Tao watched her cry through closed eyes, he looked around to see if he could spot the ghosts that were hurting her in such a way but he saw nothing except the effect they were having on her.

“The stuff you told me about ghosts is hard to digest, I don’t understand it that well either so I don’t know what I can do to help you.”

Although she heard his voice amid the other voices Seryung didn’t reply instead she ignored them all pretending she was far away from them all in a world where ghosts didn’t exist and a world where people didn’t hate her. Her thoughts however couldn’t dispel the wretched feeling. Seryung stayed like that for a while, her senses were occupied by supernatural forces and therefore were unable to tell her that someone was there, trying to help her block out what she wanted to run away from. A pair of tanned hands that should have been coarse from martial arts but instead were smooth had masked her ears from the voices she was trying to run from, a broad chest also blocked her view from what she was trying to run from.

-

Seryung didn’t know when or how but she’d managed to be dragged away from the accident scene, she didn’t know where Tao was leading her nor was she in any condition to ask. Seryung groaned, her head was slowly swaying from side to side, nothing some food and medicine wouldn’t cure one she got home. Home. She’d have to face her parents and their irritating questions about why she wasn’t in school and after answering those she’d have to listen to the irritatingly detailed description of their trip that she wasn’t looking forward to hearing anyway, any longing she had for home was slowly fading. Seryung grimaced as little spiders danced in front of her eyes, her head continued to sway like the rides in amusement parks. She clutched Tao’s arm for support as her stomach churned.

Tao wrinkled his nose careful to make sure the stupid girl didn’t vomit on him. Her dead weight suggested that she was no longer capable of holding herself upright. She retched continuously until her body shook with tremors and her lips trembled as the last of what ever she’d eaten lay on the side of the pavement. “Better?” Tao asked as color slowly began to return to her almost lifeless body. Seryung mumbled something incoherently that Tao took to be a ‘yes.’

“Can you stand?” Seryung attempted to give a smirk. felt as if she’d upheaved crushed bricks and the smell of nausea was churning her stomach again.

 Slowly he hoisted her upright again. Seryung wrapped one arm around her aching stomach. She recalled fractured bodies and felt her stomach churn again. Seryung grimaced at the contents of her stomach that were frantically responsive when her thoughts tapped to the depressive state of the ghosts she’d met.

Tao groaned as Seryung’s body once again lost its strength, he hadn’t planned on carrying her home – he didn’t particularly want to either. He thought his duty would have stopped once she was save from thieves but no, his job had run into overtime and he wasn’t particularly pleased about it.

“Let’s sit down,” Tao suggested eying the empty bench by the bus stop. Seryung narrowed her eyes at the dingy bench and clenched her teeth. She still nodded even though her mind was questioning the idea. Tao sighed in relief as he plopped her onto the bench. She’d been leaning on him for too long, half of his body was tingling with numbness.

‘We’re still near enough to the hospital if you want to go back’ – is what Tao wanted to say. He bit his tongue knowing that she wouldn’t take that well especially when she was trying to get away from ghosts. Tao shrugged off the numbness leaving it to tingle as he stuck his hands into his pockets, his fingers wrapped around loose change he kept handy and so he elongated his job unnecessarily. “I’m going to get you some water,” He motioned towards the vending machines that sat outside of a newsagent.

‘No! Don’t leave me on my own!’ Seryung’s eyes widened pleading. She clutched his sleeve in hopes he didn’t leave her alone. If he left her too then she would surely be alone until an accident occurred somewhere. Tao patted her hand gently and crouched down to look up at her, “I’m just going to get you some water, okay.” He cooed the listless yet fearful figure. Seryung shook her head vehemently, “I don’t want to be alone,” she whispered coarsely and held her burning throat.

Tao winced internally at her tone; she sounded awful and so much unlike her determined-self.

“Shh,” he whispered putting a finger to his lips, “I’ll be back. I promise.” Seryung unwillingly freed him as he tried to pry at her fingers.

-

Tao held a cool bottle against her cheek. “For you.”

“Thank you,” Seryung whispered curling her fingers around it. Her hand brushed against his warm hand causing her to shudder once more. Seryung stared at the hand that had touched against Tao’s as he obliviously plunked down beside her. Seryung wondered if he too could identify what part of his forehand had touched against her palm. Seryung bit the inside of her cheek as her heart began to race, she listened to its beating and stole a glance at the China-man sitting next to her. Whether it was the warmth of his action or the oozing charisma, it gave Seryung a sense of security that she’d never experienced before.

Seryung held the bottle between her knees and wondered if it was okay for her to try and open it without straining her arm. She readied herself for a nerve shock and twisted the cap, “Oh,” she muttered as the bottle opened with ease. She looked toward Tao - who was staring into the distance - for an explanation. “You’re welcome,” came the simple reply. Seryung smiled; he’d gone though the extra trouble of opening the bottle too. Seryung recalled everything he’d done for her thus far; she admired him for helping someone like her. She knew he didn’t like her but even then he was still chivalrous. Seryung raised the bottle to her lips, the cold water rolled down soothing it.

“Are you going to call your driver or do you want to take the bus?” The thought of returning home hadn’t occurred to Seryung. She reflected over the present situation and her fingers coiled around the bottle defensively.  Her empty stomach lurched and she gaged once more.

Tao clenched his teeth and held her hair away from her face as she spewed the water she’d just been drinking. He scrunched his nose and sighed when she was done. The task assigned to him had just become arduous he helped her back onto her feet and held her arms as she shivered.

Seryung blinked once more as her eyes played tricks on her, her stomach burnt at the thought of her brother and her head began its own merry go round. Tao winced as she stumbled over her feet. He caught her wishing she would find strength in her legs.

Seryung groaned as the numbness tried to overpower her. She clutched onto Tao in an effort to keep upright before the feeling overpowered her. Seryung fainted. Tao held her effortlessly carried her to a bench. He laid her down and muttered something in a language Mi Young didn’t understand. She watched the scene unfold and tilted her head to laugh.

Tao glanced at the girl who lay unconscious, “You should have just stayed in hospital,” he muttered as he checked her temperature. He groaned when he realized she was cold. He’d already wrapped his jacket around her, yet she shiver in a way that made him fear for her life.

Tao sighed and held his palms against her cheeks in an effort to keep her warm. He strained his ears and listened to her talk to her brother in small interval whispers. Her lips quivered and grew chapped making Tao sigh heavily as he reached into his pocket for his chap stick, he drew the balm and laughed quietly to himself as he traced her lips with it. Then he pressed the chap stick into her palm, “You keep it, I don’t want your sick germs,” he teased before curling her fingers around it.

Tao stared at the clear sky and wondered why she was becoming cold when it was clearly a pleasant day. He craned his head back and then to the sides before replacing his arms onto the bench. He didn’t like the stupid girl lying on his lap, he feared the frail image of her would leave a lasting impression and he didn’t want that. The stupid girl wasn’t allowed to become a girl in his eyes.

He stared at her deducing how to wake her, he just needed to bring her home and leave, and that was it! He clicked his tongue and cupped her cold face hoping to thaw whatever dream she was having.

“You need to wake up. Your oppa won’t be happy when he finds out what you’re doing to yourself,” he told her factually as his thumb involuntarily her cheek.

“You’ve become pitiful, Oh Seryung,” Tao warned quietly, “Making strangers take care of you. Why didn’t you just stay at hospital if you were still unwell?”

Seryung stirred as the warm pair of hands left her face and rubbed her hands. Her eyes fluttered open briefly and she smiled. “Am I imagining you?” She asked as she reached for his face. Her eyes widened as her hand made contact with his face. She allowed her hand to rest there as she reasoned whether he was real or not.

“How are you feeling?”

Seryung pulled her hand away at his words and stared into his eyes.

“Do we go back to the hospital?”

Seryung shook her head. She lifted her hand and stared at the item sitting in her palm. She pulled herself into an upright position and stared at the chap stick.

Tao shrugged when a questioning pair of eyes landed on him, “You needed it,” he told her as he took to his feet. He revolved on his feet and stretched his arms over his head.

Seryung remained mute and shivered again pulling the jacket closer as she did. The jacket brought more questions and she would have asked them but she didn’t want to, she didn’t have the strength to hold a conversation. She wanted him to sit down beside her so she could go to sleep again.

Seryung groaned to herself making Tao twirl around and frown at her, “What is it? Are you hurt?”

Seryung smiled softly, “Not really,” she replied hoarsely and made a face as burnt. Tao ruffled his hair impatiently and offered her his bottle of water, “Drink some, slowly this time,” he warned wagging his finger at her.

Seryung nodded slowly she watched Tao uncap the bottle for her. It was a strange exchange from the way Tao held the bottle for her to the way he sternly warned her to get a grip.

The diminished energy in Seryung’s form meant that she was relying on Tao more than what she wanted. He was her support ad although he didn’t complain about it she could read his annoyed expression. She had tried to walk on her own and was able to travel a few meters before her eyes darkened. This made Tao even more troubled, he’d scolded her for trying too hard and Seryung had only half understood his words.

“What’s wrong with me?” She asked all of a sudden. She hid her face, as they became the cause of strange looks. She felt the vibration of his chest as he laughed and ruffled her hair slowly.

“Are we that strange?” Tao asked her. He felt her nod and snickered. The arm he’d placed around her waist tightened and Seryung flushed at his teasing.

“I guess we do look strange like this but what can we do? You don’t want to go home nor do you want to go to the hospital. The only place we can go to eat is the restaurant or my house. We can’t go to my house because it’s inappropriate and you think the scent of food in the restaurant will make you ill. So we’re left with sitting outside a take away.”

Seryung nodded and tried to hide her face again, regardless of how much she tried she could hear the thoughts of passers by and although it didn’t bother Tao, it very much bothered her.

Seryung reluctantly sat outside of the small take away. She had never once visited this particular place and the food it would give her made her nervous. She feared getting sick again because she hated the feeling of food lurching back into and out of .

Tao had assured her that the take away was trustable and although Seryung was inclined to trust Tao she doubted her stomach. She had wanted to go somewhere that wasn’t home because there would be no one home but Tao had insisted that she eat and hence that was why they were here.

Seryung took a sip of water carefully as Tao had nursed her. Seryung sighed when her temples began to give away telltale signs of a headache. However the mild despair was short lived because the scent of porridge wafted into her nostrils and made her woke her stomach. Seryung listened to it grumble as the aroma came closer until she heard it being placed on the table in front of her.

Next came the scraping of the chair against the concrete, the assault on her eardrums made Seryung flinch. She saw Tao sit beside her from the corner of her eye. Seryung lifted her head to look at him weakly, “I don’t want food, I’m scared.”

Tao nodded patiently and began to mix the porridge. He took a small spoonful and watched the steam rise. He blew on it gently and offered her the porridge, “I know you might not want to eat but you’re dizzy and unwell. Don’t eat all of it but eat a bit so I know that you won’t have fainted off somewhere on your way home.”

Seryung pressed her lips into a wry smile, “Oppa likes to make juk. He makes it for the people at the shelter. He used to make me some too when I got jealous that he never let me eat...” Seryung took a deep breath and held her head in her hands, how long would they keep fighting?

 “Eat first, think later, your brother wouldn’t like to see you in this state,” Tao regretted his words the minute they’d left his mouth. Seryung nodded and wiped the salty trail of tears that rolled down her face. “I’m okay,” she assured him as she sniffed. She took the spoon from his hand and slowly took in a mouthful.

Tao was perplexed as she sniffed and ate diligently. He watched her for a while and noted that her hair had become a mess in all the drama. He smiled at her as she ate hungrily. The empty bowl proved his assumptions to be true.

“Come on, let’s take the bus.”

Seryung tilted her head, “Bus? To where?”

“You have to go home,” Tao reminded her amused. He wiped the corners of with a napkin making her fluster.

“I-“ Seryung stopped herself before she could finish her sentence. He gazed at her waiting for her to continue, “I don’t want to go home yet, no ones at home, I don’t want to be alone,” she admitted.

Tao’s eyebrows rose before a sneaky smile found its way, “What are you implying?” He asked teasingly playing with her hair. Seryung held her breath and stood as if she’d been struck by lightening, “I-I don’t mean that!”

Tao dropped her hair and laughed wholeheartedly, “So go home and rest.”

Seryung made a face, “Fine then!”