Rm dished up a small serving of the soup into a little bowl and grabbed a spoon from the drawer..had he ever fed anyone before? He asked himself, he didn't think so , well not in this capacity anyway, sure sharing food with chopsticks was standard practice for him and his brothers but spoon feeding soup !.
He hated that she was so ill and he wondered if he should get a drip installed to help her recover, but then couldn't see a way to do that with people finding out.
He carried the little tray through to the bedroom and stopped for a moment , Rose had her eyes closed, her face was paler than usual , she looked peaceful and yes stunningly beautiful still.
His chest hurt at seeing her unwell but he brushed that aside and walked in briskly , placing the tray on the little night stand next to her bed. " Rose " he said gently nudging her shoulder " Rose , you should try to eat."
She opened her eyes and smiled as she pushed her self up more on the pillows and reached out to take the soup .
He frowned and said " I thought you were letting me take care of you " she wasn't used to this at all but tucked her hands back under the cover and said " ahhh" opening her mouth.
' please please let it stay down ' she thought , she was really quite hungry .
He sat on the edge of the bed and lifted the bowl up scooping some of the hot liquid and blowing gently on it before offering it to her, she took a tentative sip and waited...they both looked at each other, her ready to run , him ready to catch her but after a moment she just said mmmmm and opened her mouth again for more.
With the utmost care and concentration he fed her the entire bowl. He was actially quite proud of himself for not spilling any of it , as that had been his biggest fear.
" thankyou " she said , stifling a yawn . The last two days had taken it out of her and she felt exhausted. Rm still hadn't adjusted to Korean time yet so was wide awake .
" go to sleep" he said rubbing her hair as her eyes closed
" I don't want you to leave " she said sleepily
" I'll be right here if you need me " he said taking hold of her hand.
She woke and looked over to see Rm asleep with his head on the bed and he was still holding her hand.
She felt tears prickle the back of her eyelids, she felt so much love from this man and for this man yet knew it couldn't last.
She eased her hand out of his , she needed the loo badly.
Somehow she managed to make it to the bathroom and back with out disturbing him, although he didn't look comfortable and she debated waking him.
She didn't and went and made her self a cup of camomile tea. So far her tummy felt..OK.
Maybe she was over it now , she hoped.
She thought about ringing her mum , help ease a bit of the homesickness but didn't want to disturb Rm so instead she took out her sketch book and drew some pictures of possible future pottery.
Completely engrossed in what she was doing she didn't hear Rm wake , stretch and come over to her until he was almost there. She smiled up at him and he bent down and said " good morning " caressing her cheek as he spoke " how are you feeling now ?" He asked, concern written across his face. She brought her hand up to his on her cheek and kissed it once before saying " much better, thank you for last night "
A moment passed between them and then Rm looked down and complimented her sketches. The moment gone , but not forgotten for either of them.
She said thanks and closef the pad and asked would you like a coffee?
He shook his head sadly , " I have to get back , shower and change before any one notices I'm still wearing the same clothes as last night " he said .
" when will I see you again ?" She asked, vulnerability slipping into her speach .
" give me a couple of days " He said " I'll see what I can do , sorry "
She shook her head , as before she said " it's work, it's who you are "
He left after giving her a soft kiss on her forhead with promises to txt and call if possible .
Rose sat there in the empty silence for a long time , before she pulled herself together.
She still didn't feel 100 percent, she retched a lot while brushing her teeth but managed to not actually get sick. She made a lemon water in a walking bottle and sipped it on the way to her studio .
By 10 she had wished she'd brought some of the soup to work with her , she felt almost weak with hunger , but instead she popped across the road and bought some bread sticks to tide her over . Walking back to the studio , bread stick in hand she'd got a waft of a thick fishy smell from the back of some restaurant and she had to swallow continuously to stop herself being sick.
She decided if this bug wasn't gone by tomorrow she'd have to go to the hospital and get checked out .
Rm txt just after lunch to see how she was doing and she'd replied much better thanks. She knew he was busy , he didn't need to worry about her, they had a nice conversation with each telling the other about their day and then with promises to talk later had both gone about the rest of their day.
By 7pm her final tea set just needed it last firing and she would be done , she felt exhausted and figured because she hadn't eaten enough over the last couple of days .
She went home , had a long bath , the rest of the chicken broth from the fridge and a glass of wine .
Apart from being tired she felt better than she had all day . She got tucked up in bed and using the side lamp only continued to sketch until eventually Rm called .
He could hear she was tired, well she had been up super early so he kept the call short , wished her sweet dreams and hung up.
Rose was asleep almost before he'd gone.