A Taste of Love

            The second time my roommate’s girlfriend came to the dorm was a few days after the first and I was alone, trying to recover from a cold that was spreading around the dorm.  Yesung and I had both come down with it, but I felt worse and stayed home from classes that day.

            There was a knock on the door around lunchtime and it was so light a knock, I instantly recognized it as hers and jumped out of bed—although I’d been lying in it half dead a second before—and fell over because the sheets were still wrapped around my feet.  Eventually, I heard the light knock again as I stood up a second time and headed for the door.  I looked around the room for any mess, but after her first impromptu visit, I’d been picking up after myself better.  My clothes were in the hamper.  The dirty tissues from blowing my nose were in the trash.  I had an air purifier plugged into the wall, just to ensure it smelled decent.

            Ryeosuni was holding a large bag in her arms when I opened the door and I immediately grabbed it from her, worried that it was too heavy for her.  “Hello, Ryeosuni,” I greeted her, my voice half gone from all the coughing I’d done recently.  “You probably shouldn’t be here.  Yesung and I have been sick the last couple days.”

            “That’s why I came over,” she informed me, closing the door and taking off her shoes.  She grabbed the bag back from me and walked over to our kitchenette.  “I wanted to cook you two some healthy food so you’ll feel better faster.”

            “Oh,” I simply said, following her into the kitchen area.  “Yesung isn’t here at the moment.”

            “I know.  He had a couple tests he couldn’t get out of taking today,” she mentioned, pulling food out of the bag and setting it on the counter.  “He told me already.  But it takes a long time to make the soup.  I thought I’d get started early.  Unless it will bother you that I’m here?  If I’m going to be in your way, I can leave.  My roommate is studying for exams and I didn’t want to disrupt her.”

            I shook my head.  “I don’t mind, if you don’t mind me sleeping,” I said, reaching over to the table to grab another tissue to blow my stuffy nose.  “I don’t feel very well today.”

            “Oh, that doesn’t bother me.  I’ll be staying busy in the kitchen and I brought a book to read if I have time in between,” she informed me.  “You sound terrible still.  What have you been taking for your sickness?”

            I shrugged my shoulders.  “I haven’t really taken anything.”

            She turned around and gave me a perplexed look.  “No?”  She walked closer and placed her hand over my forehead and I was too stunned to move.  I hadn’t expected her to do something like that.  “You’re burning up, oppa!  Let me get my thermometer out and see what your temperature is!” she said, walking back over to the bag and taking out what looked like a small medicine bag. She pulled out a thermometer and walked back over to me.  Then she reached up and tapped my chin.  “Say ah.”

            I opened my mouth.  “Ah.”

            She shoved the thermometer in my mouth.  “Stick that under your tongue and leave it there.”  I did what she told me and didn’t dare disobey her because she sounded kind of like my mother at that moment, the way she was ordering me around, and I was afraid of what would happen if I didn’t do what she told me to do.  Part of me wanted to remind her that she wasn’t my girlfriend and she should reserve her nagging for her boyfriend, but the other part of me was bored from lying in bed the last couple days and I was too amused to tell her off. 

            Ryeosuni went back to digging through her bag for a minute and then returned to check the thermometer, shaking her head.  “Just as I thought.  You have a fever.”

            “I could have told you that without the thermometer.  I’ve been shivering all morning.  As I said, you shouldn’t even be here.  You’ll probably just end up getting sick.”

            She ignored me.  “I want you to take a fever reducer.  Normally, a little fever is fine in order to fight off what your body is trying to get rid off, but I think it’s a little too warm right now.  I brought some juice—I want you to drink a lot of fluids—and then I want you to go back to bed.”

            “All right,” I agreed, smiling at her.  I was kind of amused at her ordering me around and decided to humor her.  Besides, she was only telling me to do something I wanted to do anyway.

            I walked over to the counter and took the drugs she handed me, drinking a full glass of water with it.  Then I watched her for a moment as she washed the vegetables that she had brought with her.  She wasn’t dressed for a date today and that was a good thing.  Perhaps the guys in the dorm were a little less creepy.  She had on blue jeans, a powder blue lacey shirt, and a navy cardigan.  Even with some of her stunning features covered up, I still thought she was the most beautiful woman on campus.  Her eyes dazzled, even in the shabby light of the dorm.  She had such sharp and defined cheekbones.  Her lips were…

            I shook my head, wondering why I was obsessively thinking about the qualities of Yesung’s new girlfriend when I realized she looked confused and turned to me, her forehead scrunched up.  “Do you have a larger pot that you use for making soup?”

            “Oh, yes,” I said, moving closer and opening the cupboard above her.  Then I reached over her and grabbed the pot on the highest shelf.  It wasn’t until I was setting it down in front of her and closing the cupboard door that I realized that I’d squished her between the counter and myself to grab it.  The front of me was completely pressed against the back of her, which would be much more awkward, if I were straight.  Of course, I doubted that she knew I was gay, so that really wouldn’t put her at any ease and I quickly backed up.  “Sorry.”

            She glanced back at me over her shoulder, “No, thank you.”  But I could see a hint of pink on her cheeks and knew I’d crossed the line.  I would have to be more careful around her.  She didn’t know that I wasn’t interested in women.  I either had to check my behavior or I’d have to tell I was gay so she would understand that she was safe around me.

            I headed back to bed and laid down.  A couple minutes later, she walked over with a glass of orange juice and set it down on my nightstand.  “Be sure to drink this up.  Okay?”

            “I will.  Thank you,” I promised her.

            For a little while, I watched her prepping the food and cooking, whenever I thought she wouldn’t notice me looking.  Then, at some point, I fell asleep for a little while, but my sleep was restless and I eventually woke to the feel of something cold on my forehead and someone calling my name.

            “Kyuhyun oppa.”

            I blinked my eyes open.

            The room was dark and the sun must have set since I’d gone to sleep.  I was lying in bed and Ryeosuni was sitting on the edge of it, beside me, and held something cold against my forehead.  “What’s happening.”

            “Your fever has spiked.”

            I grabbed onto her wrist an