“Omma~ I’m here to have some good time with the whole family. Why are you pushing me to my room?” Onew was trying to tell his mom that he was really fine, and that he didn’t need to rest because he wasn’t really sick.

“Sshh… I am not accepting any protest from you, Lee Jinki. Come on, just sleep and take some rest.” His mother insisted and even pulled the blanket to cover him up. “They will understand, and you can greet everybody tomorrow.” She smiled lovingly as her son kept on whining about going out to talk to the others.

“I am not going to sleep.” Onew pouted and kept his eyes open. “You can lock the door but I am not sleeping.” He repeated himself which made his mother sighed.

“When will you stop whining like a little kid, Jinki? Can’t you feel your own temperature? It’s 38 degrees! You are obviously not feeling well. Come on, Jinki, just sleep for tonight, they will still be here for your father’s birthday by tomorrow.” She explained – not wanting to lose over her son.

“But omma, I’m afraid we’ll have to go tomorrow morning because of schedule. I only have tonight to spend with you.”

His mother shook her head, “Just stay there. I’ll come back in a while.”

Jooyoung, on the other hand, was in the living area talking to Onew’s relatives. “Aah… What a pity. I thought that you are my Jinki’s girlfriend.” His grandmother sighed and she was obviously disappointed when Jooyoung corrected their impression of her. “I guess we still have to wait for few more years then?” She told the other relatives and they laughed about how witty the grandmother was.

They were in the middle of chatting when Onew’s mother came out from his room, walking towards them with the usual gentle smile on her face. “Excuse me, Jooyoung-ssi?”

“Yes, Mrs. Lee?”

“I’m sorry to interrupt you all but your patient there inside his room is not listening to me. This is too embarrassing for me to ask but… can you help me making me sleep?” She smiled awkwardly as if asking for a help regarding his own son was a very hard thing to do. Jooyoung looked at her for a moment, not sure what to say, because she was uncomfortable about her request as well. Who was she to just make him sleep anyway? Eventually, she nodded.

“I’ll try my best, Mrs. Lee.”

“Okay, then, he’s in his room. I already gave him his medicine so I think his fever will go down a bit later, but he really should sleep.”

“I got it.” Jooyoung smiled and though she was a bit uncomfortable about it, she stood up going to his room.

“I’m just closing my eyes, omma~ I told you I am not sleeping.” Onew uttered when he heard the door opened again.

“Stop being so stubborn, Lee Jinki.” Jooyoung chuckled as she walked closer to him on the bed. “Your mom asked me to force you to sleep. She didn’t give me any limitation so maybe I can punch you?”

Onew immediately opened his eyes in surprise and look at Jooyoung who was now standing in front of him beside the bed. “Jooyoung-ah… I thought it was omma.” He sighed and flipped his body to the side to face Jooyoung who was now sitting on the small chair that was there. “I’m not really unwell, right? And besides, I’ll have to leave tomorrow morning.”

Jooyoung shook her head and took her phone. “Listen well.” She dialed the oldest manager’s number and after few seconds of waiting, he answered quickly. Jooyoung immediately put it on loudspeaker for Onew to hear. “Oppa, I have a problem here with Onew ssi.” She said.

“Why? Is he still not feeling well?”

“Yes, and his mother suggested for him to stay until tomorrow night to monitor his condition. He’s become weaker when we got here and he’s sleeping right now, but what are we going to do with his schedules?” Jooyoung asked as if she was more worried about him not attending tomorrow’s schedule.

“Fine, I’ll do something with it. Just make sure he feels better.”

Jooyoung smiled and winked at Jinki whose face got brighter upon hearing that from his manager. "Okay, I got it. Bye… So now, Lee Jinki-ssi? Would you mind having some sleep so you’ll feel better tomorrow?” She raised an eyebrow with a smile as Onew finally pulled his own blanket to himself and lied properly on his bed. “Good boy.”

“Yah. You are not allowed to treat me like a kid here in my own house. Hence, you are not allowed to treat me like a kid at all times.” He shook his head and closed his eyes, but didn’t stop talking. “I can’t believe why they still treat me like I’m a child when I’m already 25 years old.”

“Why don’t you ask yourself?” She finally stood up to leave. “Make sure you get some sleep so your mother would stop worrying about you, oh, and before I forget, please don’t use the garlic cloves strategy without my knowledge… that’s copyright infringement.”

“What?” Onew laughed at Jooyoung’s nonsense blabber in the end. “Fine. Fine. I’ll be better with myself. You go take some rest as well. Goodnight.” He said and in few seconds, Jooyoung was surprised Onew was already sleeping.

As she went out of the room, a lot of eyes were looking at her. A pair of them belongs to Onew’s mother. “Is he sleeping?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“Aigoo… he listens well to you, my dear.” Onew’s auntie clasped her hands together and sighed. “Our Jinki has already grown up. He’s not listening to his parents but to someone special already.”

“Ai, but I’m not his someone special, ahjumma.” She corrected again and felt a bit awkward about it. “I’ll go ahead since he’s now resting and I’ll just go back tomorrow night to pick him up.”

“Why don’t you just stay here?” Onew’s mother suggested with a wide smile on her face. “Tomorrow’s gonna be fun since it’s his father’s birthday. I think Jinki will be happier to know you’re celebrating with us.” She said to which other people inside the house agreed, even Onew’s father insisted that she should just stay – leaving her no choice but to eventually agree.

“In that case, then…” She smiled shyly to all of them.