ᴀʙᴅɪᴛᴏʀʏ || baek kyung

Kyung Re-Discovers That He's a Simp for Jia

Kyung Re-Discovers That He's a Simp for Jia

Kyung's fever lasted two days. And boy, were they two very difficult days.

He woke up at odd hours, panicking from the nightmares he didn't talk about. Jia didn't try to coerce him into telling her about them either, not wanting to add to his torment. Delirious from the fever, Kyung would snap at her and say all sorts of things that he regretted less than fifteen minutes later. You're enjoying this. You like watching me suffer. You want me to be in pain so that I depend on you. Are my physical injuries not enough for you?

His words barely affected her. Jia found it really easy to brush them off because she knew he never meant them. Kyung would then break into short, panicked gasps. He'd reach out to her, grasp her forearms, and apologize.

"It's okay," she chuckled, "I'm not hurt by what you said. Honest."

Once he'd pass out, the forced smile would melt off of Jia's face. She had thought the worst was behind them. She had rather foolishly believed that all they had to look forward to was Baek Daesung losing the court case. But, god, she hadn't expected the nightmares and the panic attacks.

The fever is psychogenic, the doctor had said, it's caused by stress. There's not much we can do about it. More meds to alleviate anxiety may cause an OD.

Jia didn't want to overwhelm Kyung by breathing down his neck the whole time. So she went to work, visited her grandfather, wandered around the hospital, and stopped by her apartment a couple of times. She gave Kyung his space, knowing how easy it was for him to snap due to his surroundings.

Not all of it was bad, though.

High on painkillers, Kyung would randomly pull Jia back by the waistband of her jeans. He'd lean into her and whisper things he'd never say out loud. "There's something you need to know," he sniffed, on one such occasion.

"Oh, boy." She sighed, glancing at Dohwa and Namju who sat side by side by the window. The latter was pointing out the errors in the message Dohwa had drafted for his new ladylove.

"I think...you look very nice."

Jia blinked, "Thanks?"

"...with—with just your glasses on."

The boys jerked their heads up. As they stared at their friend, mouths agape, a silent agreement passed between them. The two stood up, Namju shaking his head as his ears turned red, and walked out.

☘☘☘

"Your teeth."

Jia looked up from her textbook, frowning through her glasses, "...what?"

"You've got small teeth." Kyung blinked, woozy from the painkillers again and spacey from the fever, "And a small mouth."

"Okay." She got up and pulled the blankets over his face, "That's enough out of you."

He threw the blankets back off, "And small nails."

"...I can't tell whether those are insults or not."

"I really like all of you."

☘☘☘

Eun Danoh showed up with food again. She seemed to be doing that a lot. Not that Jia minded. The little demon was an impressive cook. Not as good as Jinmichae, but good enough to be secretly praised by her.