Aaaah choo! Yuki’s enormous sneezing sound caught Shika’s attention. He frowned and looked at her from the desk for a couple of minutes until Yuki thought he would say something, and he left the room. Yuki looked at the way he left confusingly. Did he leave the room because he didn’t want to get a cold?
Just about Yuki starting to overthink, Shika was back, and there was a cup with steam in his hand. Hmm, it wasn’t coffee, tea, or hot cocoa. Yuki didn’t smell anything like that, so she was so curious about what Shika brought in. She checked the content inside the cup as soon as Shika dropped the cup on the cabinet and left again. It was hot water. Why? Shika never had hot water. He had iced coke cola, iced Vodka, and even ice cream when it was snowing outside. She never saw him have hot water before. Oh, except the hot soup.
Yuki stared at Shika as he walked in again. This time, there was a blanket which they used only in winter in one of his hands, and the other hand was a fist. Yuki recalled the perfect day they hid in the blanket during a severely snowy day. They stayed indoors, either reading or playing around. That was the day that would stay in her memory forever. However, why did Shika bring the blanket here? Could it be… Shika wanted to make the bruises not obvious, so he would cover her with the blanket before she get punched…?
No way. Never. Impossible. Yuki cast the thought as soon as it popped up in her mind. She saw him punch someone when he was furious once, but he never did that to her. On the contrary, after noticing she saw the scene, he kept a distance from her as if he would frighten her off. And he kept promising her that he would never hurt her. Indeed, he never shouted at her even when he was mad, not to mention the physical violence. In fact, sometimes, Yuki would think that Shika was spoiling her like a kid.
But if it was not so, why did he bring the blanket? At this moment, there was a fan blowing at her, and the cold air out from the ac was set at 78.8°F, the most comfortable temperature.
When she was extremely confused, Shika squatted down in front of her, and right before Yuki could interact, he covered her with it as if he was putting the nori on an onigiri, just the “nori” was a lot thicker.
“Ehhhh?” Yuki protested with her high-pitched voice, but Shika still put the cup into her hand.
“Drink it.” Shika’s face made his demand irresistible.
Even though Yuki wanted to put the hot water away, she was afraid that it would spill on Shika; besides, according to Shika’s facial expression, she knew she would in trouble if she didn’t fulfill his demand. She slowly put the cup on her lips, slowly blew it, and slowly took a sip. Out of Yuki’s expectation, other than how impatient Shika is all the time, he let her drink the water as slowly as she could.
When the cup was left half full, and she was about to complain about it, Shika put the things in his fist as soon as she opened her mouth. Two pills. As if he foresaw what would happen, he covered her mouth with his hand until she swallowed the pills.
“Why the pills? I AM NOT SICK.” Yuki protested emotionally right after her mouth was set free.
If you haven’t seen a storm cloud this year, then you could see it on Shika’s face now. There was a storm forming on his face, but he didn’t show it in his words and actions. He pulled the blanket closer, and said, “Didn't you have a cold shower yesterday again?”
Suddenly, Yuki had nothing to say. She couldn’t even come up with anything to talk back. She could only cowardly say, “But, but it is summer now. Why can’t I take a cold shower…?”
“Don’t you have a cold now?” Shika replied coldly. Didn’t she even know that she was sick?
When Yuki was brainstorming hard to say something against his words, the fan started spinning, and the temperature of ac was raised. But it wasn’t done yet.
“Starting tomorrow, I will take a shower with you.” What Shika just said was like throwing a bomb at Yuki. She blushed immediately. If Shika didn’t know that she didn’t have a fever now, he would definitely put a thermometer into her mouth.
“W-why?” Yuki stuttered.
“Who knows if you will take a cold shower again?” He took the empty cup away and walked to the door when she was thinking about how to stop him, he added, “Go to sleep earlier.”
Now, Yuki didn’t know if she should be happy because Shika showed his care, or if she should be down because Shika told her to sleep. And later at night, Shika stayed up all night just to take care of Yuki because of her fever.
The end. 2022.08.02
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