Ai opened his closet and took out a pair of fresh shirts and pants. She sat beside Jun and began to unbutton his shirt. She paused, gave it a thought and closed her eyes as she continued unbuttoning his shirt.
She patted her way across his damp shirt and removed it. Her fingers touched his bare chest, and she stopped.
He was very hot. Literally hot with fever. It was also moist with light sweat.
Ai went to his bathroom, soaked a small towel in water and wiped his chest and abdomen with it. She heard him sighing in relief in his sleep.
It was a huge task shifting him left and right to get the shirt in. She was breathless as she buttoned his new shirt. She repeated the same process for his pants with her shut eyes when her hand accidentally touched Jun's forbidden area.
Ai froze. Her mouth heavily twitched upon feeling the slight bulge of his little brother. A tinge of faint redness couldn't help but appear on her cheeks feeling someone's member in her palm.
She took two deep breaths and calmly retracted her hand.
I will pretend that didn't happen, she sincerely concluded.
Ai opened her eyes and then left his damp clothes in his bathroom. She softly crinkled her brows, thinking of what to do next.
Has he eaten since yesterday? If not, then he must have not taken any medicine either. No wonder he looks so pale.
Which means he needs to eat first.
Ai thought about her average cooking skills. She hadn't cooked in a while, so she wasn't sure how it would turn out.
As long as I follow the process…
Ai wrapped him up in a blanket and headed towards the kitchen. She stared at the lavish kitchen furniture, which made her think back to how shocked she had been to know that Jun lived in a condo.
An assistant librarian living in such a dreamy condo. She couldn't believe it at all. She put that thought aside for now and started preparing for a light porridge.
It was an hour later when she finally got it right though Ai was dissatisfied about her numerous failed attempts.
She went back to Jun's room. He was soundly sleeping. She softly shook his shoulder. "Jun. Jun. I have brought porridge for you. Eat some so that you can take medicine."
Jun was fast asleep. She bit her lip.
"Jun. You need to take your medicine."
"Hmm…?" He frowned and didn't like someone trying to wake him up. "Go away."
"I cannot. I made you sick. I feel responsible. You have to get better, so you need to eat."
Ai pursed her lips. She tried to pull him up in an upright position. Jun vaguely smelled a fragrance, and his brows furrowed. He opened his eyes but couldn't clearly see the figure due to his fever. He tilted his head and cupped her face in a daze.
Ai's movements abruptly came to a halt. "Jun?"
He tried to focus. Brushing his thumb on her cheek, he whispered, "Soft…It's cold…Nice."
Jun pulled her head and placed his cheek on hers. Ai rapidly blinked her eyes.
"Hmm…It feels good…" Jun had no idea what he was doing. His temperature was so high that he wanted to ease the heat by feeling something cold.
Ai felt her cheek grow hotter as his skin rubbed against hers. "Um…"
She was stuck in an odd position. She was trying to make him sit, and he was trying to feel her up, completely unaware that he wasn't dreaming.
When her cheek's coldness disappeared, he pressed his forehead on the nape of her neck. Once again, her neck began to grow hotter.
"..."
Are you trying to reduce your temperature using me?
Ai pushed him back with all her force. "I am not your temperature controller," she indignantly huffed. "Now if you will please eat."
She brought the spoon in front of his lips. "It's warm porridge."
Jun shook it away. It was hard to maintain focus. He just wanted to take a good, long sleep. But somebody was persistently feeding him.
"Ugh…" he shook it away. "It's hot," he mumbled.
"It's warm."
His brows crinkled. "I…I want ice cream."
"..."
"You want ice cream when you are down with such a bad cold?"
"Ice cream…"
"It's only going to be porridge for you."
"Ice cream," he mumbled again in a daze. "Go bring my ice cream now…" he breathlessly said. "One scoop of chocolate and one scoop of blackberry on top of it…"
Ai was speechless.
Not one, but two scoops of ice cream while having a terrible cold?
"I made porridge for you," she stated.
"Ice cream," he didn't give up.
Ai was in a dilemma. Jun wasn't opening his mouth at all.
"Alright. I will bring ice cream for you."
Jun nodded in a stupor. "Remember, chocolate…"
"And a blackberry scoop on top of it. I remember."
Ai stepped out of his room. Two minutes later, she went in again.
"I brought ice cream for you. Open your mouth."
Jun's ears perked up, and he finally parted his lips. Ai fed him one bite of the porridge.
Jun strongly frowned. "Ice cream is warm…*cough cough* It tastes like…like porridge."
"Is that so? So strange. There is one scoop of chocolate and blackberry just as you said."
She was amazed that his sense of taste was intact even in this bad cold.
Ai fed him all the porridge as 'ice cream' with Jun complaining all the way about its taste.
"...It didn't feel like ice cream at all…I want a refund…"
Ai couldn't help but smile. She never imagined that someone like Jun could act cute when he was sick. But she was glad he finally ate the porridge. She quickly fed him the cold medicine before he dozed off to sleep again.
She checked his temperature. It was 38.6 degrees Celsius which was quite high. Ai quickly prepared some wet towels soaked in cold water. She placed one of it on his forehead.
Finally he had eaten with medicine and was peacefully sleeping now. Ai wondered what to do now. Her work was pretty much done.
She took this chance to take a glance at his room. The bedroom was spacious with minimal furniture. Everything was neatly organized without even a speck of dust anywhere. She commended that a man could live on his own in such a neat and tidy way.
As expected from an avid reader, there was a bookshelf opposite his bed. She beamed seeing the books and curiously went over to that side.
She rummaged through his collection but reaching a certain familiar book, she paused. She recognized the binding and pulled it out.
'My time with you.'
It was the book title and the author's name on its first page was - MissImperfectlyFine.