meiling looked down at the thermometer in her hand, reading 101 degrees. shit. she didn't get sick. she just didn't. of course, she did, but normally it was never this bad. meiling let out a deep sigh. she sprawled out on her bed, thinking,
what am i gonna do now ? do i tell tomoyo ?
she shook her head.
no, absolutely not.
tomoyo would without a doubt bend over backwords and baby the poor girl. not that meiling minded that, but she really didn't want her girlfriend to be stressing herself out by herself. she could handle herself perfectly fine on her own, so there was no need to tell tomoyo. she'd just wait for this stupid cold to run its course, then she'd return to school like normal. she could just say she was called for some very important conversations with her family. she wrapped herself up in her thick blankets, as if she were a caterpillar in a cocoon to keep herself warm.
she thought that would suffice, until she heard a knock at her door. wei was downstairs, so he didn't know that meiling had suddenly come down ill. wei let tomoyo in as he had several times before, and in a few moments, tomoyo was at meiling's bedroom door. meiling wondered from time to time if wei knew about her relationship with the designer. either he genuinely had no idea, or he knew from the beginning, but didn't want to seem nosy.
"meiling, you didn't come to school today, i got worried, so i decided to stop by ! are you okay ?" tomoyo asked with her usual darling, sweet smile to meiling.
"yeah, i'm-" she coughed, "i'm fine, really-" again, "don't worry about me." yet again. meiling kept her fingers crossed under her blanket that tomoyo would be clueless and wouldn't catch on.
"you should go home, i'm okay, really."
tomoyo set her school bag down on the floor, then knelt down by meiling's bed. she raised a hand to put on meiling's forehead.
"oh dear, meiling, you're running a fever !" she got up from the floor, borrowed one of meiling's scrunchies to tie her hair up, and made her way towards the door.
she opened the door and turned her head to say, "you wait here, okay ? i'm borrowing your kitchen, don't fall asleep in the time it takes me to make you some soup, okay ?"
meiling hesitantly nodded, feeling herself sink deeper under her blankets. she knew this would happen, but it was kinda nice, honestly. although she hated being babied, she could make an exception for her girlfriend. hell, if this was how it would be, maybe she would just have to get sick more often. the rhythmic sound of the clock ticking nearly lulled meiling to sleep, but tomoyo came back to her room right before she could.
she was carrying a silver tray with a teapot, teacups, and a warm bowl of soup. she bent down to put the tray on meiling's lap, careful not to spill anything. she couldn't bear the thought of messing up her girlfriend's blankets. she knelt by her bed yet again, giving meiling the same warm smile she constantly did. although she wouldn't dare say anything out loud, she couldn't ever get sick of that kind smile. it made meiling's heart beat twice, maybe even thrice as fast. it reminded her just how lucky she was to have tomoyo by her side.
"i made you tomato soup and ginger tea, tomato is helpful for your throat and ginger works wonders for stomach bugs ! even if your stomach doesn't hurt, the ginger has a lot of other properties, so please take your time, love." tomoyo said, in more of a hushed tone than normal.
meiling nodded her head slowly, answering, "i will. thank you, tomoyo."
tomoyo just smiled and looked at the tray, as if she was waiting for her girlfriend to begin eating. so she did, a bit more slow than she normally did, but nonetheless she seemed to be enjoying herself. that's all that mattered to the singer. she put the tray on her bedside table once she was finished eating and drinking.
"thank you, tomoyo. that was really good." meiling said, her voice was a bit scratchy this time around.
"oh, don't thank me, it's my pleasure ! i only want you to feel better, okay ? i'll get a cold cloth to put on your forehead, you stay here."
tomoyo got up yet again, and left to go searching for a small enough towel. it took her longer than expected to find one, and she eventually ended up just asking wei. when she made her way back up to meiling's room, she saw that the girl had fallen asleep. she giggled to herself, before finding hair clips to borrow and use to clip her girlfriend's hair back. she placed the wet towel on her forehead gently, careful not to wake meiling up. it was getting late, and tomoyo had to leave to work on a group project with sakura. she picked up her school bag. she leaned down to give meiling a short kiss on her cheek, cupping the other one, again careful not to wake her up.
"sleep well, my love."