INFINITE TIES || WINRINA

CHAPTER 5

JIMIN's POV.

A low, guttural groan escaped my lips, evidence for the invisible weight that seemed to bear down on me. My eyelids had the tendency of behaving as if they were being hijacked by some unknown entity, just for the simple deed of light.

Chills that seemed to permeate the atmosphere crawled right through to the bone, clenching them very tightly in an icy embrace.

This tapping on my cheek was light and rhythmical, a knock of reality through the misty veil in my brain, which jerked me out of my stupor.

I couldn't coincide with it, since my body seemed trapped in a suit of lead, with every act reminding me of moving a mountain.

"Hey, you need to drink your medicine," Minjeong's voice pierced through, a kind of lighthouse keeping me on the shores of reality.

Medicine? The word echoed in my head like a jigsaw piece refusing to fit in with what I currently knew.

It was a titanic struggle to open my eyes, almost moving mountains. Minjeong's face swam into view. Her face had a worried expression. She was dressed in her school uniform-all crisp and dry-with her hair wet, droplets clinging on the strands like dew on leaves. She must have been getting ready for school.

"You have a fever; eat this," she purred, the velvet purr of her voice against the harsh, very real setting of my condition.

She helped me into a sitting position, and her hand felt cool on my forehead, flushed from the fever.

"You're burning," she went on to say, her voice tinged with a cause for worry that tugged at my heartstrings.

"I'm fine," I managed to whisper, my voice convincing as a mirage in a desert.

Her eyebrows drew together in silent rebuke for my weak protest. "No. You're not."

A weak gurgle of laughter rose from my throat, my still-feeble attempt to lighten the mood.

"C'mon, I cooked a rice-foridge soup." She moved a spoon toward my lips-a piece of fodder perched on its edge.

I opened my mouth and let it be filled. Warm, familiar soup spread down through me.

She continued to feed me in silence with only the occasional clink of the spoon against the bowl breaking the silence in the room. Every now and then, she would break the silence to ask if I was feeling okay.

"Can you ask my friends to excuse me from our class?" I asked after I had swallowed the last spoonful of soup and the medicine that followed.

She nodded, her eyes soft with understanding. "Sure. Don't worry about it."

With that, she stood up and left the room, the empty tray in her hands a testament to the care that she had given me. After she left, I lay back down, closing my eyes and giving in to the drowsiness brought on by the medicine.

"Can you walk?" she asked when she returned, her voice tinged with worry.

I chuckled limply and nodded. "I can handle myself; you don't need to worry about me."

"But you were burning hot earlier this morning," she protested, her voice full of concern.

She sat beside me, the pads of her fingers drawing little patterns on my hand. She pondered at her watch, the silent indication of a world outside that kept spinning beyond our little bubble.

"I gotta go," she said, rising to her feet. "Take care, okay?" She hummed at my weak nod. "Message me if there's an emergency, okay? Got a free later before lunch. I'll come by to see you," she promised.