03:

The light was blinding so I had to shut my eyes tightly again. At the same time, my whole body ached and I couldn’t move because I felt sore and numb everywhere. Slowly, I opened my eyes. At first glance, I knew that I was somewhere in a hospital? There are people in white coat and uniforms around me. They must be my attending doctor and nurses. But why am I here?

The figure with the stethoscope around his neck, my doctor probably, looked at me and smiled. I felt him checking my eyes with that little torch thing I used to see in medical dramas. He mumbled something to the nurse and they nodded and jotted something in their charts. I frowned. I had no idea how I ended up here. I still felt empty and dizzy.

“Why am I here?” I asked them. My attempt of getting up was immediately halted by the nurses.

“You’ve been under our care for three days already.” One of them told me. My eyes widened and again, I tried to get up only to be pushed down one more time. What about my classes? My family—they must be looking for me.  

The doctor patted my shoulder, “You don’t have to worry about anything, miss. We’ve contacted your school already. You were given special medical leave. You can get the documents regarding that once you’re discharged, okay?”

Oh, okay then. I nodded and lied back on the bed. I looked at the IV needle attached to my hand. The doctor excused himself while on of the nurses stayed back to attend me. “What happened to me?” I asked her.

“Your neighbor sent you here,” She explained, “You had a very high fever and made us all worried. It was way above a normal person’s temperature. It seems like you’re getting better now.” She smiled again. After making sure I was okay and resting away, she took her leave as well.

That’s new—I had never been so sick to be admitted to a hospital before. Feeling less heavy, I tried to sit upright on the bed. There was an old lady next to my bed and she had her attention on her book. Another patient was opposite of me, focusing completely on the little TV we had in here.

I turned to my right and found my phone splaying on the cupboard. Turning it on, I waited as the screen brighten into life. My stomach grumbled and I swore I could feel the bile on my throat. I was so hungry I could die all over again. Speaking of dying—what on earth had made me so sick? Ah right—after being confronted by Chanyeol the other day, it had been rough on me. The disappointment crawled in again as no one actually bothered to look for me or to see how I was doing.

Three days away from school, not even a text, what more to say a call from them. There were just 35 missed calls and 51 text messages from home back in Chuncheon. I pressed the green button and waited for the call to be connected. “Hello—”

“My daughter Soo Ae!” My mother’s voice screeched into my ear and I had to put my phone away for the first few minutes to wait for her to calm down. “Where have you been? You didn’t answer my calls or reply my messages. Even when you’re busy with your final exams, you always called us and when I didn’t hear anything from you—”

“It’s okay, mom,” I assured her, “I was just a bit sick. I—” At that moment, someone came into the ward. And seeing who it was, I almost dropped my phone. “Mom, I’ll call you back?” I asked, not sure of what to say when I saw his face.

Luhan smiled at me and waved delightfully. He got two plastic bags of take-outs from some Chinese restaurant. Suddenly, my fellow roommates (wardmates?) brightened up at the sight of Luhan and they greeted him. I didn’t know if I should smile or not. My mom excused herself because she was getting busier with her restaurant. And I still had the phone attached to my ear even after she had hung up.

“Have you never seen a handsome young man before?” He teased me, placing the bags on the small desk next to my bed. Luhan took the phone away from me and placed it on the table too.

“Why are you here?” I asked him. Luhan looked offended at the question but he continued to open the container and placed it in front of me.

“They said that you should eat healthy food first. But I figure that you haven’t eaten proper food for days, then why shouldn’t I give you the good ones first? Enjoy yourself and thank me later.” He then winked proudly and sat on the chair next to the bed. “Don’t be pressure. I’m not doing this for free. After all, I was just paying back what I’ve done to you. I didn’t know that you had a very sensitive boyfriend…” He trailed quietly.

“Since when have you become my neighbor?” I asked him, still staring blankly at his face. Luhan got up from his seat and placed the chopsticks in my hand. I looked down at the food. “And when did you buy me this stuff?”

“I was having lunch at the shop when the hospital called me. They told me that you’re awake.” He half-assed replied. Somehow, I felt like he wasn’t answering my question at all. “I signed up as your guardian, you know,” A pause, “How did you know that I was the one who sent you here?”

“My neighbors are foreigners and a 73-years-old grandmother.” I gave him a look before starting to eat the food. There’d be no way the transfer students are aware of my existence living next to them and the grandmother two doors down could barely even take care of her own body.

Luhan snickered anyway and continued to watch me eating. For some reasons, I didn’t shy away from his stare and continued to dig in the food. It was quite greasy but it was so damn good. 

“Maybe I’m the grandmother’s grandchild?” He tried again. I rolled my eyes at him but I was too tired to argue with him. In any ways, I was very thankful. If it wasn’t for him, I’d be dead inside the house after all. Luhan then grew quiet—maybe he was thinking of the incident when Chanyeol saw us together?

“How did you know that I was sick?” I asked him again, “Did you follow me home?”

“I was worried so I did kind of follow you that day.” He confessed. “But I return home right after I made sure you got home safely. I just need to make sure, you know. When you were drunk last time, you vomited all over me and fell into a lake. You even followed me back home. It bothered me a lot the next day and I needed to check up on you only because I was curious so I actually returned to your house that morning. The mails were left unattended and the milk delivery remained untouched too.”

“So you barged into my house?”

“Would you rather die inside?” He asked smugly. I sighed and shook my head.

“Thank you, Luhan-ssi.” I smiled at him.

That gratitude actually took him by surprise. The surprise look then revolved into a smile and he shrugged. “Oh, and I shut your phone down because I didn’t know how to answer the calls. I told the hospital to tell your school about your absence. And I was afraid that I might scare off your momma. I noticed from you text that you’re quite close with her—”

“You read my texts?”

“And actually, some dude named Byun Baekhyun called your cell that evening.” Luhan revealed as he passed me a glass of water. My hand stopped midway and my mouth remained gaping open. Why did Byun Baekhyun call me? Was it to make sure of what he had heard from Chanyeol? Luhan continued, “I didn’t answer his call because I was afraid that I’d cause another misunderstanding.”

“You did right.” I nodded my head at him. “Thanks again.”

I took the glass and gulped down the water. I felt a lot fresher now.

“You’re not welcome.” Luhan smiled sheepishly at me. I raised my brow again and put the spoon down. What did he mean by that? “Actually…I kinda did something without your consent.”

“What did you do?” I asked almost too immediately.

“My parents were urging me to come back to China because they are setting me up with this girl…”

“Oh God, what did you tell them?” I asked him. Don’t tell me—did he actually tell them that I’m his girlfriend and now I had to pretend to be one? I frowned—that seemed so fan-fiction like. Did his parents set him up for an arranged marriage?

“I kinda… sent them a picture of you and… that was it. They didn’t try to meet you or anything. They canceled the meeting and well, that was it. Oh, and they did wish you to get well soon.” Luhan finished with a laugh.

It didn’t bother me that much as long as he didn’t over-use my name. It was nothing really so I let it slide. I sighed and pushed the tray away from me. Luhan gladly took the container away and put it aside.

“You had a serious fever. Are you sure you coming back to school tomorrow?” He asked me.

“Why?” I asked him back. “Do you want to send me to my school or something?”

“Nope, I’m trying to plan something for that day.” He made a V-sign with his hand and laughed, “No offense but I’m planning to avoid you as much as I can.”