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Mari slowly opened the door to the infirmary, peaking her head through to catch a small glimpse of what was going on inside. She spotted Yunho sitting in a revolving chair, rhythmically swaying himself left and right with his foot while keeping his arms crossed and his head hanging low. He seemed to be drifting off to sleep, though forcing himself to push through and stay awake to watch over his ill friend. "Yikes... Yunho have you been getting any rest recently or what?"

He jolted up in the chair at the call of his name, glancing around the infirmary in search of the voice's owner before finally turning to glance at the door. "Mari," He responded, his confused expression soon melting into one of relief. "I was beginning to think Mingi had gotten lost or something. I wouldn't be surprised if he did."

"He caught me just in time actually," She told him, closing the door behind her as she entered. "Had he been a few seconds late or just slightly smarter in the head he would have been eating my dust by now."

Yunho tilted his head like a dog, not really understanding what she meant but ignoring it either way. He pushed himself in the revolving chair and rolled towards Mari as he spoke, "Hopefully I won't be gone long. I know the nearest corner store a little far from here but Mingi is supposed to drive me back after he gets gas. I'll let you know when I'm coming back though, I'll text you or something."

Mari nodded in response, nearly forgetting she had gotten a new phone after her last was destroyed in a complication. "What, you don't even have my phone number, how will you do that?"

He smiled at her as he skidded to stop in the chair, pulling a phone out of his jacket pocket. "Seonghwa had given me his belongings to look after and I had snatched his phone up like the nosey friend I am," Yunho answered, a playful smirk on his face as he waved around Hongjoong's phone. "You want to look through it with me later? He's got... a lot of interesting stuff on here. Nothing gross just..."

Yunho's eyes darted between the phone and Mari. "Just interesting stuff, that's all."

"Yeah, no thanks," Mari declined, taking note of his clearly mischievous demeanor. Whatever he was thinking of doing, she wanted absolutely no part in it. "Just do what you need to do and come back, no detours, no distractions. I'd like to go home at one point in the next hour or so."

The boy rolled his eyes, standing up out of the chair and digging his jacket pockets. "Yeah yeah, what are you? My mom? You're no fun when Hongjoong isn't actively in the conversation." He complained with a pout, just slightly mumbling under his breath. After a few moments of rummaging, he took out a badge and threw towards Mari. She caught it without a second thought, reacting on instinct as he spoke again. "That's the nurse's badge. She gave it to me before she stepped out, use it if a teacher comes in here and starts nagging at you to leave."

She nodded as the boy finally walked out of the room, leaving her alone in the infirmary. It was quiet in the room, a suffocating quiet even. Mari had almost forgotten that she was actually in the room with Hongjoong. "Oh shit, I forgot I was even here for him for a moment," The girl mumbled, turning towards the rather uncomfortable hospital beds that had been donated to the school who knows how long ago. She spotted his fiery red hair almost immediately, his head resting on his arm for comfort.

"I come all this way just to take care of him and he's sleeping?" She snorted, sitting in the revolving chair Yunho had left behind and rolling towards him. What a waste of her time, Mari expected him to be awake at just the sound of her voice. That's how he acted every time she was around him.

The girl nearly slammed into the bed from how hard she pushed herself, skidding to a halt right before she hit him. The boy was facing the wall instead of towards her, probably trying to block any sort of light that would make his headache more than it already was while he was sleeping. He looked extremely exhausted, stressed even, as he laid there. She could definitely tell he felt like he was on fire as well, practically sweating bullets and making his hair and clothes stick to his skin.

She sighed quietly to herself, twisting the ring on her finger subconsciously as she watched him. How did he even end up like this? What was he doing beforehand that forced him to come down with a fever of all things? Mingi had made it sound like it happened completely out of the blue, but that couldn't have been possible. Maybe he was working too hard on something and the stress had gotten to him? Honestly, it seemed likely knowing how he acted.

"God, how stupid can you be to not take care of yourself," She mumbled, punching his shoulder instinctively. Yet when he suddenly yelped from the impact, Mari immediately pushed herself away from the bed. She forgot that sickness makes a person generally weaker than normal, which meant what would normally be harmless attacks left more than just a tiny aching pain. "Oh shit, I'm so sorry. It was an accident... kinda-sorta-not-really but I really didn't mean to hit you."

He glanced over his shoulder to look at her, a drowsy look in his eyes, and flushed cheeks as if he was under the influence. Hongjoong took a moment to take in the sight he was greeted by, his brain not processing the information as fast as it usually did. "Mari?"

"Unfortunately," She shrugged her shoulders, allowing herself to scoot her chair closer now that he was awake. Mari reached over and placed the back of her hand on his forehead before doing the exact same to his neck. She didn't know how hot he was before she had come in the infirmary, but he sure was burning up now. "What even happened? Mingi told me you had collapsed in the middle of the hall earlier. If you were feeling sick earlier today you should have just stayed home like, I don't know, a normal person?"

Hongjoong didn't respond, in fact, he didn't even seem to listen to a word that was coming out of her mouth. He simply stared at her in a daze, his mind in a completely other world. "Hongjoong?" Mari asked again, trying to reel him back into reality. "Hongjoong, you in there?"

"Where's... Yunho?" He questioned, talking a little slower than normal.

"He left not too long ago to get you medicine," Mari responded, pointing towards the door. "The school nurse can't give you medicine without your explicit permission, and I can only assume you were out like a light when you got here."

He nodded his head in understanding, taking a few moments of silence before turning his body to face her and raising his arms out towards her. "Then come here."

Mari narrowed her eyes at him, rolling back a few times to keep a distance between herself and Hongjoong. "What, are you crazy? No way. Even if I wanted to, you're sick. I don't want you spreading your nasty fever germs all over me, I'd rather not test the patience of my immune system."

"A fever isn't contagious, Mari," He corrected her, nodding in and out of sleep as he laid there. She rolled her eyes at the boy's answer as he continued to speak. "There's no one here. You don't have to be afraid of anyone catching us or something. You're just laying down with me."

"You're sweating, no," She insisted, pushing her chair even farther away from him. Mari waited for him to respond again, expecting some sort of witty but weak comment to fly out of his mouth. Though the boy had drifted off to sleep again, his arms dangling off the side of the bed in a rather uncomfortable position.

That's how her next ten minutes had gone, simply spinning in the revolving chair and checking her phone for Yunho's text while Hongjoong slept out his fever. Mari had even started playing with strands of the boy's scarlet red subconsciously as she played with her phone, the notion almost second nature for her at this point. It wasn't even awkward to her, the silence between them rather comfortable even.

She glanced down towards the boy when she felt a tug at her hand, catching sight of Hongjoong taking ahold of her hand gingerly and staring at the snake ring on her index finger. "I didn't know you own rings," He commented, admiring the engraved design of the serpent on the band. "Where'd you get this from?"

The corners of her mouth twisted into a frown, giving the silvery ring a quick glance before turning back to her phone screen. "It was a hand me down from my mother. My father said she wanted to give it to me at one point, but she had never gotten the chance to do so. I would have cared about it a little bit more if he hadn't chucked it at him as a weak way to get me to forgive him for an argument we had."

He nodded in understanding, looking up at her through his lashes. "But you still care right? There's no other reason you'd be wearing it if you didn't."

Instead of responding to him, Mari pressed her hand to his forehead again. "Jeez, this fever of yours just won't go down." She said instead. "Maybe this isn't just a fever... was anyone around you sick at one point? You might have caught whatever they had."

"Then the only person I want to be around is you," He murmured, holding her hand much tighter than he was beforehand.

The girl rolled her eyes at his words, putting her phone down to give him her full attention. "I'm being serious right now. You sure no one ever came across you and was ill as well?"

He didn't answer her, his grip around her hand tightening as he fidgeted with her snake ring. "Just ten minutes, Mari," Hongjoong began, softly tugging her hand towards him as if he was trying to force her to lay there with him. "Ten minutes just lay with me for ten minutes, that's all I ask. That's the only medicine I'll ever need to feel better."

"Hongjoong—" The door to the infirmary slammed open, disrupting the quiet peace the two had established. Mari's head whipped around towards the door in a rush, taken by surprise from the sudden intrusion. There in the door frame stood a man who radiated with pure power, dressing in a formal suit and tie and amused smile playing on his face.

"What a surprise," The man spoke, analyzing the scene before him. His mere gaze made Mari want to slip her hand out of Hongjoong's yet his tight grip around her palm told her otherwise. "This is the second time I've caught you two together, what a funny coincidence."

What in the hell was Hongjoong's father doing here? He didn't even pick up Yunho's phone calls to know that something had gone wrong. Perhaps his mother was gossiping about her son's situation to him? But if he wasn't even going to pick up several urgent phone calls from the close friend of his son, why would he approach now? "Mari, right? It's a pleasure to see you again, I hope you've been well."

"How'd you know he was here?" She immediately asked, her body tensing up as the man came towards them. "You didn't pick up any of Yunho's calls, I doubt he left you any voicemails to listen to either," Mari hissed, willingly rolling herself in between the two.

He laughed at her aggression, holding his hands behind his back as he stopped in front of her. "I'm a very busy man you know, I don't get to have the same amount of free time you teenagers do." He shrugged, speaking rather nonchalantly with her. "My wife had told me of the news she had received from Jeong Yunho, furious she was. So I had to do what every concerned parent should do and come check upon him. Unfortunately, I've come here later than I'd like."

"That doesn't make any sense," Hongjoong intervened, sitting up from his former position. "You've never come here just to check on me. The word concerned isn't even in your vocabulary."

The man's expression turned into a sharp and cold glare, pointing daggers at his son's head for such a statement. "Of course it's in my vocabulary. You're the only son I've got left," He assured him, reaching out his hand to press it against his forehead. "Why wouldn't I be concerned over your wellbeing?"

Without thinking Mari grabbed the man's wrist, stopping him from even touching Hongjoong. Her grip grew tighter with a nerve in her body that was being struck, giving the man an irritated and strained smile. "No need to worry, sir," She insisted, digging her nails into his skin. "I'm taking very good care of your son until his friends return with the medicine to help calm down his fever. No need to be concerned when you've got such a good friend looking after him."

His father's expression was unreadable, his eyes darting from Mari's daring action to Hongjoong exhausted expression. After a few moments of silence, he laughed. It boomed throughout the infirmary loudly, echoing against the walls and into the hallway as he retracted his hand away from him. "Of course! Everyone who surrounds Hongjoong takes such good care of him! I don't even know why I was worried."

Mari let go of his wrist as well, dropping her hands to her side as the man took a step back. "You're so peculiar Mari," He complimented, sending shivers down her spine. "Why, it makes sense as to why you've been able to stick around Hongjoong for so long. Usually, anyone who approaches him runs away after a moment spent with him. Truly, you are a remarkable person."

"Are you done?" Hongjoong snapped, irritation peaking in his rather weak tone. "You did what you came to do, now leave."

"So harsh, in front of your friend even?" He gasped, covering his mouth with his hand mockingly as he took a look at the two once more. The man scoffed, a curious smile playing on his lips as he spoke again. "I'll be taking my leave then since my son is in such good hands. Oh and Mari, I hope you haven't forgotten about my invite to having dinner with my family. My wife would just love you, I'm sure. And I'm still rather interested in getting to know you a bit more."

Mari internally rolled her eyes at the man's reminder before nodding. "Of course, I'd love to have dinner with you and your family one day. I'm just rather busy at the moment, that's all."

"Perfect," he grinned, though the grin was a little too wide and condescending for her liking. "Do you hear that Hongjoong? I hope you'll actually be present for one of our dinners this time instead of running off somewhere. It would be such bad hosting if you do."

"Go," Hongjoong hissed at him.

The man finally disappeared through the infirmary door after another annoyed response from the boy. The moment he had left was like a breath of fresh hair for both of them. Mari had only encountered the man twice but she was one hundred percent sure now that if he came around action she'd be the one to draw blood first. She wouldn't say she had a temper, but it felt that way with every word that trickled out of his father's mouth.

"God, I knew adults were annoying to deal with but he's on another level. Every time he talks my patience gets tested, I swear." She grumbled, spinning her chair back around to face Hongjoong.

He nodded in agreement, laying back down completely on the bed before reaching his hands out to Mari once more. "Totally a good enough reason to lay down with me for ten minutes now, right?"

"Will you quit it?" Mari retaliated, earning a very small giggle from Hongjoong. His father took a lot more energy out of both of them than they thought. So needless to say, he did end up getting the ten minutes he was begging for. Longer than that even, with the boy dozing right off to sleep within minutes. If there's one thing Mari could say about those longer than ten minutes, it would be that Hongjoong must give really nice hugs. She wouldn't mind spending another ten minutes with him again.