“Hey, it’s me” Taeyeon knocked on jessica’s room “I’m coming in”

It’s Saturday and the weather is good. They’re supposed to go and hang-out with their friends but jessica texted Taeyeon that they go without her because she’s feeling under the weather, so taeyeon backed out and rushed over to her place.

“No, don’t get up. I’ll come to you, you need to lay down and rest.” she hurried over as she saw jessica was trying to get up. “Aww, my poor sica…” she said as she placed the back of her palm on jessica’s forehead.

“You didn’t have to cancel” jessica groggily said

“Don’t worry about it, I don’t want to go without you anyway. I can’t have fun knowing you’re sick and stuck in bed.” She runs her hand on jessica’s hair “I didn’t tell the others you were sick, they might come over and I’m worried you won’t get the rest you need.”

Jessica scooched over so taeyeon can sit or lay down beside her. Taeyeon lies down, wrapping her arms around jessica’s waist.

“Have you taken your medicine?” jessica nods

“Okay good…I kinda like this.” Taeyeon said “I mean, not you being sick, but I like it when you depend on me. It makes me feel like a good girlfriend. Plus, I got to see you wrapped up in a blanket looking like an adorable little burrito.” She teased

“Did you just call me little? Anyway, I definitely DO NOT look cute, in fact, I look terrible.” She coughed then hid her face on taeyeon’s chest. Taeyeon chuckled at this cuteness while she caresses jessica’s back gently.

“Listen, that should be the last thing to worry about. You’re not any less cute now that you’re sick. You’re my beautiful girlfriend, and a little flu won’t change that. Even though you have snot all over your face” She affectionately said and chuckled “focus on getting better, not on looking good. We can go on a date and dress up when you’re better, alright?” she poked jessica’s nose lightly, and she just nodded.

“What time did you wake up this morning?” taeyeon asked

“Around 6 or 7 I think?”

“What? Why didn’t you text me? I would’ve come here earlier.”

“I didn’t want to bother you that early.” She sniffed

“You know you’re not a bother to me. I’ll always make time for you.” she wiped jessica’s nose with a tissue and smiled. “Blow.” After jessica blew her nose, she threw the tissue into the trash bin that was under the window. She realized that jessica’s room feels stuffy with the windows closed.

“You know what can help you feel better? Opening the window. Hold on.” She stood up then opened the window. The gentle breeze of the wind immediately entered the room “See? That’s better, isn’t it? The weather’s pretty good, I think the Earth wants you to feel better as well” she said as she went back beside jessica

“I’m sorry that you missed the hang-out on a good weather like this.” Jessica felt bad that taeyeon’s stuck with her

“Sshh, I told you, you don’t have to worry about it. All you need to know is that I love spending time with you. I’ll always be by your side if you need me” she smiled

Jessica blushed at how sweet taeyeon is being “Thank you… for always making me feel at home. I mean, of course this is my apartment. But… you know what I mean.”

“Hey now, cheeseball, I get to flatter you while you’re sick, not the other way around.” She teased “Have you eaten?” jessica shook her head.

“I brought you grapes and a book to read.” She reached for her bag just beside the bed “Do you want me to feed you?

“No, I can manage. But thank you.” she sat up and ate the grapes herself.

Taeyeon saw how messy jessica’s hair is, she might have no strength to comb her hair, she thinks. So she grabbed a brush from the table beside the bed then brushed jessica’s hair.

“I like that, it feels nice.” Jessica said. On her mind is a request for taeyeon “Can you…sing for me?”

“All of a sudden?”

“…when I was still little, my mom used to sing for me and my sister whenever she brushes our hair. It calms me, somehow..”

“Alright…umm let me think for a sec” taeyeon went silent for a minute, thinking of a song to sing for jessica. When she thought of a song, she cleared and gently sang it.

“There were bells on a hill, but I never heard them ringing

No, I never heard them at all ‘til there was you~

There were birds in the sky, but I never saw them winging

No, I never saw them at all ‘til there was you~”

Jessica closed her eyes, feeling the brush caress each strand of her hair, reveling in taeyeon’s singing and thinking how much she loves hearing her voice.

“Then there was music and wonderful roses

They tell me in sweet fragrant meadows of dawn and dew

There was love all around but I never heard it singing

No, I never heard it at all ‘til there was you~”

“God, have I ever told you how much I love your voice? I especially love how you made an upbeat song sound like a lullaby” jessica confessed to taeyeon in which she just smiled in flatter

“Did that make you feel better?”

“Absolutely…” she sniffs before popping a grape to happily

“Ok great… You’re hair feels so soft.”

“Please flatter me more.”

“Wow, even when you’re sick, you’re still shameless, aren’t you?” taeyeon teased “but it’s one of my favorite things about you. Your confidence.” She continues to brush jessica’s hair.

“There are a million things that I love about you, like how your face lights up when you talk about something you’re passionate about; clothes, fashion, dresses…. I love how you’re stubborn, how you won’t change your stance when someone challenges your beliefs…”

“Okay, taeyeon, I was just joking when I said ‘flatter me more’, that’s too much cheese.” She tries to pop a grape into as her cheeks flush pink not because of sickness

“I could go on. But what I want to say the most is, I love how you make my life better just by being in it. I think about how we met. It was so random” she smiled in nostalgia “there could be million other universes in which we never ran into each other that day, a hundred thousand others where I stayed home and watched cartoon instead, a hundred thousand more where you stayed in California, a universe where you were never born. A million other mes without a you.”

Taeyeon wrapped a blanket around jessica when she felt a shudder the moment she back-hugged her. She thought she might be feeling cold.

“I feel sorry for all the taeyeons that don’t have a jessica, and when I think about it like that, it makes me feel really lucky that I got to be with you.” she smiled

They suddenly hear gentle raindrops hitting the roof, and when they looked at the window, the sky was covered with dark clouds. Taeyeon stood up to close the window, and jessica immediately missed the warmth emitting from taeyeon’s body.

“I’m kinda glad it started raining. This way, you won’t feel like you’re missing out the fun outside.” Jessica just smiled at how sweet taeyeon is.

“Oh, I remembered I brought a poetry book for you.”

“Booooring.”

“Hey, this isn’t boring at all! What do you think this is, an archaic book full of Shakespear and whatnot?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Come on, this book has a lot of good poetry in it, you’ll love it and I’m gonna read you one, whether you like it or not.” Taeyeon retaliated as she sat beside jessica. “Do you want to lay your head on my lap?” jessica put the bag of grapes on a near table and tries to find a comfortable position to lay down while taeyeon’s finding a good poetry to read.

“Oh wait, here’s one.”

“What is it?”

“Prism by Andrea Gibson. This one is good. It’s long though, so ready yourself” she chuckled then cleared as jessica hugged her leg and listened.

“My friend Derrick says love is the only war worth dying for. But every time I say, “please come back", I feel like I’m trying to find a dirty needle in a haystack…”

Jessica listened as taeyeon continued on reading. She loves how she found comfort from hearing taeyeon’s velvet voice against the sound of the gentle rain. She would choose peaceful moments like these over fancy dates in a noisy restaurant.

“You okay? Feeling better?” taeyeon asked her when she paused reading

“Mm-hm, please continue” she smiled

“Okay” She smiled back “When they ask why we stayed together for so long, I say, I don’t know. I just know that we cried at the exact same time in every movie. I know we blushed everyday for the first two years. I know I always stole the covers and she never woke me up…”

Jessica closed her eyes and just relaxed through taeyeon’s voice as she reads.

“The day before I left, I remembered a story her mother told me. She said, Andrea, when Heather was a little girl, she couldn't fall asleep without tying a string to her finger all night long, she'd give that string the tiniest tug to make sure I was still there. And I'd tug back. That was love. That was love. As easy as that. Sometimes.”

“…that’s beautiful.” Jessica said as soon as taeyeon finished.

“Not as beautiful as you” smooth taeyeon. Smooth

“Oh, please” she laughed in embarrassment “…I’d do that one day.”

“Do what?”

“I’d tie a string on my finger, or a floss. I’ll tug it and you tug it back so that I would know if you’re still by my side.” she smiled innocently to taeyeon

“Silly,” she chuckled “but okay. Anything you want.”

“Read me another one”

“Oh you like this, don’t you? What happened to poetry being boring?”

“I was just messing around earlier, but I really do like this. This is quite relaxing, like you’re reading me bedtime stories.” She sleepily smiled

“Alright then.” Taeyeon flipped a few more pages to find a good one “How about… By The Sea by Michael Faudet”

“I think I’ve heard that name.”

“Yeah, he has very good poems, I like him.”

“More than me?” jessica showcased her puppy eyes and taeyeon just laughed.

“Mmm…yeah.” But she earned a slap on her lap. “Oww! Why are you always so violent? I was kidding.” Jessica just evil laughed

“Anyways, just close your eyes, and let me do the reading.”

It is a short poem, but jessica must have been really tired as the weight of her eyes easily dropped, taeyeon was at the middle of the poem when she realized jessica’s steady breathing. She smiled at this and continued.

“If you had stayed here, in my trembling arms, would our fingers not be pricked by the thorns of red roses?

And what if our love could have stood up to the storm, standing strong, like our little cottage by the sea?

If only…”

She finished the poem and admired jessica’s sleeping face for a bit until she kissed her forehead and continued caressing her hair “Rest well, my love.”