THE TRANSFER STUDENT

Struggles, Pt. 4

"Jieun?"

Taehyung crept towards Jieun slowly, contemplating on whether to wake her up or not. She was sleeping like a baby, which Taehyung was glad to see, but at the same time, it was time for her second dose of medicine, and in order for her to get better, she needed to take her medicine regularly.

Taehyung drew closer and that was when he noticed the beads of sweat on Jieun's forehead. He placed one hand on his own forehead and the other on hers, his eyes widening as he did so because of how scorching hot her forehead was. Taehyung didn't need a thermometer to know that Jieun was having a fever.

Taehyung wasted no time as he rushed back to the room after retrieving a basin filled with lukewarm water and a towel from the kitchen, immediately soaking the towel in the water and wringing it dry. This was a home remedy his grandma had taught him when she was still around - the wet towel could cool down the surface, hence lowering the fever.

Pulling over a chair next to Jieun's bed, Taehyung took a seat as he got to work, dabbing gently at Jieun's forehead with the towel. As he did so, Jieun stirred a little, a frown forming on her face. But Taehyung kept at it - it was all for her own good after all.

Taehyung had no idea exactly how much time had passed as he repetitively spent at least the next few hours busying himself with soaking and wringing the towel, and pressing it gently against Jieun's forehead. His eyelids were starting to get heavy as the sleepiness kicked in, but Taehyung didn't stop.

Even with his mind focused on his top priority of nursing Jieun back to health, Taehyung couldn't help but notice how beautiful Jieun was. In her dimly lit room, the light from her bedside lamp casted shadows on her face, downplaying and highlighting her features at all the right places.

And every time he caught himself mesmerised in her beauty, Taehyung tried to distract himself with humming a little tune himself or focusing on the small crack in the wall behind her bed.

She and Jungkook are a thing. Wake up, Kim Taehyung, he would scold himself.

It was deep into the night, at about 3am, and Taehyung had returned from changing the water in the basin, when he realised to his greatest surprise that Jieun was stirring in her sleep. Her temperature was down, but she had broken out in cold sweat as she squirmed in bed, mumbling things under her breath Taehyung couldn't even make out.

"Hey," Taehyung whispered gently, drawing nearer and placing the basin on the bedside table temporarily and instinctively grabbing hold of Jieun's hand to comfort her. "Hey, it's alright. I'm here."

"No... no..." Jieun whimpered, with beads of sweat rolling down the sides of her forehead. "No... please don't..."

Taehyung recognised what was happening at once. He had seen something similar happen to his mom when his grandma had just passed away. Nightmares, Taehyung thought, as he squeezed Jieun's hand tighter in his. From the way Jieun was sobbing, she must have been having the worst of her nightmares.

"Hey, it's just a nightmare," Taehyung stroked Jieun's hair out of her face, patting her head gently. "It's alright, you're gonna be fine."

"No..." Jieun whined. "No!"

Jieun's eyes, which were welled up with tears at this point, flew open as she sat up straight. Before Taehyung could even say anything, she flung her arms around Taehyung's neck and pulled him into a warm hug.

Taehyung felt his heartbeat quicken so suddenly. All this while, he'd told Jisoo he'd gotten over Jieun. He'd really thought so, but he now knew that there wasn't a shadow of doubt that he had never ever gotten over her.