Seasonal Flu and Acting Spoiled
"A-yeong! Wake up!"
I hurriedly dropped to my knees and looked down at A-yeong, who had collapsed.
She was gasping for air, her breath coming out in hot, ragged puffs.
She lay there, completely unresponsive.
"What on earth... is going on..."
My hand began to tremble as I reached out and pressed it against her forehead.
A wave of intense heat met my palm, slick with sticky sweat.
She's burning up...
It was obvious at a glance that she had a dangerously high fever.
I massaged her arms to stimulate her circulation and called out to her again.
"A-yeong! Open your eyes!"
"..."
"A-yeong!"
After I called her name several times, her eyelids finally fluttered open, squinting up at me.
"Da...d..."
"Yes, sweetheart! It's Dad!"
"I... I can't move my body..."
With that, her eyes closed once more.
A cold sweat broke out across my back.
I... I need to get her to the hospital. First, the hospital...
In a panic, I quickly wiped her down with a towel and threw some clothes on her.
There was no time to worry about underwear.
I grabbed a pair of sweats she wore all the time, threw them on her, hoisted her onto my back, and ran out to the car.
I started the engine and sped toward the hospital.
"Doctor, how is my daughter..."
I asked, my leg bouncing anxiously. The doctor raised a hand to calm me down.
"Calm down, sir. Your daughter is going to be fine."
"But..."
He looked at me with a warm, practiced smile, clearly used to dealing with panicked parents.
"It's the flu. Fortunately, IV treatments are highly effective these days. Her condition should stabilize in a few hours."
He said she would be fine.
A wave of relief washed over me, and I let out a long breath.
"So... she'll be okay?"
"Yes. However, she will need to rest for about a week. Once the IV is finished, make sure she takes her prescribed medication and gets plenty of rest."
"Whew... Thank goodness."
Hearing the doctor's reassurance, the tension drained from my body, and my knees buckled slightly.
I sat in the hospital waiting room, holding my trembling legs. About an hour passed.
"Dad..."
I saw my daughter walking weakly out of the IV treatment room.
"A-yeong! Are you okay?"
"Yeah... I felt like I was dying..."
"Thank goodness..."
I pulled her into a tight hug.
"D-Dad..."
"A-yeong... I thought something terrible had happened to you."
The anxiety that had been churning in my stomach since lunchtime finally burst forth at the sight of my daughter, who had collapsed and barely recovered.
But not wanting to worry her further, I blinked back my tears and simply held her close.
"...Thanks for worrying about me."
"Of course, sweetheart."
As I kept holding her, she gently began to push me away.
"D-Dad... could you let go of me for a second..."
"Huh? Ah. Did I hug you too tight? I'm sorry..."
"No... it's not that, but... yeah... thanks for hugging me..."
Her face was even redder than before.
Seeing her flushed skin, I worried her fever had spiked again and pressed my hand to her forehead.
Her forehead was burning hot.
She still had a fever.
"Sigh... You still have a high fever, sweetheart. Let's get you home so you can rest."
"Okay..."
And so, we headed back home.
On the drive back, perhaps because it was late at night, the only sound on the quiet road was the hum of the tires.
Unlike our usual chatty car rides, the silence imposed by her illness felt strangely awkward.
Normally, we'd be joking around and chatting...
My daughter's condition was bad enough, but on top of that, what Kim Tae-yang had said earlier kept echoing in my head.
Ah, seriously...
What did he know to speak with such certainty?
But... if an outsider saw it that way, it means A-yeong's actions could actually be interpreted like that...
Feeling suffocated, I tried to let out a quiet sigh.
"Sigh..."
But... I accidentally let it out out loud.
A-yeong questioned me in a raspy voice.
Through the rearview mirror, I could see her looking at me with half-open eyes.
"...Dad?"
Oops... What a slip.
"Yeah?"
"Nothing... I just wondered why you sighed..."
What... should I say?
Normally, I would have just brushed it off with a casual excuse, but today, my throat felt strangely tight.
Was that why?
The moment to answer slipped away, and the silence stretched between us.
"..."
Perhaps noticing my hesitation, A-yeong stared at me intently.
She gazed at me quietly.
"Are you okay...?"
"...Yeah. I'm fine."
"I'm sorry... I should have gone to the hospital when you told me to."
"Ah... no! A-yeong! It's not that!"
"..."
"I just... hate seeing you in pain..."
"I'm sorry..."
After that, only the quiet hum of the tires filled the car until we finally arrived home.
"Goodnight, Dad..."
A-yeong wobbled as she stood up from the table after taking her medicine.
"A-yeong, careful."
I supported her swaying body and guided her back to her room.
We reached her bed.
I pulled back the covers and gently laid her down.
"Thanks, Dad."
"Don't worry about it, sweetheart. Sleep well."
"Yeah. You too, Dad... *cough*. Goodnight..."
I pulled the blanket over her, tucked her in, and quietly closed the door.
I was about to go to sleep myself.
Until I heard a very faint, yet concerning sound through the thin walls.
"*Pant... pant...*"
It was a weak, fragile sound.
A wheezing, labored breath... It was A-yeong, struggling to breathe.
"Sigh..."
A sigh escaped my lips.
I wish she wasn't hurting so much.
She had always been physically weak since she was a child.
A-yeong used to get sick constantly, and because of her frail health, going to the hospital at the slightest sign of illness was a regular routine.
If she felt even slightly off, she'd catch a cold or something the very next day.
But as she grew older, she became healthier and didn't get sick nearly as often.
Had I let my guard down because of that?
And now she's caught the flu.
Just then, right after I sighed, the heavy breathing suddenly stopped.
Huh?
Was the medicine finally kicking in?
What a relief.
Feeling reassured, I closed my eyes and was about to drift off when a violent coughing fit erupted, followed by a choking gasp.
I immediately threw off my covers and rushed into A-yeong's room.
There, I found A-yeong holding her hand tightly over her mouth, her eyes locking onto mine.
"D-Dad... *cough! cough!*"
Seeing me, she burst into another fit of violent coughing.
I rushed to her side.
"What's wrong, A-yeong?"
"It's... nothing... *cough!* I just had a bad cough and tried to hold it in..."
"Why would you hold in a cough?"
"..."
I watched her shift her gaze away and realized what was happening.
"Don't tell me... you did that because of me?"
"..."
"A-yeong... why are you doing this? You shouldn't hold in a cough. It only makes it worse."
"But you... have to go to work tomorrow... you need to sleep..."
I looked down at her as she lay curled up, wheezing softly.
"Don't worry about me. You're the patient here. Why is the sick person worrying about the healthy one?"
"..."
A-yeong had no reply. I gently brushed the hair from her forehead.
It was slick with sweat.
I should wipe her sweat off.
I went to the bathroom, filled a basin with cool water, and prepared a damp washcloth.
I brought it back and pressed it against her limp forehead.
"Eek..."
A-yeong flinched in surprise.
I chuckled softly at her reaction.
"How is it? Refreshing, right?"
"Yeah... hehe... it's nice and cool..."
Despite her pale, sickly face, she managed a faint smile.
I began to carefully wipe down her face.
"Wiping your sweat like this brings back memories of when you were little."
"Really...?"
"Do you remember? Back in middle school, when you caught the flu and were completely out of it?"
"Mmm... I don't really remember."
I dipped the warmed washcloth back into the basin, rinsed it, and wrung it out.
It was cool once again.
This time, I began to wipe down her neck.
"I guess you don't. Your fever was so high back then. I stayed up all night, wiping down your entire body until dawn just to get your temperature down."
"Did... did you really do that?"
"Yeah. I was so relieved when your fever finally broke."
"I... I see..."
After wiping her neck, I pulled back the blanket.
But somewhere along the way, she had shed her pajamas and was now wearing only her underwear.
I flinched for a moment, but then my eyes caught the beads of sweat rolling down her skin.
Countless droplets. Seeing her body completely drenched in sweat, all other thoughts vanished from my mind.
She must be suffering so much...
Her bedsheets were already stained, and sweat continued to pour from her.
She's sweating buckets...
I immediately began to wipe down her arms with the washcloth.
Wipe, wipe.
"Does it feel good, sweetheart?"
A-yeong giggled weakly in response.
"Hehe. That tickles, Dad."
"Bear with it for a bit, sweetheart. This is the fastest way to bring your fever down."
"Hehehe... ahaha."
Perhaps the washcloth really was ticklish, as she squirmed slightly.
I wiped down both of her arms and legs.
This is as far as I can go.
The rest... she would have to wipe herself.
I rinsed the washcloth again, placed the cool cloth in her hand, and stood up from the floor.
"Alright. I'll head back to my room now, A-yeong."
A-yeong looked up at me, flustered.
"H-Huh? But you haven't wiped everything yet, Dad..."
I stared at her.
Haha...
A-yeong, you're all grown up now. How can your dad wipe you everywhere?
I smiled and said gently,
"Haha... A-yeong, you're an adult now. You should wipe the rest yourself. I'll leave the towel here."
But just as I turned to leave, a sudden, burning heat wrapped around my wrist.
Huh?
It was A-yeong's hand.
"A-yeong?"
"Dad... I'm so tired... I can't move my body..."
Her breathing suddenly grew heavy.
Hearing her panting, a thought crossed my mind.
Did her fever spike again because I stopped wiping her down?
I turned around to look at her face. It was even more flushed than before.
Worried that her condition was worsening again, I looked at her with deep concern.
"A-yeong? Are you okay?"
She panted softly, struggling to squeeze out the words.
"Since it's you, Dad... I don't mind... Can't you keep wiping me...?"
"A-yeong."
"Daddy... please do it..."
She was never like this before.
She had always been a bit cute, but I had never seen her act this spoiled in my entire life.
"A-yeong..."
"Please...? Daddy... I really don't have any strength... I'm begging you... okay?"
As my thoughts connected,
A-yeong, who had just looked like a sick daughter to me, suddenly began to look a bit different.
Could she really... like me?
No.
She was just very sick and confused, which was why she was acting so childish.
But looking at her pained expression, I couldn't bring myself to reject her coldly. I sat back down.
"Sigh... Alright. I get it, A-yeong."
"Mmm... Thanks, Dad..."