Koon Chai Cafe

Chapter Nineteen - The Truth

Kopter

"Oh my God, Kopter! What's wrong?!"

I felt a pair of warm hands squeeze my shoulders tightly as they lifted me up. My vision was blurry and unstable but I could just about make out the outline of Nok standing before me.

He lifted my arm around his neck and tucked his right arm around my side, supporting my full weight. "Come on, let's get you inside."

We stumbled awkwardly through the house and over the threshold to my room, where Nok gently lowered me onto my bed.

"I'll be back in a moment, don't move!" he ordered, then hurried out of the room. My breathing had become steady once again and the drowning sensation was gone, but I could still feel the cold sweat that drenched my body and the loud thumping of my heart. The realisation that had brought this on, however, was still prominent in my mind.

Nok strode back into the room, carrying a large wooden tray laden with medical supplies. He placed the tray on the bedside table, next to Park's gift, and sat beside me on the bed. He raised his hand to my forehead and felt it, before reaching over and grabbing the digital thermometer from the tray.

"Your grandmother could tell if we were sick or not just by touch, like an instant diagnosis," Nok explained as he stuck the thermometer into my ear. "But I never inherited that skill, or the confidence to guess." There was a loud beep that made me wince and he pulled out the device to examine the results.

"No fever," he muttered under his breath and reached for the assortment of pills on the tray. "What is it? Headache? Cramps? Nausea?"

I shook my head and rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand, they were still wet. "I'm not sick," I croaked.

Nok whirled around to me, looking perplexed. "Of course you are, look at you!"

I shook my head again and tried to explain. "I-I'm not sick, I-" Something caught in the back of my throat, causing my sentence to end abruptly. What was wrong with me?

A wave of realisation spread over Nok's face and he stood up, pulling me up with him. "I understand," he replied softly and I nodded, though I had no idea what it was he understood. "Go take a shower and warm up. Once you're ready, we can have a chat."

I trudged my way over to the bathroom, stripped off my clothes, and plunged myself into the jet force of the shower. Every inch of me still felt numb, but the scorching jet of water removed any lingering cold sweat and injected me with some almost-comforting warmth.

I dried myself off, pulled on some blue-striped pyjama pants and a white t-shirt, and stared at myself in the mirror. My eyes were still red and puffy. Much of the colour had drained from my face, leaving me with a greenish tinge.

I walked back over to my bed where Nok sat, holding two cups of herbal tea. I sat down beside him and accepted one of the cups. There was a pause of a few minutes where neither of us spoke. The only sounds to be heard were the faint ticking of the clock above my bed.

Nok finally broke the silence. "I spoke to Hwa," he said softly. I whipped my head around to face him, panicked. The last thing I wanted was for my Mom to hear and worry about this.

"I didn't tell her what happened," Nok replied firmly, as though reading my thoughts. "I just wanted to ask her if she'd noticed anything strange about you over the holidays. I've noticed you being down these last few weeks."