VIXX | Ken (Lee Jaehwan)

Unintentional Confession

NB: I know they don't have beds in their dorm (or at least they didn't used to) but let's just pretend they do.

***

He squirmed around in bed, trying to find a comfortable position. The bug that had been going around the group had caught up to him, and Jaehwan was not up to do anything but rest. His members had all but abandoned him to go ahead with rehearsals - with their anticipated comeback coming up, they could not afford to cancel rehearsals at the expense of one person. Ken was just going to have to work hard to catch up when he was feeling better.

He was just about to start rearranging the pillows on his bed when he heard a faint voice calling out his name, presumably from the living room.

“Jaehwan oppa?”

He froze, eyes widening. It was her! ________. What was she doing here?

“In-” His voice came out as a croak. Clearing his throat, he tried again. “I’m in here, _______-ah.”

He listened as her footsteps grew louder, and smiled weakly when she appeared in the doorway.

“Hey oppa,” she greeted, shooting him a sympathetic look. “How are you feeling?”

“I'm...okay." Better now that you're here.

"You look terrible."

"Wow, thank you for that."

"You're welcome." Her warm eyes were filled with mirth and he felt an urge to hold her close, something he'd been feeling a lot lately.

"Why are you here?"

"Why? Don't you want me here? I can leave if you want," she teased, backing away from the doorway with an exaggerated slowness.

"No!" he shouted, or tried to anyway. It came out as more of a whimper. "Stay. Please."

"Don't worry, I won't leave you. Not in this condition." She walked into the room, settling on the side of his bed and feeling his forehead. "Hakyeon oppa called. He said you were really ill and didn't want to leave you all alone while they rehearse, so he asked me to take care of you."

Hyung... N was the only one who knew about Ken's crush on her.

"Thanks for coming." Those three words, uttered softly, sounded more sincere than anything Jaehwan had ever said to her; she felt slightly taken aback.

"Of course." She smiled. "Anything for my favourite babo."

He tried raising an arm to respond with aegyo, but couldn't manage it. "Buing..." he half muttered, quickly falling out of consciousness.

She continued sitting there, watching him sleep, stroking his head from time to time, a soft smile on her face. He looked so peaceful, the serene expression on his face something that you would never see while the energetic monkey was awake.

After a while, she went to get a wet cloth to put on his forehead, fixing his blanket before she left. When she came back, she found the blankets all in a tangle again, an indication that he had been kicking in his sleep.

She set the bowl on the bedside table, kneeling beside it before wringing out the cloth. She was about to place it on his burning forehead when she heard him say something.

"Jaehwan oppa? You awake?"

He muttered something too soft for her to hear.

Guess not.

She leaned over him, carefully placing the fabric on his face. Picking the bowl up, she turned to leave.

"___________..."