merry christmas, meanie

'Get Well Soon Daddy'

Don't Go - EXO

The next days pass by in a blur. Nothing's light enough for Mingyu to process, as he spends monotonous days loafing around in the house, yet never failing to pay utmost attention to Jieun.

But most of the times, he feels like he's under Jieun's care, rather than it being the other way around.

The nights are the worst. He'd rather not sleep, than go through constant replays of that evening; he wakes up every two hours whimpering and sobbing. The worst part of waking up in the middle of the night is that it causes Jieun to wake up as well.

And in the end, she always crawls up beside him, on his bed, and hugs his arm tightly until he falls asleep. She's unable to use words, but her tiny hugs lull him back to sleep, albeit it not being for long.

The bedroom's a mess, so is the living room. The only presentable part of the house is the kitchen -- the only place Mingyu steps into willingly, that too just for Jieun.

Mingyu's busy rolling an omelette on a pan. It's nearing noon - almost time for him and Jieun to go to the hospital. Lost in thought, Mingyu doesn't notice himself holding the spatula too close to the top, and it soon touches the scorching pan, burning his hand. He grunts, tossing the spatula to the side, as he holds his hand under the tap. A fond, yet painful, memory presents itself in his mind.

The last time this had happened, Mingyu remembers how Wonwoo had spent a lot of time making sure his hand was fine, as he did everything in his power to cure the burn as soon as he could.

The memory brings tears to Mingyu's eyes. He resumes his task as a distraction, and when he's done, he calls out to Jieun. "I'm coming!" Comes her reply.

She waddles into the kitchen, as Mingyu lifts her up, setting her on the chair and placing a plate in front of her. She shows him a folded piece of paper with the words, as far as Mingyu could decipher, 'Get Well Soon Daddy' scrawled on it. On the inside was a wobbly drawing of three stick figures holding hands: the shortest one among them with two squiggly lines coming from the head, like pigtails.

That makes Mingyu smile for the first time in the whole week, as he takes his sweet time to look at it over and over again. "Daddy will love this." He tells Jieun in all honesty, who gives him a tiny, sad smile. "I hope he wakes up soon to see it." She mumbles. Mingyu feels so bad for the girl.

"Aw, Ji, he will. Don't worry. He loves you a lot to not wake up, you know?"

"You said that a week ago."

"I know," Mingyu looks away dejectedly. "I'm a big liar, aren't I?"

"I didn't say that. I'm still waiting."

Mingyu turns his gaze back at her, as she's busy digging into her plate. "Afen't you gonna eaf?" She says through a full mouth. "Eat before you talk, Ji..." She swallows her bite. "Sorry... So, are you?"

Mingyu doesn't know how to answer that. He hasn't been eating well; his body can't stomach anything, and he ends up feeling queasy afterwards. "I ate earlier," He lies.

Without another question, Jieun hurriedly eats her way through her plate, with Mingyu sitting across her. She pushes an empty bowl in his direction. "Done?"

"No, I liked the stew. I want more."

Mingyu chuckles. He pours more stew into the bowl, and sets about cleaning up the mess in the kitchen. He snorts when he hears the tiniest burp ever. He looks back to see Jieun grinning cutely at him. "It was really good."

"I'm glad."

He does the dishes, while Jieun goes away to wash her hands. "All done Ji?"

"Yes! I'm coming."

And they walk to the hospital with minimal words exchanged. Both of them expect a different, a good different, update from the doctors. They do everyday, but come back disappointed each time.