Your entire throat was on fire. You had woken up this morning, feeling groggy and your throat was scratchy. It was when you tried to swallow and found the action difficult that you cursed to yourself. Of course you had to get sick right before the biggest concert of your school year. You felt a surge of disappointment and wanted to cry.

            Almost on cue, your phone lit up and you saw that it was your partner, a very good friend of yours, calling. “Hey,” you croaked.

            “Oooh, that sounds really bad,” Daehyun’s voice came from over the speakers.

            “Yeah,” you sighed. You didn’t want to speak more because talking only made it worse and you were exhausted.

            “What are you going to do about tonight?”

            “I can’t sing,” you told him sadly.

            He clucked his tongue, knowing how hard you had prepared for this. “Hold on, let me come over.”

            You told him no, hoarse-shouting the refusal into the speaker but he had already hung up. You groaned and wanted to force yourself out of bed to make yourself look presentable but found that energy was eluding you today.

            Your mom knocked on your door and came in. “How are you feeling?” You pointed at your throat and frowned sadly. She patted your head and your hair. “Don’t worry. There will be next year.” You looked at her and she smiled. “And there’s the end of year concert too. Look forward to that.”

            You nodded, knowing that she was right and then remembered that in a short while, Daehyun would be knocking. “Ma, Daehyun’s coming.”

            Your mother grinned. “Oh is he now? Should I go prepare food?”

            You scowled. “No, let him starve.”

            She kissed your cheek. “I’ll let him in when he comes.”

            And now you were back to dilemma one. How does a sick person make themselves look presentable when a potential crush was coming over? You sank back against your pillow. Your throat was dry and you just wanted water. They don’t, you decided. Daehyun can see you as the monster you currently were.

            You heard him as he was coughing nervously to come inside. “Come in,” you called out.

            He walked in and handed over a canteen. “What is this?” you asked.

            “Chicken soup. My mom made some for my brother because he’s sick and so I asked her to pack some for me.”

            You smiled and looked at him. “Wow, thanks. I’m sorry we can’t do our duet today.”

            Daehyun gave you a shrug. “I mean, the only thing that is that you worked really hard on it.”

            “I called her and she was angry I got sick but she said that we can do the same performance for graduation.”

            He nudged your shoulder playfully. “Don’t worry about it. Just get better and are you still coming tonight?” He placed his finger in his mouth and looked at you.

            “Of course.” He gave what looked like a sigh of relief and continued with his cheerful banter.

            You went to the concert, feeling slightly envious of your classmates who were dressed nicely and were practicing their scales. You wanted desperately to join in but of course, your throat had rendered you nearly voiceless.

            Daehyun came over, dressed in a blue suit. “Hey, we got Jimin to take your spot. It’ll be weird doing the song with a guy, but it’ll be fun.”

            You clapped him on the back and he waved. “I’ll be looking for you!” His words made your heart thump and your parents looked at you with amused smiles. You forced yourself to look ahead. Your parents didn’t need to know what you were thinking.

            The entire concert was long and when they announced the duet you and Daehyun were supposed to do together, you sat up straighter. Daehyun pulled it off beautifully and so did your cover, despite the fact that your part of the song was now lowered by an entire octave. Daehyun danced the way you trained and then added a new step of his own. He ran his hand down Jimin’s back and you snorted. Leave it to him to let his antics roam.

            When the song finished, he grabbed the microphone and coughed nervously. You stared at him. Even though he was the teacher’s favorite, he shouldn’t be interrupting the show. “I have something to say,” he said into the microphone.

            Daehyun looked and when he spotted you, he smiled. “That song was supposed to be sang with another partner of mine. She’s fantastic, funny and also hardworking. But she got sick and was unable to sing, and so I lost my beautiful partner. I wanted to use today, and this song, to dedicate to her and ask her if she wanted to be my partner in real life too.”

            You stared at him in shock and he waved you forward. Your mom helped you up the stairs and you sweated nervously as Daehyun approached you. He dropped onto one knee and pulled out a rose. “Will you be my girlfriend?”

you guys have no idea how excited I am when a reader comes to claim their request. It means you guys are still with me ;A; adgjkah

also got sick so the writing today was a bit eh