Cold
Cold
When I woke up in the morning, my body felt stiff and my throat had that telltale foreign scratchiness.
This was definitely not a good sign.
Was it the change of seasons?
The sudden chill in the air felt like my body was rebounding, silently grieving the sweltering summer we'd just left behind.
I was dry-coughing the moment I got up
when A-ra brewed some hot citron tea and handed it to me.
She must have been worried, because her face was full of concern,
and she draped a blanket over my shoulders and stroked my cheek.
"Are you okay? Do you want to go to the hospital?"
"It's not that bad. I think my body's just a little tired."
The citron tea A-ra gave me was suitably sweet, with a wonderfully subtle bitterness underneath.
With each sip, the inside of my stomach grew warm, and I could feel
that foreign gunk coating my throat starting to slide away.
Come to think of it, did we even have citron tea at home?
I didn't remember buying any.
"Noona bought it yesterday. Your body always gets sick around this time of year, remember?"
"It always did, yeah..."
For a moment, I nearly couldn't hold back a fit of coughing that caught in my throat,
but if I passed this to A-ra it would be a huge disaster, so I held it in with everything I had.
I set the cup down on the table, turned away to the other side, and then started coughing.
"This won't do. Let's go to the hospital with Noona right now."
"I told you I'm fine. And class is about to start, so I have to go to school."
"Isn't it okay to rest for just one day?"
"If I keep saying 'just one day, just one day,' there'll be no end to it. I should save resting for when I'm really sick next time."
When I'm truly sick,
chills run through my whole body and I tremble so much I can barely sit upright.
And that's not all — my nose gets so constantly stuffed that my rhinitis flares up,
and my condition gets so bad that blood mixes in with my phlegm.
Right now was nowhere near that kind of state, in other words.
"If you say so... alright."
A-ra went into the master bedroom, pulled out a few winter clothes she'd stored in the wardrobe, and set them on the table.
Thinking about how I'd been walking around in short sleeves and shorts until just recently,
these clothes were the polar opposite — they looked sweltering.
"In exchange, if you dress warmly, not in those thin clothes, I'll allow it."
"Noona... this is a bit too..."
"Ahem, a man ought to listen to what a woman says sometimes!"
She made a patriarchal remark she doesn't usually make,
then started taking off my clothes one by one.
The inside of the house was certainly warmer than usual,
but as my clothes came off, the terrace door was open, and I could've sworn I felt a cold draft slipping in.
"Arms up!"
"Arms up..."
I obediently did as A-ra told me, and after she'd taken off my last top,
A-ra began dressing me in thick, warm clothes.
To any onlooker, she looked exactly like a mother dressing her son.
A-ra is secretly really good at taking care of people, honestly.
"Really, if Noona weren't here, the world would feel so unfair... I don't know how I'd have lived."
"It's the same for Noona. If you weren't here..."
A-ra's hands suddenly stopped, and she looked into my eyes with glistening ones.
It was the kind of gaze that was begging for a kiss, but I just gently stroked her cheek.
If I kissed her now, I'd pass the cold to A-ra,
and I might just get beaten to death by her fans.
"You have an important program today, remember?"
"Well, I do, but... there's no way anything could be more important than you."
"Ahem... w-well... that's... true, isn't it?"
It was clearly A-ra who said the embarrassing thing,
so why was I the one more embarrassed?
A-ra, after saying something that seemed mortifying enough to die of embarrassment,
slowly leaned her face forward.
After hearing words like that, how was I supposed to avoid A-ra's lips?
I quietly closed my eyes.
Jjok.
"I'll hold back with just this for today."
The place A-ra kissed wasn't my lips — it was my damp, soft cheek.
As I watched A-ra, who had dressed me, move away,
I kept stroking my cheek, feeling the lingering sensation where A-ra's kiss had been.
*
I arrived at school, greeted Jeong Hwan-yi and Lee Min-ho,
and immediately slumped face-down onto the desk.
At first, the two of them were chatting like usual,
but maybe they'd noticed something was off, because they spoke to me.
"What's with you today, why are you in such bad shape?"
"Because of a cold..."
"I knew it from the moment you said you sleep in just short sleeves and shorts because it's hot."
"What kind of guy sleeps in short sleeves and shorts all four seasons of the year."
Lee Min-ho clicked his tongue and started nagging me.
The reason I wear short sleeves and shorts is to be as comfortable as possible when I sleep.
If I wear long clothes and cover myself with a blanket, my body gets so uncomfortable it's unbearable.
I think I've heard it's because I have an extreme aversion to sensory sensitivity,
but I don't know the details.
Maybe I just hate feeling stuffy.
"Seong-hwan-ssi, are you okay?"
"If it's hard for you, I can let the professor know, so maybe you should just go home..."
"No... I feel like if I rest for a day, I'll get lazy. Thank you just for the offer."
Once I got to school, I somehow felt even sicker, so I was lying face-down
and my classmates and seniors came by, asking if I was okay and worrying about me.
Seeing them worry regardless of gender or age,
I was moved almost to the point of tears.
"Believe it or not, you're practically the heartthrob of our department."
"Even though you're a married man."
And with that, the two of them, until the professor arrived,
started teasing me, going on about being the department heartthrob this and the school madame that.
You guys think you won't get sick?
Winter's coming soon, and it's as obvious as can be that you'll both be groaning and ailing.
Just you wait.
*
"Seong-hwan student? Are you okay?"
My headache had started to get worse, so before class began I told the professor I'd be lying down,
and I used my textbook as a pillow.
Maybe because I was sick, I hadn't noticed, but it seemed at some point I'd started making little whimpering noises.
Of course, they were very quiet sounds, so no one else probably heard,
but the professor, who had been walking around the lecture hall,
must have heard my voice and confirmed once again that my condition wasn't good.
At this rate, I couldn't even listen to the lecture and was just pointlessly staying,
so I started to think I had to go to the hospital even now.
Because I was so sick it felt like if I didn't go to the hospital now, I might actually die from this cold.
"I'm sorry, professor... I'd like to leave early..."
"Leaving early is secondary... will you be able to get to the hospital?"
"My wife was going to take me...... oh, right......."
Come to think of it, A-ra can't come today because of her program filming.
I should have just rested at home like A-ra said.
This must be what they mean when they say if you listen to your wife, even sleeping will bring you rice cakes.
At that moment, Jeong Hwan-yi, who was sitting next to me, raised his hand slightly.
"Professor, I'll take him there and come back."
"Then Jeong Hwan student, please take Seong-hwan student to the hospital, and if you bring back a medical certificate,
I'll mark you both as excused sick leave."
"Thank you."
"Sick leave...?"
"Didn't you know that if you bring a medical certificate, you can get up to 3 excused absences per class?"
"I didn't know..."
It must have been written in the syllabus after all.
I thought I'd read it carefully...
"First, pack your bag. The bell's about to ring soon."
"Yeah... thanks."
"If you're thankful, buy me a meal or something later."
Jeong Hwan-yi grinned playfully and lightly tapped Lee Min-ho on the back.
"We're heading out."
"Get him to the hospital first. And buy him something like a Pocari to drink."
"I'm going to do that, so don't skip class and just pay attention. If you skip class again, I'm telling your girlfriend."
"I won't, so stop worrying and just go."
Lee Min-ho had been caught skipping class not long ago, and he was saddled with the dire attendance score of an automatic F if he got even one more absence this semester.
Whether he'd gotten on the professor's bad side or not, he was being intensively checked every single class,
so he was in a situation where he couldn't skip even if he wanted to.
Even though he'd tanked his attendance grade like that,
his actual grades were still better than mine...
This world is unfair...
***
I stopped by the hospital, got a shot, picked up my medicine, and came home.
Jeong Hwan-yi, who'd carried me all the way to the master bedroom, set a hot cup of citron tea on the table
and started putting on the outer clothes he'd taken off.
"Don't kick off the blankets with your feet saying it's too hot."
"I told you I won't."
"Then I'm off. Take good care of yourself, and I'll see you in two days."
"Ah, tomorrow's a day off from school. Get home safe."
Lying in bed, I waved my hand languidly.
He looked at me once, then walked out.
I heard the sound of the door lock, and in an instant, the house fell silent.
The ondol and heater were both running,
but somehow the atmosphere felt cold.
"Should I watch some TV for the first time in a while..."
Thinking that tomorrow was a day off, I started to feel a sense of ease overflowing in my heart.
Knowing I could rest the next day too —
should I say my mood, which had plummeted, was gradually becoming more high-tension?
I groped around inside the blankets and found the remote control.
I turned on some random channel, and closed my eyes to rest comfortably.
After getting that shot earlier and taking the medicine, my body felt noticeably better —
medicine really is an amazing thing.
In the future, won't we be able to cure cancer just by taking a single pill,
or restore eyes that have gone blind?
"This documentary's interesting..."
By some coincidence, a medical documentary happened to be playing,
and starting from content related to eternal youth and longevity, it began showing a string of documentaries on endlessly fascinating topics.
I even forgot about sleeping and ended up watching documentaries for about five hours.
*
After the medical documentary relay ended and I came to my senses, it was already past six o'clock.
I'd clearly been on the verge of dying from sickness, but after getting a shot, taking medicine, and watching documentaries, wasn't my body feeling noticeably lighter?
I threw off my clothes that were damp with sweat and changed into new ones.
The clothes A-ra had dressed me in today were already thick and hot,
and Jeong Hwan-yi had turned on the ondol and heater before leaving, so I'd nearly been steamed to death.
Was I the first guy ever to wear clothes like this in October...?
People even play a game of chicken over wearing padded jackets, but at our school maybe everyone just wears them comfortably.
"Yaaaaawn..... What time did Noona say she'd be home today."
I let out a big yawn that suddenly hit me and stretched.
She'd said things would run late because of filming and that I didn't need to prepare dinner,
but not knowing exactly what time she'd be back, it was awkward to fall asleep.
Well, wouldn't it be okay to be asleep when A-ra gets home for just one day like today?
I was sick, after all, and A-ra would understand.
If anything, she'd scold me for not being asleep, rather than the other way around.
To lie back down, I cleared away the dampened blanket cover and blanket,
and replaced them with ones that were soft and fluffy, carrying the scent of fabric softener.
When your body is sick, little things like this can shift your mood, so it's good to pay attention to them.
Ttiririk-
"Huh? It's not time for her to come back yet, though?"
Just then, I heard the door lock sound from the front door,
and someone came crashing and banging noisily as she burst into the master bedroom.
The woman who suddenly rushed in was, naturally, my one and only wife,
and she roughly tossed aside the outer clothes she was wearing and the handbag she was carrying
and hugged me tight.
"Seong-hwan-a, are you a bit better?"
"Uh... I'm fine, but you came home really early today?"
"I finished the program just fine, so don't worry. Goodness... your forehead is still like a fireball."
A-ra took my hand and led me toward the bed, telling me to lie down quickly,
and pushed me into the bed.
Then, she brought over a chair and sat beside me, and started gently stroking my head.
"Noona's sorry she's been so busy she couldn't take care of you."
And then she started stroking my cheek with her cold hand.
I really loved this feeling of my suddenly elevated body temperature slowly cooling down.
Normally, I would warmly hold A-ra's cold hands,
but today, thinking that A-ra's cold hand was cooling the heat of my feverish forehead, it felt like something out of fate.
"I bought some porridge, so let's eat."
She'd thrown her bag, but the plastic bag she'd been holding in her other hand she'd set down carefully,
so I'd wondered what it was — it turned out to be porridge.
She took the porridge out of the small round container,
scooped a little with a spoon, and A-ra held it out gently in front of my mouth.
"Ah~"
"Ah..."
On a normal day, we'd probably be giving and taking, all lovey-dovey with each other,
but since the contents were porridge, A-ra didn't eat any and just spooned it into my mouth.
Feeling like a baby sparrow waiting for food from its mother sparrow,
I gratefully ate the porridge A-ra fed me, one spoonful at a time.