In the middle of dawn, Jaehyun wakes up feeling extremely nauseous. He runs to the bathroom and vomits in the toilet.

“I feel ing awful…”

 

 

 

Jaehyun spends his Sunday between the bed and the toilet. NCT 127 were all supposed to be in the practice room today, perfecting their new choreography since their comeback was right around the corner. Since Jaehyun already felt sick before the sun even rose, he told Ingyu and their leader Taeyong that he couldn’t go to practice today.

The members were all worried about leaving him alone in the dorm but Jaehyun reassured them that he could take care of himself. He found out the other guys in the 97 line got sick too. There must have been something wrong with the food they ate at that restaurant.

When the members came back from practicing, Jaehyun had already lost count of how many times he had thrown up. Doyoung was the one who insisted that they had to take him to the ER right away.

“Jaehyun’s probably dehydrated from vomiting so many times,” Doyoung tells Ingyu, their manager.

Jaehyun doesn’t like hospitals but he knew Doyoung was right. He barely had the energy to get up from bed. Jungwoo and Johnny, the tallest guys in the group, helped carry him to the car. Ingyu rushed him to the nearest hospital with Taeyong and Doyoung following right behind. Everyone was worried about Jaehyun.

 

 

 

Hyeyoon got a bit bored in the house, it’s Sunday evening with nothing to do. She decided to finally check out NCT 127 in the internet. She looked up their name on the search engine and was overwhelmed to see so much content about them. She ended up watching all of their music videos and reading lots of articles about them. After everything she saw, she had a big reality check.

The guys that she’s working for were indeed celebrities and they weren’t just an average boy group. They’re from a big name company and are really popular. She was shocked to find out they recently sold a million copies of their albums. That is insane!

She read more about them and stumbled upon a new article.

NCT 127 Jaehyun and members of the famous 97-line hospitalized after food poisoning at new Itaewon restaurant.

Seoul, South Korea – After visiting a freshly opened restaurant in Itaewon, four famous boy group members are currently hospitalized after acquiring food poisoning. This group of friends, who are known as the 97-line, are composed of NCT 127’s Jaehyun, Astro’s Cha Eunwoo, BTS’s Jungkook, and Seventeen’s Mingyu. Their companies have revealed that the four of them are in stable conditions and are being treated at different hospitals around Seoul.

The owner of the restaurant, who is a mutual friend of the 97-line, apologized and helped the swift investigation of the case. It was found out that only the four male celebrities became sick after dining at the place. After further investigation, it was revealed that a sasaeng fan purposely poisoned the soup that was served to the group. The companies all agreed to press charges against the said fan.

“Oh no…” Hyeyoon couldn’t stop herself from saying aloud.

Even though she’s only met him for a couple of times, Jaehyun was always kind and considerate towards her every moment they interacted. She hopes he’s okay. She doesn’t understand how a fan could do that. Why would you poison somebody you liked?

She shakes her head and worries about Jaehyun. The other members must be very concerned too. She wants to check up on them but she knows she doesn’t really have the right to do so.

I’m just their housekeeper, she thinks to herself. Plus, I don’t have any of their phone numbers…

 

 

 

Monday morning, Jaehyun got discharged from the hospital. He didn’t feel like throwing up anymore and his stomach has stopped hurting. The doctor told him to rest at home today and he’ll be all better by Tuesday.

With NCT 127’s comeback just around the corner, the nine of them were all supposed to be filming content nearly all week long. The only free day they had was Friday, much to Taeil’s relief. He didn’t want to miss his date with Hyerim. He already got a reservation at a nice restaurant that he thought suited both his and Hyerim’s taste.

But because of Jaehyun’s food poisoning incident, they had to reschedule. The staff decided to film individual content first. Jaehyun was left alone in the apartment while the rest of the guys were in the studio filming.

Hyeyoon arrived to the empty fifth floor apartment. She did her usual tasks and finished by noon. She ate her lunch quickly and left to go do her job on the tenth floor dorm. As she rode the elevator, she wondered if Jaehyun was still in the hospital. It would be nice if she could cook some soup for him and ask one of the members to take it to the hospital.

She didn’t bother ringing the doorbell of the apartment because she figured no one would be home. When she got to the living room, she was startled to see a tired looking Jaehyun eating ramen on the couch. She noticed that he lost a little bit of weight, she could see his cheek bones have become more prominent

“Oh hello Ms. Han,” he says putting the bowl of instant noodles down on the coffee table.

“Hello Mr. Jaehyun, I heard you were sick. Are you okay now?”

“Yes, I just got out from the hospital this morning.”

Hyeyoon eyes the bowl on the table and shakes her head when she sees it’s instant ramen. “Is that your lunch? You shouldn’t be eating that right after you got sick.”

“Let me cook you lunch,” she says as she grabs the bowl and heads to the kitchen.

“You don’t have to Ms. Han, you probably have a lot of stuff to do,” Jaehyun gets up and follows her.

“Don’t worry, I’m done with all the work in the fifth floor,” she starts taking ingredients from the refrigerator while Jaehyun watched her. He was actually starving and wanted to eat some real food but was too tired to cook one for himself. He couldn’t sleep much last night at the hospital.

“Let me help you Ms. Han,” he says walking towards her.

“No, you look very tired. Please take a seat, I can do it by myself.”

He couldn’t argue with her, he was really tired. So, he obediently takes a seat at one of the chairs around the dining table. Hyeyoon worked while Jaehyun watched her. She chopped up vegetables swiftly, Jaehyun was fascinated by how fast her hands worked. Soon, the smell of healthy beef soup filled the kitchen, making Jaehyun’s mouth water.

“Here you go,” she says as she puts down a steaming bowl of soup infront of him.

“Thank you for the food,” he tells her, showing his dimpled smile which makes Hyeyoon lose her focus for couple of seconds. She regains her senses and places other side dishes on the table for him to eat.

He blows on the soup and takes a sip. “This tastes delicious,” he complements her with a grin. She smiles back, trying not to swoon from his smile and sweet voice.

“I’m going to start doing the laundry now but just call me if you need anything, Mr. Jaehyun.”

“Have you eaten lunch already Ms. Han?” he asks her.

She nods and went out to their bedrooms. Time to do the laundry, she thinks to herself. She stays in the utility room as she lets the washing machine do the work. She suddenly remembered all the times Jaehyun had been considerate to her. He was the one who asked her to have some lunch during her first day of work. He also helped her leave during that afternoon when Haechan and Doyoung invited her to stay for some snacks. His handsome face matches his warm and kind personality, Hyeyoon thought.

After some time, Jaehyun goes to the laundry room. Even though the door was wide open, he made sure to knock so he wouldn't startle her. He came to tell her he already did the dishes and she can go home right away once she’s done with the laundry.

“Thank you for doing the dishes. Do you perhaps need anything more?” she tells him.

He smiles as he shakes his head, “no Ms. Han.”

“You look like you didn’t sleep at all last night,” she says frowning a bit.

Jaehyun wanted to sleep as soon as he got back from the hospital but he couldn’t. He was stressed out because he felt like he was causing trouble for the group.

“How about some warm milk to help you fall asleep?” she tells him as if she read his mind.

The two of them went back into the kitchen and she warms a tall glass of milk for him while he hovers around her, wanting to do it himself but she didn’t let him. She pours the milk into a big mug and hands it to him.

“Thank you Ms. Han.” Jaehyun says taking a seat with the hot drink in hand.

The warmth felt nice on his hands, he felt like he was being enveloped in a warm hug. He has never been cared for this well by anyone before, except for his mom. Being taken cared of by Hyeyoon this way reminded him of the times he got sick as a kid and his mom would nurse him back to good health.

He watches her as she washes the kettle she used for the milk, his eyes lingering on the small upward line that her eyes had. He didn’t notice that before, it makes her eyes look so feminine and pretty. She could feel his gaze on her but she pretended she didn’t notice and wiped the wet kitchen counters.

She didn’t have any work left to do so she takes a seat while Jaehyun drank the warm milk slowly. The two of them silently sat across from each other. Hyeyoon looked out the window, appreciating the afternoon view of the outside, while he still continued to watch her. He realized he had been looking at her all this time. He looks away and watched the window instead. He knew his ears were probably red from embarrassment.

At that moment, he finally understood why the rest of the members were so taken by her. His heart beat quickened as he stole one more look at her. It's because she's so beautiful without even knowing and Jaehyun's fallen for her just like everyone else.