Chapter 7

                She was just about to run after the nurse who left her with these ridiculous instructions when she saw Taemin struggling even more so than he was a while ago. He was moving around in his bed, his eyes were shut tight in pain and he was whining incoherently and quietly. She let out a sigh and shook her head, ‘I guess I have no choice.’

                Hours went by and Sulli remained in her seat beside Taemin’s bed. She had been changing the towel on his forehead periodically and had been keeping the room’s temperature constant as was stated in the note, but aside from that, she had only been watching over her friend. By this time, she had already assumed that he wouldn’t wake up until morning but she was slightly taken aback when the boy’s eyes slowly opened and he stared at her lazily.

                He blinked once.

                Twice.

                Thrice.

                And then…

                “Am I dying? Are you an angel sent from heaven?”

                A smack to the sick boy’s head.

                “Aish. You’re sick and you still have the energy to come up with corny pick-up lines? What is with this pabo?” Sulli put a hand to her forehead and she tried to sound exasperated, but the laughter in her eyes was so obvious. Taemin knew that he had succeeded in making her laugh with his ‘corny pick-up line’.

                He chuckled at her before saying, “Hey, thanks for sticking around.”

                “It’s no big deal. I’ve only been here for a few hours.” It was already dark outside, but she didn’t want the guy to start fussing over how late it already is and how she should be getting home. He already had enough to deal with. “Can you get up? The nurse says that you have to take these pills.”

                Taemin nodded his head and slowly sat up. Once he was comfortable enough, she handed him the pills and he hesitantly put them in his mouth. Sulli could only smile at the way he was acting. He was really like a kid sometimes; from the way he talks to the way he eats. But come to think of it, has this guy eaten anything?

                Cue the grumbling of Taemin’s stomach.

                “Hold on, let me get you something to eat.” She made to stand, but was stopped by Taemin’s hand grabbing onto her wrist.

                “Can’t you ask someone else to do it?” His hand wasn’t moving from her wrist and the puppy dog eyes made their grand appearance on the boy’s face. Sulli face palmed herself. Why do I always fall for this?

                She called for one of the maids and asked for a bowl of soup. She knew that Taemin hated soups with a passion, but she had no other choice. The instructions clearly told her to avoid giving him solid foods. In a few minutes, the soup was delivered to the room. The maid handed the tray to Sulli and she said her thanks before the blushing maid walked away. Sulli figured that the maid was getting all flustered because she got a glimpse of a very shirtless Taemin. And this is when she also became conscious of the fact that she was very awkward in these types of situations. (Namely situations involving males lacking clothing.) 

                “Okay then,” she placed the tray on a stand in front of him and turned her head sideways to avoid looking at him and his bare upper body. “Eat up.”

                Taemin noticed that Sulli was trying not to look at him. At first, he had no idea why that was the case. Then he realized his current state of shirtless-ness.

                ‘Not only is she clueless, she’s innocent too.’ He shook his head with a grin on his face. ‘She never fails to make me smile.’

                When she heard the sound of bed covers ruffling and feet padding softly on the ground, Sulli was forced to turn her head back around to Taemin’s direction. He went into his walk in closet and stayed there for a few seconds before coming back out, now with a shirt on. When he returned to his bed, he was very glad to see that Sulli was now very much capable of looking at him.

                “What’s under this?” he said, gesturing to the silver dome that was propped on top of the tray, covering the food he was supposed to be eating. Sulli didn’t answer him and instead removed the dome cover. When Taemin realized what horrors were kept hidden under the covering, he almost let out a cat-like hiss.

                “Come on! The soups here can’t be that bad!” She was genuinely frustrated now, “I’m actually pretty sure this tastes amazing. Have you not seen the five star chefs you have in your kitchen?!” 

                “But I hate souuuuuuups…” he was whining now. It was amazing how unstable he was when he was sick.

                The girl sighed. “Do I really have to force you to eat? Don’t you want to get better?”

                Taemin did not acknowledge Sulli’s question. He opted to cross his arms and turn his head away from Sulli while huffing loudly. No way is he going to eat—

                “Ya…” A sniffle, “Taemin-ah…” His eyes widened. Was she… crying? He whipped his head back around to look at Sulli. “What’s wro—”

                He hadn’t expected to get a spoonful of soup in his mouth. He didn’t like it, but he had no choice but to swallow. It wouldn’t be very flattering if he decided to spit the food out. When he successfully swallowed the vile (that’s only his opinion.) mixture, he squinted his eyes at her. “Cunning, Ji Rin. Very cunning.”

                She grinned adorably at him and scooped up another spoon of the soup. “Open up!”

                Taemin paused for a few seconds and blushed, but did as he was told. It was a good thing that the bedside lamp was the only thing lighting the room, or else Sulli would see the shade of red coloring his face. He ended up finishing the entire bowl after several spoons where he finally got used to the taste and no longer had to react violently after every taste.

                “There. Now was that so bad?”

                “Yes, it really was.”

                “Drama queen.” After smirking at the pouting boy, she checked to see if she had accomplished everything in the list of instructions assigned to her. The smirk was instantly gone when she saw what was left. Great. I had to save the worst for last.

When he is well enough, it is encouraged that he take a cool bath. (Please aid him if he will have a hard time doing so.)

                You can do this Sulli. It’s just Taemin. There is absolutely no reason to feel awkward about what you are going to do. After her self-motivating speech, she wordlessly walked to the adjoining bathroom of Taemin’s room. She the faucet to large bath tub situated at the far end of the large bathroom and waited for the tub to fill.

                “What are you doing?” she heard the boy call out to her from his bed.

                “The nurse said that it would be better for you if you took a bath to cool down.” She tried her best to hide the embarrassment and awkwardness in her voice.

                Taemin turned red once again, and he didn’t know if it was because of his fever or because he was blushing. He was guessing that it was the latter. And he was also guessing that Sulli was feeling as awkward as he was at the moment.

                “Um…” he was rubbing his neck embarrassedly as he was still calling out to Sulli who was standing in the bathroom, “I think I can manage on my own now… I mean, won’t your roommates get worried if you stay out this late?”

                “I already texted Amber and Krystal that I’ll be getting home late.” Taemin couldn’t make out the tone of her voice. She sounded embarrassed but at the same time determined. “Besides, our apartment is just a 15 minute walk away from here.”

                “YOU’RE PLANNING ON WALKING HOME? AT THIS HOUR?” Sulli jumped in surprise when she turned to see Taemin leaning on the doorway of the bathroom, breathing heavily. “There is no way I am letting you do that.” It seems the short walk from his bed to the bathroom had left him worn out because of his condition. His face was flushed, and it seemed that he was struggling to even remain standing up.

                Sulli put her hands on her hips. “Stop worrying about me and just get into the bath.”

                “Ne…” Because of his sudden tiredness, he had absent-mindedly removed his shirt in front of Sulli. He was now facing the tub, his back facing the girl. She started to walkout of the bathroom hastily to give him some much appreciated privacy, but not before trying to steal one last erted glance at him. She caught herself before she had the chance to ogle at him, and she practically ran out of the room, locking the door behind her.

                A few minutes later, Taemin slowly walked out of the bathroom. She had been watching T.V and turned it off when she saw the boy walking towards his bed.

                “So you’ll be okay, right? Krystal’s been texting me. I should be going home now.” She had turned around when for the second time that day, a hand had reached out to grab her wrist.

                “I’m sorry, I take back what I said.” She looked down at him. He looked helpless and maybe even… afraid? “Please stay?”

                Sulli gulped. She wanted to be there for Taemin, but it wasn’t very appropriate for her to sleep over in a place with a boy with no parental supervision. (She was pretty sure that the boy wouldn’t try anything, but still.) Mysteriously, it was as if Taemin knew what she was thinking and reassured her, “There’s a guest room right down the hall…” his hand was still on her wrist and his eyes still held that vulnerable look; so who was she to be immune to the power of a pleading Taemin?

                “Okay, okay...”

                 She had a grimace on her face when she agreed, but when she saw the look of happiness that graced Taemin’s face when she said those two words, the grimace instantly turned into a genuine grin.

                 Before she exited the room to tuck in as well, she reluctantly pulled her wrist from Taemin's grasp and ruffled his hair softly. She gave him a cheeky grin and muttered two simple words which, when spoken by her, gave Taemin an overwhelming flow of wonderful light-headedness. "G'night, pabo."