Healing Sunshine

Chapter 16.2 - Life's Tender Dependence

She felt her entire body grow hot once more. She did not even know how her temperature had been taken, or how she had finished her breakfast and taken her medication.

When Jungkook went to the kitchen to wash the dishes, she lay on her side with her head on the pillow that his head had lain on, her eyes closed. She could still vividly recall the sensation from earlier on when their lips and tongues had met. The medication he gave her had a sedating component to it. Her heart felt as if it was being seared, but she could not distinguish whether it was a result of retrospective bashfulness and embarrassment or because of her high fever that would not break. In this state, she slowly slipped into a deep slumber.

That night, her fever subsided.

The following morning, she finally was granted Jungkook's permission to take a hot shower.

Since last night, she had not been able to stand the odor on her body after the fever broke. There was a strong scent of sweat that truly was not pleasant to smell. After she had thoroughly cleansed and rinsed herself, she put on her clothing that she had temporarily stored in his wardrobe, a light pink tracksuit. Then, wearing her slippers, she walked to the other room.

Jungkook was lying on the couch inside, resting with his eyes closed. He heard the sounds of her stepping into the room, but he was so drained he could not even be bothered to lift his eyelids. In a voice that required the least energy, a mild one that contained no rises and falls in intonation, he quietly told her that the breakfast that had already been prepared yesterday was in the kitchen and she could heat it up in the microwave before eating it.

"Even if you have no appetite, still eat some." This is what he had said.

Jungkook had already showered around three or four in the morning, during that time when he had been feeling exhausted. He wore a black, long-sleeved t-shirt from his university days, its sleeves rolled up slightly. He had set his left arm on the armrest of the couch and pillowed his head on that arm, but he seemed to feel that this position was not very comfortable and wanted to turn over to switch arms and continue sleeping for a little longer.

In the space of his breaths, the warmth that was characteristic of a young girl, intermixed with the scent of the bodywash that he was most familiar with, could already be felt.

"Are you really tired?" Slowly crouching down beside the couch, Lalisa quietly asked him this.

Jungkook's eyelashes fluttered, but still feeling very fatigued, he did not open his eyes.

Lalisa's lips were pursed together. She was smiling.

Not everyone could have this type of experience: During the height of a potentially fatal infectious disease, her symptoms coincidentally had been identical to those of the disease. The hopelessness in that moment had been engulfing. And then, what followed was similar to receiving a true, correct diagnosis report after being given an earlier incorrect diagnosis. Right now, she felt that everything she laid eyes on was beautiful. She even felt that being able to crouch here and simply watch him was the greatest blessing in the world.

"Yes." He somewhat teasingly answered her, "You exhausted me."

"I shouldn't be that much work and exhausting on people when I'm fevering, right?" Lalisa felt a little guilty, but still she argued, "Apart from taking the medicine, all I did was sleep..."

Jungkook was genuinely tired. His muscles were all sore and aching and had no strength.
The two nights and one day of psychological stress had been even more exhausting than when he had gone for three days and three nights without sleep in a war zone. At that time, what had pushed him through was his professionalism and drive to follow at any time the current political situation. However, this time, rather than saying that what carried him through was love, it would actually be more accurate to say that it was fear.