Suhee gets ill with a fever and though Zen has to leave for work, he cares for her as much as he can.
When he returns, he finds something worrying...
"Woah, hey careful where you walk there, princess." Zen uttered with concern, preventing a teetering Suhee from running into the kitchen island by pulling her in close by the waist from behind. Once her body touched his he could feel a radiating heat coming from her and continued with shock, "Suhee, you're burning up! If you weren't feeling well then why didn't you stay in bed? More importantly…why didn't you tell me?"
"I remembered that you'll be out most of the day working and didn't want to burden you with a silly little fever." The chestnut haired female replied bluntly.
"Suhee," he promptly turned her around to face him and continued with a gravely important expression on her face. "You will never be a burden to me so don't you ever let that thought cross your mind." – he then graced her with one of his charming smiles – "Anyway while I'm still here I can at least get you back in bed and see to your needs."
She said nothing but allowed him to carry her back to bed, where he took her temperature to start.
"Well you definitely have a fever but it's not serious enough to have to rush you to the hospital, so that's a relief." Zen announced with thought moments after observing the results on the thermometer. "And luckily I have some time before I have to leave so I can make you some ogokbap (1) to eat later and while that's cooking I'll bring you a nice hot cup of yoojacha (2) infused tea. You just get some rest in the meantime~"
He then left to do as he had said and returned a few minutes later with her tea. He sat with her for a minute before having to leave to check on her meal. From then on he would check on her periodically until the ogokbap was ready and the time came for him to leave for work.
"Okay, so I've put some more tea in a thermos, your meal should stay warm in this container until you're hungry, and at your request I've pulled some select scripts for your reading pleasure." Zen stated, running through the checklist to make sure everything was there and within her reach. "Though for the life of me I can't understand why you'd want to read Promiscuous Jalapeño Topping, but that's beside the point. Are you comfortable?"
"Yes." Suhee replied obediently from underneath a couple of blankets.
"And you have your phone nearby to contact someone whenever there's an emergency?"
She felt around under the covers for a moment before pulling it out to show him her cell instead of answering.
Zen smiled approvingly and then went on to tell her, "Make sure to rest then, and don't push yourself too much unless you have to." – she nodded so he turned to the door – "See you later then princess…" He then left for work somewhat hesitantly.
All through the day, Zen found himself losing focus at times due to his concern for Suhee. During breaks he thought to call but disregarded it and instead opened a chatroom, hoping that she'd see him there and log in. Unfortunately no one did, so he just left a little monologue for her and that was that.
Later that evening when he returned home he immediately went to the bedroom to check on Suhee. He found her soundly slumbering with phone in hand. Zen's heart swelled at the sight of her but his demeanor quickly changed when he remembered that she was ill.
He quietly checked to see if she had eaten at least and when he saw that she had, he proceeded to check her temperature by gently laying the back of his hand over her forehead. He silently let out a sigh of relief and relaxed a little upon discovering that her fever had gone down and then moved on to tucking her in to let her sleep a little longer.
First he picked up the phone and realized it was on and her email was open. Zen went to close it out but something caught his eye so he read the open email.
It said, 'Aiden, as soon as you read this, please get back to me as soon as possible. There is an important matter that we must talk about. -Suhee'
Upon reading the curious email, Zen's brows furrowed with confusion. 'Why would Suhee want to contact her ex-boyfriend…?' he couldn't help but think to himself.
He thought for a moment more, running ideas for her reasons through his mind. Then he had to stop, continuing his initial thought with, 'No, I can't jump to conclusions like this. I'll just leave it as is and when she's ready to discuss this 'matter' with me, I'll be willing to hear her out…I hope…'
He then closed the app, turned off the phone, and then set it on the side table before tucking Suhee in and taking the dirty dishes to the kitchen to wash.
1-Ogokbap is a Korean dish cooked with several types of rice and grains as well as red and black beans. It's good for cold and flu because the carbohydrates and protein in the beans give you enough energy to combat the fatigue that comes with the illnesses.
2-YooJacha is basically YooJa fruit preserved in honey and is usually diluted in hot water. It's also good to have when ill, as it's citrus-y like lemons in the west.