Sick Day (1/1)

Sick DayThere was a thunderstorm outside and Jaemin was scared. He hugged his teddy bear close to his chest and closed his eyes, but nothing could block out the sound of the thunder. He would duck under his covers, and then take a peek to see if it was all over, but then, he would see a flash of light through the openings of his curtains which alerted him to the roar of thunder that would follow. More than that, hiding under his covers were making him hot and sweaty and he felt like he had a sore throat. He couldn't take it any longer, and so, he carefully got out of bed, dragging his teddy bear by its paw, tried to block both of his ears with one free hand and made his way over into his parents’ bedroom. He pushed open the door, which creaked open, but did not disturb the two people on the bed. Jaemin padded over to the foot of the bed and lightly tossed over his teddy, then followed by climbing up and making his way to the gap between his parents. His father turned to the side, so Jaemin began to caress the side of his mother’s face, and slowly, she began to stir from her sleep. Another round of thunder shook the house and little Jaemin shrieked because he wasn’t expecting it, jolting Naeun awake. When she opened her eyes and sat up, Jaemin finally broke out into sobs and Naeun pulled him over to her so that she was cradling him like when he was a baby. Jaemin whimpered and his pudgy hands were wiping his eyes.“Omma…”“It’s okay, baby. Omma’s here. Are you scared of the thunder?”Jaemin nodded against her, and as Naeun went to stroke his cheek to calm him down, his hot temperature began to alarm her. She pushed his bangs to one side and felt his forehead and concluded that combined with the thunder outside, Jaemin must also be sick and can’t sleep. She began to rock him and kissed him on the top of his head, and within a few minutes he was able to calm down. Taemin began to wake from the rocking motion of the bed and turned to face Naeun.“Hey…”“Hey…”“What’s wrong?”“I think Jaemin is sick…”Taemin sat up from his laying position and leaned against the bed frame as he opened his arms to make room for Naeun and Jaemin.“When did he come in?”“About fifteen minutes ago…”“Poor baby…”Taemin reached to feel his forehead and agreed that Jaemin had a fever.“We’ll take him to the doctor’s tomorrow. Right now, we need some sleep so that we can take care of him tomorrow.”Taemin gently peeled the teddy away from Jaemin as Naeun carefully laid him down in the middle of her and Taemin.“Naeun-ah…you go back to sleep. I’ll watch him for now…”“Are you sure?”“Of course…”Naeun gave a small smile to Taemin before giving her son another kiss and then closing her eyes. Within another twenty minutes, Taemin fell asleep too but woke when he heard some whimpering beside him. He opened his eyes and found that Jaemin was profusely sweating and seemed to be in pain. He knew that he would start thrashing about soon and so he decided to pick him up so that Naeun would continue to sleep. He got the bear and then carried Jaemin, and went to the living room. Jaemin woke up on the way down the stairs.“Appa…”“Hey, bud…go back to sleep…”“I don’t feel good…”“It’s okay…Appa is here…I’ll make you feel better…”Taemin put him down on the couch and went to the kitchen to find some children’s Panadol, a small bowl filled with water and a cloth. He put them on a tray and brought it out to Jaemin who was now fully awake, but looked really tired. Taemin helped him sit up and then told him to drink his medicine. Taemin knew that he would be feeling really bad because he drank the medicine without a protest.“Can I lie down now, Appa?”Taemin nodded and helped him get into a comfortable position. He kneeled beside Jaemin and took the cloth and dampened it then wiped Jaemin’s hands and feet with cold water. He then folded it up and placed it on his head, making sure that every five minutes, he would dip it in the water and then place it on his forehead again. Taemin was very sleepy now, but he wanted to make sure that Jaemin was completely asleep before he would nod off himself. An hour later, he picked Jaemin up and laid him down on his chest as he lay down on the couch. He put his arm around his son to secure him and make sure he wouldn’t fall off in case he moved. Then, he finally went back to sleep.When Naeun woke up the next morning, she found that she was sleeping alone. She looked for her husband and son in Jaemin’s bedroom, but they were not there. When she walked into the lounge, the sight of her husband and son warmed her up. Jaemin and Taemin were fast asleep on the couch, Jaemin sleeping with his tummy down above Taemin who had both his arms wrapped around the little boy. She saw the bottle of Panadol and the basin and the cloth and figured that Taemin must have taken Jaemin down in the middle of the night and took care of him. She went to check on the little boy’s temperature and smiled when he was only warm. His temperature must have gone down after drinking the medicine. She gave each of her boys a kiss on the forehead and then went into the kitchen to prepare a breakfast of chicken and corn soup.She put the food on a tray and took it to the living room. She gently shook the father and son duo awake. Taemin woke up first, and he sat up with Jaemin still clinging onto him.“Morning…”“Good morning…”“Breakfast?”“Eung…you gave him some medicine last night?”“Yeah…”“It worked. His temperature went down.”“So, are we still going to the doctor?”“I don’t think we need to. We’ll just monitor how he is today. If he gets worse, I’ll take him tomorrow while you go to your schedule…”Jaemin began to wake up and then rubbed his eyes.“Good morning, buddy…”“Good morning, Appa…Omma…”“Are you hungry?”Jaemin nodded his head. He outstretched his arms towards Naeun and she immediately picked him up as Taemin got up and stretched. Naeun turned Jaemin around in her arms and picked up the bowl and started to spoon feed him.“Oppa…you eat as well…”“It’s okay…I’ll wait. I’ll eat with you…”“Ahrasso…”When Naeun finished feeding Jaemin she sat him in between herself and Taemin as Taemin began to feed himself and Naeun. Jaemin was preoccupied with playing with his bear.“Jaemin-ie…do you feel better now?”“Ne…thanks to Omma and Appa…”“You’re welcome, baby…”“Jaemin-ah…did you know that your Appa is Superman?”Jaemin’s eyes got big.“And did you know that your Omma is Wonderwoman?”“Jinjjayo? How?”Taemin and Naeun showed him their superhero outfits and Jaemin marvelled at his parent.“If Omma and Appa are superheroes, what about me?”“Hmmm…Uri Jaemin-ie is Wonderboy!”Jaemin clapped his hand in delight and then picked up his teddy.“And Teddy is Wonderbear!”“Whatever you want, buddy…”And with that, the young family spent the rest of the day in the living room watching superhero cartoons.