CHAPTER SIX

"I'm home!" I shouted as I stepped into my house, taking off my shoes before putting them on a small wooden shelf right beside the doorway. I settled the two plastic bags consisting of scarlet red apples and fresh lemons down before unbuttoning my school blazer.

"Hi, honey! How was school?" my mother skipped down the hallway and greeted me with a bear hug accompanied with a huge smile. She was swaying her hip sideways afterward as she grabbed my plastic bags full of fruits and walked to the kitchen, humming a happy tune that sounded a bit like the Teletubbies' theme song. I scratched my head at her unusual euphoria and proceeded to tell her about what happened at school, including the time at the nurse's office.

"What? My lovely-lovely only daughter got sick?" I heard a vigorous shout coming from the kitchen. No one else in my family had this strong of a voice—or call me that ridiculous excuse of a nickname—except for...

"Dad?" I shouted with glee, seeing him dash out the kitchen and towards me. I smiled, dropped my bag and dashed towards him, preparing for the impact that was about to come.

"I haven't seen you for so long!" I yelled happily as he enveloped me in a warm bear hug—that was the impact I was talking about—and spun me around. "How was Paris?" I asked excitedly.

"More importantly, why were you in the nurse's office?" my father ignored my question and asked exaggeratedly, shaking my shoulders back and forth whilst I laughed merrily. I knew it was out of concern, but he was being melodramatic.

"I had a cold, dad," I answered shortly and I saw that protective glint shone in his eyes. "But it's all gone now, don't worry!" I assured him. I saw my mother giving me a sceptical look, but a couple of strong nods and a happy beam managed to convince her. "Just remember to take the cold medicines later, okay?" she advised.

"Oh right, Mio," my mum went to the kitchen and I followed suit with dad behind me. "This morning, after you went to school, a guy dropped by and told me to give this to you," she reached for a white plastic bag and handed them to me. "He was very muscular, you know. Does he play sports?"

I gave my mum a random little nod without taking what she said into account and opened the bag slightly before sighing in amusement. It was filled with no other than my favourite citrus: lemon. I put the bag on the kitchen counter and thanked mum, turning over to go up to my room, having a good hunch of who gave me those.

"Is he your boyfriend?" my mum asked innocently. I stopped dead in my tracks.

"N-no, mum! I told you, I don't have a boyfriend!" I defended myself, hoping to God that she didn't notice my stutter. I never knew that I stutter either, but meh, I guess you find something new about yourself every day.

She did notice, though, and raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "Is that so?" she asked with a wicked smile forming on her pale face. As soon as I saw my dad turn his head to me, I ran as quickly as I could upstairs, slamming the door after getting into my room. I panted heavily, slightly scared that my dad was going to interrogate me about Shin. But what was I so scared about?

"Oh yeah, honey? We're eating out tonight!"

I stared out our family car's window, my chin propped up by my palm. Gleaming street lights and chatting people passed me by as I focused my gaze on absolutely nothing. Everything looked like such a blur to me; maybe my flu wasn't completely gone after all. Dizziness swept over me and I leaned back on my seat, observing my parents conversing animatedly with each other in the front seats. I smiled contently and turned my attention back to the view outside our car, slowly closing my eyelids.

BAM!

"W-what's wrong, honey?" my mum abruptly stopped her conversation with dad and turned her body to me, who was currently holding my upper body against the car window, much to the seatbelt's dismay.

I pressed my palms and fingertips against the cold glass of the window, my eyes widening as my brain twisted and turned. I felt my head shook and fell back on my seat, groaning weirdly as I lean my head back. My body was aching in so many places at once and mucus was running down my nose and I couldn't be bothered to find any tissue. I felt weird. I thought I saw Shin running just now.

'I must be hallucinating,' I brought my hand to my forehead and sighed.

"Mio, are you sure you're okay? Dear, I think we should turn back," my mum put her hand on my dad's arm gently, her eyes clouded with worry. Dad immediately nodded and stepped on the brake, gently stopping the car.

"No, no, I'm fine, mum, dad. I'll take medicines and rest properly once we get home, okay? It's not so often that we get to do things like this with dad," I assured them, putting on my best healthy act.

My parents look at each other, unsure of what to say. After my mum whispered some things to my dad, they gave me a small smile and acquiesced. I smiled back and closed my eyes, leaning my head back, trying to relax.

My throat was starting to get sore and talking got harder by the second. I then decided to save my voice for important talks only—like if my dad decided to ask me detailed things on my day or something—and stayed quiet for a while before dozing off.

I tried to eat as much as I could at the Italian restaurant. I felt so out of place with my green tinted skin and red nose, accompanied with a slumped posture and oddly combined fashion (I swear the orange shirt and deep green skirt completely matched each other when I tried it on in my room). I ordered my usual, fusili with cream cheese and mushroom with orange juice as my drink. Groggily, I stabbed one of the pasta with my fork and brought it into my mouth, chewing it slowly as I slumped lower. It didn't taste as good as it normally does.

I sighed and peeked upwards at my parents who were looking at me. At once, I fixed my posture and chewed energetically, trying to open my eyelids as much as possible. I probably looked awful; I didn't even bother brushing my hair before going.

"It's delicious!" I beamed, trying to secretly convince my parents that I was fine. I feel their worried stares on my slightly pale face, and I honestly tried to pump more blood there to make it seem more alive, but I just couldn't do it. I even slapped my face—discreetly, of course—a bit to make it redder.

"Honey, let's go home. We can do this some other time, okay?" my mum put her hand on mine, the lines on her face deepening with concern. "Can you get the waiter, dear?" she asked dad. Dad nodded and called the waiter over, telling him to put our leftover food inside a container to take away. The waiter nodded and asked if we wanted anything else, then walked away after my dad asked for the bill.

"No, mum, it's okay... I'm fine, really—"mum cut me off with a stern look and reached out to my forehead. Her gentle hand felt unreasonably cold on my forehead and I backed up a bit.

"You're burning up," my mum informed me as she stood up, getting both our coat from the small coat hanger located beside our booth. The waiter came over and gave my dad the plastic containers and the bill. My dad quickly put all the leftovers inside the package as my mum helped me put my coat on.

We passed by the waiter and dad gave him our bill with money tucked inside it before we left.

"Oh darn, I parked the car over there!" dad grumbled, slapping his head as he cursed his own forgetfulness. "Both of you stay here, I will go get the car," he said as he started to run north, accidentally bumping onto people who were walking down the sidewalk.

My mum had both her hands on my shoulder, trying to help me stand up. "You should've told us you weren't feeling well. We could spend quality times at home, too, you know," she lectured me softly.

"I know, but you both looked so happy, I didn't want to ruin it," I sniffled. Guess my runny nose had made a comeback.

"Oh, honey," she hugged me. "We would've been happier to see you healthy," she held my face and lifted it up. "Don't do this again, okay?"

I nodded as I felt her lips on my forehead and sniffled again. In response to my action, my mum opened her purse and searched for tissues and quietly cursed when she realized she didn't have any. She pulled my arm and sat me down on a wooden bench near the restaurant and told me to stay put while she buys a pack of tissue and fever medicine from the nearby pharmacy. Again, I nodded and pulled my coat on tighter, relishing the warmth it's giving me on a windy autumn night.

I tilted my head up and looked at the vast night sky that was filled with glittering stars and a single luminescence moon, which used to be my only source of light at my time of distress not so long ago. I chuckled lightly before coughing, and then sniffed my nose yet again.

I looked at the shops and restaurants, as well as the busy intersection that surrounded me with pretty lights, interested at the hustle and bustle of nightlife. My head felt like it was turning round and round, an improbable movement that made me feel even dizzier. The gleaming board signs, the blinking neon lights, the fast cars passing by, everything seemed so interesting to me then—I couldn't stop turning.

But suddenly, I did.

I rubbed my eyes slowly with my jacket covered hands before opening them again, trying to regain focus in my vision. Slowly, I traced my eyes back to the place where I had been looking. I squinted, trying to make out the figure that was moving up and down in the distance. I stood up and put my jacket on properly, then pulled the zipper up after making a split-second decision about whether the weather was too windy or not.

I took a step closer to the building that was located right across the street to have a better look at the moving thing. When I couldn't, I took another step closer, and another one, then another. Eventually, I had to cross the street, so I waited for a few minutes for the streets to clear up and forcefully jogged my way across.

I panted and propped my arms on my knees, bending down to catch my breath. I was never good at dealing with stamina-dropping sickness. Last time I had a cold, it took around a week for it to completely heal. But then again, I wasn't exactly eating nor taking my medicines properly at that time.

After my breath had returned to its regular pattern, I pushed my arms up from my knees and looked up at the humongous bull statue that rested atop a yakiniku restaurant. There were two horns of the same size sticking out towards the junction, and its muzzle was pierced by a single round ring, which was currently the centre of my attention.

On the ring was a hand, which lead to a muscular arm, which lead to a muscular body, which lead to a head—quite obviously. Again, I squinted at the head, trying to make out its features. It seemed familiar, the slightly messed black hair and all. 'Don't tell me...'

"S-Shin? Is that you?" I said at the body which was going up and down, its arm pulling and pushing at the metal ring.

I heard nothing in reply. 'Maybe my voice wasn't loud enough,' I thought as I stroke my sore throat. I really ought to save my voice, but for some reason, I wanted to make sure that it was Shin.

"Shin?" I called out, louder this time. "Is that you?"

The body was about to go up before it halted midway. I guessed he heard me. I saw the head tilting down, and that was when I realized that it indeed was Shin.

"What is it?" Shin replied, his deep voice booming over my head.

"Um... What are you doing?" I tried to yell, but something that sounded like a sick horse came out instead. I burst into coughs and tried to cover my mouth with both my hands, but ended up losing my balance because of the recoil. I stumbled back and fell onto the hard pavement on my butt.

Still stuck in the fit of coughs, I looked up at Shin who continued to do his pull ups for another five seconds before letting go of his hand and dropped down to the ground, landing ever so casually on his feet. He walked over to me, who was still on the ground—I got a few stares because of that—coughing like there was no tomorrow.

"Can you get up?" he asked, his eyes fixated on mine.

I nodded and took my hands away from my mouth, putting them onto the ground then pushing it to propel my body upwards. My head spun for a bit and I stumbled forward, trying to gain my equilibrium. Shin took a hold of me by my arms and pulled me up quickly, leaving no time for me to squeal.

As I felt the soles of my shoes planted on the ground firmly, I fixed my posture and started to look up. That was when I noticed something.

Shin was shirtless.

I brashly pulled away from his hold on my arms and hit the back of my thighs on the metal fence that bordered the sidewalk. I felt heat rushed into my face when I realized just how close my face was to his chest. Shin looked at me questioningly—well, questioningly for Shin—and I averted my gaze to the left, then to the right. I was definitely not used to these sorts of things.

"S-Shin," I started, "why aren't you wearing your shirt?" I tried to look him in the eye but failed when I felt my eyes tracing his chiselled chest. 'What am I doing? Isn't this a form of sexual harassment?' I thought frantically as I tried to think of kittens, puppies, and anything else that was deemed innocent. When that failed, I waved my arms in the air, trying to get rid of my other thoughts before having another coughing fit. I was such a failure.

"It's not necessary to wear my shirt if I were going to sweat so much," Shin answered and took a step towards me. My stomach twisted and turned and my face was sweating profusely. I didn't know if this was the flu or something else, but I sure didn't like it. Not one bit.

And as if that wasn't enough, my coughing just wouldn't stop. I tried hitting my chest with my fist a couple of times, taking deep breaths at the interval of each coughs, but nothing seemed to work.

"You're sick, aren't you?" Shin took another step towards me.

I shook my head in denial and coughed my last cough before saying, "where's your shirt?" I coughed a bit more after that. 'It's probably better if I keep my mouth shut.'

Shin turned his head to the side of the entrance of the yakiniku restaurant, where his white t-shirt resided. I looked at it and nodded in understanding.

"Oh yeah! Speaking of which," I started to cough at the loudness of my voice, "your hoodie is still with me. I've washed it though; I can give it to you tomorrow?" I whispered the last bit of my sentence. Shin nodded.

"And also, I was thinking, maybe we can start the training tomorrow morning? You know, before school?" I suggested in whispers. Shin looked at me sceptically.

"You're sick," he stated simply.

"Am not!" I almost yelled; thankfully, that didn't initiate my cough. "I'm just saving my voice," I gestured weirdly with my hands. Shin just stood there and looked at me. "Ah, my mum's there! Gotta go!" I whispered loudly and turned to the zebra cross, waiting for a chance to cross the street.

"Oh," I added, "and put your shirt back on. It's distracting." I left Shin in front of the restaurant and jogged to my mum, who was running back and forth in front of the Italian restaurant, asking people if they had seen me.

"Mio! I told you not to wander around, geez!" my mum complained and took a pack of tissue before handing it to me. I opened the package, took a sheet and blew my nose with it.

"Thanks mum, that was much needed," I smiled at her, feeling strangely better.

I turned to the street at the loud sound of my dad's Volkswagen's klaxon. My dad rolled the car window down and poked his head through it, telling us to get in. Mum laughed for no reason and went for the passenger seat giddily. I stood on my tiptoes, trying to look at the yakiniku restaurant for the last time, checking if Shin was still there. Why? Don't ask me why, I just wanted to, okay? And for your information, he was still there.

I saw him moved his head in my direction and I raised my right hand up, waving at him. I saw a nod in acknowledgement and grinned before skipping—no, wait, I meant walking, walking—to the car door and getting into the backseat. Settling in the cosiness that was the leather bound seat, I let the warmth from the air conditioner invade my skin and sighed.

"Who was that?" my mum asked me out of the blue.

"Wha? Um, he's my friend from school, mum," I answered briefly.

"I feel like I've seen him from somewhere... I wonder—oh! He was the one who gave you those lemons!" mum clasped her hands in realization. "Is he your boyfriend?" she pressed on.

I felt the car stopped abruptly, then started moving again. Maybe that question shocked my dad a bit; he was a bit protective of me.

"No, mum. Just a friend," I tried to assure her, but I knew that I couldn't suppress her motherly 'instinct', however wrong it may be. As soon as I realized that she wasn't going to let me off that easily, I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep, enjoying the soft rattling of the car when it made a turn or two. I heard my mother sighed in understanding before falling asleep.

I woke up to the loud sounds of thumps and bumps from downstairs. I sat up and rubbed my eyes groggily, feeling the dizziness swarm my head. I blinked twice and tried to absorb as much information as I could of my surroundings. It appeared that I was on my bed, clad in my new, very, very frilly pyjamas—courtesy of dad. I thought it was a t-shirt at first, but it turned out to be a long sleeved shirt with puffed up hem at the bottom and pretty frills on the collar line. I was also wearing shorts that puffed up at the end of the same colour: pale green.

'I guess mum must've helped me change yesterday...' I thought as I recalled yesterday's events piece by piece.

I pushed the duvet away from my legs and stood up, grabbing my bed for support when I felt the same wave of dizziness swept me. I took a glance at my alarm clock; it read 5.30. 'Who's up at this time in the morning?' I staggered a bit before being able to stand up properly. Upon noticing the cold temperature, I grabbed a small blanket from the back of my chair and wrapped it around myself. I then took small steps towards my bedroom door and opened it.

I looked down the hallway and it seemed like my parents' bedroom door was slightly agape. I walked there with my hand tracing the wall beside me for support, the other grasping the joining of the dark blue blanket tightly. As I come to a stop, I peeked through the small opening between the door and its frame, seeing my father snoring loudly, his limbs sprawled all over the bed, the duvet hanging on his side.

Smiling, I closed the wooden door slowly and trotted the other way to the staircase. I stepped down a step at a time, leaning on the railing heavily. The carpet felt warm and fuzzy against my cold toes.

"Oh, honey, did I wake you up? I'm sorry! My boss called me last night and said that we're having an early morning meeting at the central office and it's very important so I can definitely not miss this one! Oh, do you mind passing my bag on the table, sweetie? Thanks," my mum rambled to me whilst going back and forth from the kitchen to the living room.

I lifted her brown leather handbag from the table and gave it to my busy bee mother. She took it and attempted a smile with a burnt toast in her mouth and a cup of coffee in her other hand. I walked to the door and opened it for her, then handed her a set of keys and took her coffee mug as she passed by. She mumble-yelled a vague thank you and opened the gates before running to catch the earliest bus.

I waved my hands weakly and smiled before closing the door. I coughed as a breeze of cold air whirled around my neck and realized how my throat felt so much sorer than the night before. Fortunately, I was still able to talk, but I was in no condition to climb up those horrid, though soft, stairs.

I decided to make myself some warm tea and watch television to pass the time. I could never go back to sleep if awaken at dawn or early morning. So I sat on the comfortable cushion of the white sofa in the living room, turned on the TV and mindlessly flipped through the channels until I finally found a rerun of a favourite program of mine.

Sipping the sweet berry tea, I curled up with my knees supporting my chin and hugged the blanket tighter to my body. It still felt cold, so when I saw a maroon blanket lazily lying on the other edge of the sofa, I hesitated not on taking it and making it a part of my outfit.

One of the good parts of the episode was airing when I heard the bell rang. I groaned and lazily made my way to the front door with my mug still in my hand. It was probably mum forgetting her keys again.

Right when I opened the door, I saw my mum trying to stick her house keys to the door lock. 'Oh, that's right, I gave her the keys,' I remembered. 'I guess she forgot she had it with her.'

"What's wrong, mum? Did you forget something?" I asked with a hoarse voice, wrapping the double blankets tighter around my body as the small breeze invaded through the gap of the door.

"Yes, actually," my mum handed me a small white plastic bag. "Here's a warm porridge I got from down the street, they're pretty tasty, so I think you'd like it. And also, your medicines are on the kitchen counter, right beside the coffee maker. I see you've already made yourself a cup of tea, that's good. If you're having some trouble, do not be afraid to break some things to wake your father up, he can deal with his jet lag later. The maids are coming here at 10, don't be shy to ask them for things, alright, sweetie?" she rambled again.

I nodded in understanding and she gave me a small peck on my warm forehead. "Take the fever medicine if necessary, okay? I am so sorry I can't stay home to take care of you today; I really wish I could..." she gave me a sad smile, her shoulders slumped. "But, I have to go now; get well soon, Mio," my mum hugged me tight and waved before once again running to the bus stop.

Closing the door with a smile, I wobbled back to the sofa and set my cup down on the coffee table in front of it. I took the plastic container out of the plastic bag and inhaled the great smell of porridge. Taking the plastic spoon, I started feeding myself little by little, blowing on the white lumps if necessary. It was delicious.

On my fifth spoon, I heard the bell ring again. Feeling better with a slightly full stomach, I took a sip from my bunny-shaped mug and went to get the door. I wrapped the blankets even tighter, preparing for the gust of wind that was going to hit me in the face again.

Surprisingly, no wind hit me when I opened the door. That was probably because the person in front of me was substantially taller than my mum. Slowly, I turned my head up and took a few steps back when I realized that the person in front of me was Shin.

"Shin? What are you doing here?" I asked and coughed a bit, curling my toes against the wooden floor.

Shin casted his gaze down upon me and said, "training."

Realization hit me like a tornado and I dropped my blankets in a matter of seconds. "O-oh yeah! I completely forgot about that! I'm so sorry, I'll go get changed now!" I said quite loudly—which caused me to have another coughing fit—and spun around, preparing to run up the stairs.

I stopped when I felt his hand on my shoulder. Turning back to face him, I shuddered at the cold temperature that seeped through my clothes.

"You're still sick," Shin stated levelly, his face emotionless.

"Not sick enough to break a promise," I denied. "Wait here, it won't even take 5 minutes—" my saliva got caught in my throat and I started to cough uncontrollably. It didn't help that I found the situation funny and tried to laugh between the coughs.

I whirled around and crouched down; trying to calm both my laughter and my coughs but ended up worsening it by shivering against the cold gust of wind that came from the side of the door Shin didn't cover. Goosebumps started to cover my bare legs and I tried to warm them up by rubbing my palms against them.

I stopped when I felt my heavy blankets draped around my shoulders. Turning the upper half of my body around, I saw Shin crouching down behind me, one of his hands holding a medium sized plastic bag.

"What is that?" I asked in loud whisper as I moved my lower half of the body around so I could talk to him face to face.

"I thought you'd still be sick, so I brought you these," he pushed his plastic holding hand to the front of my face. A faint smell of citrus wafted into my nose.

"Are those... lemons?" I asked.

"Vitamin C is good to consume when you're having a cold," he said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Shin, I haven't even finished the last batch of lemons you gave me... Nor the apples!" I pushed the plastic bag away from my face so I could see him better. "There's so many I don't even know what to do with them!"

"Eat them," he stated ever so calmly, his lips set in that firm frown.

"...Are you serious?"

Shin nodded.

"...Raw?"

Shin nodded again.

I pouted for a few seconds before bursting out into laughter. "You're a bit weird aren't you? I guess that makes the two of us," I smiled up at him. He looked at me for a while before pushing the plastic bag onto my face.

"He-hey! Shin! I can't see!" I tried to push the bag away but he was just too damn strong. "Okay, okay, fine, I'll take it!" I took the plastic bag from his hand and stumbled forward at the heaviness of the bag. "My Lord, just how many lemons did you put in here?" I whined as I stood up with both hands carrying the white plastic.

My blankets fell as I rose up from the ground. "Oh great, I'll go get it—" my sentence was interrupted by a chain of coughs that started because of my yelling. Shivering, I walked to the living room and with all my might, threw the plastic bag onto the sofa, which almost toppled my porridge. Why did I even put the porridge on the sofa in the first place?

I half jogged back to the front door, only to see Shin leaving.

"Shin!" I called out. Shin stopped by the gate and faced me.

"Aren't you going to come in? It's still 5.45," I offered as I took my blankets from the floor and clothed myself with it. "I can make you some berry tea?" I finished my offer with small coughs.

Shin jogged across the front lawn to the other side of the front door. "No, that might mess up my balanced diet," he declined my offer.

"Oh, w-well wait up, I'm gonna get changed, then we can train together!" I was about to turn around when a pair of strong arms prevented me from doing so. I looked back and met his intense look and shrivelled by a fraction.

'How is his face growing? Or am I shrinking? Wait, are those even possible?' I silently thought as I saw Shin's face getting bigger and bigger in my vision. When I realized that it was just his face nearing mine, my cheeks heated up—because of the cold weather, mind you.

"S-Shin? What are you doing?" I tried to back up but his hold wouldn't let me. Shin didn't say anything.

As his face come closer, my thoughts went nuts. I didn't know what I was meant to do! I didn't even know what he was trying to do! I shut my eyes and gripped my blankets, hard. I didn't like the fact that my palpitation was increasing very rapidly; it was as if I could hear my own heart beat. My breath shortened, beads of sweat started to form on my forehead, everything was honestly out of control—

Thump.

"You have a fever."

My brown eyes fluttered open without my consent, immediately connecting to his black ones.

'T-too close!'I thought frantically and pushed him away as hard as I could with one hand. I stumbled a few steps back and gained balance before noticing the lost of the slightly cool sensation on my forehead. I raised a hand and touched it. A part of it was slightly cooler than the rest.

"W-were you checking my temperature?" I asked with uncertainty evident in my tone.

Shin nodded. "Your temperature is quite high; I suggest you take your fever medicine and rest. Also, it would be better if you increase your consumption of vitamin C. It would allow your body system to recuperate faster."

I blinked a few times as my brain processed the information Shin had just given me and nodded very slowly. Shin nodded in response and left to continue his jogging without saying goodbye.

Soon enough, a strong gust of wind slammed the door closed in my face and shocked me out of my stupor. Ever so slowly, I descended to the ground, trembling slightly.

"Wha... What the hell..." I brought my hand back to my forehead. "Couldn't he just use his hand...?"

A/N: Phew, that was long, huh? THANK YOU SO MUCH for those who have reviewed, yes, I'm looking at you Random Person 94, SasoLOVE111, xXDeath-N'-HellXx, anon (I'm sorry, there's just a blank and I don't know how to properly address you :( ), geekyxchild, and Juliedoo! Also thanks to those who have given me their ideas as to what to do with this story, I probably will use them, but in a different way than how it's suggested. Again, thank you for still reading this story, and I'll see you next chapter :) Bye!