed Jinyoung was gone but there was a small bag waiting for you with a note attached. You sat up before pulling the bag towards you, lifting the note off the bag and read it.

Regardless of the weather, make sure you don’t leave the house today without wearing this. Keep yourself covered and safe from further damage. I love you x

Inside was one of his hoodies and you grinned, knowing he chose this one because the fabric was soft. Bringing the garment closer, you inhaled deeply to find his scent mingling in with the washing detergent and soon you felt giddy.

You never liked being scolded by Jinyoung, but the lengths he went to make sure you were okay after any incident truly made you love him more every time.