It's a cold rainy night.
The storm has been going on for a few days now and the conditions throughout the entire country were rather bad. Too many roads have been flooded and blocked, people getting stuck on different parts of the city and it was almost impossible to commute from one place to another to the point that the government issued an emergency alert to all residents to stay in doors unless it's an absolute emergency.
Well ... Jeonghan thought this was an absolute emergency for sure.
Their schedules were canceled due to the weather and he was luckily at home the entire time, in his shared apartment with Seungkwan. They thought they had everything they needed while staying in contact with the rest of the members constantly checking on each other but he was wrong
"How is he now?" Joshua asked over the phone and Jeonghan sighed deeply
"He's just laying around, I'm worried Shua he hasn't been able to lift his head off the pillow since early afternoon"
"The medicine is not working?" The other sounded concerned
"What medicine Shua? All we have are painkillers, they are not doing anything, he needs something stronger"
"Gosh okay, I know ... I'm sure he'll be fine, let me call Vernon and get back to you okay?"
"Thanks Joshua"
Jeonghan hang up and placed his phone down, he then lifted the tray of hot soup and veggies he made for Seungkwan a few minutes ago hoping by the time he finished his conversation, it would cool down a little.
Seungkwan's fever was stuck at 39,2 degrees all day and the boy was exhausted.
Unable to sleep, his head was all too stuffed, eyes red and teary and his throat was burning up. He couldn't talk much or even move the entire day.
He's been sick for three days now and today just seemed to the worst so far.
Jeonghan thought that they had everything they needed until the storm passed but when Seungkwan started feeling sick, he cursed himself for not thinking about restoring their medicine cabinet sooner. Seungkwan usually kept a lot of vitamins around but vitamins weren't going to help much in this situation.
It started as a simple cold but soon and quickly just overwhelmed him and he wasn't able to leave the bed.
Their only hope was Vernon, the younger has been trying to get through to them for a while now. He's the closest one to their location and the road wasn't that blocked but it was definitely busy and traffic was horrible as everyone was trying to get through the same area at the same time while driving absolutely slowly and carefully.
Vernon managed to get the medicine, he even grabbed all he could get from his own place and was on his way but it was taking him a life time.
Jeonghan walked into Seungkwan's room where the younger was laying miserably on his bed, he was trying to get some sleep but it wasn't happening
"Hey" Jeonghan softly called "I got you some soup and veggies you should eat"
Seungkwan sat up a little but couldn't move much as his muscles were all aching badly "I can't swallow" he confessed followed with a cough
"I know" Jeonghan placed the tray by the night table and sat by Seungkwan's side "But can you try at least a few spoons?"
Seungkwan nodded slowly, and regretting it as his head swayed a little in the process. He was thankful for having Jeonghan by his side the entire time and didn't want to give him a hard time. He took his first spoon and didn't particularly enjoy the way it came down his throat, it was already scratchy and sore and the hot liquid only made it burn more
He coughed roughly
Almost choking, sending shivers down Jeonghan's spine.
The older gasped and helped Seungkwan gulp down some cold water. It took him a couple of minutes but he calmed down and looked even more tired than ever.
"I'm so sorry Seungkwan, I don't know what happened"
"You're a bad cook that's what happened"
The younger teased and Jeonghan's guilty face was the saddest thing he has ever seen
"I'm kidding" he coughed a little in between "I just can't swallow much, it's not your fault"
"Well I should have known better"
"It's okay" Seungkwan said letting his head lean back on his pillow and squirmed under his blanket.
Jeonghan watched him closely and pressed the back of his hand against Seungkwan's forehead, the boy was still on fire and it explains why he's been shivering.
He sighed deeply
"Let me get you something else" Jeonghan suggested "Is juice okay?"
Seungkwan nodded "Juice will be just fine Han, thank you"
Seungkwan sipped on the juice box in his hand, it was cool, soothing his throbbing throat. He finally sat it aside and laid back down, he was drowsy again and tried to get some sleep
He woke up about thirty minutes later, not as much woke up as opened his eyes slightly enough to glance at Jeonghan sitting by his side and closed them right back. Jeonghan pressed the cold towel over and over against Seungkwan's forehead, his fever was intense and it wasn't breaking not even a little.
Seungkwan fell asleep almost an hour ago and Jeonghan was worried. People with intense fever aren't supposed to fall sleep this deep, it increases the chances of them slipping into coma ... right? Right? ...
Jeonghan was worried out of his mind.
He tried to wake Seungkwan up a few times but the younger squirmed and whined avoiding every attempt Jeonghan made.
His phone rang
Thank God
"Vernon please tell me you're close by"
"Actually I'm right here" Vernon said through the phone "It's been a while since I came here, 5th floor is it?"
"Yes GOD yes, second one to the left, I'll be right there"
Jeonghan run to open the door and luckily Vernon only took a minute to appear
"Gosh you have no idea how happy am I to see you" Jeonghan gave Vernon a quick hug "You're soaking wet Vernon" Jeonghan let go and eyed the boy up and down
"If you haven't noticed there's a major storm outside ... How is he? How bad is it?"
"Bad enough, I'm worried out of my mind" they both hurried inside and Vernon put the bag on the table "I got what I could, the pharmacist suggested a bunch of things and I grabbed whatever I could find at my apartment too"
"Thank you Ver, which ones the pharmacist recommend?"
"Antibiotics and painkillers, he also said we need to keep him hydrated ... where is he? I want to see him"
Jeonghan grabbed the medicine boxes and lead Vernon inside "I've been trying to wake him up for a while, his fever is intense, it basically didn't break since this morning and he's been too tired"
Vernon finally walked inside Seungkwan's bedroom, it was dark with only the bedside table lamp on sending dimmed lights throughout the room. Seungkwan looked merely sleeping but he wasn't really aware of anything
"Seungkwanie?" Jeonghan called again trying to get the boy to wake up "Look Vernon is here, we've been waiting for him right?"
Jeonghan removed the cold towel resting on the younger's forehead and felt it again sighing deeply "Come on Sungkwan, you'll feel better once you take this please?"
Vernon only frowned "Hannie maybe we should call an ambulance"
"Don't you think I did? There's no way they can get through to us before tomorrow afternoon, I've been on the phone with them for an hour, they gave me some tips and I used up everything"
"Shit this is bad" Vernon took his dumb jacket off and sat next to Seungkwan on the bed
"Kwannie? Come on look at me" Vernon patted his cheeks a little feeling the heat radiating from him. Vernon shook him gently over and over again until Seungkwan actually responded and opened his eyes
"There you go, stay with me Kwanie look at me ... hi"
"Humm?" The boy whined and squirmed wanting nothing but to go back to sleep
"It's okay, you just need to take these and you can go back to bed" Vernon repeated now pulling Seungkwan into a sitting position
Jeonghan quickly dissolved the antibiotic sachet in a glass of water and passed it to Vernon.
"Seungkwan?" Vernon cupped his cheeks "You're going to be okay" ... "Here, you should drink this" Vernon placed the cup close to Seungkwan's lips, the boy was disoriented but took it gratefully. Jeonghan opened a yoghurt can and forced a few spoons down Seungkwan's throat before they tucked him back under his blanket.
They've been keeping a close eye on Seungkwan for a while, checking his temperature every thirty minutes or so.
"39 degrees" Jeonghan announced the first time
"38,6 that's good right? It's breaking" Vernon asked and Jeonghan nodded "Yeah, I'm still worried though, that's still high"
It was almost around midnight when Jeonghan received that phone call ... finally, a paramedic unit was on their way and they called to follow up with Jeonghan's request from earlier.
"We are so sorry but we couldn't get through to anyone in this area" the doctor apologized as Jeonghan and Vernon let him in
"We understand doctor ... He's doing a bit better now we got him to take antibiotics but still not quite "
Jeonghan confessed and the doctor wasted no time to take more information and immediately attending to Seungkwan. He needed fluids and a flu shot, the antibiotics did him good but Seungkwan needed a higher dose giving that he's been without treatment for a while.
It was around 9am in the morning when Seungkwan slowly woke up. He was feeling all beaten up and tired but ... much better.
His fever broke but he was tired and damn hungry.
It took him a minute before he decided to sit up and let his dizzy head rest against the bed headset for a second.
He looked around the bedroom and it looked so messy, his arms hurt for some reason and he brought his forearms forward to see what's making them feel so numb and tingly.
He had a plaster on both arms and it hurt, he figured what might have happened and sighed deeply.
He tried to leave the bed, but a shiver run through his tired body not to mention how stuffed his head was. He groaned and stood still for a while not sure for how long because some time later, the door to his room was opened gently and Vernon appeared.
Seungkwan was half awake and sitting on the edge of his bed, Vernon run towards him immediately
"No, you can't leave bed ... not yet" the other said and followed his voice as Vernon laid him down again and hovered on top of him, getting a closer look at him
"Hi"
"Hi"
"You gave us quite a scare Kwan"
"Sorry I didn't mean to"
"How are you feeling?"
"Shitty"
Vernon laughed a little "That's about right"