WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ My Platinum-Blonde Childhood Friend Is Too Pretty ◈

Chapter 100: 38. Getting Sick from Doing It with My Girlfriend Every Day -2

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It wasn't like I'd never been sick a day in my life.

But the worst it had ever gotten was a common cold, and even then I'd just coughed for a day or two before bouncing back. I still had a memory of Elli complaining that she couldn't get her bisou while I had that cold in high school.

That kind of minor thing came around maybe once every few years. Full-body aches that left me heavy and sluggish like this, though, I was experiencing for the first time in my life.

Before I was five I'd been a total homebody, but after that I'd been running around everywhere chasing Elli, and from middle school onward I played soccer and basketball with friends often enough that my stamina was nothing to scoff at.

Which was exactly why this was worse than I expected. It felt like a pretty bad case.

A crawling chill prickled across my skin, layered on top of the usual rundown feeling, and my whole body was so heavy and sluggish that the last thing I wanted to do was move.

When I finally managed to crack my eyes open.

"Elli..."

The moment I realized I was alone in the bed, a hollow little loneliness crept up on me and I called her name without even thinking.

My girlfriend, who had drifted off perfectly happy after another enthusiastic night, had once again broken her promise to clean up together afterward.

The room was tidy. From beyond the door came the soft clatter of things being moved around. It sounded like someone cooking in the kitchen.

Is it morning right now... or maybe noon...

My head was foggy. I could have checked my phone for the time, but more than that I just wanted to see Elli.

"Cough..."

I pushed my legs off the edge of the bed and let them hang there limp. The floor was warm, the underfloor heating on for some reason. It felt like someone had paid extra attention to keeping the place warm today.

Damp...

Whether it was the heat or the fever, I'd sweated through my shirt. That was unpleasant. And even with the apartment warm, the chills running through my body hadn't let up at all.

Still better than being cold, I thought, and shuffled out of the room.

My whole body felt loose and heavy. I leaned my shoulder against the wall beside the bedroom door.

From there I could see straight into the kitchen, where Elli stood cooking with an apron tied around her waist and her hair pulled back.

"Elli..."

"Hm?"

I hadn't meant to interrupt her, but my mouth opened on its own. My voice was barely there, but she heard it immediately and turned around.

"You're up? Are you feeling okay?"

She turned off the induction cooktop and came straight to me, reaching up to press her hand against my forehead with worried eyes.

The moment she did, something in me unclenched.

At the same time, whatever weak hold I had on myself just slipped.

I pulled her into a hug.

"Think it's the flu... it hurts... cough..."

It wasn't exactly a side of myself I wanted to show my girlfriend. But the Elli I'd always known had always been steadier than me in every way that mattered. Maybe that was why it came out so naturally, that kind of helpless wanting to be held.

Elli didn't tease me or tell me to get it together. She just accepted the hug gently and patted my back.

"I woke up and you were groaning in your sleep, so I figured you might be coming down with something and turned the heat all the way up..."

"So that's why it was warm."

"Does it hurt a lot? You're sweaty too... this won't do. Let's get you showered first. Shower, change your clothes, then eat the porridge I made, and rest."

"My skin feels prickly... and my body's all sluggish... can't I just change my clothes...?"

"No. I'll wash you myself, so come on."

Her voice was as gentle as ever but there was no give in it. She untied her apron and steered me toward the bathroom.

She left me standing there for a moment while she went to get a change of clothes and other things, murmuring to herself as she went.

"I should've been feeding you tonic food sooner... too late now. From now on I'll keep it up steadily..."

"......"

The chills I already had got a little worse. Not because she thought we should have taken a day off from sex, but because she was disappointed she hadn't started the stamina-building food sooner.

That was very Elli of her, all things considered.

And honestly, thinking about it, there was no version of events where I would have held back with Elli right there beside me.

She had been the one pushing for more, yes, but if I'd genuinely said I was struggling she would have understood. The truth was I'd wanted it just as much as she did, even when I was tired, so some of the blame for this little bout of flu rested squarely on me.

It just meant being more careful going forward. That was all.

We went into the bathroom together, and for the first time since moving here I stepped out of the shower having done absolutely nothing except wash.

The warm water Elli had carefully adjusted rinsed the sweat away cleanly, and for a moment I felt almost human again, before the exhaustion settled right back in.

"Okay, leg."

I let my girlfriend dress me without complaint, then leaned on her and made it to the sofa.

While I sat there in a daze, Elli ladled the porridge into a bowl and brought it over.

"Eat this, take your medicine, and sleep a little more. Resting is supposed to be the best thing for a flu."

With those words she scooped a spoonful of porridge.

"Hff..."

She pursed her lips and blew on the steaming bowl to cool it down, then held it carefully out toward my mouth.

"Ah."

I was grateful, deeply grateful. But right then I had absolutely no appetite.

"...Can't I just skip eating and sleep?"

I wouldn't normally say something like that, and I'd normally eat without making a fuss just out of gratitude. But the words came out anyway, a petty little complaint.

The moment they did, I felt a twinge of regret. She'd gotten up and made this for me from scratch, and here I was being difficult over nothing.

Between the whining and the clinging earlier, I kept heaping things on her. I started to worry Elli might get annoyed.

Maybe because this was almost my first time being properly sick.

I was doing things I'd never normally do, and even though I knew Elli wouldn't actually get upset over something like this, the worry crept in anyway.

And in response to all of that.

"......"

Elli held the spoon perfectly still. The corner of her mouth twitched. She looked like she was fighting back a smile.

Her cheeks had gone faintly pink, and the eyes that had been watching me with worry a moment ago were curved into a clear, happy arc.

With that strange little expression on her face, she held the spoon out toward me again and said.

"Eat just a little, then sleep. You need to eat even without an appetite or you won't get better faster. I looked it up, so trust me. Okay? Say ah. Good girl... er, good boy..."

"Hff..."

She coaxed me with more sweetness and warmth than I could ever remember hearing from her, that faint smile still in her voice but her eyes full of something soft and fond.

That tone of hers, the one that sounded like she was talking to a small child, the one I'd almost never heard from her before, made a quiet laugh slip out of me even through the fog.

A little sheepish, but genuinely moved by how kind she was being.

"Ah..."

So I finally opened my mouth and let her feed me. Still slightly hot, but Elli had blown on it carefully enough that it was manageable.

It was good. Honestly, I could barely taste anything, and yet it was good. It had to be because she'd put her heart into making it.

I slowly finished one bite, and Elli set the spoon down for a moment and stroked my hair.

"Good job. You did well, Lee Do-yoon."

"......"

Getting my head patted and being praised for that much was a little embarrassing. Like she really did think of me as a child. But at the same time my chest went warm and soft and I was, quietly, glad.

She picked up the spoon again and scooped another bite.

Blew on it. Lifted it to my mouth.

"Munch..."

"First time making porridge, by the way. Is it okay?"

"Yeah... it's really good. Really."

"I'm glad. Ah."

"Ah..."

Rather than finding me a bother, she was smiling more prettily than usual as she took care of me.

I sat there staring at her face in a daze, docilely eating what she gave me, and before I knew it the whole bowl was gone.

"All done. Good job. Here's your reward."

-smack!

She praised me again and kissed my forehead, then stood up.

She was heading toward the kitchen, leaving me on the sofa, and I reached out and caught her hand.

"Where are you going...?"

Even sick, having Elli here beside me made everything bearable. I wasn't so far gone that I was actually suffering that badly, but she'd been indulging my clinginess, and without meaning to I'd only gotten clingier.

So I held onto her, and Elli's mouth twitched again at the sight of me. Then she cupped my cheek in her hand and said, gently.

"I'm going to get you water and your medicine. Stay here just a moment."

"...Okay."

She'd be right back. I let her go. I rested my head against the sofa cushion and watched her quietly.

She must have boiled water while she was making the porridge, because she poured some from the electric kettle. Then she stepped into the bedroom for a moment to grab the medicine and came back to my side.

"Here. The water's just lukewarm, should be easy to swallow."

"Thank you."

-gulp

I took the medicine, grateful for how carefully she'd thought of everything. The tiredness came washing in. The medicine hadn't kicked in yet, but with a full stomach on top of an aching body, the drowsiness hit me all at once and I wanted to lie down immediately.

But Elli didn't allow it.

"Let's go brush your teeth. Don't try to sleep right away. Wait a little."

"But..."

"No. Lying down straight after eating isn't good for you. You said you'd do what I told you. Didn't you?"

"...I will."

"That's right. When you're all better I'll give you a much better reward. So come on."

Even sick, not brushing my teeth would have bothered me. So I took her hand and walked to the bathroom.

While I brushed my teeth obediently, Elli slipped off to the bedroom. From the sounds of it, she was changing out the sheets.

A few minutes later I finished up and she led me back into the bedroom. A fresh set of covers waited for me on the bed.

I wanted to dive straight into that impossibly soft-looking nest of blankets, but.

"Not yet."

Elli said not yet, so I waited. We sat side by side for a little while and talked.

"I need to study for exams..."

"Rest until tomorrow. You've been working hard enough. It'll be fine."

"Even so..."

"You look like you've got a bad case. If you push through it and don't recover, you won't be able to sit the exams at all. They start Tuesday, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Rest. You'll listen to me, won't you?"

"Yes..."

We sat with our fingers laced together, my head leaning against her shoulder, talking about nothing in particular.

Ten minutes passed. Or maybe twenty.

Finally, Elli gave me permission to sleep.

"Sleep well. If it gets worse than this, tell me. We'll go to the clinic."

"Okay... thank you..."

Even tucked under the thick blankets, the chills and dizziness hadn't gone anywhere. Still, having showered and eaten, I felt at least a little better than before.

I closed my eyes and thought: I wish Elli would stay here beside me until I fell asleep.

But I didn't want to trouble her any more than I already had, so I swallowed the words that had risen to the tip of my tongue and was just about to let myself drift off when.

She slipped in under the covers. And gently pulled my head close.

My face sank softly into her chest.

The plush, warm weight of it, the familiar smell of her, made my head go even hazier.

It felt wonderful, but I was worried about her.

"What if you catch it..."

"Have you ever seen me catch a cold? I'm holding off on kissing you just in case, so go to sleep."

Her voice was confident, unshakeable, the certainty that she could not possibly get sick. It was oddly reassuring.

"Fair enough..."

Honestly, being held like this felt so good that I didn't argue. I wrapped my arms around her waist and closed my eyes.

Stroke, stroke...

Her hand moved slowly through my hair.

The chills were still there. My body ached dully. My head was fuzzy, and small coughs kept slipping out.

It was miserable. And yet my heart was at peace. Happy, even.

Knowing that the person you loved was right there beside you when you were sick, what a thing to be grateful for. Today I understood it down to my bones.

From now on... I'm going to work out more... and when Elli makes me tonic food... I'll eat every bit of it...

Somehow, that was what I found myself silently resolving.

For her sake, I wanted to build a body sturdy enough to go every single day without it ever catching up with me like this.

* * *

Elli looked down at her boyfriend, his face tucked against her chest and his arms curled around her waist, already asleep.

Cute, she thought.

Just that.

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