(Photo Credit)

“Jagi~~~~!!! Why are YOU here?!?!” She wails through the intercom, shocked at the face displayed on her screen. She’s been nursing a bad case of flu for the past three days, alternating between passing out cleanly on her bed and crawling around her apartment to rummage through what’s left in her already sparse fridge before passing out on the bed again. Although she’s already on the mend, she doesn’t want to go back to work yet in case it’s contagious.

Which is why her boyfriend shouldn’t even be here.

“Jagi, I haven’t seen you for three days!” Kyungsoo pouts, his pleading eyes shining through the monitor. If only she knew how frustrating it was not to see her. Why is she so stubborn? “Let me in! C’mon, don’t you even miss me?” If only he has keys to her apartment he would’ve burst in her place on Day One and taken charge.

She rakes her fingers through her (greasy) hair in indecision, not noticing the move made her hair stick up in every direction. Honestly, she looks and feels like crap, is scratchy and her nose is still bright red. She’s wearing sweatpants with a hole in it (ironing accident, but such a waste to throw out) and a faded oversized sweater-slash-hoodie. It’s like a dump truck ran over her twice to make sure she looks like…well, dump.

But she knows Kyungsoo wouldn’t mind it one bit…which was validated by the mixture of elation and worry etched on his face when she finally opened the door.

“I miss you too, Kyungie~~~”, she says softly. Aegyo is not really her best selling point but Soo, bless his heart, seems to indulge every rare attempt, and she knows it. Makes her doubly lucky that he’s hers. She opens the door wider, the blush on her cheeks already the same shade as her nose. “Sorry, the place is a mess…actually, I’m a mess. Let me just—GUYS!!!” Pure mortification caused her eyes to well up and hastily pull her hood to hide her hair. The three boys a few feet away from Kyungsoo grinned wider at the sight. “Why are YOU here!!!”

“Noona!” Chen’s voice boomed through the corridor, the corners of his mouth further tilting upwards, his arms full with paper bags. “You look great! Just like the setting sun!”

She groans out loud, ushering in the rest of the boys after greeting them while Kyungsoo holds her hand, knowing that she’s trying to reign in her frustration.

“Errrrr, nice pad, noona…” Jongin’s gaze roams through the messy living room, depositing his bag of groceries on the dinner table. “I guess you ran out of closet space?” He eyes the discarded clothes and wads of tissue strewn across the living room.

Fine, she’s lazy…and a home should be a sanctuary right? Well, chaos IS comfort for her. “What now?” She says defensively, dropping Kyungsoo’s hand and hurrying to the couch to make sure there’s no random underwear in sight. “Your dorm is dirtier than mine.”

“Ummm….” Minseok’s calm voice cuts in, and she sees him hovering near the kitchen counter. “Should I put this here, Kyungsoo?” He holds a bento box on one hand and a thermos on the other.

“Oh, yeah, sure hyung. Thanks.” Kyungsoo smiles, as if there’s nothing out of the ordinary with this entire picture.

“Kyungsoo, can I talk to you in private?” She pushes him into her room before he was able to say anything. “Make yourself comfortable, guys.” She calls out. “We’ll be right back.”

The moment the door closes, she backs away from him, eyes widening from the look in Kyungsoo’s eyes. She knows that look. “Soo! Don’t!” She extends her arm to distance herself. “I’m sick! You might get sick too.”

He shrugs, moving in to embrace her. “Jagi, you already held my hand. And frankly I don’t care. I’ll gladly get sick if I get to do this.” He pulls her into his arms and bends his head to kiss her.

She gasps at the feel of Kyungsoo’s cool lips against her warm ones, and she automatically wounds her arms around his neck. He continues to lightly caress her lips with his, nibbling a bit before finally plunging his tongue to play with hers. He digs his fingers on her hips as she continues to whimper under the exciting assault.

“See, that wasn’t so bad.” He murmurs the moment they come up for air.

She frowns, much to his confusion. “You could’ve waited for a day or two, you know. I’m already on track to getting well. You don’t have to see me like this.”

“Nuh-uh.” He hugs her tightly, trying to hold back his laughter. “Let me take care of you. What are boyfriends for?”

“Errr, so why are they here then?” She hugs him back before facing him again. “Are they my boyfriends too?”

“Friends of the boyfriend. Best situation they can hope for with you.” He grins proudly, his possessive streak shining through.  “Seriously, they’re looking for something to do, might as well rope them in.”

“I’m not a charity case, you know.” She folds her arms. “I’ve been living alone for as long as I can remember. I can handle a simple flu.”

“I know, jagi.” He answers sternly, slightly annoyed as to why she’s being so serious. “Still, let me help out. I just about lost my mind when you always tell me not to come over since last weekend.”

“I’m sorry. I’m just….not used to this.” Her uncertain and slightly embarrassed tone instantly tamping out Kyungsoo’s irritation.

“That’s okay. So you won’t lift a finger?” Kyungsoo waited for her to nod in response before continuing. “Don’t stress out so much even if they’re here. You have to get well. I have a surprise for you.”

“Ooooooohhhhh….a surprise?” Her eyes teased at him, and she lightly traces her finger across his heart-shaped lips. “What kind of surprise?” She cooed.

He chuckles. “Not the kind you’re thinking of.” He clamps her wrist to make her stop or else he’ll do something that will earn him a lot of ribbing from his friends for days. He’s starting to regret that they’ve been so willing to help out. “That’s hardly a surprise, jagi. You know that’s one of the reasons I’m here.” He winks mischievously at her while she laughs. “So be a good girl now so that you can get your surprise later. Besides, you have a lot of opportunities to be naughty tonight.”

Her promise to be a “good” girl was almost broken the instant they emerged from the bedroom. Her place is already halfway to looking like a museum. She wanted to scream and cry at the same time.

“Sorry, I can’t help it.” Minseok grinned, vacuum in hand – since when did she buy a vacuum? He looks like a soldier ready for war. “Your place has a lot of corners, you have to clean more regularly.

“I think you’ll freak out if I sorted the clothes on the couch.” Jongin deadpans as he sees her noona’s horrified face. “So I just placed everything in the hamper. Minimal touching. I promise.”

“For someone with a messed up place, you sure have a lot of cleaning products.” Chen quipped, already in the last stages of cleaning up a table. “If you’re not going to use them, you can donate them to our dorm.”

“Ummm….yeah…sure, get whatever you want.” She says distractedly.

Chen’s eyebrows shot up. “I was just kidding noona.” He laughs.

She smiles tightly at him before winding her way to sit on the couch and behave herself just as she promised. Much as she appreciates their effort, she just wants to scream and tell them to stop and do something else more worthy of their time. For one, it will certainly be messy again by the end of the week. Two, she doesn’t like people touching her stuff. Lastly, she doesn’t want people to do something for her that she’s perfectly capable of doing.

But she it in, since she’s the host and she doesn’t want her friends to feel awkward. They cleaned for 30 minutes while she chats with them in between sneezes and lying down at one point because she felt dizzy.

“Wake up, you have to take your medicine.” He nudges her awake.

She wakes up with a start, surprised from her view of the clock that it’s already late afternoon. “Oh my god, why didn’t you wake me up? Since when did they leave?”

“A couple of hours ago? You were sleeping so beautifully, they don’t want to wake you.” He helps her to sit up, and she notices that her comforter was wrapped around her.

“Ugh, was I snoring? This is so embarrassing.” She covers her face with her hands.

Laughing, Kyungsoo removes her hands and lightly pecks her on the nose. “You’re cute. Now, scoot over, at least have this before you take your medicine.”

“That smells so good,” she remarked, inhaling deeply on the bowl of soup on his hand. “Did you make it?”

“Yeah…I made it earlier then I just heated it up here.” Kyungsoo’s cheeks flushed in embarrassment. “You should eat more and on time, even if you’re busy,” he chastises her. “This is why you’re getting sick.”

“Yes, Dr. Do.” She teases him, making some space for him to sit beside her and extending her hand for the bowl.

“Nope, let me feed you.” Kyungsoo grins excitedly.

“What! I’m not an invalid.’

“Come on, humor me.” He narrows his eyes and clucks his tongue. “You don’t even let me open the door for you. At least now that you’re sick, I get to do my job.”

“It shouldn’t be part of the job as a boyfriend to treat your girlfriend like she’s handicapped—!” She almost choked on the soup Kyungsoo suddenly shoves in while she was speaking. She unknowingly opens again for another sip as the warm broth eases her insides.

He smirks as he gives her another spoonful. “I swear, woman. The things you say sometimes...it’s as if you’re telling me you don’t even need me at all.”

She’s suddenly contrite at what she said. “Soo—I didn’t…” She ran out of words to say when Kyungsoo continued to feed her silently for the next few minutes. “That’s not what I meant Soo. I’m sorry.” She mumbles as soon as they’ve emptied the bowl.

Kyungsoo smiles, but his expression was grim.  “That’s okay, I understand. Wait here, I’ll get your medicine.” He stands up to take her medicine on the counter.

She purses her lips in worry that she has hurt Kyungsoo more than he was letting on. She loves him too much, she doesn’t want this issue to get in between them. But she has no idea how make him believe that she really needs him in her life.

“I’m really sorry.” She implores to him once again as soon as he returns by her side. “I’m just not used on depending on anyone…” She then takes the medicine offered to her.

He replies as she finishes her water. “Depending on someone does not make you weak.” He frowns at her sad face, fearing that he said the wrong thing. “Depend on me, noona. I know you’re not used to it, and I’m younger than you but…I can make you happy.” His fingertips lightly brush over her knuckles.

Her chest tightened from the feelings that crept from his words. Kyungsoo has this uncanny ability of tugging her heart at the most unexpected moments, how she wish she can do the same for him.

She removes her hand from under his and moves to the counter. She didn’t see the flash of pain in Kyungsoo’s eyes, believing that she has rejected his sudden declaration. By the time she got back to sitting at the couch, Kyungsoo was wired and ready for an altercation.

Which was why Kyungsoo was rendered speechless when she takes his hand and presses a cold object on his palm.

“I don’t even know what took me this long.” She says sheepishly, closing Kyungsoo’s fingers on her spare key. “There, that’s my spare key. And I AM happy with you, Kyungsoo. You have no idea how much.” She was so embarrassed by her own declaration but this was overridden by amusement when Kyungsoo continues to stare at her with his mouth agape. “And I trust you and I’ll try to depend on you.”

He clutches the key like a lifeline, pocketing it a few seconds later. He wanted to dance around her apartment like a lunatic but he’ll just do that in the dorm later. He clears his throat, trying to hide his smile. “What medicine did I just give you? Where’s my girlfriend?”

She laughs heartily before clinging to his neck and giving him a sloppy kiss. “I could get used to doting Kyungsoo, you know...” she continues to link her hands around his neck. “Hmmm, maybe I should continue being sick…”

He grins evilly as he shifts his hip to remove a folded paper from his pocket and hands for her to read. It’s her turn to be speechless as she reads the details on the paper.

“You have plenty of time to be sick later, jagi. For now, you have to get well as soon as possible.” He slightly jumps on his seat, hardly able to contain his excitement.

“We’re finally going backpacking.”

***

A/N: So....who wants to go backpacking with Kyungsoo?