Our Little Dorm Mother

Chapter 20- Love Doctor

Light streamed into the room causing my eyes to flutter open. I blinked to focus my vision. Where was I? My head pounded slightly and I felt groggy.

As I got up, I noticed that I was lying on my bed and my clothes were damp with sweat. How did I manage to get back to my bed? The last thing I remembered was going down the corridor to go and fetch water from downstairs but instead, I ended up meeting Baekhyun on the way. My memory was hazy after that.

I turned to my right to reach for my glasses. As I did so, I noticed that there was someone beside me. Their head was lying on top of their folded arms and they were sleeping soundly.

I jumped in surprise and grabbed a damp cloth, which was near my hand, and threw it at them. "Who are you? What are you doing in my room?" I screamed.

The person jolted awake at the sound of my voice and removed the cloth that had landed on top of them. They rubbed their eyes sleepily. I let out a sigh when I saw who it was.

"Chanyeol-ssi? What are you doing here?"

He blinked at me, allowing his eyes to adjust. "Is this how you treat people who look after you?" He yawned and stretched his arms. "You don't remember? You were sick last night."

I looked around and saw that he had several cloths next to him as well as an ice-pack. "I was looking after you all night."

I felt my face flush. I felt bad for having screamed at him. "Thank you," I told him finally.

He gazed at me sleepily, his face was worn like he hadn't had enough sleep. "Let me feel your temperature." He leaned in close as he placed his cool hand across my forehead. As he did so, I noticed that he had dark circles under his eyes. "Your fever has gone down." He smiled, "that's good. At least we know that you'll be fine after some rest."

"Thank you for looking after me," I told him once he had backed away. "I must have troubled you, Chanyeol-ssi."

Chanyeol pursed his lips at me, "If you're really thankful," he began, "then you would stop calling me 'Chanyeol-ssi'." He locked eyes with me and maintained a steady gaze. "What happened to calling me 'oppa'? Or just 'Chanyeol' like before?"

I averted my gaze. After everything that had happened yesterday, I had thought it best to put some distance between us. After all, I was an undercover reporter and by going back to formalities, it will remind me to stay on track. I had to remain unattached.

"Well?" Chanyeol prompted.

But I didn't know what to reply.

Chanyeol was displeased. "Nami-ah, if you're angry at me for abandoning you yesterday then, please just yell at me." He tried to meet my eyes. "I don't want you to stay silently angry at me the whole time." He added, "I don't want you to hate me."

I turned to him. "I don't hate you."

He smiled weakly. "Then, can we go back to how we were before?" He stared at me with puppy eyes, "will you forgive me?"

I looked at his worn appearance and nodded. Chanyeol had stayed up looking after me. The least I could do was let bygones be bygones. "I forgive you, Chanyeol."

He perked up at my words.

"Since you looked after me, we'll call it even," I told him. "But next time--"

"I'll protect you," he interrupted abruptly. I saw that his eyes were tenacious and unwavering. I didn't expect him to say that at all. "If anything like that happens again, I swear that, I'll protect you."

His eyes were so earnest that I felt heat rise up to my cheeks. I smiled. "As if I need protecting, pabo" and I threw another damp cloth at him.

~*~