Work Text:
My senses slowly come to me as I wake from the respite that is deep sleep while you’re sick. The first thing that I can make sense of is the tinny sound of raindrops tapping against the windows and roof of the building. The next is the absence of warmth and weight next to me. I manage to slowly pry my eyes open, thankful that the rain outside is causing the room to not be too bright despite it obviously being daytime.
The space in the bed next to me that had been occupied by Sae-byeok earlier in the night is now empty, much to my chagrin. I roll over to check the time on my phone and am met with a dull throbbing in my head. After seeing that it’s almost noon, I reluctantly drag my body out of bed and to the bathroom, then to the living room and the rest of the apartment.
“And here I thought you just weren’t going to wake up today,” I hear Sae-byeok call from the kitchen.
I try to make a groan of annoyance in response as I trudge my way to the kitchen, but it just irritates my throat and makes me need to cough.
“You can’t be mean to me, I’m sick.” I inadvertently punctuate the end of my sentence with another cough into my arm.
“I am not mean, I’m perfectly nice to you.”
“No you aren’t. You’re coldhearted. You left me in bed alone. How could you do that to me?” I tease.
“Well, I’m sorry that I wanted to do something nice for you since you’re sick,” she retorts.
“Wait, what?”
“I’m making you breakfast,” she says over her shoulder. I roll my eyes with a small smile.
“You always make breakfast in the mornings.”
“Yeah, but I do that for Cheol, not for you.”
A laugh of shock escapes me. “Ah— excuse me? How could you?!” My laugh quickly turns into a cough and I quickly cover my mouth with my arm.
“Why don’t you lay on the couch and I’ll bring this to you when I’m finished?” Sae-byeok asks, eyebrows furrowed in concern.
I sigh. “But I don’t want to leave you, it’s lonely in there,” I complain.
She laughs a bit to herself and turns back to the food in front of her.
“Just go lay down, I’ll be in there soon… and I won’t leave you.”
“Fine, I guess I can deal with that.”
She nods once, I’m not sure if it’s to herself or me, but regardless I find it cute. I smile to myself and turn to the living room. Before I reach the couch, I grab my laptop from a desk in the corner so I can check some work things while I wait for Sae-byeok.
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“Ah ah! What are you doing?” Sae-byeok asks as she enters the room with a tray full of food in her arms. She eyes the laptop on my lap with a stern look.
“I’m just trying to catch up on work a little…” I explain.
She says my name with a firm tone. “You took off sick days for a reason. You’re not supposed to work when you’re sick.” She takes a seat next to me, resting her back against the arm of the couch. She gently closes my laptop and takes it away with one hand, before replacing it with the tray of breakfast.
“Now eat,” she says, gesturing to the food now in front of me. It looks delicious. There are a couple crepes filled with a light creme, some eggs just how I like them, and some fresh strawberries on the side.
“Will you at least tell me what it’s like out there in the free world while I eat?” I ask, looking over at her with exaggerated puppy eyes.
“You’re so dramatic.” Sae-byeok rolls her eyes with a smile gracing her lips.
I start eating the food in front of me, but keep looking at her with an expectant expression until she continues talking.
“Fine, um…” She leans back, staring up at the ceiling while she tries to think of what to talk about. “Someone set up a new food stall on my way to work. I’m tempted to get something from it, it always smells delicious when I walk past.”
“You should, and you should bring me home something,” I say, mouth full.
“Don’t talk with food in your mouth, you could choke,” she stares pointedly, then continues with what she was saying. “They’re also still doing construction on that apartment building… I mean, there’s not much exciting going on in the ‘free world’, as you put it. You’ve only been sick for like a week.”
I sigh dramatically. “That’s boring, I want exciting news.”
“Oh! Actually, I did see a strange person when I was buying groceries yesterday. They were buying like thirteen watermelons, it was weird.”
“What do you think they were doing with all of those watermelons?” I ask, laughing. “Do you think they’re going to blow them up or something?”
“Blow them up?” Now Sae-byeok is laughing, “No, they’re probably just making a bunch of recipes or something.”
“You’re boring, I want to believe they’re doing something crazy.”
“I’m not being boring, I’m being realistic.”
“I guess that’s what makes us perfect for each other. You’re the boring one and I’m the exciting one, we balance each other out,” I tease and set the now-empty tray on the coffee table in front of the couch.
“Shut up,” Sae-byeok laughs and playfully shoves me. I respond by snuggling in close beside her and wrapping my arms around her waist, while my head comes to rest on her chest. She leans back further into the couch and slings her legs up onto the seat cushions, leaving room for me to fully lay down at her side.
“No, I don’t think you’d ever really want me to shut up.”
“No, I wouldn’t…” she trails off and I feel her arms wrap loosely around me. “Although I do think you should get some more rest, which means… shutting up.”
“As long as you stay with me, I’m okay with that.”
I hear Sae-byeok huff out a small laugh, which makes me smile.
“I can do that. Do you want the TV on too?”
“We can have it on in the background, sure. Just put on whatever you want.”
Sae-byeok reaches for the remote and turns the TV on, scrolling through different streaming platforms and their shows and movies. Once she finds something, she sets the remote aside and squeezes her arms around me again, slightly tighter this time. I close my eyes, the aching in my skull dulling the slightest bit. I feel Sae-byeok’s hand come up to the back of my head as she lazily plays with my hair.
“Does this feel better?” she whispers. I nod.
“Yeah… you’re gonna put me to sleep, though,” I laugh a little. We sit in the peaceful silence for a moment before I speak up again. “Thank you for breakfast, by the way. It was delicious, as always. And I appreciate it a lot.”
“Of course. I wanted to make you happy, and I want you to feel better soon. I don’t like it when you’re sick.”
“That’s just because you can’t kiss me like this.”
“Maybe,” she mumbles under her breath, and I feel her kiss the top of my head.
We return to a quietness after that. I don’t say anything more, and neither does she. I think we’ve both decided that it’s time to let my sickly brain rest and hopefully let my immune system do some more work in the meantime. Sae-byeok continues stroking my hair, and begins humming a tune I don’t recognize as the TV plays low in the background, and I relax in the bliss of the moment, never wanting it to end.