Sleeping Beauty Syndrome

11

"Wooyoung, I'm getting the vaccination, but not for a few days. Please let them give you the injection." I begged him, but he shook his head resolutely. The doctor tapped her fingers impatiently on the table as one of her assistants cleared her throat.

"We still have batch P. We could give her a dose of that," he suggested.

My father had been a doctor, my mother his assistant. Batch P was another term for placebo. An ineffective medication. I knew that immediately and nodded straight away, as it was important to me that Wooyoung didn't lose the chance of the vaccination because of me.

Sighing, the doctor drew up a syringe and injected it into my upper arm. Then she disinfected the injection site and stuck a plaster on it while Wooyoung was vaccinated by her assistant. I smiled at him with satisfaction. He was saved, that was all that mattered to me.

When the vaccination team was done, I walked them to the door and Dr. Park looked at me urgently.

"You know that..." she began, but I interrupted her.

"Saline?"

She nodded, but I waved her off.

"The end justifies the means... It was about his life." I said with a smile and she looked at me with a respectful expression.

"Hang in there, I'll be back next week." she tried to cheer me up.

"I'll try." I said goodbye and closed the door behind her.

When I turned around, he was standing there with tears streaming down his cheek.

"You were eavesdropping?" I addressed the obvious.

"And you knew it wasn't a vaccination?" he countered sadly.

"I'd do it again... Woo."

He pulled me into his arms and kissed my forehead.

"You know... I think I need to talk to you sometime, alone and in peace... I thought I still had time, but now..." he mumbled into my hair.

But before I could ask him what he wanted to talk to me about, the door to Jongho's room opened and Yunho called for us.

We reluctantly released each other from the embrace before hurrying to Jongho's bed.

Surprisingly, he wasn't lying in it, he was sitting up. Juhee was stuffing a pillow behind his back to make him more comfortable and he smiled weakly.

"His fever is down to 38.3. I didn't think the antibodies would work so quickly," said Hongjoong, who was sitting at the foot of Jongho's bed.

"Are you hungry?" I asked him, relieved that he was out of the woods. I had never been as scared as I had been in the last 24 hours.

"Yes Noona, can I have some soup? The one you always make for me when I'm sick?" he asked hopefully and I smiled at him happily.

"Of course, I'll make you one right away," I promised before going into the kitchen.

Wooyoung stayed with him, our conversation had to wait.

After a short time, Seonghwa joined me in the kitchen, who at first helped me cut the vegetables without saying a word, but kept giving me glances.

"What?" I asked, irritated, and he sighed before speaking up.

"The vaccination wasn't real, was it?" He looked at me worriedly and I nodded. I've never been able to hide anything from him, so I didn't even try.

"No, it was a placebo to get Wooyoung to finally get vaccinated." I admitted and he looked at me unhappily.

"I could just tell by looking at you... just please don't get me sick. Without you... I don't even want to imagine it. We would be lost. I'd be lost..." he almost whispered the last sentence as he put the knife away and then hugged me from behind.

"I don't want to interrupt you... But Jongho is hungry. Stop flirting and get back to cooking." Juhee teased with a grin as she came into the kitchen to make Jongho some tea.

"We're not flirting at all..." I defended myself, but Seonghwa raised an eyebrow.

"Aren't we? Then I'll have to try harder," he said with a grin and I just shook my head with a smile.

Juhee's cheeks were red with excitement that Jongho was feeling better. I was happy to see her in a good mood again, but something was bothering me. When I remembered what it was, the wooden spoon fell out of my hand and I put my hand over my mouth in horror.

Seonghwa looked confused as I rushed past him, picked up the ear thermometer and held it to Juhee's ear. It beeped and the result made my blood run cold.

"No, please don't..." I sobbed. There were the numbers that broke my heart and almost sounded like a death sentence for my best friend... 38,6.