f is for flu

Seulgi checked her watch for the umpteenth time. She was standing outside the carnival, all ready and thrilled to spend the whole Saturday with her boyfriend. They haven’t seen each other during the entire week, their respective works demanding their full undivided attention but when Thursday night rolled around, Seulgi wasn’t able to take it and called Sehun up.

“I miss youuuuu.” She whined as soon as he picked up.

He chuckled at the other line. “You’re cute.”

“Can we meet tomorrow night? Please? For dinner?”

He could imagine his girlfriend pouting. He did a quick mental check. “Sorry, babe. Can’t do tomorrow, will be working late.”

“But it’s a Friday.” She pointed out.

“I know, I’m sorry.” His voice was gentle, he hated letting her down, especially since he missed her as hell too. Probably more than she missed him.

There was silence for a little while then he heard her sigh with resignation. “It’s okay, Hun. Just don’t push yourself too much, okay?”

He smiled, a thought occurring to him. “We can meet Saturday, though. I’m free.” He did another mental check. He did have a bit of a prior engagement but screw that, he’d been slaving away at work the entire weekday. He’ll cancel it for Seulgi.

“Really? Great! Okay then, Saturday it is.” She cheered up, her sweet happy voice music to his ears. “Let’s go to a carnival!”

“The carnival? Really?” He mused. “Why?”

She giggled. “It sounds fun! Plus Chanyeol and Seungwan went last week. And Seungwan’s been riding her blissful carnival high for days. She didn’t even get mad at me when I forgot to wash the dishes or accidentally placed my sneakers in her shoe rack.”

“Oh, so a carnival’s apparently a life-changing experience.” Sehun nodded thoughtfully. He knew all about Seungwan and Seulgi having little housemate spats from time to time. Seungwan was organized and valued privacy very much. Seulgi, on the other hand, was messy and was the type to blast her playlist around the house without much thought to the other person who lived there.

“Yep.” She enthused. “So, carnival?”

“Carnival.” He agreed. “See you on Saturday, babe.”

And that was that. Seulgi was able to survive grueling work on Friday only because the impending day with Sehun kept her spirits up. So here she was, standing outside the carnival, waiting for said boyfriend.

She checked her watch again. It’s been 45 minutes already. Seulgi became a little worried. It wasn’t that Sehun was never late to their dates. Both of them are equally guilty of being tardy to their meetups, sometimes it was Sehun, sometimes it was her. They both at time management so neither of them could be too upset at the other for that. What worried Seulgi was that even if Sehun was late, it was never for more than twenty minutes. And now here he was, pushing for almost an hour. Or was he setting a new record this time?

Seulgi took out her phone and checked. He hasn’t replied to any of her messages. She was about to press the call logo right next to his name when her phone started blinking and ringing. She jolted, almost dropping the phone out of her hand.

It was Sehun.

She picked up immediately, irritation rising. “Where are you? I’ve been—“

“Seul—“ He started, cutting her short. There was something about his voice. It was…raspy. Very raspy. Like something was stuck in his throat. “Can’t make it, I’m sick. Really really sorry.”

Okay, his voice sounded really bad. All annoyance she felt towards him flew out the window. “Are you okay, Hun?”

“As okay as a sick person can be okay.” He coughed. “Don’t worry, Seul. I’ll be fine. I’m really sorry I can’t go.” He sneezed three times. “Have to hang up now. I’ll make it up to you, promise.”

And then he ended the call before Seulgi can ask further questions. She stared at her phone and with a thick sigh, booked an uber to the pharmacy.

Seulgi had to ring the doorbell a whoppin’ total of thirteen times before Sehun opened the door and when he did, he had his blanket covering him from head to toe. He stared at Seulgi at length and she realized he was processing that she was here and that he did not expect her at all.

He looked like absolute . His hair was disheveled beyond redemption, his nose was redder