The next morning at 6 AM.

Ding dong!

Yi Soo walked unsteadily to the entrance at the sound of the doorbell, which didn’t match the early hour.

She had just received a phone call, so there was no need to check who it was.

As if to prove his words from last night about seeing her tomorrow, Ji Ho had rushed over at the crack of dawn.

As soon as the front door opened, Ji Ho strode in along with the fresh morning air.

Still in her pajamas and not fully awake, Yi Soo smiled with her sleepy eyes half-closed.

“You really came at the crack of dawn.”

“I wanted to come even earlier, but I waited a bit.”

“You’re unstoppable. Really.”

Ji Ho embraced Yi Soo with both arms and firmly kissed her forehead.

After about 1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds, Ji Ho pulled his lips away.

“Yi Soo, I think you have a fever on your forehead?”

As soon as his lips left, Ji Ho’s large hand covered her forehead.

His hand, which she had always felt was warm, felt cool today.

“Is that so?”

“Do you have a thermometer at home? Let’s check your temperature.”

Ji Ho’s bright expression quickly fell.

Yi Soo took out the thermometer from the first aid kit.

It was 38 degrees Celsius.

She hadn’t noticed while sleeping, but now that she knew she had a fever, her throat felt a bit sore and her head felt heavy.

“You really have a fever. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, for now. I thought I was just tired and sluggish, but I guess I’m coming down with something. I’ll be fine after taking some medicine.”

Yi Soo took out fever reducers and cold medicine and walked to the dining room.

She took the medicine with lukewarm water, a mix of hot and cold water.

“Do you have any plans today?”

Ji Ho followed and asked worriedly.

“No.”

“Then you should rest at home. If you get worse, go to the hospital.”

“Yeah. That would be good.”

It seemed the lack of sleep and poor eating habits from overworking for several days had finally caught up with her.

Fortunately, it was during vacation so she could rest at home all day.

“I think I woke you up, but you’ve taken medicine now, so sleep more. You’ll feel much better after a good rest.”

“What will you do if I sleep?”

Though she wasn’t feeling well, Yi Soo felt bad about Ji Ho rushing over first thing in the morning just to see her face.

It was because his disappointed voice from last night’s phone call was still lingering in her mind.

“You sleep, and I’ll watch you sleep.”

“What?”

Yi Soo’s feelings of guilt towards Ji Ho were momentary. She covered her face with both hands, laughing in disbelief, then looked up again.

“Are you really going to do that? You’re not going back home?”

“You’re sick, so I should stay by your side. How could I leave when you’re ill?”

Ji Ho took Yi Soo’s hand and walked towards the bedroom.

“Where are we going?”

“To put you to bed. You look like you’re about to fall asleep standing up.”

“You really want me to sleep?”

“Really.”

Ji Ho pushed open the door to Yi Soo’s bedroom.

The bed Yi Soo had just left had messy, disheveled blankets.

“Wow, you really slept with my blanket?”

Ji Ho burst out laughing as soon as he saw the blanket.

He had given her the blanket when she asked for it, but he didn’t know she’d actually sleep with it.

Thinking of Yi Soo falling asleep wrapped in that blanket all night made his chest feel warm and his heart tingle.

At the same time, the disappointment he had felt towards Yi Soo last night vanished in an instant.

“Can you still smell me on it?”

“Yes.”

When she pulled the blanket up to her nose and lay still, Ji Ho’s scent would subtly seep in with each breath.

It wasn’t strong enough to make her heart race, which made it even better.

Even in her sleep, smelling that scent made her feel like Ji Ho was beside her, and it felt like she might dream of him.

“Do you like me that much?”

Ji Ho asked Yi Soo, while he himself was the one overwhelmed with happiness at the current situation.

It was a question with an obvious answer, but he still wanted to hear it.

“Hehe. You already know, so why ask?”

“I don’t know. So answer me.”

“Dummy.”

Yi Soo quickly climbed onto the bed, leaving Ji Ho behind.

After taking the medicine, whether it was psychological or not, she really felt sleepy.

Ji Ho smiled happily even after being called a dummy.

There was clearly something else he had wanted to hear.

“Hey, I said answer me.”

“Didn’t you tell me to sleep? I’m going to sleep.”

Yi Soo slipped under the blanket and closed her eyes with a prim expression.

Ji Ho looked at Yi Soo with an expression that said she was adorably cute.

‘I must be the only one who’d be this happy being called a dummy.’

A truly foolish smile spread across his face.

‘How can you be so deliberately cute?’

Ji Ho briefly squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath, then lay down next to Yi Soo.

“What are you doing? Why are you lying here?”

“I’m going to sleep with you. I woke up early to come here, so I’m sleepy too. I’ll just sleep next to you, so don’t have any inappropriate thoughts.”

Ji Ho laughed as he saw Yi Soo’s ears turn red in an instant despite her drowsiness.

Just looking at her face, he could tell what she had just been thinking.

‘Such a clear and transparent face. It really drives me crazy.’

“Honestly, I’m dying to kiss you right now, but I’ll hold back. I shouldn’t touch someone who’s sick.”

Ji Ho pulled up the blanket to cover them neatly, then held Yi Soo in his arms and gently patted her back as if putting a child to sleep.

“I really will just hold you while we sleep.”

A fragrant shampoo scent wafted up from Yi Soo’s hair that touched under his chin.

Yi Soo spoke in a languid voice.

“I might really fall asleep.”

Yi Soo burrowed into Ji Ho’s chest as if hiding her reddened face.

“Okay. Really. So go to sleep now.”

“I’m really going to sleep.”

Her heart should be racing, but it seems her primal instincts weren’t enough to overcome her drowsiness.

Even though she was in Ji Ho’s arms, sleep washed over her like a lie.

Inhaling Ji Ho’s real scent, incomparable to the smell on the blanket, Yi Soo drifted off to sleep.

**

Several hours later.

Ji Ho stroked Yi Soo’s hair as she slept deeply buried in his arms.

He didn’t think he would fall asleep, but he had dozed off listening to her soft breathing sounds.

He placed his hand on Yi Soo’s forehead, who hadn’t moved at all as if in a deep sleep.

He could still feel a slight fever.

Judging by the sun high in the sky outside the window, it seemed to be around noon.

‘Sleep well.’

Perhaps in her sleep, Yi Soo’s arm was loosely wrapped around Ji Ho’s waist.

At times like this, Yi Soo’s words that she liked him so much felt real.

Pfft.

He laughed as soon as he had that thought, feeling foolish.

Seeing Yi Soo asleep, giving off a fragrant scent of skin, made his whole body heat up and tense.

If she weren’t sick, he would want to kiss and hold her right away.

As time passed, it became increasingly difficult to endure having her soft, tender skin in his arms.

‘Huu… Since when did I become so impatient?’

He let out a self-deprecating sigh.

As Ji Ho was barely enduring the difficult time, Yi Soo, who had been lying still in his arms, stirred.

“Are you awake?”

Yi Soo tilted her flushed face back, perhaps due to the fever, and looked up at Ji Ho.

“Yeah. But Ji Ho, I’m so hungry.”

At those words, his heated body cooled down like a lie and he burst out laughing.

‘Haa. Really…’

“Why?”

Yi Soo blinked, not understanding Ji Ho’s laughter.

She had no idea what the point of humor was.

Ji Ho immediately sat up.

“Okay, let’s eat. You need to eat well when you’re sick.”

“Okay. But what should we eat?”

“Is there anything in the fridge today? Anything we can cook?”

“No.”

It had been several days since she last ate at home.

She had bread or salad for breakfast and ate out for lunch and dinner.

In the meantime, there was no time to stock the fridge.

“So there’s nothing. Is there anything you want to eat?”

“Nothing comes to mind specifically.”

“Alright. Then I’ll go buy something, so you stay in bed.”

Ji Ho pulled back the blanket and got out of bed.

Along with him, the deep scent also moved away.

Yi Soo lay still, looking up at him with slightly regretful eyes.

She couldn’t believe she had just been sleeping in Ji Ho’s arms until a moment ago.

It had been a time filled with only warm and cozy warmth, as she had fallen asleep without even having a chance for any inappropriate thoughts.

She thought it would be nice to indulge in this again if she could always fall asleep like this.

“I’ll enter the passcode and come in, so don’t worry and sleep more.”

Ji Ho gently stroked Yi Soo’s hair as she lay there, kissed her forehead, and turned his back.

“Call me if you think of anything you want to eat.”

“Okay.”

A happy smile slowly spread across Yi Soo’s face as she watched Ji Ho’s retreating back.

‘Being alone when sick is really miserable, but now I have Ji Ho by my side.’

Just the thought made her feel secure and warmth spread through her chest.

She had thought it was good to keep a minimum distance even between lovers, but if it felt this good, maybe there was no need for that.

After lying in bed for a long while, Yi Soo got out of bed.

She couldn’t spend the whole day just lying down because she was sick.

She went into the bathroom and washed with lukewarm water.

After drying her hair and checking her temperature again, it was still not normal but had gone down a bit from before.

She went out to the living room to wait for Ji Ho, when her phone started ringing for a long time.

The caller ID showed Aera.

“Hello?”

[Oh, you answered. Didn’t you see the text I sent this morning?]

Aera’s urgent voice came through.

“Huh? Oh. I just woke up now.”

Her voice cracked at the end, perhaps from lying down.

[What’s going on? You slept in? Are you sick? Your voice sounds off.]

“Oh, I think I’m coming down with something. Why, what’s up?”

[We have the pre-meeting for our medical volunteer work today. I was calling to go together.]

“Ah!”

Aera had clearly told her during exam period, but she had listened halfheartedly and forgotten.

Frowning at the fact that she had completely forgotten, Yi Soo asked.

“What time is it until?”

[2 o’clock, but can you make it? You said you’re sick.]

She looked up at the wall clock and saw it was 1 o’clock.

Only an hour left.

In a normal situation, it would have been plenty of time to get ready and go, but she was hungry from not eating anything and couldn’t just send Ji Ho away after he went out to buy food.

Yi Soo said in an apologetic voice.

“Aera, is this meeting only for today? I really don’t think I can make it today.”

[No. Today is just a preliminary meeting, and we’ll meet once more before we go. We’ll probably finalize role assignments then. If you’re sick, skip today and come next time.]

“Okay. Thanks. I’ll definitely come next time. Oh, and the date we’re going is July 20th, right?”

[Yeah, that’s right.]

“Okay, I’m really sorry I can’t make it today. Have a good meeting.”

After hanging up, Yi Soo drew a big circle on the calendar so she wouldn’t forget and left a memo underneath.

She put the calendar down on the kitchen island and boiled water in the electric kettle.

She thought lemon tea would be good for her scratchy throat, so she planned to drink it while waiting for Ji Ho.

She took out the lemon syrup from the fridge and scooped three heaping spoonfuls into a teacup.

While listening to the water bubbling as it boiled, she opened her phone screen.

She had fallen asleep with the phone on vibrate on the sofa, so she hadn’t noticed it ringing at all while sleeping.

As she swiped the screen with her fingertips to check missed texts and calls, an unexpected name appeared.

‘What’s this about?’ She was frowning and tilting her head when—

Ding dong! Ding dong!

The doorbell rang twice in succession.

‘Ji Ho said he’d let himself in… Did he forget the passcode?’

Thinking it must be Ji Ho, she looked at the intercom.

Yi Soo’s eyes widened as she saw an unexpected person on the screen.