WITH GRACE.

21장

when i woke up this morning, i felt ill. i probably caught fever after being drenched with rain last night when i went to the convenience store to buy a tub of ice cream i desperately craved at that moment. despite the pending illness, i decided to get on with the chores i needed to accomplish today. i'll return to bed once i get those over with.

it's sunday, and weekends (or even weekdays) meant sleeping in 'til noon for my brother and cousin. with that, i got the job done quicker than having people around. i prepared breakfast for them while separately making some warm porridge for myself. warm porridge is my staple food when i get ill.

the events that came down the other day during the high school's ball was still fresh in my mind. aside from attending the ball i have dreamed of since i was a young child, that ball became even more memorable with the confession that tranpired between sunghoon and i.

after that earnest avowal on the garden, sunghoon led me back inside the hall making sure my hands were securely enlaced in his. in spite of the fleeting confidence that led me to reveal my feelings towards him, the self-conciousness brought me to realize i had just made quite a confident stance. my cheeks were warm. although embarassed, a small smile graced my lips.

when we came back inside, the guys (heeseung, jay, jake, daniel and jungwon) were seated back at our table. they eyed us from the moment our silhouettes made entrance to the hall. most had big smiles across their faces and it made me think these guys were expecting this to happen. jungwon and dongkyu, the exceptions, were pouting like little kids with eyes begging for me to take pity on them.

i turned to sunghoon, itching to get my curiousity fed.

"sunghoon-ah," a simple call of his name caught his full attention and we halted our tracks.

"yes?"

"do they...know?"

sunghoon showed me a playful smile.

"perhaps?"

i scrunched my face in discontent.

instead, it was the boys themselves who quenched my thirst for answers. apparently, they have expected this to happen because, as jake had said, they have keen eyes and a sharp sense of understanding ㅡ honestly, i didn't fully digest the meaning of his statement. dongkyu and jungwon stuck to me, calling out noona multiple times and begging me to give them affection. the two were whiny at sunghoon, feeling threatened he will take me away from them. as muh as they were adorable, it was amusing to see. baby-ing them really had obvious consequences such as these two getting too overly dramatic with such matter. no one's taking me away and there is absolutely no way i'm leaving this two. goodness, we're all just students.

sunghoon drove us home after the event. the two had left me standing outside the lobby with sunghoon after they raced to go to the bathroom. sunghoon didn't let me go easily, demanding he gets payment for tonight in the form of a hug. i did so immediately, not even feeling unusual and awkward about it. the brazenness had obviously not left his system as he sneakily gave me an eskimo kiss before bading me a good night.

i haven't seen them since then.

well, after all the happy things that transpired throughout the fair, the world decided it was time for me to feel the opposite. after consuming the bowl of porridge for myself, i felt relieved. i foolishly thought my illness was a fleeting one and it was over. instead, i felt even worse as i laid in bed for around four hours now. my head felt heavy, i felt cold and i was sneezing a lot.

i heard footsteps outside my door.

"noona, sunghoon hyung is here," it was dongkyu's voice.

as much as i wanted to sit up, my body was tired and i couldn't do much. i was still curled up in my blankets, shaking a little from feeling cold.

i heard the door swing open.

"you'll catch my sickness, don't come near," i desperately croaked, hoping they could understand my words which are muffled by the blanket covering me.

seconds later, i felt the footside of my bed dip and my blankets slowly getting peeled off from my body.

"don't come near!" i swatted the hand away, shivering a little.

"hey, you're burning up," i knew all too well it was sunghoon's voice.

"yes, i feel hellish," i covered my mouth and sneezed.

"noona, i told you it wasn't a good decision to leave for the ice cream last night," jungwon had also entered the room.

"leave me and my cravings be," i muttered in a small voice.

"did she get caught in the rain last night?" sunghoon asked to the other two.

"yeah, hyung," i heard dongkyu answer.

i sneezed again.

"i told you guys not to come inside. jungwon, dongkyu, out of my room. now! you just recovered from one a week ago so shoo," i reprimanded the boys.

"and you, mr. park. as much as i want to accomodate you as a guest today, my body is in bad condition and i feel totally unwell," i rambled.

"can you grabe me a basin of water and a clean towel, jungwon-ah?" i heard footsteps exit my room.

"hey, are you listening to me?"

"i'll go prepare soup for noona, hyung. please look after her,"

"sure," and another set of footsteps left the room.

"why are you guys not listening to me," i complained.

"well, you are now a patient and a patient has to listen and obediently follow the doctorㅡ"

"you're a dentistry student though,"

"still a doctor."

"but you're still an undergraduate,"

"eunhye, you're so talkative and stubborn. when you got drunk, you were also this childish, and the same is happening right now," sunghoon chuckled.

"stop treating me like a child,"

"should i call you a grown woman instead?"

"shut up. don't call me anything,"

"of course. you're not anything because you're my everything,"

"sunghoon, please. pick-up lines are so out of your character,"

"but i made you smile,"

"i'm not smiling,"

"hyung, here's a towel and a basin if water,"

"and i brought soup,"

jungwon and dongkyu cut our moment short and i felt thankful because i know sunghoon won't stop annoying me when he starts to.

that day, sunghoon ㅡ the dentistry student ㅡ became my personal doctor and took care of me. despite my incessant commands telling him to return home, he stayed at our place until my fever subsided.

why is he so sweet and caring?