Your eyes open as a groan slipped past your lips. You turned your back to your boyfriend and set a hand on your stomach, trying to press away the unsettling pain. Sehun stirred, even though he was still in a half-sleeping state, he still instinctively wrapped an arm around your waist to pull you back to his warm chest. He sighed happily into your hair, breathing you in. You tried to push the waves of nausea away mentally because you loved it when Sehun caressed your body protectively. However, you had to push his hand away and rush out of bed, to the bathroom, as the sickening feeling grew worse. Sehun awoke from your sudden movements and looked around, disoriented. He glanced at the alarm clock. 3am. He rubbed his eyes sleepily and yawned. Then, sounds of you throwing up echoed from the bathroom and all signs of sleep left Sehun as his eyes widened, sensing that something must be wrong. He got to the bathroom in less than five strides thanks to his tall frame and panicked when he saw you bent over the toilet, emptying the contents of your stomach. Embarrassed to have him see you in this state, you pushed him away with your hand, claiming that you were fine in between groans and whimpers.
“Fine?! You call this fine?! Then I must be immortal because I’m feeling hella good right now,” he threw back in a frustrated and worried tone. Your arm couldn’t keep him away as he held your hair back in one hand and the other smoothed strokes along your back in hopes of making you feel better. After five minutes of this, the urge to throw up your insides subsided. Maybe because you had already emptied out everything. You flushed the toilet and stumbled over to the sink with the help of your boyfriend to wash your face; you were disgusted and even thinking about what just happened made you nauseated. You brushed your teeth twice and Sehun could only watch worriedly. He got a towel for you as you finished and helped gently wipe your face clean. You gave him a weak smile but all he could see was how sickly pale your complexion was.
“What happened?” he questioned you with a concerned tone.
Your hands touched his as you smiled sheepishly, “I’m a bit allergic to shellfish…” your soft voice trailed off.
“A bit?! You almost died just there! Why didn’t you tell me?” his own voice raised a few octaves, panic settling in on the edges.
Your hand stopped his from brushing back your hair and replied, “your parents took a lot of care into making the reservation at that restaurant, I-I didn’t want to disappoint them…”
“So you put your life in danger just to impress my parents?! I told you, they love you, they really do. You didn’t have to do that. They would have understood if you had just told them.”
You opened your mouth, about to argue with him, when your forehead suddenly broke out in cold sweat and shivers overtook your body.
Sehun’s facial was one of shock as his fast reflexes let his strong arms catch you before you hit the floor. He immediately scooped you up and carried you towards the bed. Your mind floated between reality and unconsciousness as you moved closer to his chest to find warmth. He held you closer, his thoughts going into hysterics when he felt your threatening drop in body temperature. He finally got to the bed and laid you down ever so gently. Then placed the blanket over you, tucking it under your arms.
He bent down and touched his soft lips to your forehead, testing your temperature. You were now suddenly beyond warm.
“A-Are you ok? You’re burning up!” Sehun stuttered, momentarily unsure of what to do first. The thought eventually clicked, “I k-know, I’ll call an ambulance. I need to get you to the hospital. Now.”
Just as he was turning around to grab the phone from the nightstand, you gathered all your strength to grab his sleeve.
“N-No,” you shook your head desperately, “I don’t want to go, I’m fine.”
“But…” Sehun’s voice trailed off when he saw despise in your tired eyes.
You tried to prove to him by attempting to get up, only to have your efforts wasted as he pushed you back down. Heaving out a frustrated sigh, Sehun agreed, “fine, but you have to do as I say. Understand?”
You smiled weakly and nodded.
Sehun ran his hand through your hair before walking off to the bathroom to prepare a cold compress for you using a towel.
He was back within a minute and he knelt down beside the bed. His slender hands gently guided the soothing towel along your warm skin, wiping away the heat bit by bit. The calming motions slowly pulled you into a deep slumber as your body began to mend itself.
During your deep sleep, Sehun never rested, even for a minute. He was constantly changing the towel on your forehead, adjusting the blanket, and gently massaging your arms to prevent any swelling that may happen. The only times he left your side was when he said hi to the members that arrived to celebrate his big day and when he attempted to cook some warm soup for you, almost burning his wrist in the process.
As he watched you sleep, he prayed countless time that you would be ok, that his decision to not take you to the hospital was not going to kill you. His fingers laced yours and your hand was pressed to his cheeks. Whenever you let out a whimper from the pains in your stomach, his own would tighten until your expression eased again. This continued for many hours until your eyelids finally flutter open, to Sehun’s delight.
Your vision took a few seconds to focus and when it did, your boyfriend’s relieved, smiling face was al that you could see. He placed a kiss on your hand, ecstatic that you were feeling better.
You laughed at his seemingly exaggerated reaction to your awakening but suddenly realized something.
“Sehun-ah! What time is it now?!” you gasped, praying that it wouldn’t be too late.
Your oblivious boyfriend glanced at the clock, “8pm, why?”
“8pm……8pm!” You exclaimed as your facial expression reflected regret and horror.
Sehun was overtaken by anxiety again, “what? Why? What’s wrong?”
You started hitting your head using your free hand, “why, why am I like this?! I’m the worst girlfriend to ever have graced the face of the Earth!”
Sehun gasped and reached over to pin your arm down, “I don’t see what’s wrong, can you stop trying to kill yourself?!”
“I-I was supposed to,” you started to choke on your words as droplets of tears dripped out, “I was supposed to cook for you today. It’s your birthday, Sehun-ah, and I completely ruined it.”
Sehun was speechless for a second, but a chuckle slipped out. He wiped your tears with his thumbs as he caressed your face, “silly girl, do you really think that’s important right now? I’m worried about whether you’ll be alive any longer and all you care about is a making seaweed soup? If you’re still wondering, I got what I wanted for my birthday months ahead of time already.”
Now it’s your turn to be confused and you questioned him with a raise of your eyebrow.
Sehun gave you that charming smile and pecked your lips before he spoke, “you became mine, that’s all I could have ever wished for.”
