You opened your eyes slowly, the light keeping you from opening wider, your whole body felt sore, and your head felt as if you had been hitting a wall repeatedly, your throat was on fire, you tried to move, but the slightest movement made you feel dizzy, so you decided to remain still, yet you couldn’t help to look around the room where you were laying.

It was a bedroom, with 3 bunk beds and a normal one, you blinked, trying to clear your head, that was a severe headache, ever so slowly, you tried to stand resting your weight in your forearms, your headache increased, and you just plopped back into the pillow, a groan escaping from your dry throat and chopped lips, that’s when you noticed the wet towel that had been resting on your forehead, clearly someone has been taking care of you, the question was, who? And where on earth were you?

As alarming as blacking out and appearing in an unfamiliar place was, you didn’t panic, perhaps you were too numb because of the fever to realise, or perhaps it was because the warmness, even the smell of where you were laying made you feel protected, it was somehow familiar, but you couldn’t remember what was so familiar about it.

A long sigh left your lips, you were unable to move, and your lids felt heavy, so you just allowed sleepiness come to you.

………………………..

You felt something warm on your cheek, sweetly them, you heard voices, whispers above you, you moved underneath the blankets, feeling your mind awakening, even though you didn’t want to leave dreamland.

-Ha In-ah? Can you hear me sweetie? Are you alright? Are you awake? –that was voice you could recognize anywhere, Peniel, his hand on your cheek, brushing your hair away from your face, as you opened your eyes, blinking a few times.

-Pe…- you tried to speak, but your throat was so dry that just a broken sound left your mouth.

-Yes it’s me, are you alright?

You just nodded slowly, slightly wincing as you head throbbed at the movement.

-My… -you cleared your throat – my head hurts.

-Yes, I know, you have a very high fever, we wanted to give you medicine, but since you were asleep we couldn’t, do you feel like eating anything?

Just the thought of it made you sick, so you just shook your head, and looked around again.

-Peniel?

-Yes sweetie?

-Where am I?

-You’re at my dorm honey, you passed out at the gym.

You remained silent, memories slowly returning to your mind.

-Ho…?

-Don’t worry honey we’ll talk when you’re feeling better, for now just rest, do you want to try and drink some water?

You felt your dry throat and you nodded quickly.

He helped you to incorporate a bit, and leaned a glass close to your lips, angling it so you could drink.

You drank until there was not a single drop left, and then rested your head on the pillow again, that small effort drained you, and you felt your blood pulsing on your temples, your head spinning.

-Now back to sleep, you seriously need to rest, how many hours of sleep have you gotten in the last week?

You made an effort to think and remember.

-I don’t know, around 5 or 6?

Peniel left a sigh and patted lightly your head.

-Then please sleep more now OK? You have to rest as much as you can, or the fever won’t go away.

You weakly nodded, your eyes already closing, he kissed you on the forehead, and said.

-Sleep tight sweetie.

Then everything went , once again, back to black.

………..

The moment your eyes opened you knew you had been sleeping a really long time.

Your throat was once again dry, and you could feel your whole body aching for water, you tried to incorporate, you felt your head lighter, the pain not as overwhelming, and the nausea not as strong, you hesitantly looked around the empty room, Peniel didn’t leave a glass of water in case you woke up, so you stood up, leaning on the bunk bed for support, you stumbled through the door and barely made your way to the kitchen, your headache came back the moment you were completely standing up, and when you reached the kitchen your head was spinning so much that your legs gave out, and you felt yourself falling, you closed your eyes getting ready to hit the hard floor, but instead warmness wrapped around you, as you felt a pair of arms around your waist, keeping you from falling and pulling you up.

-Ha In? Gwenchana? – a soft velvet voice asked, he seemed worried, as he kept asking you, one of his hands cupping your face as the other one was still holding your body.

You blinked, your eyes blurry from the sudden dizziness, your view became clearer, and you saw Minhyuk leaning closer to you, his hand now checking your forehead, his eyes filled with nothing but worry, waiting for you to answer.

-Minhyuk-shi…? – you weakly muttered, still a bit confused and disoriented.

-Yes it’s me, are you alright? – he asked, his grasp around your waist tightening.

Your mind came back to normal, or almost, and you were immediately aware of the closeness of your bodies, of his grip around your waist, and his hand on your face, you breathed his scent, as his breath brushed your face every time he spoke, was it normal for you to feel flustered even when you were as sick as you were? You could feel your cheeks heating, and you were thankful you had a fever to hide it from him.

-Yes…i…I am…fine – you struggled to say, your mouth drier than before.

-What are you doing up? You should be in bed right now! You have to rest! – he said, was he annoyed? He seemed annoyed, but why? Had you perhaps interrupted him?

-I just…I woke up and I was thirsty…I wanted to drink some water – you muttered, and tried to make your way to the cupboard to get a glass, your knees wobbly.

-Wait, I’ll get it for you, just sit here – he said, leading you to a chair in front of the kitchen table.

He immediately came back with a bottle of some sport drink.

-Have this instead – he said opening it for you.

You weakly thanked him, bowing your head, and started to take sips, as he sat in front of you, with weary eyes, as if he feared you would fall from the chair or something like that.

-Do you want to get back to bed? – he asked, and you realised you had already finished the bottle.

-Ani…I’m much better, I think I’ll go back to my house now – you answered about to stand up.

-Andwae! – he said forcing you to remain seated – you are way too weak to be on your own, and Peniel would kill me if I let you leave.

That made you notice how silent and empty the door seemed.

-Where’s Peniel? And where are Ilhoon and Sungjae? And the rest of the members?

-They had to leave in order to finish some individual shots for the MV, I was already done so I’m the one that stayed behind to take care of you.

The way he said that made your heart throb painfully, was that it? He stayed behind because he had nothing else to do? Did he really not care at all?

You tried to swallow as a lump was formed in your throat.

He obviously took your difficulty for swallowing as a symptom of your sickness because he looked at you worriedly before getting a glass.

-Are you still thirsty? Here drink this.

You didn’t answer and just drank the water, looking at the table between you.

-I think you should sleep a bit more.

-Ani, I really don’t feel like sleeping – it was true, you had had far more than enough sleep, and you didn’t want to go back to bed.

-Alright then – he said standing up – I’ll get you something to eat.

-No, I seriously don’t think I can handle any food now – you said, your hand over your stomach.

He looked back at you once again, and walked the few steps between the both of you taking your wrist and softly guiding you to the living room.

-You need to eat something if you want to get better, just wait here while I cook something, he made you sit in front of the TV, and wrapped a blanket around you, making sure not a single cm of skin below your face was uncovered, and eased your position putting some pillows around you so you could sit comfortably.

-Just wait here and let me now if you need something OK? – he asked.

You nodded and he went back to the kitchen.

The TV was on, so you assumed he had been watching TV before you woke up, had he even bothered to go to the bedroom to check if you were alright?

There was some music program on the TV, and you watched some boy band dance and sing absentmindedly, your thoughts quickly going back to the handsome boy cooking food for you in the kitchen.

You couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him cooking, he was awkward at the kitchen, you could tell, his facial features twisted in concentration.

Not before too long a nice smell started to fill the room, your attention went back to the TV, the music program almost finishing, and you thought about BtoB’s close comeback, they would soon be there performing, and you would be cheering on them as you always did, it didn’t mind that you had gotten to know them, your fangirl feelings for them didn’t change, would you still shout Minhyuk’s name when he got to stand on the stage again? Even after all he had done and said, you didn’t think that would change a bit, your hand started to rub your still sore wrist, you had never bothered to go to the doctor thinking that the pain would eventually go away, it hadn’t yet though.

-There you go! – you looked startled to Minhyuk, who was holding an steaming bowl of soup.

-Ah, kahamsammida Minhyuk-shi – you answered trying to get your hands out of the messy wrapped blanket around you, without success.

-Here – he said, you would swear he chuckled, as he raised the spoon to your mouth.

Was he going to feed you for real? Were you seriously that pitiable right now?

- Come on, just eat and let me know when you’ve had enough, nae? – he asked, bringing the spoon closer to your lips.

You opened your mouth and he introduced the spoon, so you could shallow the hot chicken soup, it tasted pretty nice, to tell the truth, you were surprised.

-Is it nice? – he asked with bright eyes – it’s the first time I’ve tried cooking it, so I’m not sure how it turned out, if you don’t like it it’s OK, you don’t have to force yourself, specially being sick, we’ll call a take away or something like that.

You couldn’t help but smile at his childishness.

-