sick - im jaebum

two

subin was playing cards with mark. she knew that he didn't need or even particularly want her company, but he didn't shake his head or hint that he wanted her to go away.

"we have a new patient," the head doctor said, suddenly appearing in the doorway. "his name is im jaebum. subin, you'll be showing him around today and helping him since you've been here the longest. he'll also be staying in your dorm room."

standing behind the woman in a white lab coat was a boy. a very attractive boy with sharp cheekbones and piercing eyes. subin barely heard the doctor explain. mark tried but to nudge subin under the table, but she didn't feel it enough to process it was him. so he cleared his throat and gave the girl a teasing look. she ignored him.

"follow me," subin said. jaebum begrudgingly followed her.

he judged the whiteness of everything. what was the point? and how did everything stay so clean? it made no sense.

"you don't seem nuts," he commented to the girl walking in front of him.

subin's nerves didn't work properly, but even she could feel jaebum's eyes scanning her from behind.

"thanks," she said dully, rolling her eyes.

"so what are you in here for?"

she gave jaebum a glare over her shoulder. "this isn't a prison, first of all. don't make it sound like one. and second, i have cipa."

"i have no clue what that means," he said.

subin sighed, "it means i can't feel pain. there's something wrong with my nerves and i can't feel anything at all, really."

"yah!" jaebum said, walking fast so that he was walking beside her. "that's so cool! so i could punch you in the face and you wouldn't feel anything?"

"yes. but please don't test that. and it's not cool."

"sure it is. you could totally be like a boxer or some sort of fighter. you'd never feel pain so you could keep going."

subin stopped in her tracks and glared at the new guy. he was already getting on her nerves, and that was really hard to do. she could deal with jackson easily, with jinyoung reorganizing everything, with mark never saying anything, with bambam never eating, with youngjae calling her a fucking cunt all the time. but this guy was something else.

"no, it's not. i have an alarm set on my phone so i know when to pee. i have a piece of tape on my shower so i know the right temperature to set it at so i don't give myself second degree burns again. i broke my ankle when i was eight, but it didn't hurt so i kept walking on it and almost needed to get it amputated. this disorder is not fucking cool. it isn't some cool party trick that i can whip out, if i even got to go to parties. i can't take care of myself because i don't know what's harmful to me."

she was getting close to him. he felt her body heat. he felt itchy, like he had bugs crawling over him.

"grey. eternal sunshine. michael jackson," he closed his eyes and repeated the five words.

"what?" subin asked. "what are you doing?"

jaebum took a deep breathe when the girl stepped away from him.

"i have a textile disorder. i'm hyper sensitive to everything."