Mornings are usually very hard for some people, having to get up from a blissful sleep and comfortable bed. But for Xiang, the hardships of getting out of bed seemed a thousand times more difficult that morning.
Xiang groaned when he started to wake up and for some reason, he was cold. It wasn't a normal cold either. He started wrapping himself up tighter while still in bed, starting to peek over at his clock. Xiang groaned even more when finding that he had slept in. He had promised to help do so many things for his stepsiblings that day and he was already behind.
The moment Xiang sat up in bed was the moment he knew something was off about himself. He felt dizzy from just sitting up and his head was killing him. When he tried to stand up, Xiang's legs gave out on him, causing him to stumble as he tried to keep balance. Luckily, Long was in the room to help support him.
"Good boy," Xiang wearily said, noticing how stuffed up his nose was and how sore his throat was when hearing his voice. Finally, realization dawned on him. "Oh shoot..."
Xiang grabbed one of his smaller blankets and wrapped himself up. He started to head downstairs with Long beside, but it was harder than usual with how weak he was feeling. The Chinese teen had to use the walls as a support. When he neared the bottom of the stairway, he was bombarded by his stepsiblings.
"Xiang! You said you were going to show me your old Pokemon games this morning!" Peter whined when Xiang came down. "It's almost noon!"
"Xiang, you promised to help me make my own costume for Halloween, remember?" Wendy cut into Peter's words. "You said you would help this weekend."
"Xiang's supposed to help me on my homework!" Dylan yelled. "Homework's more important than costumes! I still don't understand math!"
"But Xiang said he was going to fix Kiwi for me!" Steven said with a sad tone, holding his favorite toy sheep out. "He had his rip all week!"
Xiang sadly had to ignore his stepsiblings calling out for him. He was doing everything he could to get to the kitchen in one piece, but the others were making it more of a challenge, shouting his name. When he finally reached the kitchen, the only one there was his stepfather, reading the newspaper.
"Arthur," Xiang managed to say through the pain of his sore throat. "Where's my dad?"
"He went to pick some things up at the market," Arthur answered, starting to put down the paper and turn to Xiang. His expression changed to a worried one when he saw his stepson. "Xiang, are you alright."
"Oh..." Xiang said when hearing his father was out before falling to his knees and collapsing onto the floor.
"Xiang!" Arthur shouted, rushing to the teen's side. Long was barking, frightened, as the other kids started panicking at what just happened. "Dylan," Arthur called over to his oldest, snapping the boy out of his panicked state, "get my phone and call Mama. Steven, get the thermometer. Wendy and Peter, calm down."
As the kids did as they were told, Arthur himself was trying to get Xiang on his back to carry him back to his room. The Chinese teen was no longer conscious at the moment.
"Daddy," Wendy started in a frightened tone of voice, following her father and stepbrother. "Is Xiang going to die?"
"What? Of course not, dear," Arthur reassuringly said, heading up the stairs.
"But- but- but he fell down and everything," Peter added, just as scared.
"He's just ill. Might be the flu," Arthur responded, entering Xiang's room now. He tucked Xiang back into bed before placing his hand on the teen's forehead. It was burning.
"I got the thermometer!" Steven called as he passed his younger siblings and entered the room. The twins were waiting by the door.
Arthur turned on the little machine to take Xiang's temperature. "Thank you, lad."
"Mama's on the phone!" Dylan called as well, running through the door and handing his father his phone. Arthur thanked him as well before speaking with Yao.
"What's wrong!? Dylan said it was an emergency! I'm just getting into the car and on my way home aru!" Yao urgently said through the phone.
"Xiang walked into the kitchen and collapsed a minute ago," Arthur explained as he started reading the temperature on the thermometer. "He has a fever. 102.2 degrees," he read aloud. Arthur could hear Yao sigh with worry through the phone.
"What are his symptoms?" Yao asked.
Arthur thought about the answer before answering, "he came down with a blanket, so I'm guessing chills, and since he collapsed, that would mean fatigue. Judging from his voice when he spoke to me for a second, I think he also has a stuffy nose and sore throat. That's all I know so far."
"Okay, thank you. I'll be home soon. Just going to pick up some things for Xiang. Bye bye."
"Bye." With that, Arthur hung up the phone, starting to leave and allow Xiang to sleep in peace.
"What'd Mama say?" Dylan asked as the four of them followed Arthur back down stairs. Long stayed with his owner, resting on his bed.
"Mama said he'll be home soon to help Xiang feel better," Arthur answered, kneeling to his children's height. "Until then, you four have to make sure he is resting, okay? That means you cannot bother him until he feels better. I don't want you four catching what Xiang has."
"But he was supposed to do stuff with us," Peter pouted.
Arthur sighed a bit. "I understand that, but you saw how Xiang's feeling. He's already done so much with and for you four, and you need to give him a break to get better."
The Kirkland kids nodded their heads, understanding their father's words.
Arthur smiled. "And if you need help with stuff, you can always come ask me and Mama, right?"
"Right!" all four answered. They made sure to be extra quiet that afternoon until Yao came home with groceries and something extra.
"How's Xiang?" Yao asked Arthur as the Englishman was helping him with the bags.
"He's still asleep," Arthur answered, bringing the bags into the kitchen.
"Okay," Yao sighed, starting to pull out something from another bag. Arthur's eyes widen at the content. When the kids came in to meet their stepmother, their eyes widened as well.
"What's that?" Wendy asked.
"It smells kind of weird," Dylan added.
Yao gave a cheerful smile. "I have a friend who runs a herbal shop in Chinatown who knows which herb will help Xiang's sickness aru."
"Why not use medicine in the medicine cabinet?" Steven asked, curious.
"Because these are a more natural approach and helps a lot," Yao answered. "Plus, I happened to be in the area," he added, starting to fill a mug with the grounded up herbs. Yao then poured some hot water into the mug, turning the grainy contents into what looked like mud.
"Ew..." the kids said all at once, pulling away from the drink. Even Arthur couldn't help but do the same. The scent was even stronger.
"Xiang has to drink all of that?" Peter asked, scared for his stepbrother.
"Yep," Yao measly answered, stirring the drink up more. He went back to the medicine cabinet and took out some things. One thing the others recognized was the vapor rub, but the other was foreign to them. It looked like a coin attached to a handle stick.
"What's that for?" Steven asked.
"Another thing to help Xiang feel better aru," Yao answered. He held the mug in one hand and the two items from the cabinet in the other as he started heading up to Xiang's room, everyone following behind. They were curious about the foreign remedies. They waited at the bottom of the stairs that lead to Xiang's room, listening.
Yao placed everything on the bedside dresser beside Xiang before softly nudging him awake. "Xiang, wake up," he softly said.
Xiang stirred, blinking his eyes open. "Baba, I'm sick," he tiredly said.
Yao laughed a bit, helping his son up. "I can see that." He picked up and brought over the mug to him. "Here, drink this."
Xiang's eyes shot opened when seeing what his father was handing to him. "Oh my god. Ba, no."
"It'll make you feel better."
"So will the medicine in the cabinet. I'm not drinking that."
"I already made it, Xiang."
"Baba, no."
Arthur and the kids listened as Xiang and Yao went back and forth. It sounded like they were arguing, but they weren't positive because they started speaking in Chinese. However, Xiang did end up gulping down the super bitter drink judging from the sounds of disgust he was making.
"Arthur," said Englishman heard his spouse call, "can you bring up a cup of water aru?"
"They're down there?" Xiang asked with a groan.
Yao hid a laugh, now starting to uncap the vapor rub. "Shirt off," he said, now grabbing the coin.
"I know the drill," Xiang mumbled, removing his shirt. "Can you not do it too hard this ti‒" The teen wasn't even able to finish his question with his father already scraping the coin on his back. Xiang was wincing in pain, holding down his urge to yell. His efforts were futile though with muffled whines.
"Wow, the marks are really dark," Yao said, unable to help another laugh.
"You're enjoying this too much, Ba!" Xiang fumed.
"Yao," the two of them heard, turning to the door. Arthur was there, gaping. He nearly dropped the water he got. "What are you doing to Xiang?" The kids popped their heads through the door when hearing this, eyes wide as well.
"Chinese remedy aru," Yao answered, continuing to rub the coin into Xiang's skin.
"B-but it hurts," Arthur stuttered, seeing his stepson wincing more.
"Like heck," Xiang groaned, censoring himself in front of his stepsiblings.
"But gets rid of the illness faster," Yao added.
"I-I don't want to be sick!" Dylan screamed, running out of Xiang's room. The three others agreed, running behind their brother.
Yao started laughing once again. "I wouldn't do this to them," he said to Arthur. "They're still a bit too young."
"What are you talking about? You did it to me when I was younger!" Xiang retorted, offended.
"Aiya, all you do is complain aru," Yao huffed, moving to scrape at Xiang's shoulders.
"Does that really work?" Arthur asked, moving to sit on Xiang's bed as well. He was still unsure about the painful remedy.
"Yeah..." Xiang mumbled. "Chinese remedies are the worst, but work really fast and well."
I got sick... Which encouraged me more to write this chapter. That back-coin-scraping-with-vics thing, yeah, real and hurts like hell. Darker the marks made, sicker you are. But it works a lot, so worth the pain. Gets you better faster. As for herbal medicine, used to have to take that, too. Super gross.