Mysterious Husband [Vol 1-7] ✓

[Vol 1] Chapter 23

For two days, I wasn't able to get up as Arashi kept taking care of me. My fever would come and go as he would measure my temperature from time to time. 

He would give me bitter tasting medicines and feed me with his own hands. 

I was still laying down when he entered the room with the small barrel and a cloth. I sat up slowly, my head felt light and I was dizzy. 

Arashi came and placed the back of his palm on my forehead. "The fever is gone. How are you feeling?"

"My head is feeling light." 

He nodded as he put away the rag from me. I was wearing a yukata but not an obi since he had been wiping my sweat, he said it would be better if I wasn't wearing a belt around me. Also it would suffocate me if I tied my yukata. 

He slid down the yukata from my shoulders as my heart started to beat already. I slid out my hands as the yukata fell around my waist and now I was in only my skin.

My face heated as I tried to wrap myself but he had already seen everything as he had been cleaning me while I couldn't even move. 

But today, I felt a little better although my body was weak. 

He caught one of my hands and placed the wet cloth while sliding it to my shoulders. He wiped my back to waist as his hands caught my belly, giving me tingles all over my skin. 

Slowly his hands came to my right shoulder and he wiped my chest as I put my eyes away in shyness. My body was reacting to his touch in unusual ways even though all he was doing was taking care of me. His hands were gentle on my skin and there was no meaning behind his touch yet I couldn't control my breathing. 

I felt a little ashamed of thinking in such an inappropriate way yet my body seemed to have its own head. It would react everytime his skin met with mine. It took me quite the resistance not to flinch or squirm.

Slowly he wiped me clean and replaced the previous yukata with a clean one. 

I wore it as he announced, "Okay. Time to eat."

I felt ashamed and guilty both together because he was doing everything while I was being a burden to him. I wanted to go help him but I felt extremely weak. And even though he was doing everything on his own my mind was filled with adultery thoughts of him. I was surprised that I felt that way.

All these while I knew I respected him but now I was biased of what I was feeling. Even though he wasn't touching me, I felt strangely flustered around him and I was scared that I would end up making him hate me for that.

He was about to leave as I asked, "I am feeling well. Shall I go help you?"

He looked at me for a moment as his eyes were trying to read my face. Well, I wasn't lying fully since I felt much better than previous days but still wasn't stable yet.

"Can you stand?" he asked as I nodded frantically. 

"Alright. Stand." He said and I gave him a look. Was he checking if I was lying or not?

Clutching my yukata with one hand so it won't fall off my shoulders as I wasn't wearing an obi, I stood up. And the moment I stood on my feet, the surroundings blurred and I had no idea when my balance swifted away from beneath my feet. In the next blink, I saw I was laying against Arashi's lap as he raised a brow.

"Just lay down. You are still weak." His voice sounded more like an order.

He placed my head on the pillow as he was about to stand up but I caught his sleeve. He looked at me with a pair of questioning gazes. 

"I am feeling bad you have to do everything while you have work." I said, looking away from him guiltily. 

He sighed as his hand held my chin and tilted my face toward him. His eyes met with mine as he said, "You have been tiring yourself for many years. You have overworked yourself while eating less."

A gap formed in my mouth. How did he know that?

He added, "You had been torturing your body all these years so it is normal for it being so weak right now."

He patted my head. "Give your body time to recover. And it is not really a heavy work since it's only for the two of us. I had been doing everything until recently." He gave me a reassuring smile. "But after you came, I started to slack off a little."

It made me chuckle a little and with that somehow my restlessness was gone from my body. He had supernatural powers to make me feel at ease. 

"Alright, I am bringing our meals here. Let's eat together, shall we?" 

I nodded as he left. For two days, we hadn't eaten together because most of the time I slept through the lunch hour and he would feed me after I woke up. So, we could not eat together like before and I felt lonely although he was here feeding me. 

He came back not long after that and set the small table. He would always sit across from me but not today. He sat behind me while his right knee touched the table. 

He sat as if he was about to feed me again but I said, "I can eat on my own today."

"Alright. That's good to know." He said as he served me and placed a lot of food on my plates with the chopsticks. 

"Err... Why are you giving me that much?" I asked because he had given me double the amount I usually eat. 

Arashi looked at me and started to point out why he gave me so much food. "Because you need to fill your belly. You weigh less than a girl should weigh at your age. Not to mention, you look like you don't have blood in your body." 

He looked at me with a pair of concerned eyes as he added, "You look like if I blow on you, you would fly away. I was scared when you went into the storm!" 

I blinked. "I—I don't weigh that less!" I retorted as my ears heated with embarrassment. What did he mean by he was scared when I went into the storm? Would I fly away?

He said with a straight face. "You do! Next time I will tie your ankles before you go out into the storm. It was thanks to Hina that you didn't fly away."

A gap formed on my mouth as a gasp left from my mouth. "I was the one who was helping Hina!" 

"It doesn't matter." He said and slid the large plate at my side. "Eat everything." 

My eyes moved between the large plate and Arashi's plate. Even he didn't have that much. 

"How am I supposed to finish it?" I complained.

"I don't know but no food shall be left on the plate." He said with an authoritative voice as I gulped and my face twisted. 

"Is this a punishment?" I asked, looking at him with a pair of pleading eyes as he smiled. 

"Take that as a lesson to never exhaust yourself while making yourself hungry." 

That's totally unfair!

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7th May, 2022
(1270 words)