On the way home, Seohui unnie thoughtfully saw me all the way to my front door.
“Tomorrow I only have my bar shift at night, so let’s meet in the morning and go look at clothes together. What do you think?”
At unnie’s suggestion, I forced a bright smile and nodded.
After exchanging a brief goodbye, I parted ways with her and went up to my place.
But the moment I closed the front door, the taut string of tension inside me snapped.
“Ugh…”
A chill far worse than before swept through my body.
My breathing grew ragged, and my head spun as if it might split open.
The face reflected in the mirror was flushed red—anyone could see I looked like a patient.
I was supposed to meet unnie first thing tomorrow morning, but at this rate, never mind keeping the appointment, I doubted I could even get out of bed.
Barely managing to throw off only my outerwear, I crawled under the covers before evening had even come.
“Haa…”
I pulled the thick blanket all the way up, but the trembling that started deep inside my body would not stop.
‘If I sleep and wake up, I’ll be fine…’
My consciousness gradually blurred, and just like that, I sank into sleep like a deep swamp.
“…”
The air in the dream was unbearably heavy and damp.
“Han Yeonseo!”
The familiar high school, and the voice that came from the end of its hallway, dragged out fragments of memories I had wanted to forget.
“Taeyun? I thought you weren’t coming to school today?”
My ex-boyfriend, Kim Taeyun, walked toward me.
“I came because I wanted to see you. And I didn’t want to break the plans we had today, either.”
“Really? Then let’s go to a café after school.”
Taeyun seemed to hesitate for a moment, then uttered a line that was all too familiar.
An excuse that he had mixed up the date he got his allowance, followed by a demand that came as if it were only natural.
The moment I hesitated, his expression turned sharply cold, and the gaslighting began.
“People can make mistakes. Why are you being like this? Do you not like me? Was money more important to you than going out with me?”
At those words, my heart dropped.
The fear that I might be abandoned, and the foolish belief that the relationship would last if only I endured it, weighed down on me.
“…No. I’ll pay, so please don’t make that mistake next time.”
“Yeah, you’re really the best.”
Taeyun’s face looked satisfied as he gripped my hand tightly.
But his hand was not warm.
On the contrary, it was cold as ice, as though it were stealing all the warmth from me.
The moment that alien sensation made goosebumps rise on my skin, my eyes flew open.
“Hah…!”
My body, awakened in reality, was drenched in cold sweat.
Though my eyes were open, the whole world looked hazy and blurred.
My T-shirt, soaked with sweat, clung unpleasantly to my back, and my body trembled faintly, as though the chill from the dream had yet to fade.
“Haa… ha…”
Even the breath leaking between my lips was hot.
Every time I swallowed dryly, the inside of my throat spat out a sharp pain.
Inside my head, a dull headache throbbed as if someone were hammering in a spike.
I did not even have the strength to move a single finger.
‘Unnie… I have to contact her…’
The phone I needed to reach out for looked as though it were sitting at the edge of some distant cliff.
***
I arrived near the studio apartment where Yeonseo lived right on time for our appointment.
The excited conversation we had shared yesterday while promising to go look at clothes together was still vivid in my ears.
I loitered around the street, happily wondering things like, ‘What kind of style does Yeonseo like?’ and ‘How pretty would she look in clothes I picked out for her?’
But even after the appointed time passed, Yeonseo did not appear.
[Seohui: Yeonseo, are you sleeping?]
The number 1 beside the message I sent carefully, in case I might wake her, showed no sign of disappearing even after five minutes, then ten.
If she were even one minute late, she would normally come running over in a panic, apologizing again and again. The fact that there was no word from her at all was a sign that something was wrong.
Without delaying any longer, I ran to Yeonseo’s door and knocked.
“Yeonseo? Are you inside? It’s me, Seohui.”
Only a heavy silence flowed from beyond the door.
My heart pounded as though it might leap out of my mouth.
With trembling hands, I entered the passcode and stepped inside.
“Yeonseo, excuse me…”
The room was dim. In the small room with the curtains drawn, damp, hot air had pooled.
I kicked off my shoes haphazardly and approached the bed. There, I saw Yeonseo under the covers, breathing harshly.
“…Yeonseo?”
Carefully, I placed my hand on Yeonseo’s forehead where it peeked out from beneath the blanket.
At the burning heat that traveled into my palm, I unconsciously drew in a breath.
“My goodness, Yeonseo. You have a fever…!”
Was it because she had waited for me until dawn two days ago?
And yesterday, had she been forcing herself to endure this pain just to spend time with me?
Seeing Yeonseo’s face flushed red, guilt and worry surged over me all at once, making a corner of my chest ache sharply.
I hurriedly set down my bag and knelt beside Yeonseo.
“Unnie…?”
Just then, Yeonseo called me in an extremely faint voice.
The sight of her struggling to narrow her eyes and look up at me was so pitiful it hurt.
“Yes, Yeonseo. I’m here.”
“…I should have told you, but I just couldn’t get up… I’m sorry. You must have been looking forward to our plans today…”
The kindness with which Yeonseo worried about my feelings first, even in this state, only pierced my heart more painfully.
I gently touched Yeonseo’s hot forehead and shook my head.
“You got sick because you overdid it for my sake. You getting better is much more important than our plans.”
I urgently looked around. First, I needed to bring her fever down.
“Do you have any medicine? A fever reducer or anything.”
“…No.”
At my question, Yeonseo slowly shook her head.
I quickly tried to get up to go buy medicine.
But at that moment, Yeonseo’s hand urgently caught the hem of my clothes.
“Ah… I’m sorry.”
She hurriedly tried to let go, but from the fingertips trembling faintly, I read what Yeonseo was feeling.
Right now, this child did not want me to leave her side. She wanted someone to stay with her.
“It’s okay. When you’re sick, it’s only natural to want to lean on someone.”
I bent down beside the bed again and warmly wrapped Yeonseo’s hand in mine. I did not want to leave her to suffer alone.
“Should I ask Gaeul for the medicine? To buy it for us.”
At my suggestion, Yeonseo seemed reassured and gave a very small nod as she answered.
“Yes…”
---
“I bought the medicine!”
Ten minutes after I left the message, Gaeul hurried into the studio apartment holding a pharmacy bag.
Gaeul caught her breath as she took the medicine out of the bag, and I whispered softly, feeling apologetic.
“I’m sorry. I was going to go myself, but… Yeonseo grabbed me and told me not to leave.”
“It’s all right, unnie. My friend is sick, so of course I should help.”
Gaeul smiled bravely and handed over the medicine. I went straight to the kitchen, took out a cup, and poured lukewarm water.
Returning to the bed, I carefully supported Yeonseo and helped her sit up.
“Yeonseo, take this and get some sleep.”
Yeonseo struggled to swallow the pills I gave her.
Her throat must have been badly swollen, because even the act of swallowing looked painful. But after she finished taking the medicine, Yeonseo looked up at us with a faint smile.
“Thank you so much… Seohui unnie, and you too, Gaeul.”
“Don’t mention it. Just hurry up and get better, Han Yeonseo.”
Gaeul replied, pretending to be indifferent, and picked up her bag.
As if she had used up all her strength, Yeonseo buried herself deep under the covers again.
I patted Yeonseo gently, telling her to sleep well, and never once let go of the small, hot hand I had been holding since earlier.
“Unnie, I’ll get going now. Please take good care of Yeonseo!”
“Thank you so much for helping today.”
Gaeul said goodbye to me and left the studio apartment.
With the sound of the front door closing, a quiet stillness returned to the room.
Only Yeonseo’s rough breathing could be heard.
I pulled a chair beside the bed and sat down, quietly watching Yeonseo’s sleeping face.
“Mmm…”
When I carefully brushed aside the bangs damp with sweat, Yeonseo rubbed her cheek against the back of my hand in her sleep.
‘…I shouldn’t be thinking this about someone who’s sick, but she’s so cute…!’
Struggling to silence the sound of my pounding heart, I gently let go of Yeonseo’s hand once she had fallen completely asleep.
I carefully rose from my seat and slowly looked around the studio apartment where traces of Yeonseo’s life remained.
The first thing that caught my eye was a framed photo on one side of the desk.
A photo of Yeonseo and her ex-boyfriend together.
‘So this is the person named Kim Taeyun…’
I quietly stared at him in the picture.
The person who had hurt Yeonseo.
With a bitter smile, I set the frame back where it had been.
I wanted to look around a little more, but it felt as if I were secretly rummaging through the space of someone who was asleep, so I decided to stop.
My role right now was to stay by Yeonseo’s side so she could recover quickly.
I returned to the bedside and leaned deeply back in the chair.
“I’ll have to think about taking time off from work, too…”
After whispering softly, I decided to close my eyes for a little while until Yeonseo woke again.