“See? That wasn’t so bad, right?” Jungwoo reassured, taking the cup off Jihye’s hands after the latter downed the two tonic packets as told, albeit half-heartedly. As promised, she then handed one of the Mont Blancs before washing the cup in the kitchen.

“No, it’s worse than I thought,” Jihye answered defiantly, tearing a large chunk of the pastry to wash out the bitterness in .

“Too bad, you’ll have to take them every day until your sprain is gone.”

Again, Jihye groaned, chewing the sweet, buttery pastry Jungwoo bought but didn’t even attempt to resist the command this time. “Then I have no choice but to heal faster.”

“Don’t say that. There’s nothing wrong in taking a few days off to heal.”

Jihye watched as Jungwoo came back, bringing towel-wrapped ice packs with her. “Says the person who hasn’t taken her day off in a long time,” she teased, smirking when she got a glare in return. “What are those packs for?”

“To ice your ankle before I change the brace,” Jungwoo said matter-of-factly, already locating the new brace from the plastic bags.

“Do you have to??” In reflex, Jihye retracted her foot away from the older woman, suddenly very aware that her limping state wouldn’t enable her to escape from the sudden attention she was receiving. As tempting as it was, she didn’t think she was ready for such a hands-on intimate attention so soon from Jungwoo. She didn’t even remember the last time her parents gave her one!

“You said you want to recover faster.”

“What if I’d rather drink those bitter tonics for a few days?”

“Then I’d say let’s have you get both for an even faster recovery,” Jungwoo countered, not missing a beat.

“Unnie!”

“Oh? You can say unnie without flinching this time!”

Instinctively whining at the improperly timed teasing, Jihye pulled her ankle as far away from Jungwoo as possible. “There’s a more pressing matter here! I don’t usually get much attention in the first place.”

True enough, it was obvious that Jihye was uncomfortable with the attentiveness and Jungwoo didn’t want to press further. Even if in her mind, she was only doing it for Jihye’s sake. “Alright, but at least ice the ankle and change the brace. The one you’re wearing looks a bit loose.”

Jungwoo was right; from a glance, the ankle brace Jihye was wearing looked loose. She had to redo the doctor’s binding last night after washing up but apparently, it wasn’t tight enough to support her ankle. “Alright, but I’m changing it myself.”

Putting her hands up in surrender, Jungwoo let the injured woman have her way. “Fine.”

With the ‘approval’ in hand, Jihye started to undo the ankle binding, stealing glances at Jungwoo who only had eyes on the injured ankle. When the elastic bandage was off, there was no visible swelling or bruising.

“Did the doctor do some tests on your ankle yesterday?”

“Yes, she said it’s a mild strain. No torn ligaments or fractured bones are visible but since I couldn’t get up yesterday, she bound my ankle just in case.”

Jungwoo hummed, handing the towel and ice packs to Jihye, observing if she was feeling any pain. When there was none, she couldn’t help but let out a relieved sigh, clearing in bashfulness when Jihye was staring at her amusedly.

“I told you it’s not that bad.”

“You sounded like you’re in pain on the phone! I was… worried for you.” There was an apparent air of solemnity that wasn’t lost to anybody that, again, Jungwoo cleared before explaining. “I tore my ligament back then but pushed through the training. Only when the training ended did I tell Hyowon I needed to stop by the emergency unit to get my ankle looked at. I was fortunate that it wasn’t completely torn, but still needed a month of complete rest before I can start the therapy.”

Jihye was observing the way Jungwoo fiddled with the ankle brace packaging as she recounted the experience. Clearly, she had the worse experience, hence the quick response and concerned looks from the moment she stepped foot inside the house. “It must be irritating, having someone tending to you when you’re used to doing everything yourself.”

“Yes, and Hyowon is not the best nurse,” Jungwoo quickly responded, igniting a chortle from Jihye. “I mean, I love her to death, but she knows jack about tending to an injured person. Saying you’re in pain or even wincing from moving your ankle around can make her cry, it’s annoying.”

“She’s empathetic, let her be!” Jihye chided in between laughs. “But at least you came out in one piece, right?”

“Barely. Knowing how distressed she was at my condition, I tried not to have her at my beck and call, quickly learning how to navigate the room with crutches and stuff when she’s not around.”

“There’s no way she didn’t know that!”

“But there’s nothing she could do about it.”

Jihye pouted in disagreement, more of an intuitive reaction than anything, taking the ice packs off her ankle one by one. “So do I wear the brace now?”

“Yep. Make sure the inlays are around your ankle joints,” Jungwoo instructed, making sure the brace was worn correctly. “How do you feel? Is it too tight?”

“No, it’s actually quite comfortable.” It was an honest truth; the brace had a soft cushion inside, supporting her injured ankle without it being too restricting. Slowly, she tried to move her ankle around, wincing when the movement pulled on the injured ligament too much.

Seeing the look of discomfort, Jungwoo instinctively took a hold of Jihye’s calf, stopping her without hurting the injured part. “Take it easy. You’re not supposed to move too much.”

Between the two