Constant and Changing (kryber)

Chapter 56: Lollipop

 Krystal woke up from a midday nap and sat up in her bed feeling a bit nauseous. She yawned and began to stretch, but a sudden pain shot through her right wrist and she clutched it with a wince. She felt the soft bandage covering her arm and was reminded of the reason why she was now in pain.

Yesterday, as Krystal was being driven home from a schedule, her manager had slammed on the breaks to avoid a car accident in front of them. They only bumped the vehicle ahead of their van, but Krystal had braced her arm against the seat in front of her and the force of the minor impact caused a fracture in her wrist.

The injury wasn't bad in Krystal's opinion. Her arm hurt, but the pain wasn't excruciating. And there was no need for surgery, which was always a good sign. SM cleared her schedule today so that she could rest and Krystal had made good use of this opportunity by sleeping in late and then taking an afternoon nap. She hadn't expected to wake up feeling so dizzy though.

"Mommmm!" Krystal called out weakly, terribly in need of babying. "I don't feel well!"

She collapsed back onto her pillows with her eyes squeezed shut in pain, hoping that her mom had heard her. After a few moments there were footsteps outside her door, followed by a gentle knock.

"Come in," Krystal called out feebly, feeling like the room was spinning. She opened her eyes a bit and thought she saw Amber enter her bedroom.

"I must be hallucinating," Krystal thought, gently rubbing her throbbing temples.

"How are you feeling, Princess-nim?" the illusion of Amber asked with a kind smile. The illusion gently placed its hand on Krystal's forehead to feel her temperature, and Krystal jumped in surprise at the touch as she realized that Amber was actually real.

"What the hell?" Krystal mumbled, still wincing from the pain in her head. She was irritable from the dizziness, which was unfortunately manifesting itself as mild annoyance at Amber. "Why are you here? Where's my mom?"

"A warm hello to you, too, Soojung-ah," Amber replied with a grin. "Your mom invited me over. I'm here to nurse you back to health." The older girl pointed to a post-it note on her chest that Krystal hadn't noticed. In Amber's familiar handwriting, the words clearly read "Dr. Llama".

"Ha ha," Krystal dryly laughed. "Can you get my mom? I feel really dizzy right now."

"It's probably because you skipped breakfast and lunch to sleep more," Amber diagnosed, handing Krystal a water bottle and gently propping up the younger girl to drink it. "Take small sips, OK?"

Krystal did as she was told and slowly felt a little better as the cool liquid trickled down her throat.

"Are you hungry? Your mom went to run errands but she left some vegetable porridge for you in the kitchen. I'll bring it to you if you wanna eat now," Amber offered. "She also said I could give you some medicine if your arm was hurting."

"Wait, my mom's not here? Really?" Krystal asked dubiously.

"Do you not trust me to keep you alive until she gets back?" the older girl asked with a look of mock disappointment on her face. "That really hurts."

Krystal shot Amber a playful glare that caused Amber to laugh. It wasn't that Krystal didn't trust Amber to take care of her in her mom's absence. She just found it odd that her mom chose Amber as her replacement.

"Did my mom really ask you to come over here to watch me while she was out?"

Amber nodded and shrugged at the same time. "I thought it was weird too, but I wasn't gonna say no to spending the afternoon with you. I'm guessing she asked Jessica first and Jessica was busy," Amber added, addressing the same thought that had crossed Krystal's mind.