Princess | Kim Jiwoong

Chapter 13 : Care

The sunlight felt unusually irritating today to the sleeping girl, as she had opened up her heavy slightly.

Almost immediately the sleepy eyes squeezed themselves shut again. Hana tried to roll over to the other side, but her attempt failed as soon as she moved her hand. Still dazed, she opened her eyes slowly to find the source of the pain.

Her blurry gaze found a IV tube inserted into the veins of her left hand.

" What happened? " She mumbled under her breath.
Following the tubes, she found a bag of IV Fluid attached to her bed.

" Are you up? "

Just now,  the presence of the male sitting on the bedside was made known to her. He was closely examining a thermometer in his hand.

" 99 Celcious, The fever is gone." Jiwoong said as he flipped the thermometer the other way to show Hana.

" I had a fever?- Ah" Before she could finish her words, she whinced from the sudden stinging pain on the sides of her head.

" Would you like to eat? Oh no! You should skip more meals. How about I bring a couple more bottles of wine instead? " He furrowed his eyebrows and scoffed in a sarcastic tone.

Chewing on her lower lip, Hana turned her head the other way, unable to reply anything back.

" Malnutrition, Dehydration, Iron defficiancy." He listed the doctor's words one by one.

" Maybe try to take care of yourself just a little bit more. There are people who care for you, you know." He said as he brought his palms in view to the girl whose head was turned away from him.

Lips pursed into a small pout, she glanced at his palm from her peripheral vision. He was holding 3 medicine tablets in one hand and a glass of water on the other.

She sat up. However, her eyes were locked on an empty space of air ahead. The heavy eyelids threatening to fall down any moment.

" Do I need to feed you these too? " Jiwoong came in front of her. His voice jolted her back to consciousness.

" HuH? What do you mean by too-"

    He leaned forward and placed his lips on hers. Although his desire was to savour the moment, he parted his lips, and pushed in the pill inside her mouth.

Too shocked to even think about anything, she could only gulp down the lump of medicine down her throat.

" I meant like this." He said while he casually passed her the glass in his hand.

With no reaction, Hana took the glass from him and gulped down very slowly,  her brain still processing the incident.

" So,You..... kissed me while i was sleeping? "

" I would say it's more like saving a life" He paused and raised his eyebrows slightly.

A smuggish smirk formed on his face before he continued,

" by feeding medicine to a sick patient who kept spitting out the pill again and again "

" Yeah, seems reasonable." Feeling embarassed, Hana tried to shrug off the conversation.

" Aren't you supposed to be busy right now? I'll be just fine, you can go on and do your thing "
  She was facing him but her pupils wondered around at everything except for him.

"Why? Don't like your 'sexy husband' taking care of you?" He spoke as he tried his best to contain laughter from bursting out.

" Oh! Aren't u Jiwooooong? My seeeeexyyy and handsome husband?" 
    Hana's own words from last night flashed up, making her cringe to the back of her bones.

"Oh, so you remember ?"  Jiwoong said  noticing her widened eyeballs and embarrassed expression.

" Fuck you, Zhang Hana" She muttered under her breath as she ran her hand through her tangled and freezy morning hair in an attempt to hide her face.

" I think i'm sleepy. Ah-  ah- My head hurts." Holding the temples of her forehead, she uttered, trying to escape this utterly awkward situation.

" Okay. Okay. I'll leave."  Jiwoong got up.

  Peeking his head through the half closed door he said,

"Make sure to eat well and oh- you need to be on bedrest for the whole week, Don't you dare go around working. I'll keep a close eye." 
   He flashed a large grin before finally closing the door.

...

" He genuinely cares about me."
Hana pondered as she stared at the ring on her finger.

" He comes running to you when he heard you are sick, he stayed next to you all night taking care of you."
    The way Jiwoong's eyes softens when they meet hers,  the way his gaze is only focused on her, the way the corner of his lips jolts up ever so slightly when he looks at her,

she notices it all, every little small details. And that's why it hurts more.

" I didn't even have to pretend to be anything. He is growing a soft spot for Zhang Hana, for just the way she is"

" That's a good thing right? This is what was planned to happen from the very beginning. But....why do i feel so miserable?"

" Yes. This is it. I am just feeling guilty because i know i will have to keep betarying his trust. It doesn't necessarily mean I'm in love."
  She reassured herself once again.

" But.... what if I never had to be Hao's puppet?  Would i have tried? Would I have returned his love sincerely by now?"

Hana fixated her gaze at the ceiling above, taking her sweet time to reorganise all the hectic thoughts and desires.

...

According to the doctor's advice, Jiwoong made strict guidlines for Hana to fix her eating unhealthy eating habits and sleep schedules. Specifically tasking Yoojung with keeping a eye on her meals and bedtime.

On the other hand, Hana spent her time reading medical books. A very odd hobby indeed.

Just like that, A week had passed by.

Today marks the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calender.

秋夕 : 추석 ( chuseok ), The three-day mid-autumn harvest festival, was starting from today.

Hana tried on the Hanbok sent by the queen.

She examined the soft flow of lines and angles that can be seen on the outfit's as the clean-cut angles of the dongjeong.

delicate flow of soft lines and angles.  the the clean cut angles on the  curved the bottom line of the sleeves, with the sharp angles of the creased white lining of the top collar.

" They illustrate the softness and elegance of traditional Korean aesthetics. "

She still remembers the Peony patterned Hanbok from that day and her mother's words as she was teaching her about traditions and customs.

The mid-autumn festival or Moon festival falls on the same day as chuseok. Thus she almost never got to be exposed to the celebration traditions of the other half of her origin.

" Ma! Can we light lanterns wearing matching Hanboks this time?"

She had asked her mother and she had said "Yes, of course" in return.

But that day never came.

...