Together Forever | LK

6.2 - Quietly Advancing and Retreating

"So, Eunbi," she said, holding the last segment of orange up to her lips, "there's nothing about me worthy of your envy. I also lose in love, also get sick, and also have lots of secrets that I don't want others to know about."

She tilted her head upwards and took a glance. There was not much left in this bottle, but on the IV pole's metal hook, there was still another full bottle that need to be finished tonight.

"I remember, one time when I was a kid, we needed to run eight hundred metres in gym class. Someone stepped on my shoe from behind, and I took a huge tumble. There should have been about three or four classes right then that were having gym out on that sports field, and they all saw. At the time, I felt so humiliated. How could I have such awful luck? So terrible, practically like the sky had fallen. But now that I think about it, it was just a fall, right?" She stood and was about to go find the on-duty nurse.

"You must have felt something like that before when you were a kid, like the sky was falling on you. Eunbi, five years from now, when you look back, it'll also just simply be like you took a fall. Pull yourself back up, change into some clean clothes, and treat it like nothing ever happened. Family and background, natural talent — there's so many things that you're just born with. Just like anyone can be envious that someone won the World Championships, but it's only just envying for a bit."

That night when she went back, Lisa started to show signs that she had caught a cold. By Monday, it had completely turned into a bad case of the cold.

There were not many people at the on-campus medical clinic during noontime. After she was prescribed some cold medicine and was walking back down from the second floor, someone unexpectedly tapped her on her shoulder. Turning, she discovered it was that Lucas, um... Class Rep Lucas. He was standing beside another boy. When Lisa turned around, that boy's eyes immediately flickered away, and he beamed, "I'll go out and wait for you." After saying this, he gave a wicked grin and darted away.

Lucas unconsciously pushed up his glasses. "You're sick? Is it serious?"

Lisa smiled, "It's just a cold."

"That night's Anniversary Gala, I watched the live broadcast inside my dorm room." Class Rep Lucas seemed to be searching for the right words, and he paused briefly before saying, "You did such a good job emceeing."

"Thanks."

If it were any other time, she would have said a few more casual words to help pass through the moment. However, the whole previous night, her nose had been stuffed up so she had not slept well, and now, she simply did not have any energy to talk.

Fortunately, this boy was quite shy, and he walked down the stairs with her in silence. At last, when they were standing by the doors of the university medical clinic, he finally hesitantly asked her, "You really don't look so good. How about I take you back to your dorm?"

He spoke this in a very polite manner, with a slight sense of probing in his voice.

"No, it's alright. I still have to wait here for my classmates."

Putting on a look as if she was waiting for someone, Lisa watched as Lucas and his classmate left, and then she breathed out in relief. She felt in her pocket, pulled out a pile of neatly folded toilet paper, and began to wipe her nose ...

All of a sudden, she received a text message.

She reckoned that it was likely from Chaeyoung. Those three girls had left the dorm at the same time as her, and they should have been in Jungkook's office just now receiving their chastisement. She had not expected that, when she pulled out her phone, it was actually a text message from Jungkook: You're sick? Is it serious? JK