Chapter Three

  Our Pretty Caregiver 

♬ Now Playing: Pretty Pretty - Ladies' Code

“Oh no.” Yuri whispered breathlessly. Tears started to swarm on her cheek. Someone’s hurt. Swiftly, she ran towards the wounded guy; bee stung lips, dark shiny hair, and tanned skin – it’s Jongin, she recalled as she recognized the skin complexion, which was almost as dark as hers.

She sat beside him and raised his head gently, “Talk to me… Please.” She spoke softly, fret obvious on her tone. Slowly, he opened his eyes. It widened a bit when he recognized the face just a small distance from his. Kai’s eyes starts to water. “Noona…” He sounded like a lost boy who just found his mother after so many years yet Yuri thought of it the other way for she thought that something’s hurting to him.

“Does it hurt that much, Jongin?” She eyed on his open wound which doesn’t stop bleeding and raised his head higher until he’s on the sitting position. “N-no, Noona. I-I just need to wash this, nothing too burdensome.” He answered, hoisting up his injured hand to prevent it from bleeding too much.

Yuri grabbed his other hand, which had no wound, and led him to the couch, gesturing him to sit. Instantaneously, Yuri stood up. “Wait here.” She said without looking away and ran to the kitchen.

“Lay told me the first aid kit’s just here somewhere,” She muttered as she searched on the cabinets in the kitchen. Luckily, she found it fast. She clutched on it with a toothy grin and headed to her patient. “Here it is!” She chimed.

She sat beside him and opened the small box with a red cross painted on it. “Let’s get your boo-boo clean.” Yuri giggled at her own remark of humor. She grabbed the cleansing alcohol and a piece of cotton ball. Kai’s eyes amplified in terror. He never wanted to put alcohol on his wounds even when he was a kid, and Yuri knew that before. Silently, he tried praying that Yuri might remember so she wouldn’t attempt to squirt that crisp of deathly liquid on him. He wouldn’t even dare to mention that to her. As a guy, it would hurt the ego of his manliness. No.

He watched her; everything’s happening in slow motion, like, time is running leisurely to savor the moment wherein the Bad Boy Kai would scream his lungs out like a crazy fan girl just because of a cleansing alcohol. She squirted the alcohol on the cotton ball, pinching the excess of it, before turning back to Kai who’s once pinkish bee-stung lips became paler. “Hold your palms up.” Yuri demanded. Her eyebrows knitted in sternness, like this is a very serious case. Kai bit his lip before slowly, raising his other palm instead of the wounded one.

Yuri eyed on him as if she’s saying, ‘Are you even serious?’. Her lips formed a grim line. “Don’t play dumb with me, Kim Jongin. I’m serious here. That wound may be infected if we don’t cleanse that.” She said casually, grabbing the back of his wounded hand and held him tight by the wrist. He struggled to free it before Yuri eyed on him again, “Don’t.” She warned, earning an audible gulp from Kai. He tilted his head to the side, not wanting to witness the crisp of deathly liquid as it invades his ego and let his masculinity running out of him ‘til there’s no more left.

The cotton ball was almost touching his palm when she heard Kai scream. She didn’t even bothered to neither halt nor throw him a sympathetic glance and instead, continued until the cotton ball made contact to his bloody palm. And that’s the cue; Kai started to scream, shout, and curse strings of profanities. He sounded like an elephant who’ve stepped on a bunch of nails and at the same time, had Jerry the Mouse doing loops around his body. He looked insane, like a mad man.

The cotton ball stuck on his palm as Yuri pressed it against him, hard; wiping it thoroughly. He started jumping and chanted, “, it stings.” Meanwhile, Yuri started laughing. She stood up and collaborated with him by singing the chorus of a song in the movie ‘Frozen’.

She spread her arms wide and sang with feelings,

♬ “Let it go! Let it go! You’re afraid of alcohol. Let it go! Let it go! Did you think that I forgot?
Here I stand while I see you cry. Let your feelings out…” She clutched on the bottle of alcohol and showed it to him before continuing, “This thing shouldn’t bother you anyway.” She had a mischievous grin plastered on her face as Kai concealed with a scrunched face, shaking his hands to forget about the stingy feeling.

“Have you overcome your fear now, dear?” She cajoled, muffling her giggles as she recalled his priceless face. Kai snorted, throwing her a glare. “That’s not funny.” He muttered, staring at his once bloody and stingy palm which now feels normal. “You should be thanking me, Jongin.” She snapped. “For what? For digging up the hell out of me? Oh wow. Really, I thank you from the bottom of appendix.” He responded sarcastically, rolling his eyes at her.

Yuri smiled, amused. “Appendix? Shouldn’t that be from the bottom of your heart?” She stood up, packing the bottle of alcohol and the plastic of cotton balls back in the box. Kai’s eyes became minty, staring at the pretty figure as she walks back to the kitchen before replying, “I don’t have a heart.”

Yuri stopped her tracks. Huh, why? She turned back to see him; dark brown eyes reflecting distress gazing deeply at her. After the long pause of staring at each other, Yuri managed to find her voice back. “Everyone has,” She spoke softly “It just shatters into pieces, but it can be mended.”

“How?” Kai growled quietly. Yuri paused for a beat, “Tapes, staplers, and needles with threads, I think… Anything you can use that can stick muscle pieces together.” She said, a small smile plastered on her face. Kai gives her a you-are-so-ridiculous look which made her smile grow wider before turning back to return the first aid box back to the cabinet.

He stood up and walked towards Yuri to fetch the ice bag, which was also located at the same cabinet as the first aid box. Both of his arms trapped Yuri who faced back to him. His body pressed against hers as he reached for the ice bag. Suddenly, both of them felt the intimacy in the atmosphere. Kai’s heartbeat quickens at the sudden skin ship, like, he’s being electrified, a feeling that he never felt since she left. Meanwhile, Yuri felt what she felt when she first saw the boys; intimidated and uncomfortable. It’s kinda late to feel it this way. I’ve been with him for almost an hour yet here I am, feeling this weird thing again. Kai got the ice bag and headed to the fridge to fetch some ice, and that snapped her back from being frozen for a couple of seconds.

“L-let me help you with that.” She offered. Kai shook his head as he place the ice in the ice bag. “No need. I’ll handle my bruises on my own. Thanks for the help. I’ll go sleep now. Goodnight.” Kai announced. He’s walking away from her until she said, “Wait.” He stopped, bemused.

“What?”

“Tell me why you came home with those bruises.” Her eyes reflected pure concern.

Kai heaved out a heavy sigh. “I don’t mean to be rude. But it’s not in need of your perceptive.”

“It’s for my peace of mind.” Yuri argued. “I was so worried when I saw you lying down on that cold tiled floor.” Her voice became shaky, as if she’s gonna break down in her tears anytime soon.

“I just encountered a couple of ing dudes, that’s all.” He replied briefly before turning back again.

“I thought you were with the others?”

“They needed to finish their stuffs.” He responded boringly without looking back at her.

“Oh. Well then… Good night?”

“Night.”

The next morning, Yuri woke up early. She hadn’t slept well. After helping Kai or rather laughing at the ‘bad boy’ as he screamed on top of his lungs just because of a cleansing alcohol, she had to make a call to her agency that she’ll be leaving for two months, which hadn’t been a very well conversation.

She didn’t want to argue over the phone yet that’s what happened. Her agency demanded that she should come back, especially because their group is still at the rising star level – in which they need more exposure to make it to the top. With only three of the four members promoting, fans would rather prefer to watch them complete. And that would definitely affect the company’s sales.

She used all those acting skills she got to convince them and fortunately, she succeeded. The agency said they’ll make a fake statement for her absence yet she must come back after two months sharp or else she’ll be out of the group; a thing she doesn’t want to happen after all the hardships she made.

She also called her members to inform them. Their reactions were just fine; almost all the same with the ‘Good luck handling those big babies’, ‘I’ll miss you’, and ‘Be back soon or I’ll grab your back here’ remarks.

She glanced at her digital alarm clock and it shows 6 a.m. She got up and brushed her teeth before bundling her hair to tie it up into a loose messy bun. With one last check in front of the mirror, she went out of her room, only to see pieces of clothes scattered everywhere.

“What happened?” She asked herself, eyebrows creasing. She picked up the trail of clothes; from caps, ties, shirts, slacks, and even boxers. She flushed upon seeing the private belonging she’d picked up.

As she walked further, the pile of clothes still on her arms, ‘til she reached downstairs, she saw three guys at the living room. All of them were asleep at silly positions. She looked at the features of their faces, trying to recall who they are.

The first one lies on his stomach on the rug, arms and feet parted and bent until it almost form a broken diamond shape. Then she remembers during her school days when she had to dissect a frog, it was creepy having their hands and feet fastened with a pin as they struggle for their lives, and the position the first guy made – made her recall that sinister memory. She recognizes the smudged eyeliner and confirmed it was Baekhyun. But still, it looked eerie.

The next one was normally sleeping on the couch, but the thing is, he’s his thumb like a baby. It looked gross for an adult man to do that, seriously. He had those natural dark circles around his eyes, and he looked like a baby panda in peaceful deep slumber. It's Tao.

The last one was the weirdest and the most awkward. His crotch was rested on the arm rest of the couch with his face buried in the mattresses of the couch and arms on his sides. His was lifted that made Yuri felt uneasy. She didn’t know if she should laugh because that’s a very silly position or whatever. His body frame was tall, or we should say 'long' perhaps since he's not on a vertical position but on a horizontal one. Then she angled her head and tried to check on his face yet all she saw was the side of it. His face was long too. He must be Kris.

“They must be really tired with their business to forget about sleeping to their bedroom instead of the living room.” Yuri muttered, shaking her head disapprovingly.

She spared a glance at them again. They’re fully clothed. The two, Sehun and Luhan, must’ve been the one who went upstairs and left their clothes scattered. (w/n: omo, what are they doing there together?! >///< kkk~)

She sighed, I should let them sleep. She thought before deciding to find where the laundry basket is to drop off the dirty clothes.

Being an all-around noona’s really hard, but here she is, trying her very best just to help these boys.

And of course, for every wrong doings, there must be an equal punishment.

What punishment could that be? *insert evil smirk here*

Writer's Note;

My deepest condolence to EunB of Ladies' Code. She's too young to end her journey. And also, wishing all the luck for Sojung and RiSe's surgery, and for Ashley and Zuny's trauma recovery. TT . TT Though I'm not a fan of theirs, I still feel sad for them. Anyone here a Lavely, as well? Fandom hug please. Let's pass it to everyone.

I hope I still made you smile/laugh a bit with this update, though I'm not that satisfied with the results. I have nothing to do; this is the outcome of what my nut-sized brain made.

Oh well. I'll see you guys soon :)

#RIPGoEunBi #StayStrongLadiesCode #StayStrongLavely(s) #FandomHugForEveryone