Nocturnal Reveries: A DiYue One Shot Collection

The Socks: Reimagined

"She said she just probably needs to rest, she didn't say she needs you," said KiDo, my ever-supportive but sometimes too-honest-for-his-own-good friend.

"Yeah, well she needs to eat. Besides do you think she really meant that? Of course not. She just knows we're having fun and didn't want to bother us by being a needy sick person," I replied, a little more defensively than necessary.

"But Tao-jie said she needs to rest," he persisted.

"She needs me," I countered. "Look, man, I know I'm being stubborn right now but just let me. Please. I want to take care of my girlfriend, especially now that she can barely stand up on her feet."

KiDo raised both of his hands in defeat. He then offered to help me with the tray of food I was going to bring to her so I let him. When we reached her room, he went back to the inn's living room to further mingle with the guests.

When I opened her door, pitch darkness and the cold, almost-suffocating dense air welcomed me. The blinds were shut tightly so I opened the dim lights and saw her on the bed, curled up under layers of blankets that she messily covered herself with.

I didn't know if she was asleep, but I spent a good minute or two just looking at her frail figure—and immediately, an intense urge to come near and just hold her enveloped me. It wasn't even a desire, it was a yearning to be there with her even if it means just laying down beside her.

Slowly, I put the tray carrying hot tea, a bowl of soup that I cooked, a tall glass of water and some medicine on her already-cluttered bedside table. I had to remove her copy of the 'The Little Prince' and move it to the closet to make space for the tray though. I smiled as I remembered how much she loves the book—and how eager she was to have me to read it.

She made small movements before she awoke which prompted me to sit down on the bed. Her small back was turned on me so I rubbed her left arm before planting feathery kisses on her hot forehead down to her red cheek and onto her shoulder.

She looked at me with her glazed eyes suddenly welling up. "What are you doing here? They need you to be there with the guests."

"And I want to be here to be with you," I said, removing the many strands of hair that were sticking on her beautiful face.

"No you don't, Wang He Di," she said.

I didn't let her refusal to indulge my care distract me from my mission. I kissed her head before helping her into a proper sitting position then reached the hot tea for her to drink. She was so feeble that I had to hold the cup if she wasn't drinking it, because she could barely raise the cup to her mouth.

"You need to go back there," she said yet again.

"Stop that," I said, finally voicing a hint of annoyance at her unrelenting efforts to shoo me away from her.

"You need to be in there, socializing with the guests. Not tending to your ill girlfriend. I'll be fine," she explained.

"Stop that," I insisted. "Fuck them. I'm gonna stick here with you even if they crucify me for it. Stop thinking that I need to be somewhere else, because right beside you—sick or not—is where I always want to be."

She just stared at me intently before mouthing the word, "Language."

We giggled. She pulled her knees to her chest and I caught a glimpse of her socks. They weren't even calf-high! She must have forgotten to bring longer socks, so she just settled on wearing her regular ones. She wouldn't survive the night with them for sure, especially not when she's this sick.